Long-Term Road Test
It's said the best gifts are the unexpected ones. Back in September 2002, we got one from Saturn. At the time, we had no idea the champagne-colored sedan even was a gift, and we surely had no idea that, like a Car and Driver subscription, it would be the gift that kept on giving.
But before we delve into Saturn's surprise, a brief history:
For C/D loyalists, you know September is the time of year when we conduct our annual 10Best testing. About 18 months ago, when Saturn was putting the finishing touches on its all-new S-series replacement and we were preparing for a week of test flogging, we requested a four-door Ion for 10Best evaluation and a full road test. Saturn kindly obliged and coughed up one at $17,365 in Golden Wheat paint, replete with a 140-hp Ecotec four-cylinder, a five-speed automatic, ABS, a CD/cassette stereo, an auto-dimming mirror with an outside-temperature gauge, and-take note-593 miles on the odometer.
Anxious to drive Saturn's all-new little guy, we were soon anxious to get rid of it. Not one editor could say he or she liked the car, which, according to our road test (January 2003), had a "pigheaded transmission, anxious steering, bar-stool seating, muddled styling, [and a] cyclopean dash." The acceleration numbers didn't make it any more popular. The Ion putted from 0 to 60 in 10.2 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 17.7, both slower than sprints posted by 10 competitive economy cars ("Double-Dip Dreamboats," November 2002). There were two upsides: The Ion's 0.81 g on the skidpad and 183-foot 70-to-0-mph braking distance outperformed the other 10 econoboxes. Still, our verdict reflected our disappointment: "We waited seven years for this?"
As you might have guessed, Saturn was none too happy-so displeased, in fact, that no one from GM's plastic brand would return phone messages left by road-test editor André Idzikowski, who informed the proper Saturn rep that we were done with the vehicle and it was ready to be picked up. This situation continued for several months. Our best guess is that Saturn got passive/aggressive. You dislike it so much? Fine! Keep it!
As Idzikowski continued to wait by the phone, other editors continued to drive the Ion. And drive it. And drive it. And drive it. Six months and almost 7000 miles later, we'd finally had it. No more games. Something had to be done.
So we did what any reputable, conscientious car magazine would do: We dropped a logbook into the sucker and made it a long-term test car! The way we saw it, we were getting retribution. We'd been asking Saturn for a long-term vehicle since it began selling cars more than a dozen years ago, only to be rejected time after time. You don't want your car back? Fine! We'll keep it!
For those not in the know, we generally acquire a long-term vehicle in the following manner: When an all-new car of significant merit debuts and we feel our readers would benefit from a 40,000-mile test, we submit a letter to the manufacturer asking for one. The manufacturer then gives us a simple yea or nay, and that's about it. The Ion marks the first time we substituted a poor review for a request letter.
