I've been thinking about buying an early 90's Saturn SL2 as my first car. Is this a sound financial investment? They look cool, get 30+mpg, reliable, and are cheap.
02 SL2 owner here. The first gen SL's are pretty much extinct here. A lot of parts have been discontinued for my 2nd gen SL2 and that'll only get worse and it'll be worse with a first gen. You better be prepared to have nothing available at your local parts stores. Rock Auto will be your friend. I doubt most mechanics will touch them either because of the parts situation. Other than that the SL's are pretty based econoboxes. They're pretty fun to drive and can be made better with shit like WRX coilovers. Reliability is easily Honda/Toyota tier.
>>29084504I hadn't really considered the parts situation much. I kinda assumed since it was an american car that shared parts with GM it wouldn't be much an issue. I live near Boston though so it shouldn't be too hard to find a mechanic. Do you recommend the 2nd gen SL2 over the 1st? I much prefer the style trim on the early 90's models but it comes at the cost of age. Thanks
>>29084496that's an SC2
>>29084516shit, your right. heres a saturn SL2.
>>29084496>>29084511The twin cam motor was unique to the Saturn and had a lot of issues. But if it's still alive at this point you shouldn't have to worry about them.They're all Z-bodies and share very little with other GM models. This applies to the entire production run of SC/SL/SW's.A post-96 will be easier to deal with as it's running OBD2. Pre-96 is OBD1 and requires an older scan tool to hook up to it.
>>29084516Its an sc1. The sc2 had pop-ups.
>>29084832I'm pretty sure the SOHC's were the bad engines. They had the blocks that likes to crack. The only real issue with the DOHC's is the oil burning.
>>29085880The single cams are crap in an entirely different manner, you are correct. The twin cams had issues too
saturn s cars are a good example of gm accidentally doing something right, they compare favorably to japanese cars of that era and get great gas mileage. the single cam (sl1, sc1 etc) models have a taller final drive, lower redline, and make about 90-100hp. a manual sl can get like 42mpg if you drive the speed limit. sometimes the cylinder head cracks but not super common. twin cam models are like 125hp and like to rev. its the same engine either way (generally, depending on year) just with a choice of cylinder head. both often burn oil. manual transmission is fine, the auto has some specific problems but generally reliable if you know how to swap out a valve body and solenoid block. the TAAT trans is an early example of having an agressive torque converter lockup strategy that is more common nowadays, makes it feel a little more like a manual and improves gas mileage. make sure to check for rust at the front subframe and where the rear trailing arms attach to the car, this is usually what totals saturns (that or running out of oil, or spinning a tire too much and spitting the diff pin out the side of the trans when it grabs traction) theyre very light cars probably due to the entire fucking body being made of plastic, i kinda doubt you would survive a serious crash in one. i like to think of them as a modern day capitalist trabant
