Looking at buying an 04 ion quad door manual

[dakota1820]

I ran across this Saturn ion on marketplace. They're asking $1400 has 179,000 miles they have owned it 59,000 miles. It is a manual trans. They mention the axle is making noise at any speed while turning. I imagine it just needs an axle shaft. That being said I've only owned s series Saturn's so moving into an ion is an all new beast. What should I know? Pros and cons to the ion? Things to watch for? I appreciate all the Info and insight. Thanks everyone!

[Bill Murray]

I think the Ion is under-appreciated.
You get the rustproof body with the GM delta platform high volume production thus wide ongoing availability of most parts.

If you can do your own labor on repairs, you can run for a long time without spending a lot of money.

[SLfun]

Ion's can be great cars, and if it has the 2.4 Ecotec it should pull the car along quite nicely with 170 hp. The 2.2 is alright too, but does not have the grunt of the 2.4.

Things to look out for: ask if the timing chain/ guides have been replaced. The timing chains on these are known to fail suddenly and will ruin the motor. Oil leaks, from the valve cover usually. The front end will probably need work by now, but for sure the steering intermediate shaft will need to be replaced unless it's already been done. Not expensive but annoying.

There were also several important recall's that should have been done by now: the air bag, ignition switch and if you are lucky, the fuel pump assembly.

The Ions are known to have rust issues on the fuel lines and pump areas causing fuel leaks. If you smell gas around the fuel tank under the car walk away, because I think GM will only fix this if the car has under 150 miles on it. That said, this may only apply to the Ion Quad coupes, not sure....

Hope this helps, good luck!

[Citation84]

'There were also several important recall's that should have been done by now: the air bag, ignition switch and if you are lucky, the fuel pump assembly.'

Also the power steering electric motor.

An '04 with a manual lets you avoid the Quad coupe's CVT [vTi] disastrous continuously variable transmission.

OP: did you buy it?

I've had my 05 ION 1 since new. If anything happened to it I'd buy another one, actually.