I can speak from both sides of the fence as a Saturn owner, former Saturn
salesman and still a Saturn fan although I work for Chevy now.

Most will bash Saturn w/o knowing the history of the company nor knowing
that GM had been cutting their funding prior to them fully joining the GM
family. This caused a lack of improvement for Saturn and arrested growth for
years. Considering that GM has fully funded Buick and Pontiac and has lost
money on them as well, this has to be taken into consideration as well. It
was only a short while ago that GM was considering which of the 3 to close
and Saturn was seen as the most profitable to keep of the three.

Quality and fit and finish are some of the many reasons that polymer must
go. I love my polymer personally, but I have no qualm with perfect fit and
finish, and hydroformed steel panels are better looking anyways. Just look
at the SKY.

As far as safety and crash testing, I'm not sure anymore that to believe in
what I read. Recent crash testing says that the Aveo has a 5 star rating
while the ION is much lower. That's US ratings. In Europe, the Aveo,
otherwise known as the Kalos, and many other names all over the world has
miserably failed crash ratings. Why? Perhaps our tests weigh against any car
without standard side air bags. ION doesn't have them standard.

Do I believe that? Heck no. What I do believe in is the many customers and
people that I have met across the years who have survived major car crashes
in a Saturn. Nuff said. Real life experience speaks louder than lab
controlled tests. I also survived what might have been a serious accident if
I hadn't been in my old trusty SL2.

Change is good sometimes, if this means that GM will make better fitting
panels and still retain or increase safety, great. If thes means that Saturn
will become a mainstream name when people see the Aura or the SKY or Outlook
on the street and this means Saturn will finally become synonymous with
quality and luxury, Im all for that too. Can't wait to see what the future
brings for Saturn.

But I'm not ready to trade in my SC2 yet. ;-)

marx404