Car Spotter - A Saturn Astra c.2007-2010.

One of my sisters has had 3 Saturns and absolutely loved each one. 

Steve

Looks like a pretty cool model, but to be honest, I don't recall paying much attention to the 1:1. if I've seen one, I never gave it a 2nd look.

John, you are not alone.  Nobody else paid much attention to these rebadged Opels from Belgium either.  Very few copies found homes and Saturn went belly up. The traditional bean counters at GM were glad to see Saturn go away. Had Saturn stuck to its original mission we would still be driving them.

@david-knight 

I recall the larger sedans from this time frame, many of them used to be on the roads here in Metro-Detroit. In relationship to the other sedans offered at the time, it was a decently attractive car. Not being a GM fan or buyer, I wouldn't have considered it. I will say that compared to really ugly sedans that Saturn 1st came out at their introduction, it was a nice-looking car. I seldom see them now, but I will admit that the ugly 1st generation sedans still show up from time to time, which says something about their quality, I guess.

I owned just one Saturn, a 2001 Coupe with the odd driver's side extra door (of sorts).  I had traded in a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire coupe on it; a very dependable car that I used as a daily commuter for three years and loved.  Within a week I regretted my decision; mainly because the "extra" side door was rather awkward to use, the Saturn driver position was lower to the ground and comparatively more difficult to access and lastly it had less power.  The plastic panels were a good idea though; especially when a deer ran into the side of the Saturn on the highway.  It impacted the front driver's side wheel and carried on down the entire side of the car.  The only damage was a snapped off side mirror and the paint needed a good polish to get the scuff marks out.  The body man was super impressed, saying that if it was my previous Sunfire I would be needing a new fender, door and major work on the rear quarter.  I sold this car early on as I grew very tired of it and have stayed with Japanese cars ever since.

You either loved ‘em or you didn’t.  As I recall, for 2001 each dealer got two SC2 coupes in yellow, the same color as on the Corvette. I bought one as a mid life crisis and loved it. We drove it from Virginia to the Grand Canyon. Great trip. I loved that car and wish I still had it. 

My daughter's first car was one of those three-door Saturns in metallic red. She liked the car (though wished it had electric windows instead of the wind-up kind). Sadly it met an untimely end in collision with a bus (the bus had no damage).

GM's decision to open the Spring Hill plant was not without local controversy. GM had bought Hayne's Haven, an old plantation estate with a beautiful 1800s era mansion on the property. Fortunately, the old home was renovated and re-used as office space. You can barely see the plant from the road and the front grounds were kept as they were, with old stone fences and such. At least this was the state of things twenty years ago. My in-laws lived in Mt. Pleasant and we used to take the kids to visit every few weeks or so. Driving past Hayne's Haven was a bit commonplace for these visits - once we even saw a Saturn owners' meet on the property - the original buyers were quite enthusiastic about the car in the beginning. Last I heard GM SUVs were being built there, but I'm not sure what's going on now.

When I met my future wife she lived in pre-Saturn Spring Hill. Once married and moved to east TN we sold her house for what we could get, no profit at all as I remember. A year or two later came the GM announcement and we banged our heads against the wall - if we'd only known. Real estate in sleepy old Spring Hill skyrocketed.