A lament to a lost cause, because I can.
#1
03-19-2010 | 10:44 AM
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,912
From: Peoria AZ
A lament to a lost cause, because I can.
A lament to a lost cause, because I can.
It has been a trip of mixed emotions watching the birth of an automobile company
and it’s death.
If it was only the death of one automobile company it would be regrettable, it is not. And not only an automobile company but multiple companies from many walks of life. That makes it symptomatic of a disease and of poor business practices and related philosophies.
I only owned 1 Saturn, although worked on a few and been around them a bit. The one Saturn I owned, I still do because it was and is an appealing car. Not a truck, a wanna be truck, something incredibly stupid such as a cross over. What is wrong with Happy Over. Who wants a car with the word Cross in it’s name. Who in their infinite wisdom made the determination that I wanted to buy a car that had extra (ugly) doors tacked onto it in order to get into the back seat?
Who also figured out that what I wanted was something that looked like a truck, acted like a truck or pretended to be a truck
when
if I wanted one, I could buy a truck.
Where did the station wagon go? The one with the seats that folded into the floor. So when I wanted to load stuff into the thing I pulled a lever and the seats disappeared, and I did not have to drag the dang things out, hurt my back and store them in the garage.
And style? Where did that go. Butt ugly is not a style, it is a curse. An automobile at one point in time represented a fashion statement. Not an appliance. Granted beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there are multiple categories that can apply too. One size fits all is a universal euphemism for everyone is pretty much equally dissatisfied, but not to worry you can still open cans with it.
The original Saturn in my opinion was and is a nice car, appearance was fresh and timely, it ran well and drove out excellent. It did not seem to have much in the way of flaws and obviously had a number of small points that were built into it with an eye on service and convenience. The dealers at least left you with the allusion that they were friends not adversaries, service and attitude was both affordable and pleasant.
And as time passéd that changed.
Newer models seem to loose appeal, dealers became more aloof.
Eventually newer models became re-badged versions of other GM cars following a pattern that had become more prevalent for what ever reason as GM sales started tanking.
And the dealer? My last go-around with a Saturn Dealer started with a $350.00 estimate to repair the sun roof followed by them washing the car complete with leaky sun roof and guess what that did to the headliner. This was followed by making an appointment for service and having them hand me a $3500.00 estimate for “NEEDED” repairs.
A sarcastic and heated discussion later got the sun roof repaired poorly for a whole bunch less requiring a second trip to get it to work right and a really sour taste in my mouth over the whole process.
Did the original Saturn deserve the fate it received, no I don’t think so. I still have mine, mostly because when it comes down to it the car satisfied me as very few really have. I have since spent both time (lots of it) and some money re-furbishing it back to something approaching show room because I can AND it is still a nice looking ride that drives out well. It can still use about 15 more hp but it is adequate, I wish the gas tank was bigger, 10 gallons only goes so far but on the road at 75mph with the A/C running in cruise it will knock back 33mpg so it is o.k..
No the original Saturn did not deserve to die, nor did it deserve to be killed. Neither did Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Hummer and a few other GM products in the recent years and they are not alone.
What makes a KIA preferable to a Pontiac? Unless it is marketing, probably learned from GM business practices when they WERE the world leader in transportation products.
Sorry here, this is a bit of a Rant. Wasn’t sure what I would find when looking for this forum recently. Not sure where it is going to go to. Lots of good people here and probably representative of a dying breed! Car Guys (and gals)
Have a nice day.
It has been a trip of mixed emotions watching the birth of an automobile company
and it’s death.
If it was only the death of one automobile company it would be regrettable, it is not. And not only an automobile company but multiple companies from many walks of life. That makes it symptomatic of a disease and of poor business practices and related philosophies.
I only owned 1 Saturn, although worked on a few and been around them a bit. The one Saturn I owned, I still do because it was and is an appealing car. Not a truck, a wanna be truck, something incredibly stupid such as a cross over. What is wrong with Happy Over. Who wants a car with the word Cross in it’s name. Who in their infinite wisdom made the determination that I wanted to buy a car that had extra (ugly) doors tacked onto it in order to get into the back seat?
Who also figured out that what I wanted was something that looked like a truck, acted like a truck or pretended to be a truck
when
if I wanted one, I could buy a truck.
Where did the station wagon go? The one with the seats that folded into the floor. So when I wanted to load stuff into the thing I pulled a lever and the seats disappeared, and I did not have to drag the dang things out, hurt my back and store them in the garage.
And style? Where did that go. Butt ugly is not a style, it is a curse. An automobile at one point in time represented a fashion statement. Not an appliance. Granted beauty is in the eye of the beholder and there are multiple categories that can apply too. One size fits all is a universal euphemism for everyone is pretty much equally dissatisfied, but not to worry you can still open cans with it.
The original Saturn in my opinion was and is a nice car, appearance was fresh and timely, it ran well and drove out excellent. It did not seem to have much in the way of flaws and obviously had a number of small points that were built into it with an eye on service and convenience. The dealers at least left you with the allusion that they were friends not adversaries, service and attitude was both affordable and pleasant.
And as time passéd that changed.
Newer models seem to loose appeal, dealers became more aloof.
Eventually newer models became re-badged versions of other GM cars following a pattern that had become more prevalent for what ever reason as GM sales started tanking.
And the dealer? My last go-around with a Saturn Dealer started with a $350.00 estimate to repair the sun roof followed by them washing the car complete with leaky sun roof and guess what that did to the headliner. This was followed by making an appointment for service and having them hand me a $3500.00 estimate for “NEEDED” repairs.
A sarcastic and heated discussion later got the sun roof repaired poorly for a whole bunch less requiring a second trip to get it to work right and a really sour taste in my mouth over the whole process.
Did the original Saturn deserve the fate it received, no I don’t think so. I still have mine, mostly because when it comes down to it the car satisfied me as very few really have. I have since spent both time (lots of it) and some money re-furbishing it back to something approaching show room because I can AND it is still a nice looking ride that drives out well. It can still use about 15 more hp but it is adequate, I wish the gas tank was bigger, 10 gallons only goes so far but on the road at 75mph with the A/C running in cruise it will knock back 33mpg so it is o.k..
No the original Saturn did not deserve to die, nor did it deserve to be killed. Neither did Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Hummer and a few other GM products in the recent years and they are not alone.
What makes a KIA preferable to a Pontiac? Unless it is marketing, probably learned from GM business practices when they WERE the world leader in transportation products.
Sorry here, this is a bit of a Rant. Wasn’t sure what I would find when looking for this forum recently. Not sure where it is going to go to. Lots of good people here and probably representative of a dying breed! Car Guys (and gals)
Have a nice day.
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mrspostiglione
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