Do You Tell Your Friends How Much You Like Your Saturn?

[Charlie]

Do you ever tell your friends how much you like your Saturn? What do you tell them about, and what's their reaction?

[GreyDuck]

I tell them, but no one ever understands. I dont even own a Saturn and I love 'em, but I guess its just a Saturn Thing!

[Nuke-Em]

Of course I tell them. Unfortunately, they all think I'm crazy...that is...until they buy one!! Mwahahaha!!!

Matt

[Xanatos]

Yeah and they think I'm insane. They just don't get it.

[IONicSaturn]

Of course I tell all of my friends how much I love my Saturn! Right now, I have pretty much everyone I know liking Saturns, if not, at least understanding why I like Saturns. As of right now, my best friend is hell-bent on getting himself an ION Quad Coupe within the next couple of years, so I have him convinced. Now he's sort of an "honorary Saturn owner" considering he has a Nissan Altima. I say this because a few years ago (this was '98, so 5) when I first started liking Saturns, he had never really been exposed to Saturn in general, even though his cousins were actually in a commercial for Saturns in like '95-96 (one where a family owns a whole bunch of Saturns). Now, after about 5 years of me constantly talking about the way Saturn does things, polymer, SUPER NICE retailers, etc, he has finally realized what I am talking about and he is now dead-set on getting one for himself. Another good friend of mine, who actually comes from a Saturn family, completely understands why I love Saturns so much, but just doesn't like the styling of some of the cars (2003 L, ION sedan), which is comepletely OK because she does not have to like how anything looks, it's her opinion.

When I first show people who are unfamiliar with Saturn my car I jump straight to the polymer. I punch the car, and then I point out that there are no dents to be found any where on it. Then they ask how old it is and how many miles it has (kinda like saying "the car's only, such and such, years old, what do you expext?"). I just say "well, it's pushing 8 years old, and I just hit 102,000 miles yesterday." This is where the person's jaw hits the street (I especially enjoy this if the person I am talking to trys to convice me that all Saturns are garbage). I love my Saturn!

[silverplum]

I also tell my friends how much the quality has increased since the 2000 L Series came out.

[John10]

I rarely talk about Saturns except on this message board but I do speak positively about them if people ask me. Most people I talk to could care less about cars except for cost and reliability. They expect their cars to work routinely well regardless of brand. Negatives center on monthly payments, service issues and mechanical problems again regardless of brand. For many of the people I interact with on a daily basis, cars are like haircuts or doctors visits: simply something you need to put up with to get through life. IMO average owners and enthusiasts are light years apart in their interests.

[ProDarwin]

I tell them about my car with 205k miles on it, and how I killed them in the Auto-x (along with 32 other competitors - 6 beat me). I also tell them of my 4 wheel disk brakes, and how my wagon weighs way less than most of their cars.

[Hiddenlites]

The people I talk to about my car know that I like it and then we also joke about the things in need to fix on it, especially the muffler. I think for anyone to appreciate a Saturn, they have to drive one.

The most common knock I've heard about the car amongst my friend is that it's plastic. They think that it's just going to fold up like a pair of underware if it gets hit. They don't realize that it's one of the safer cars on the road. That's a feature I don't want to demonstrate.

[SilverNickelQC]

Yes all my friends know about Saturn all good thngs

[germ]

Heck yeah I do.My girlfriend is probably sick of hearing about my car and just Saturns in general.

[MydnightMyst]

I take a picture book with me that has pictures of both of my Saturns. The sedan I own and the Coupe I used to have. I like to talk about how well the cars are built, how long mine has lasted despite what I have done to it.. Holds up really well under pressure most of the time. I love the questions and expressions I get when I tell them it's a race car.
Most reactions these days are "Cool!" or "Neat!" and even "WOW!"
Sometimes I get a Why did you do that to a family car" thing and I remind them what the GTO was.. and is. :)

[eRic 02sc2]

when they ask, i tell them how i like my saturn. i like to kick the door panel and freak them out.

[03VUEAWDVTI]

Originally posted by eRic 96sc2
when they ask, i tell them how i like my saturn. i like to kick the door panel and freak them out. '

I did that once with my coupe and freaked out a co worker. :D

Yup, I'll tell anybody who asks what I do and don't like about my VUE.

[swoker183]

yeah i tell them and then they look at me like, but its a saturn. they just dont understand

[piney]

I've always talked the Saturns up. Back in the early days, complete strangers would walk up to me and ask about it. Usually they were driving foreign makes and looking for something new. It was fun back then. I'm certain that well over a dozen folks bought them - at least 4 just in my mother's office got the G1 SL2 after seeing mine.

[THX712517]

I tell them, they tell me.

[Qlara]

I tell them too, but mostly they just show me a face of "I've brainwashed by Saturn" :D

[Galileo]

Most of my friends don't ask about my Saturn because they think it's an inferior product. So I make sure to remark about their make's shoddy quality any time they have a problem with it.... and I don't tell them when I need repairs to my Saturn :p . It's all in fun though..... they know that I'm satisfied with my SC2 and they don't mind when I drive because it is a reliable car.

[cary]

I enjoy it when a business associate hops into the L and gives me the “I can’t believe it’s a Saturn,” line.

The next question, “Is it any good?” I tell them, “this is number seven.”

My friend Mike had the best response, “Nobody can be stupid seven times.”

[Twin_Cam]

"You're obsessed" or "Get away from me" ;)

[GR898SL2]

If asked, I'll be more than happy to tell. Most people are shocked when I tell them my Saturn is five years old, exclaiming, "But it looks brand new!" Score one for the polymer panels. :grnjump:

:flag:

[bigad21]

I love to tell my friends about my 91 saturn SC2. I bought it one year ago and i've been in love with it ever since. I also love to mess with civic drivers and tell them what makes my car so great and not have them believe me until they beaten in a little friendly race. Legal racing though ( wink wink) I love them so much that I convinced 3 people to buy one. I should recieve commission for those huh?:p

[Xanatos]

I find it funny that after 53 votes, it at 100% yes.

We're insane.

[David 93 SL2m]

Originally posted by Xanatos
I find it funny that after 53 votes, it at 100% yes.

We're insane. Yes. This is sort of like Consumer Reports. They will write about Toyotas and Hondas being the greatest thing since sliced bread. Then subscribers read these articles and buy Toyotas and Hondas. Lastly Consumer Reports sends a survey to its subscribers asking them how they like their cars. [Drum roll.] They are happy with their Toyotas and Hondas. No surprise. :hmpf:

I see the same thing with my kids. One of them will like a particular food while the other hates it. The one that hates it will say, "Blech. That is disgusting and gross. I'm not going to eat it." Guess what? The one that likes it will decide that it is now disgusting and gross and they won't eat it either. :hmpf:

I do talk about the virtues/advantages of buying and owning Saturn cars all the time to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and so on but I don't think I've ever convinced anybody to go out and buy one. Usually people have biases and prejudices and have made their mind up in advance. :dazed:

People don't believe me when I tell them the age of my Saturn S-Series cars (10 1/2 and 7 1/2 years old), the number of miles (over 125,000 miles each), my average fuel economy (35 to 38 m.p.g.), how infrequently the car goes in for service, and how little the parts cost. They look at the outside of the cars, the inside of the cars, the odometer, and still don't believe me. :cool:

[Qlara]

And maybe that's why so many people are still not believing in Saturn products. :D

Saturn cars are Unreal!

[XtremeGrandAm]

Well I didnt really enjoy the experience with my 01 SC2 towards when I got rid of it. But other than that I have mostly positive things that I tell my friends about saturn. And I have still convinced some people to purchase saturns so I must not be saying bad things :)

[DualCamCoupe]

It seems that I'm the only one who voted no so far. I tell people that I like my Saturn, but I don't want to go in to too much detail or I'll sound like I'm bragging.

[L300Boy]

I talk about my car a lot, and there's another L owner in my group. We have a few BMW owners, a VW owner, and a Toyota owner also in my group -- very interesting conversations sometimes.

[Arnel]

We all should find Bob Lutz' cell phone number and tell him how much we love our Saturns and how Saturn used to be - the pre-Cynthia Trudell era, a/k/a, the good old days.

[DesertPuma]

Not only friends, but complete strangers too :)

The other day I dropped off an application to a potential employer, you could see my VUE right out the front door. Someone there just bought a brand new L200, I asked who might have owned it (so I could talk about it of course), then pointed to my VUE. ("I love it!")

[100KSW2]

In the early days, before Saturns were everywhere, I used to keep brochures in my car because people would ask all the time, how did I like my car. I still get asked, "Did you get a NEW car?", especially right after I wash and wax it. (My car has almost 111,000 miles and turned 10 years old this week!)

I like telling people about the only non-warranty repair it needed in the first 50K miles (a passenger seat seatbelt retainer clip), which cost me $1.37, installed at Saturn of Carlisle Pike.

My wife does not care about cars and does not even drive, but she still remembers how much trouble (and expense) our previous car caused us, so she likes our Saturn and the fact that it keeps me smiling.

[David 93 SL2m]

I remember during the first year or two that we owned our 1993 SL2 we'd have people checking out our car and asking us questions all the time. Once a police officer followed us into a parking lot, put on their red and blue lights, and then came over to ask us about Saturns after pulling us over. (Whew!) Also I remember we only saw another Saturn on the roads maybe once a month and we'd get so excited to see another Saturn. Today they are everywhere.

My wife and I still get excited about spotting Saturns. I'll get home from work and the first thing she'll say is, "I saw an orange VUE and a silver VUE today." Then I reply with, "I saw a black ION and a silver green 2003 L-Series." Yes, we are both still nuts about Saturns. Two months ago we wanted to trade our minivan in for a VUE but the appraisal was not done fairly so we passed. But the incentives on the L-Series were so great that we could not pass it up. Hence my 1996 SC2 is up for grabs.

We also had cars in the past that literally cost us an arm and a leg to keep them running. Meanwhile our Saturns have cost us nothing out of the ordinary for relatively little routine maintenance. Most of the money that I've spent on my Saturns has been in the form of performance mods, not repairs. These are the best cars that I've ever owned in my life!

[WKDave3]

tell them about my baby all the time...my girlfriend is sick of it and i've convinced my parents to get a VUE....wooohooo

[99SC1-R]

Yeah i make sure to let people know that the plastic car is incredible despite what they may think.

And if anyone can point out the cars strong point, its my girlfriend, i think i've told her so ofter shes got the whole quality/price/fun speech memorized.

[pkschul]

My Saturn still has to prove that it is worthy of be "liked".
No issues recently, so it's growing on me more and more... unfortunately it took me over a year to consider it acceptable.
My wife, just filled out the Consumer Reports survey for our 02 VUE. She gave it pretty low scores on pretty much everything except styling. Needless to say, she never visits this site!

[David 93 SL2m]

Originally posted by pkschul
My wife, just filled out the Consumer Reports survey for our 02 VUE. She gave it pretty low scores on pretty much everything except styling. Needless to say, she never visits this site! I think she should not be allowed to drive the 1986 Grand National for 1 year as punishment... :hmpf:

[Kahakeaboi]

I tell them how much I like my Saturn, but most people never understood why I bought the L after so many issues with my S car. Then after all the issues I had with my L, many feel that I am crazy for still sticking by it and wanting to get an ION or VUE now...

I guess you have to own one, to understand. Maybe I jsut like being different and not looking like everyone else on the road...Who knows...

[IONicSaturn]

Originally posted by Kahakeaboi
I tell them how much I like my Saturn, but most people never understood why I bought the L after so many issues with my S car. Then after all the issues I had with my L, many feel that I am crazy for still sticking by it and wanting to get an ION or VUE now...

I guess you have to own one, to understand. Maybe I jsut like being different and not looking like everyone else on the road...Who knows...

That's exactly like me. Some people don't understand why I love Saturns so much even though I've had nightmare experiences with my '96 SL1. I guess it's just like you said, you have to own one to understand. If I recall correctly, you also have/had a '96 SL1, right? What issues did you have with yours?

[Twilight02ZX3]

I always tell my friends i love my car. Whenever one of them makes fun of me, I just ask them if they want to race. :D Then I remind them that I paid less, get better gas mileage, go faster, and that it is more practical. That shuts them up.

[David 93 SL2m]

Originally posted by Twilight02ZX3
I always tell my friends i love my car. Whenever one of them makes fun of me, I just ask them if they want to race. :D Then I remind them that I paid less, get better gas mileage, go faster, and that it is more practical. That shuts them up. Don't forget that you get fewer door dings than your friends do with their non-Saturn cars! :D

[Twilight02ZX3]

Originally posted by David 93 SL2m
Don't forget that you get fewer door dings than your friends do with their non-Saturn cars! :D

You know whats funny? I DO have a non-saturn car! LOL! Anyway. I havent gotten any dings or dents so far, and I am hopint that my streak will last

[David 93 SL2m]

Here are parking tips from another car site. Most of the tips are common sense but a few of the tips are not. Hopefully these will help keep all of our cars staying nice!

http://impala.homeip.net/impala/misc/parking.html

If the hyperlink does not work, here is the text from the webpage:

If possible, park way out in the lot, preferably 8-10 spots from the next car. Look for other cars that are parked out there: they are probably regulars at the establishment and know where to park to keep their cars from getting messed up. Park at least that far out if you can. Never, ever, take more than one spot. People will park beside you, ding you, key you, or worse just to "pay you back", no matter how far out you are or how few cars are around you. If you're forced to park near other cars, park near four doors and not two doors. The four doors are much shorter, and have less of a chance of hitting the car. On the other hand, four doors have a more irregular shape than two door cars, and may be more likely to contact metal instead of body molding. Use your judgement here. Take end spots, if available, and park as close to the end lines you can. That way you don't cheese anyone off, but you still get a nice buffer zone. If you are forced to park on one side of a car or another, try to make sure that you park with your car near the passenger door, and not the drivers door. A large percentage of the cars in the lot are driver-only and the passengers doors won't be open. Again, if you have choice, park with your drivers door next to the car beside you. You have a better chance of seeing a ding that way and leaving some pleasant reminder on the car beside you that they should not be dinging your car. Check out the car beside you for dings. If they don't care about their car, they won't care about yours. Park closer to the nicer car. Try to find another "car nut" car: nicely waxed, customizations, etc. Also, check for childrens toys or "old people stuff". Kids don't know any better, and it's sometimes difficult for older people to get into and out of their cars without opening the doors very wide. Don't count on "nobody being able to squeeze into a small spot". Someone will try. Also, don't create a small spot by parking too close to one line or the other, even if there are no cars there at that time. Again, someone will try to squeeze in. Unless you are on an end spot, park right in the middle of the space. Don't park under trees. All sorts of nasty stuff falls on your car, and sap is a real pain to get off. Use a car cover - Kimberly Clark Evolution 4 material is a great product, used by Covercraft, Wolf, Coverking, and others. Its 4 layer thickness will help prevent the dings should an errant driver bump your car. Buy the custom fit cover, and get a cable and lock, too, so some miscreant doesn't swipe your cover. Remember that carts roll downhill. Try to park where an errant rolling cart will not hit your car, on the top of a hill, if possible. Once you've found that perfect spot, take a look around and see what might be backing out behind you. Motorhomes, jacked-up pickups and a rusted out LTD who'se rear bumper is tied on with a piece of rope should all be avoided. Never park beside a car that is parked facing "downhill". The doors will fly open and bash yours as they get into / out of the car. Be careful around grassy areas. You never know when the sprinkler systems will turn on and douse your car. Worse yet, the lawn care people could come around and give your car a good coating of grass and / or rocks thrown from the lawn equipment. Park near a light at night. It's easier to see what you're doing when getting into and out of the car, and likewise for others. Also, it's less appealing to a thief if the car is in a lighted area.

[THX712517]

Nobody can be stupid seven times I like that quote. Needs to be a bumpersticker.

[birdee]

Yes, I tell everyone & they think I'm crazy. They would rather stick with their gas guzzling SUV that breakdown on a monthly basis!:redjump:

[SaturnVLN]

Definitely! Some of them have heard about Saturn's reputation for building a reliable American car. Others do not understand my enthusiasm for Saturns. I believe it's something that people just have to experience. I managed to get a good friend of mine to consider a Saturn for his next car and he ended up with a 2004 Vue, which he is very fond of. If he can keep his wife from driving his Vue, he will. He doesn't like driving his wife's VW Passat. :yes:

[FL ION BY]

Yep, whenever I get the chance. I think everyone already knows of my interest in the line of cars though.