2006 Saturn Ion consumer reviews

i have been driving my daughters 2006 saturn ion for 6 months. it's a great car!! i find it very comfortable, it handles well and the gas mileage is awesome. this is the fourth saturn that our family has owned. it's a great car and very reliable.

With the gas prices keeping above $2.50 per gal the mileage can't be beat for the comfort of the car. Big car feel.

I bought this car in 06 because Saturn was having a Presidents day sale, and the payments ended up being very good for a brand new car. ($200 a month) But after living with the car for a few months I began to hate it. The seats are terribly uncomfortable, there is a lot of road noise, not to mention that it was in the repair shop 2-3 times for minor problems. (loose strut, hood popped up a few times and wouldn't close properly.) The interior is a sea of mismatch gray plastic (3 various textures of plastic, all the same dull shade of gray on the dashboard alone). And that plastic has gaps in between various pieces which makes it look even worse. It's nothing major, but when you drive the car daily, you start to notice how cheap it feels. Even the tab that holds the seat belt up broke off. I also wonder what the designers were thinking of when they came up with a few things. The gauge cluster is in the center of the car instead of in front of the driver. (And I never got used to that). The duct for the air conditioning is blocked by the steering wheel. The glove compartment looks to be normal... until you open it and discover that only half of the space is usable. The other half of the space is taken up by needless plastic bars. (it is barely big enough to hold the owners manual. And it doesn't end there, the passenger side vanity mirror is useless for blocking out the sun. There is no cover for the mirror. So your choices are to be blinded by the sun, or to blind other drivers with the reflection from the mirror. There is also button on the center console that is for traction control on the higher end models. On my stock model, there is no traction control, yet the button is still there. They couldn't be bothered to remove the button? It's all of these little things that add up to a car that annoys you on a daily basis.

I've had my Saturn for five years and have put on 80,000 miles in hard city driving. The car has required nothing beyond oil changes, front brakes, and a set of tires. That's it. The paint quality is outstanding. Fit and finish are good, and the ride is smooth, provided you buy quality tires and rebalance them occasionally. Ions came with electric steering, which reduces noise and allows the car to vary the steering response depending on vehicle speed. They also have drive-by-wire throttle control, providing snappy engine response. My Ion is the RedLine version, which comes with an Eaton supercharger, intercooler, and a heavy duty five speed transmission. The car puts down 205hp yet weighs 2800lbs thanks to the aluminum block and transmission case. You can't find a car this fast for the money. Overall I'd highly recommend it.

I purchased my Saturn Ion used just as a daily driver. Admittedly, I do an awful lot of driving - I put about 100 miles on it every day, but my husband and I are very good about keeping up with regular maintenance. I thought because it is a GM the repairs would be relatively inexpensive - WRONG. Every part I've bought for this car (battery, struts, etc.) has cost about three times as much as one would expect. Even though this looks like a bargain, I would not suggest it.

Had my '06 Ion, manual transmission, for a little over a year now and my main complaint is it's unreliable and there are no dealers in our area to service it and I can't get parts at AutoZone or NAPA. I've been stranded 5 times now, for no reason other than a sensor or switch in the ignition column can't tell that the clutch is pushed in to start. Engine light comes on for stupid things, like not having the gas cap on tight enough, or filling the gas tank after the first click at the pump! Saturn has got to address this ignition issue. They're losing alot of customers because of simple QC issues!

I have a 2006 Saturn Ion with a fair number of bells and whistles. I got this car for myself when I got a great job out of college, I didn't need to show boat, but I wanted something new. I went with the Saturn because my wife has one and we really love it. The big-ticket items have been working fine, e.g. the engine, transmission, computer stuff, etc. The issue is the bells and whistles that upgraded the car, though not by much, such as power windows and a "moon roof", have been in for warrantee repair 3 times now, and the driver's side window, which has already been repaired once, needs to go in for repair again. These nickle-dime things are driving me nuts, and I'll probably not buy another Saturn because of it.

I've had my 2006 Ion Redline for almost 2 years now and love it. Outstanding power from this car. Two things I really love about it are: You rarely see another one (Redline) and its very fast but doesn't look like it. The Recaro seats are extremly comfortable, and I really like how the quad coupe doors open. Whats not to like about this car. I've had 0 problems with it. I get great gas milage, and mind blowing performance at the same time. This is my first Saturn, and I will definately consider another Saturn again when I'm looking. I moved to the Saturn after turning in a Dodge Durango lease.

I bought my 2006 Ion2 5 speed new. Great safty ratings. In the past two years I only had some minor decrative repairs that the warrenty took care of, I put over 45,000 miles on it. The 2.2L ecotec with the manual tran. gets good power and good gas milage. I was able to out do a 2006 Honda Civic SI by alot. So much for the SI... The plastic non dentable body works great. I work at a Home depot and my car gets hit by carts daily. I will be giving the car to my mother and with no worries because of the relibilty safety of the car. I love the gauges in the center. Its very different. It's one of the funest cars to drive that I've owned. I did get my money's worth in this car.

PLASTIC CAR, VERY FRAGILE WOULD NEVER NEVER NEVER PURCHASE A SATURN VEHICLE AGAIN. BATTERY CONSTANLY DIES FOR NO REASON, WINDOWS BREAK WITH LITTLE TO NO USE, DENTS AND DINGS THE ENTIRE BODY PART HAS TO BE REPLCED AS THE BODY PARTS ARE 90 PERCENT PLASTIC.