2002 Saturn SC1 Worth Buying?
 

I like Saturns, but I don't know a lot about them. At an auction tomorrow is a 2002 SC1, 5 speed, black with a black interior, and 127k kms (78k miles). Any Saturn I have ever dealt with has been from the '90s, so is there anything I should know about this thing? I drove it around and it seems like a decent car. Any Saturn input is appreciated!

I'm not overly familiar with them, but believe if it's the SOHC engine (more efficient) it's probably worth it. Daox has been looking at beater 5 spd Saturns lately for himself.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...0-a-29156.html

You're going to make him envious!

It all depends on the price. Can you aquire it for a decent price, then turn around and make a ~15% profit? If so, I would say go for it.

If you have driven it then you know it runs at the very least. SOHC engines tend to have a random head cracking issue, check the oil and coolant for cross contamination. Can't say there is any way to tell if it will pop or not the cracking seems to be completely random so no real way to prevent it either. Saturns are good cars and that is low miles for one. The 00-02 versions are a little more complicated than earlier ones because of the BCM integration but are still good reliable cars. Take note ALL saturns burn oil so you will have to stay up on it. Synthetic oil helps but is not a cure.

I've had a couple, simple so they don't seem to brake much and when they do the parts are cheep and everything is easy to get to. The worst was my niece's 1990 dohc. She cracked the radiator which ran it dry and overheated it an cracked the head. Still new head and a week in my garage (mainly waiting on the eBay head) and it was going again. I think total it was $700 in parts, head, gaskets, radiator, new timing chain and water pump, all the fluids etc. Mine never needed more then a clutch, a starter, and a coolant sensor, it was a 2000 sc1 5-speed.

15% profit? That doesn't cover the taxes around here ha ha. I didn't end up getting it, it sold for more than I thought it was worth. $1400 I think. Plus by the time you add auction fees, taxes, etc you are close to $2k. I'd like to find another SW1 with a 5 speed like I had before, so I'll just keep my eyes open, sooner or later one will show up.

Good luck. I was looking for a manual wagon Saturn S-series for years. Recently I expanded my search to include the Ford Focus and just found a deal on one a few weeks ago. So now I'm trying to sell my SL2 and start driving my Focus.

We use a lot of Focuses (Focii?) for rentals in the summer. They are a good little car for the money, and one of the few 5 speed wagons left around that aren't at Fit or Matrix prices.

Yea for the price I couldn't pass on the car. True, flat to the bumper, wagons are basically extinct as are manual trans so when I found the car and negotiated the price I was happy when I got it. I wish the old owner would have take better care of the interior but I cant complain. Good luck finding your s-series wagon. They are there if you look hard enought. One day I'll find a 95 white SW2 and have to think about buying it but those chances get slimmer by the hour...

My '96 SW1 5 speed had 300k KMs (186k miles) and was $300 at an auction. But a friend that ran the auction asked me a few weeks later if I had a cheap station wagon around for a friend of his that needed a wagon. So I sold it to the guy at good guy price. It wasn't until it was sold that I looked in the glovebox and found a giant stack of receipts, like a hundred pages worth, of every single thing that had been done on that car since it was new. Replace the brake light bulb in 2001? Yup, the receipt was there. Man I shoulda kept that thing! But my auction friends help me out a lot, and I know on which side my bread is buttered, so here I sit wagonless ha ha.