The Ion Red Line coupe doesn't seem to fit in Saturn's vehicle line, although it adds considerable spice to it.
Other Saturn models are a picture of Midwest conservatism, but the Red Line is a ferocious little coupe that's as much fun as a sports car. Its intercooled, supercharged four-cylinder engine kicks out 205 horsepower and lots of torque. It allows a sprint to 60 mph in 6.1 seconds, but still delivers an estimated 29 mpg on the highway and 23 in the city.
| 2005 SATURN ION RED LINE PRICE
$20,885 LIKES
Fast. Sharp handling. Good fuel economy. Hidden rear doors. Competition package option. DISLIKES
No automatic transmission. Small radio controls. Optional large rear spoiler obstructs vision. |
| |
Premium 91-octane gasoline is recommended for the best performance, but Saturn says 87-octane can be used.
Other front-drive Saturn coupes and sedans naturally are slower, with a 140-horsepower four-cylinder engine. They also don't have the Red Line's nifty short-throw shifter for its five-speed manual gearbox, which works with a quick-action clutch. No Red Line automatic transmission is offered, though.
Regular Saturns also lack the $20,885 Red Line's special features, which include a sport suspension and wide 45-series performance tires on 17-inch forged aluminum wheels.
The quick Red Line steering has a tight, race-car feel, and the special suspension and tires make the car feel glued to the road. The ride on a 230-mile one-day round trip was firm but compliant, except over sharply raised interstate highway expansion strips that stretched across the road for a few miles. The brake pedal has a nice feel, and stopping distances are short.
Passing is easy because the power-boosting supercharger doesn't lead to the inherent throttle lag caused by a turbocharger. The quickest 65-75 mph passing is in third gear, but fifth gear provides decent passing except in tight, fast-moving traffic.
Special Red Line items give it a racy look and prompted passersby to ask what brand of car it was. The items include a sport fascia, rocker panels beneath doors and an optional, dealer-installed rear spoiler. Inside the sporty, generally quiet interior are body hugging Recaro sport front bucket seats, leather wrapped steering wheel and special trim.
The $230 large rear "Aero Wing'' spoiler is best avoided because it seriously blocks vision through the back window. It also might make drivers over the age of 25 feel a little silly -- as if they're driving their 17-year-old brother's car.
The Red Line is the most expensive Saturn, but has anti-lock all-disc brakes and features of the top-line Ion 3 model. They include air conditioning, cruise control, AM/FM/CD/MP3 player, split-folding back seat, fold-flat front passenger seat, rear defogger and power windows, mirrors and locks with remote keyless entry.
New for later 2005 Red Line models is a $1,470 Competition Package option with a limited-slip differential for better power delivery to roads, a supercharger boost gauge on the adjustable steering wheel column with illuminated tachometer rpm readings, painted wheels with polished rims and projector beam fog lights.
The most important item is the limited-slip differential because the Red Line can't deliver power to the road as effectively without it as does the rival 230-horsepower, front-drive Dodge Neon SRT-4, which has such a differential.
The Competition Package, which was on my test Red Line, will cost a bit less for the 2006 model, which Saturn said will have a base price just below $20,000.
The Saturn Ion sedan and coupe arrived for 2003 as the first significantly new Saturns since this General Motors division opened for business in 1990 with the goal of stealing sales from mostly Japanese automakers.
Saturn's no-haggle pricing policy and features such as the car's dent- and rust-resistant body panels soon became popular. Its Spring Hill, Tenn., plant became almost a shrine to many Saturn owners.
Saturns were fairly ordinary and less refined than many rival small cars. But most owners ignored those facts because clever GM marketing made the autos seem really special. Remarkably, 40,000 Saturn owners even drove to a "homecoming'' at the Spring Hill plant in June 1994, despite rainy weather.
That's all gone. For one thing, GM stuck with dated Saturn models for far too long. Saturn has become just another GM car line, and GM wants the Spring Hill plant regarded as just one of its facilities.
The first Saturn mid-size L-Series sedan and wagon arrived in 2001, but were average cars produced far from Spring Hill in Wilmington, Del., and recently have been dropped. Meanwhile, Saturn engineers have been shipped back to GM in Michigan.
Ah, but the Ion Red Line coupe is a standout. It has practical features of the conventional Ion coupe such as dual rear-hinged back doors with concealed handles that allow easier access to the rear seat. The doors don't open or close independently of front doors and call for a long reach for rear occupants to close and awkward maneuvers for them to open.
At least there's tolerable room in back for two 6-footers, although they have little room to spare. Rear dual cupholders are easy to use without much threat of spills.
There's good room up front, where stylish, center-mounted dashboard gauges are fairly easy to read and the air conditioning system blows enough cold air through fairly large "eyeball'' dashboard vents to keep the interior cool on 90-plus degree days.
Radio controls are small, but climate controls are large and don't feel cheap, as they did in old Saturns. Thoughtful touches include easily used steering wheel controls for the cruise system, a dashboard tollway coin drawer, storage pockets in doors and conveniently located dual console cupholders.
However, a lack of a cover for the passenger's visor vanity mirror shows cost-cutting, as does the absence of a light for either mirror. Interior materials have been improved but still don't compare with Toyota's or Honda's.
Rear seatbacks flip forward, along with the front passenger seatback, to enlarge the cargo area. And the rear ones have in-trunk release levers to prevent thieves from gaining entry to the trunk through the back seat area. The trunk has a low, wide opening, but its lid hinges eat into it a bit.
The Ion Red Line has sports car moves, but actually is one of the new American hot rods that can easily outrun big, old American V-8 muscle cars.