Hello all, I am new here and was hoping you folks would have some insight. My brother was gifted an 03 Saturn Ion from my grandmother, she only has about 50k miles on it from letting it marinate in her basement garage for a decade and some change and I replaced the entire subframe and brake lines on it due to rusting but now it’s perfectly alright as far as I know, he’s going overseas for the military and is gifting me the car for the time being and I was wondering if modifications are really worth it on such a lackluster vehicle. I don’t wanna go for speed because I’ve always loved slower cars, but past tinting windows should I get side skirts or a spoiler and a mmm ? A body kit or new wheels, etc. just wanted to test the waters and see if y’all had any suggestions for making the car look like modified traffic instead of the “fresh off the buy here pay here lot”

But anyways thanks for reading me rant, if you’ve got suggestions please send em my way, much appreciated and god bless

 

Newbie looking for early 2000’s Saturn advice

TLDR: Brother has 50k miles 03 ion, gets shipped overseas for military and he’s giving car to me, looking for advice on what modifications to do, mostly visual stuff just to make it look halfway decent


my brother got a 03 Ion with 40k miles, it sat in my grandmas basement garage and rusted so I replaced his subframe and he says it’s been working like a charm, however he is going overseas for the Marines and is letting me have the vehicle. Was wondering if there’s anything I can do to make the car a bit nicer? Seat covers, body kits, etc. not too worried about speed since it’s an economy car, just want something that looks a little better than stock. Any and all ideas appreciated, won’t be getting the car til March when he is shipped out but of course I wanna keep his car in top running shape but unfortunately I am specialized in Hyundais, Saturn is a pinch beyond what I know so I was really hoping yall had suggestions, appreciate taking the time to read, thank you all

 

Welcome.

 

In the future, please bump your original thread as opposed to making a pseudo-duplicate. Thanks.

You can do a lot for the look of the car with just the wheels. Look up the user RJION on this site. He has post many pictures of his various ions. There is also a sticky by him, either in the ion section or the general tech section about wheel sizes, lug patterns, and offsets.

I will now defer to others who have owned ions, which I have not.

It's also likely that what little aftermarket support for most of the Saturns that existed is long gone. Lowering springs were also popular. Not sure if that is your cup of tea, and I'm not sure if they are still available for this vehicle

 

Hi,
2003 Polar white Ion coupe here.
New member 21JAN25
trying to fix this up for reliability for my daughter. Was my mom's and she bought it new from dealer so it has been in the family.
Asides from the smashed windshield and broken plastic on passenger door frame (same smash) ... these cars hold up pretty good.