2011 Saturn Cars pictures gallery and performance previews

2011 Saturn Cars pictures gallery and performance previews
aturn Corporation was an automobile manufacturer and marque, established on January 7, 1985 as a subsidiary of General Motors in response to the success of Japanese automobile imports in the United States

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Mazda MX-5 Miata PRHT Grand Touring Review

This may be the first car I've driven where the name, if put on a badge, would be longer than the car itself.

It is the heaviest and most expensive Miata I've driven in 13 years of professional TireKicking, but I can't say I love it any less (for just how much that is, see last year's review here). And that's because Mazda is now doing the kind of magic that used to be solely the province of Honda.

Retractable hardtops, while offering security from knife-wielding thieves and a lower level of cockpit noise, usually add weight and cost and steal a large chunk of what little trunk space the ragtop version of a car has in the first place.

But Mazda has kept the weight gain to 80 pounds...lighter than putting a passenger onboard. And because of how it folds into place, it takes up less than one cubic inch of trunk space.

That, folks, is just plain brilliant.

Cost? Yes, it's more. In the case of the Grand Touring model, going with the PRHT (let's just call it the "retractable" from here on out) adds $1860 to the tab.  And while $1860 is $1860, that's less than most cars charge for a nav system that will be obsolete by the time you need new tires.

So the starting point for the retractable Grand Touring is $28,400. Yeah, that's a chunk for a Miata, especially when the base Miata Sport softtop starts at $22,960. But here's what you get by going with the Grand Touring:

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  Run-flat tires
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  Xenon headlights
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  Automatic climate control
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  Advanced keyless entry
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  Leather-trimmed  heated seats
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  Bose audio system
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  Sirius satellite radio
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  Bluetooth hands-free phone capability
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  Dynamic stability control
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  Traction control system

In short, a seriously loaded luxury Miata. And Mazda added the Suspension Package (a sport-tuned suspension, Bilstein shocks and limited-slip differential) for $500....which just enhances this real-life version of a slot car. Bottom line: $31,300 including delivery charges.

                   

If you have never driven a Miata, you owe yourself at least a test-drive. They are addictive cars...delivering what the old MGs, Triumphs and Austin-Healys only promised...embarrassing the earnest efforts of the now-dead Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. If you've dismissed them as merely cute, or a "chick car", you're wrong, pure and simple. 68 percent of all Miatas are bought by men, and it's because they are the next-best thing to a Porsche Boxster at a fraction of the price. They reward energetic, involved driving...20 minutes on a winding road will put a smile on your face that will last all day.

Go.

Buy.

Drive.

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Chryslancia! The Plan Revealed

It worked for Saturn and Opel and Pontiac and Vauxhall...oh....wait.

Well, Fiat's got nothing else, so look for Chrysler and Lancia to share gene pools, but not sales markets.

From Automobile.

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Saturn Astra XR Review

Small cars needn't be cheap. Not as in price tag, but as in materials and craftsmanship. Unfortunately, there's a history in this country of domestic automakers not doing their best work on small cars and of foreign automakers "Americanizing" the products they sell here (the low point of which had to have been the 1978 VW Rabbit and its color-keyed "Americans like this stuff" interior).

GM should be applauded for what it's done with the Saturn Astra. It has taken the car known as the Opel Astra in Germany, put it on a boat and shipped it to the States. Period. Yes, that means you actually have to read the owner's manual to find out what the symbols on the controls represent. But it also means that the controls haven't been switched out for cheaper plastics, that the suspension pieces haven't been traded for ones giving a softer ride at the expense of control and that stuff the Europeans get standard can't be made optional.

The Astra is exceptionally well-equipped. The 5-door XR comes with a 1.8 liter 16-valve four cylinder engine and a 5-speed manual, four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes, remote keyless entry, tire pressure monitor, a theft deterrent system, air conditioning, cruise control, power windows, power door locks, a seven-speaker AM/FM/CD/mp3 audio system and 16 inch alloy wheels. The 3-door comes with all that, but with 17 inch alloy wheels.

You don't get something for nothing, of course, so the base price is where some of the competition reaches the bottom line...$16,925 for the 5-door and $17,875 for the 3-door. But stop there, with the cars as equipped, and you're about even. Our testers had upgraded sound systems, automatic transmissions and sunroofs added...the 3-door got a leather interior. If it was our money, we'd pass on all that (okay, we might spring the $595 for the Advanced Audio Package).

No, the Astra's not a pavement-burner with that 1.8 liter four...but it's more than adequate...and the EPA says both the 3-door and the 5-door will get 24 miles per gallon in the city and 30 on the highway. And they both feel like they're carved out of solid blocks of steel. German engineering and all that. GM deserves to be rewarded for leaving well enough alone with the Astra. Hopefully, hundreds of thousands of customers will do just that.

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