Here’s how Saturn failed at being a different kind of car company 

That treatment was how the Saturn dealers were trained. Where your car was parked at the dealership was called the "launching pad" in honor of the Saturn rocket for which your car was named after and the celebration was an all hands on deck sorta thing. It was fun to watch the new owners face.

That's a great story man.

Should have got a Toyota

@@droopytx it's almost like you completely missed the point

@@goshaios5799 only thing good about saturn are the engines...

No doubt about it. They love a good bailout. Taxpayers got raped for billions. Tens of thousands of jobs lost, and millions lost their guaranteed pensions. There aren’t enough words to describe how bad GM screwed up. At least the execs didn’t lose their summer homes.

@@Peekay9 That's a lie. A damned lie in fact. Taxpayers made tens of million on the repayment of GM's bailout loans. Tens out thousands of MI and IN (here) jobs were saved. Thanks Obama! He makes the best deals. ;-) I think you'll find Republicans' myth of executive infallibility, union-busting and culture of pension-looting mostly to blame.

The EA of car companies.

@@richsackett3423 - Go ahead and praise the Muslim from Kenya. He will be running back to his birth country soon enough - as the gallows come calling.

@@Peekay9 OK. Obama turned around our economy for 8 consecutive years after Bush43 let Wall Street crash the family car. "Hang Mike Pence" has already failed. You're just jealous of Barry's three-point jumper. Me too, if I'm honest.

Damn I want to go to flight school now that I can afford it but at 47 it’s too little too late 😢.

@@marioavila1559 All the airlines are hiring. at 47 it's not too late

In other words, overpaying by a significant amount

So like basically paying sticker price like you can do on any car

Did you squeeze it like a tomato?😁

Compared to what's happening today with dealers asking tens of thousands over sticker, that's very refreshing.

Customer-oriented service will always make a great impression and put a smile on the customer’s face, and it’s sad to see we’ve went down this path of corporate greediness… It’s only getting worse

They really ought to bring back the Saturn badge for a line of EVs. Glad I'm not the only one who thinks that would be cool.

Oooo David you might have a strong point 🤔

They did. There's a movie called Death of the electric car. They were the pioneers.

Interesting you say that, because the GM is investing billions for the former Saturn plant in Spring Hill, TN to start manufacturing all-electric teaming up with LG. Expanding to a 2.8-million-square-foot facility.

@@charliebeers2013 yes, there's a documentary about it.

Funny part is when they started planning Saturn, they could have just bought Toyota.

I loved my ion. It was a giant leap forward from the rusted out honda accord i had before it.

Never really got to know the Saturn cars it just looked interesting.

After spending billions to launch Saturn, what was the problem spending a bit more to be fully competitive quality-wise with the imports?

How typical of GM.

its the automatic and V6 that are trash, but the standard and 4 cylinder engine are better made they run forever.

I doubt the rust claim you made up in the north east nothing survives rust

@@Creptex they were plastic.

You’re right. 1993 manual SC2, 300+k miles

Yep I bought a new '98 SL1 5 speed sedan in beautiful sandstone beige. It was a no option car, just had AC but no CC, nothing power. My mom had a similarly equipped '97 Cavalier sedan but hers had AT. My Saturn felt so smooth, refined, quality made compared to the Cavalier. 2 same size cars from GM, about same price, but the Saturn was way nicer.

I bought my Saturn used. It burn oil I replace the CV valve that help with the oil burning. Actually I think they are opposed to burn some oil.

Did you continue buying other GM cars instead?

@@patrickwilson2726 I haven't need to buy another car since I bought my Saturn S-Series about 12 years ago

What year it was

That's nice that they left that memento from the past

Same in South Carolina! Its a buick dealership now but the road is Saturn Pwy

@@Mr.WaffulzzzHa! That’s in Harbison, I used to work at the CPR cell phone repair on Saturn Parkway. right off 26

My first car was a Saturn. I didn't realize what a cluster buying a car anywhere else was at the time. When I bought my second car (used, at a dealership, never again) many years later I was appalled at the hassle and the BS and only then understood what a breeze it was buying a car with Saturn.

Wikipedia about Saturn Corporation: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JVpIKW3Q9Jw.html

I sold my winter beater saturn to a co workers kid so I could buy a truck, I'm regretting it now because the kid never registered it in the 3 months he's had it now, maintaince is obviously past due, but he also doesn't have a license, come to find out he was arrested for operating without license or registration and now the poor thing is sitting at the impound lot, probably never to be retrieved either since the dunce blew most of his money on buying the car, then decided to quit his job immediately after because he had enough money to buy the car so I guess he figured he wouldn't need a job. I was under the impression, as per his dad's word to me. That the kid was going to get his license, register the car, get a better job and move up with his life. Come to find out he only wants to F around and play dumb when the repercussions of his reckless behavior catch up with him. (He blames me for the cars impound status, because I wasn't "cool" and didn't let him drive with my old plates.) Kids these fuckin days... I want my saturn back damnit.

@@BigWheel. Oh man, Looks like you might have to hound the impound for the next auction date.

Saturn are excelent car if you bought it with a 4 cylinder engine and a standard transmission.

As a former owner, the SL and SC cars really are true workhorses and super easy and cheap to repair

I know this for a fact!!! I worked for Saturn advance engineering in MI. Every year GM mandated some idea they had without any testing for us to do!! And everyone one had to be reworked and tested to be viable !!! They were AH's !!! Don

I remember the Saturn's of the early 90s and owned one myself. They weren't very refined they were noisy but they were much more reliable than the other GM cars at the time

@@jamessouthworth1699 Buick LeSabre was GM's second most-reliable model after Saturn.

One area where Saturn excelled was dealer service. In fact they rated number one in dealer service. Penske Auto consider to buy the Saturn Name for this reason. They were trying to workout a joint venture with Renault, where they would build the cars and Penske call them Saturns. That would have been a slow death of Saturn.

Oh for 1955 what's good for GM is good for America. I love the hubris in old car ads "Ask the man who owns one"....

All the movie days, and car clinics for women they did too.

Three years. The plant was finished in 1988 but the first model year was 1991

To be fair there was alot less to do back then. No one was sitting at home watchin netflix

The UAW did not like Saturn being non-union and made a stipulation during GM's bankruptcy agreement that Saturn would go away. Notice the UAW is now making cars in Springhill, TN??????????????????????????????????????????

Saturn was a UAW shop, but the agreement was a lot more cooperative. The rest of the UAW didn’t like that much, but it isn’t correct to say it wasn’t unionized.

That was very nice of Saturn

No company will ever have the heart of saturn. What other time has a company given a FULL refund when taking a car after a death? They often will take the car and give nothing, maybe a partial refund if lucky.

@@JDMHaze It sure was

@@Bobby-cm7vu Times definitely have changed, unfortunately!

Wow.... that should be it's own video.... I''ve never heard of that happening.

Your dad sounds like he'd be great at parties... I'm joking 😁

Hey he had a point. It was a new product and it probably looked like a gimmick more than anything. What did he end up getting?

Not sure why you said "true story" what? A salesman doing his best to look dumb? Like usual.

My mom almost bought a vue when they came out. They had a door in the showroom with a hammer on a cable that you could beat the door with.

How cool did not know that I live in Crestview fl west of you

Very interesting.

I had a '94 sc2 great cat it was in our family for 21 years. Now I want to buy a '98 with the 3 doors

The former Saturn dealership in Rockford Illinois is now a Hyundai dealership

Talk about horrible planning or naïveté on the part of the dealer franchise. If they started building one month before the brand was discontinued someone, somewhere in the process knew it was closing. Some people really are idiots.

Preach. Keep them (original S-series) maintained, and they would just keep working without complaint.

GM is still failing today.

@My Pronoun is WTF the Saturn s series were not at all the same as a Chevy product.

We had a SL2 we bought brand new in 97 . No complaints. It was a great car . We drove it everywhere. It was used and abused and ran great .

They should have just made this car the new j car instead of wasting resources on multiple dogs that wouldn’t hunt. Everyone in the 9os even the kids were not fooled , everyone knew these were general cars. The issue is , like with most of post wwii America - they didn’t want to own it.

Charm offensive. People felt pampered and thought the salespeople were honest and transparent. They could be sold anything after being softened up like that.

Yes no rust but everything else wrong with them

You should have seen one after a hail storm

That's because the doors were made of plastic

You still don't, unless you look underneath!

Unfortunately, that gimmick wasn't good enough to beat Toyota or Honda.

your first sentence describes GM in a nutshell,.... Their crap management is what destroyed them, and them over saturating the market with an excessive amount of brands selling damn near five of the same vehicle... Saturn operating independently wasn't a bad idea

It's the same thing that GM did with SAAB, although part of that is SAAB's fault as well. When partnered with SAAB , GM would provide them funds and access to their "parts bin" and their platforms. SAAB would then take them and make them more SAAB like, costing lots of money and really not getting any return. If GM would have put the money into Saturn in it's final days (and maybe improved some of the issues people are griping about - oil issues) I am sure they would be on the road today. Instead, GM invested in other companies that are no longer with us: Hummer, Oldsmobile, Pontiac. The only reason Buick survived is brand loyalty of the octogenarian and the Chinese who love them.

The later Saturns and SAABs were just re-badged Opels. Opels were sales flops in Germany and even bigger flops in other countries.

@@raverboyloki GM killed Isuzu as well.

I loved my Astra. Sold it to my son, who drove it into the ground...

my 94 sl2 is still kickin haha, looks a bit shit but she runs

@@jesseihc3361 i drive a 2000 sw2. i love it. i had an 01 civic before this car and i'd rather have the saturn. i've had two dipshits in the last 3 months bounce off her with nothing worse that scrapes thanks to the plastic body.

@@70mcnevin My 2002 Saturn SL series still looks almost new. Manual crank windows which I like. Made in Tennessee which is stamped on the window. I'm the second owner and it's my second Saturn.

My son is putting his 20yr old to pasture just this summer.200000 plus miles.still runs like a top, floors are finally giving away.

My aunt bought a 94 Saturn Wagon new and had it for about a decade. It was put through its paces, the AC didn't work, the manifold was warped, so she had to keep some extra oil and water with her, but that thing started right up every time you turned the key. Every time. Without fail.

@TOM you are intitled to your opinion i don't have the time or patience to sit there and haggle i guess that's why i hate buying a new car

Im looking to buy and 06 Vue scouring the internet now for customer experience. That's really awesome about your hybrid. 🙌

That's amazing!

Didn’t even know they had a hybrid model

And...Roger Smith actually agreed to Michael Moore's interview request...but that wouldn't have made a very good (or long) movie if they had just met right away. I have a Sky Turbo and it does have a different suspension and look than the Solstice GXP, but the good thing about the Saturn deal was that the Pontiac dealerships were charging up to 10K$ OVER INVOICE at that time!

Also , one can "Praise" Roger Smith for forming Saturn and It's clean sheet approach to developing good reliable attractive well made , well organized cars to effectively compete with Japanese imports.;.... However.... Roger Smith in doing so screwed over, GM workers and their families with crappy labor agreements, cut cost and reduced overall quality, profitablity and reliability with all other existing GM brands by closing plants, creating production issues with allowing cheap , poorly made materials, enter production via GM parts bin ( cheap plastic "wood grain panels in the interiors of Buicks, Oldsmobile AND Cadillac models for example.) Furthermore ,Smith's further cost-cutting measures also included his audacious, notorious " cookie cutter "brand marketing model approach for all of the car divisions and which all of the cars look pretty much like all of the others cars all of the different divisions this included All J- bodied,(Chevrolet Cavalier Buick Skyhawk Oldsmobile Firenza Pontiac j2000 sunbird and the infamous Cadillac Cimarron) A-bodied ,( Chevrolet Celebrity Buick Century Pontiac 6000 and Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera) N-bodied (Pontiac Grand am Buick Somerset regal and the Oldsmobile Cutlass ciera) the E body -ed full size front wheel drive Cadillac Eldorado ,Buick Riviera ,Oldsmobile Toronado ) And finally C bodied full-size FWD sedan and coupe models ( Buick Electra Oldsmobile 98 and Cadillac DeVille). All of these important models ( Except for minor differences in divisional trim themes ) were products that all looked the same , drove the same and had the same issues ( problems ) as all of the other divisions ( Except Saturn of course) . This is another reason why GM attempted to market Saturn as a separate entity from all the other divisions. Why....Because The other divisions were plagued by GM bureaucracy as well as GM 's inability to solve it's manageable quality control problems !!!!!. Later on the success of Saturn's management, Sales and quality success GM's corporate minions began to sabotage Saturn as a successful entity by cannibalizing inferior GM parts from other divisions thus contaminating Saturn with all of the other problems that all of the other divisions had and making very stupid choices which began to damage the reputation of the Saturn brand which killed Saturn ultimately....... this is what happens when you have greed, stupidity,and "too many cooks spoiling the soup" of a very good product the same can be said about GM's debauchery of the EV-1 electric car program they had a very successful well-made ( but ugly) electric car that people actually desired and wanted that was well made, well orchestrated and had great potential that was totally and completely sabotage of its development and its inception right from the very beginning .,. Once again thank you GM for your greed shortsightedness and your incompetency!!!

@@rodferguson3515 Moore was no hero, but he had it right with Saturn. Also, you are taking a bit of a selective tour of the facts. The homoganeation of GM brands began long before Moore's tenure which started in 1981. If go back far enough you will find a strategy of cross-polination to both reduce costs and increase the difficulty of breaking up GM by the justice department. GM interiors already sucked in mid/late 70's and the enterprise-wide platforms were already in place long before Roger took the big chair. i was there in the late 70's and quality was already awful. Saturn was an attempt - albiet unsuccessful / too little / too late to fix a beuracurcy controlled by bean counters. Blame Roger if you want to but GM's entrenched braindead leadership and their inability to keep UAW power in check led to the decay and destruction of a great industry, great city, and also untold personal misery for millions. They are a shadow of the former company and are positioning themselves for another great failure as their EV results (and plans) are laughable.

@@carlmelville Carl on the contrary Michael Moore exposed not only GM's business practices but also Roger Smith's backstabbing and skulduggery practices upon American workers especially workers who had very good labor and pension and retirement packages Smith was dipping into those retirement funds that those workers had and basically left them high and dry without adequate unemployment compensation.how would you like it if a multi-million dollar CEO like Roger Smith did that to you ?....you wouldn't like it now would you?

Saturn was a waste of time and resources from the beginning. GM had a division designed to fight imports... It's called "Chevrolet". Diverting resources into a separate division at a time when those resources were becoming scarce, and diverting them from a proven market winner was a terrible error. Saturn had zero brand image (nobody writes songs about Saturns... but they do write them about Corvettes...), had no scale, and was carried on the financial back of Chevrolet and Cadillac anyway. Instead of pissing away money and talent creating something new out of nothing, it should have been devoted to making Chevrolet everything it could be.

Not that americanized actually. At least not in a bad way like the Cavalier.

What was so bad about the Cavalier? It was rough around the edges and an ancient design… but you STILL see them driving today on a daily basis. Long after your precious Japanese cars rusted into oblivion and your European cars became one gigantic electrical fault.

@@Bartonovich52 are you sure you can easily see 1981 to 1988 Cavaliers? By the mid-90's the were mostly gone being very unreliable and not competitive to their japanese counterparts at all. The reason? Well, mostly the infamous X-car suspension, too massive and soft for the compact car as well as the engine - buzzy and underpowered. BTW the Ascona rusted faster than Cavalier but had no engine or electric issues.

@@Bartonovich52 You are right. In my hometown of Lansing Michigan, there are TONS of late 90's and early 2000's Cavaliers, probably hundreds. Some are in good shape, some aren't. People like them.

Exactly. The first time I saw a Cadillac Catera, I thought it was a Saturn. Turns out, they were both made by Opel. 🤣

Gm STARTED Saturn. So how could the “ruin” something they started? Lmao.

We have a red Saturn Sc2 ! It’s a 1995

@@danielpeddicord6079 How can they ruin something they started? Same way you ruin anything else, rash decisions and poor quality control. Just because you started it doesn't mean you can't screw it up.

​@@danielpeddicord6079 Bro. Watch the fuckin video, lmao.

Fiero was a precursor. The Gillman mill & drill machines were used at Saturn.

Diane Jackson From Lantana, FL Drives Her White Mid Or Late '90s Saturn SW2 Today.

It was designed to service easily. There were many things in the car that didn't even take tools to repair. Head lights and tail lights were easily accessible, etc.

The transmission also was designed with the valve body and oil pan on the top instead of on the bottom. Because of this the usual fine metal particles and clutch plate debris would build up in the valve body and eventually jam up the valves and the trans wouldn't shift properly. My valve body had to be replaced at around 70K miles and it wasn't covered under warranty.

Nice, My 04 Ion Reline is still my daily driver... Damn, its getting hard to get parts these days.

And Hummer

And let's not forget SAAB . Okay, SAAB hung around for a couple of years, and was sold (sort of), but they ruined the brand beyond repair.

I absolutely hate GM for killing Saturn and Pontiac. Mismanaged money and high @s- paid CEO's that didn't know their @s- from a hole in the ground and to much government destroyed them. And Oldsmobile as well. Now that they are going to all electric, I can see how long the rest is gonna last as well. Oh well. Ford screwing up as well. Killed of all their car except the Mustang that's gonna be electric.

The way GM killed their first electric car was the stuff of documentaries.

Pontiac just isn’t talked about enough. The Trans Ams from the late 70s and the 2002s were both insanely ahead of their time in their stylings.

A neighbor of mine has a Solstice, hes kept it like new. Love the styling of the car.

I have one r/n bought it from a family friend for $1k it’s a single owner car until me and was in pretty good shape except the convertible top got knifed and sewn back up (robbed in San fran) for some reason original owner never had it fixed under insurance.

@@Protoking $1K !!! Hot damn ! Good deal.

Buy a Mazda MX5. You’ll get over it real quick. Much better roadster.

@@BIGLOVE4TRUTH Its suspension is better for the track “out of the box” but harsher for everyday driving.. sure they weigh less too being unibody but I do know the Solstice engine is a popular upgrade for certain year Miatas as it’s more powerful and bolts right up and that’s the base model 2.4 never mind the 2.0T. Both engines are very receptive to forced induction. I know they made a turbo Miata for a few years that didn’t sell. I want to supercharge my 2.4 for increased bottom end torque mostly, engine has enough top end to satisfy me and I wouldn’t bother turbocharging the 2.4 turbo lag will leave the bottom end still lacking.

I could pull 40 mpg with the one I had with a stick. Bought a ton of salvage ones, fixed them and sold them.

I always thought the SKY was a very nice looking little car.

caribman10 I’m a fan of American made cars too… what’s ur favorite brands? Mine would be Mercury, Lincoln, and Buick.

He would have taken them racing, no doubt.

I agree, when the news struck I was so sad

@@masonf7332 Modern? Pontiac, Chevrolet (where I worked), Studebaker, Chrysler.

@@davidgalinat4257 Saturn had already had a factory race team.....

yess!!! What amazed me was Saturn was one of Jim's few reliable brands

I still have a 02 vue with the 5 speed and I love it, although it is on its last leg. I bought it used 10 years ago for $3000 and have put about 150,000 miles on it since then.

I feel the same about Pontiac

JDM Haze Still driving my 1994 Grand Am SE with the 3100 V6. Mileage per gallon not so great but no problems. Just oil and trans fluid changes regularly and brake jobs when needed. 164,000 miles

Still have my wife’s grandmas old 1995 Buick century with the 3100 v6 bought new passed on to us . With 60k when we got her I have 211k now and still driving it daily 17 years later with 38degree in Florida weather will not be given up

@@keithrussell2307 What a sweet ride, it was hog heaven with GM in the 90s, once the 2000s came they went downhill... I really hate when good car companies with potential lose their way, Nissan equally the same,, the 2000s reeked tragedy

Thanks, as a relative newbie I definitely appreciate the feedback from a long-time successful youtuber! Hope I can someday come close to you've accomplished.

@@MyOldCar Shouldn't be hard. You make high quality content, so it'll come. I only started in 2019, and now I'm being called "long-time"! 😀 If you ever need any help, let me know.

I just promoted this video on my channel, so hopefully you'll get a few more views & subscribers.

It’s your turn...

GM did go bankrupt in 2009. The Govt should have never bailed them or Chrysler out.

@@joecostantino3684 yeah they should of just let 500,000 people lose their jobs instead. That would really do wonders for the economy! 🤡

@@swoocu that ended up happening anyway look at all the plant workers that got laid off. Look at all the jobs that were either eliminated or moved overseas.

@@joecostantino3684 Not bailing out GM and Chrysler would have killed both companies! That would have meant bad publicity and lots of propaganda for rival nations! Import companies like Toyota and Volkswagen would have completely taken over the American car market! Not acceptable for Americans!!!!

@@johnnymason3265 but the Japanese companies already took over "normal" car sales. Go to a highway and truly see how many Japanese/ Korean cars are out there. The big three even let the Japanese take full control of the car segment

My '99 SC2 is waiting in the garage for tomorrow morning. Made its annual KS to MI and back Thanksgiving trip without a hitch. 222,000 miles.

I hear the Sky’s fetch a fair price these days, if they’re in good condition.

I had a 97 SL2, the main oil seal went out. When it was cold out the whole body vibrated and sounded like a Piper Cub. The SL1 lasted the longest with manual transmission.

My aunt's 94 wagon was beyond solid. No matter what, that engine started right up every time you turned the key.

Same. I'm still driving the same one today.

It's a Chevrolet Malibu clone with same engine.

@@waltchan the Aura came out a year before the Malibu redesign so technically the Malibu is an Aura clone. Basically every GM vehicle is a copy of another. I like the styling of the Aura better than the Malibu anyway and that’s why I said the Aura was a great car and why I didn’t say Malibu.

A fun fact about that door. It was designed by an SC owners son who usually sat in the back but it was hard for him to get in and out. He designed it and submitted it to the right people at Saturn and they paid him a royalty on every car with the door.

i'm on the hunt for an 05-07 vue 4 banger right now!

Yes he was, for a long time I thought he just did car dealership commercials for Memphis dealers but found out later he was all over the country.

It must of had the Honda Engine