2003 Saturn L consumer reviews

We Purchased this Saturn L200 as a 2 year old lease return with only 18k miles on it. This car has won our respect! The style is very classy and looks euro-expensive, even to people in our up-scale snobbish area! After 5 years of ownership and another 100k on the speedo, the car has been one of our most trouble free vehicles ever! OUr more expensive makes we own give alot more trouble than this tried and true Saturn! This is our main daily driver, even thought we own Buicks and Jags. Only thing is that Saturn does have a harsher ride and more noise than the others,.. but truly this is our favorite, most dependable car that has never let us down... We plan to drive to200,000 miles!

I have owned the Saturn L200 (bought used with 30,000 miles) for 5 years now and racked up almost 200,000 miles on it. Only been in the shop a couple times for minor problems. All in all, the car has preformed great, 4 people have ran into it and now is a three door couple. The color red is not a good color car to have due to people liking to run into them. Bad experience with past red cars. But, even after all the accidents, the car runs, handles, and is still a reliable car.

I hated to give up THIS car, yes the one you are looking at, but we upgraded to an SUV. It is a very sharp looking car and is fully loaded. It has just about every option available (heated mirrors, heated seats, moon roof, advanced sound, alloy wheels, automatic climate...). The only major repair on this car was one to the A/C. Other than that, it drives great with great pickup and is quiet on the road. Definitely a reliable vehicle!

THIS IS THE 2 ND SATURN I HAVE OWNED. I REALLY ENJOY DRIVING IT. IT HAS EVERYTHNG BUT A DVD PLAYER.I WOULD BUY ANOTHER WHEN I GET READY. MOST PEOPLE DON'T GIVE SATURN A CHANCE. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE MISSING.I GET GOOD GAS MILEAGE AND IT MAKES A NICE TRIP. I PLAN ON GIVING THIS CAR TO MY SON IN ANOTHER YEAR WHEN HE STARTS TO DRIVE AND BUYING A NEW SATURN..

Saturn Customer complained about Saturn Automobiles Electrical & Computer Issues: My second new Saturn, after about 50,000 miles, began mysteriously and without warning, dying randomly at stops, or when braking to almost full stop. The Saturn dealership(s) I took it to couldn't find anything wrong with it. It became so dangerous and an impediment to normal life that I traded it in for a new 2003 L-Series sedan. About 8 months after having purchased the car, two of the automatic door locks stopped working correctly. I was told me that only the engine parts were covered under the warranty, not the parts inside the door; it was probably this little chip inside the door that controlled the lock and was faulty, it would be easy to change but it would be costly because of the labor to take the door off. We were looking at over $80 per door. I was amazed; I paid for automatic door locks, the car was pretty much brand new, and though the door locks didn't work the company didn't stand behind them. The 2003 L-Series had an electrical system recall for something related to it's ignition system. Now I'm at 87,000 and all the door locks are misbehaving and suddently all the electrical is acting screwy. One night it decide not to run; the engine would turn over and then quietly and almost instantly cut out. The dashboard lights flicker on and off, a "ding" occurs (while driving)intermittently as though a door is left open, various warning lights pop on and off, the gas needle is staying in the "full" position but drops to 0 when the dash lights randomly flash dim. (It's probably has a little under 1/2 tank of gas left.) Saturn won't diagnose the problem for free and then give you an estimate for repairs. They charge you for the diagnostic. I should have returned the car when the first automatic doorlock malfunctioned. As of tonight the car won't start, but the battery's good and the lights are on! I have bad electrical/computer experiences on two brand new Saturn cars now (the last 2 out of my total 3) and despite my first good experience when the company was brand new, I can't recommend them and don't trust their reliability or quality or company's willingness to stand behind their car. I still have two more years of expensive payments left on this car!

2nd L I've purchased. 40 - 50% less than a comparable Accord. Daughter has put 50k miles on a 2002 with no problems. Side curtain air bags are standard after 2002. Nice size and decent mileage with 4 cylinder. Saturn service rates are very reasonable even though I haven't had any major work needed.

Pretty good gas mileage, good handling, and reliable in the first 3 years of ownership. Ironically, now that I'm out of the warranty period, there's a problem with the steering. Regarding the famed Saturn customer service, if someone says NO politely, that doesn't make it great service. If I could do it over again, I would buy an Accord.