what are some of the weak points that the s series saturn has? im looking into buying one.

They burn oil, if your not willing to check/add oil on a daily basis don't buy one. If you change you oil every 3k miles they're good forever. Also if you want a hod rod, forget it. They gas misers, not power houses. My 95 SL1 has 213k miles on it. It gets 35mpg and runs smooth as silk. There are some common thing that need service on a regular basis, ECTS, EGR, alternatorand time chain every 100k, but other than that they are pretty trouble free. I love my Saturn. I won't sell it because I couldn't replace it with anything that comes close to it. Just make sure the previous owner didn't beat the sh*t out of the car.

Some that were not taken care of burn oil. Just like any other car on the road. I have a 93 SW2 with just over 300K and it has never burnt a drop of oil. I have a 1998 SW2 with 191K and has never burnt a drop of oil. I have3 other S Saturns 2000-2002 and they do not burn oil. Timing chains go bad because of not changing the oil every 3k. Be thankfull they do not have timing belts that need to be changed every 60k.





Weak points, Power windows, Power sunroof, Top engine mount, brake rotors tend to warp.


Edited by: sw2cam

I've noticed a lot of questions concerning idle problems... i fixed mine easily, but it could be a more serious issue for others. I'm not sure if thats a weakness or not.

a very basic weakness for the manual transmissions is when driven hard the differential pin likes to blow through the transmission housing as for the whole powerhouse thing my buddy has a 94 sl2 turbo making 370 whp theres alot more performance support for our little 1.9l than most people know and there are actually a few people that pushed their sl''s into the mid 300hp range its actually pretty impressive from such a small displacement

mypast saturn (1995 SL1) and current saturn (1997 SL) love, absoleutly love to rattle inside the passenger compartment. replacing engine mounts helps for about a week, then its back to rattle rattle. but they are cheap cars and turning up the radio easily fixes that problem. but everything else about the car is great. never broke down on me ever plus great gas mileage and cheap parts when they do need work Edited by: rabobanks