Saturn Ion

By U Learn It | February 22, 2009

General Motors launched Saturn Ion in 2003 as a replacement for the S Series that had come to an end, but this is not a singulary model, since other designs accopanied this change on the market. According to statistics, Saturn Ion pleased users more than any other compact car available on the American market, and this is the reason why it was sold for such a long time, till 2007 when it was replaced by Saturn Astra. This car included the famous General Motors Delta platform and it had a standard DOHC Ecotec I4 engine that generated 140 horsepower.

Saturn ion

The position of the instrument panel was pretty striking in the interior design of Saturn Ion, thus instead of being located behind the steering wheel as it happens for most other car concepts, it had a frontal position in the center of the dashboard. The Saturn Ion varieties available on the market included the coupe and the sedan. The modernity this car enjoyed came from the gearbox that allowed room for five forward gears adjusted to the regular manual gearbox. The ratios were conceived in such a way so as to improve the acceleration time and make fuel consume efficient. Moreover, with Saturn Ion, the planetary gear set no longer caused overheating issues.

General Motors upgraded the first Saturn Ion design according to the requirements of a superior more powerful Red Line issued in 2004. The model was imagined as a sportier car with a more powerful engine of 205 horsepower, a stiffer suspension and special valved shock absorbers; the LSJ, Ecotec engine was the only one used in the manufacturing of this Saturn Ion variant. In the same year, General Motors also launched a limited edition of Saturn Ion 3 that had all sorts of additional improvements in terms of interior and exterior design. The price was higher, but the cosmetic look was surely different. Only three color options were available: black onyx, chili pepper red and electric blue.

Saturn ion

Until 2007, several improvements were made for the Saturn Ion engine power and interior design. General Motors stopped producing unreliable models like the Aisin which had bad reviews because of various technical issues. The bad publicity was generated from all sorts of materials published by disatisfied customers. General Motors announced an upgrade with the re-launched Saturn Ion in 2008, pictures of the new model even circulated on the Internet, but eventually the manufacturer dropped the concept and turned to a re-badging. It was time for Saturn Astra to emerge.