Re: Saturn cars- more cracked cylinder heads due to mfgr flaws

01dyna wrote:

We owned two Saturns. Traded in the first one before anything went
wrong but the second one, an LS2 was a huge pile of crap. How's
$600 to replace the thermostat because they put it *inside* the engine
block?

Sadly, Saturn isn't alone in doing this sort of thing. Some Toyota trucks require extensive disassembly of the exhaust system to get to the starter motor. On one of the newer GM cars sold by Saturn and Chevy you have to remove the bumper to change the headlight. On many cars there is no longer any way to check the ATF, it's sealed and the way they determine the level is to drive the car then read a temperature sensor in the transmission which idicates if the level is too low.

So, now the only cars we drive/own are Lexuses. Stone solid reliable
with the best customer service of any auto manufacturer we've ever
dealt with.

It's amazing how well Toyotas hold up. Any slight extra cost of a Toyota/Lexus versus competing models by GM, Ford, or Chrysler is more than made up for the fact that they'll likely last more than twice as long without major problems.

And the American auto industry wonders why they're having problems
selling their cars?

I don't think they wonder at all. They are serving a specific market segment that doesn't care a lot about long-term dependability. That's not to say that there aren't other reasons besides dependability to select a vehicle. I have often purchased vehicles that were known to not be the most reliable on the market, but that had other characteristics that were more important to me.

On the other hand, Saturn was always known for very unreliable and poorly designed vehicles, and anyone that did even a small amount of pre-purchase research rather than falling for the creative advertising would have stayed away. The best example of their design prowess was in the Vue models where the rear suspension would collapse on tight turns and the vehicle would roll over. But at least that was so clearly a problem that they _had_ to do recall, while the engine problems of oil burning and cracked heads were blamed on the the owners for as long as possible.

The Saturn cracked head problem happened a long time ago (relatively speaking). They handled it poorly, first denying it was a problem, then providing redress that left many owners uncompensated. I guess if you buy a GM car you should feel lucky to get 100K miles out of it, but that's barely the break-in mileage on a Toyota. Saturn never addressed the oil burning problems that their early vehicles exhibited, even though they were widely reported by owners, dealers, and mechanics.

OTOH, "Misterfact" has been dredging this up repeatedly over the years. He needs to get over his monetary loss and move on. I have a nephew that made the mistake of buying a BMW X5 SUV. It lasted a few months longer than the warranty before the engine block cracked. He paid around $10,000 for the repairs at the dealer, which were done poorly, and now the engine is a horrible oil burner. They gave up on BMW and bought an Acura MDX. While they'll never buy another BMW, they're over the loss and have moved on. Perhaps Misterfact can recycle his rant on battery powered smoke detectors.
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