why buy plastic?

dent resistant panel is just a fancy way of saying PLASTIC. It's dent resistant because it breaks in 5mph collisions. They get great gas mileage, but so do many other cars that are made of metal. Why buy an unreliable plastic "good" gas mileage car, when you can buy a cheaper more reliable metal car that gets just as good or better gas mileage.


"look at the little monkey, it doesn't make sense"
-john cochran

Because that same 5mph crash is going to put a big dent or hole in your door anyway, and you're going to have to pay to fix or replace that panel either way. The plastic is cheaper and looks better longer. My '00 SL1 has one scratch on it, and that was from a 200lb. dog jumping on the fender. No other dents, paint problems, or anything. And with 103,000mi. on it, it still gets 36mpg. and launches faster than a base model Civic or Jetta.

Ever heard of a dent puller, or even a hammer? metal is very easy to fix without a mechanic. You must replace the plastic panel when it breaks. F that.

ive been hit practically broadside at probably about 20 mph in my saturn and there was a tiny ass little mark on the door that i got off with windex.... the plastic seems better to me...... and why beat the hell out of your car with a hammer when you can go buy the plastic panel from saturn and simply unscrew the old one and screw the new one on.... maybe beating the hell out of your car with a hammer is okay on a 1987 plymouth sundance... but not for people that care about their cars..

care and obsession for material possesion is a mistake. Don't shell out more than needed to large corporations who sell cheaply built products for exorbadent amounts of money. And by the way, is there something wrong with not giving a sh** about my old car with 180,000 miles on it? It still runs great.

why the F are you in a saturn message board? Don't you have anything better to do? Why dont you go "hammer" another dent out of your car since apparently you have no clue about saturns!

dude, give it up. you have already convinced yourself not to buy a saturn, why waste our time?

but now that you got me started, the 5 MPH rating are the BUMPERS. its a safety requrement, every street legal car in america must have 5 MPH bumpers. in all honsity, the thermoplastic will take alot more then that.

and don't forget the panels don't rust.

and the wieght? try 2400 lb, i would like to see a steel panel car be that light.

exorbadent amounts of money... right, my saturn, brand new from the dealership was $12,000. and the panels are accuilly cheaper to replace then steel.

but if it makes you feel better, the 2005 saturn RELAY will not have dent resistance panels. don't ask me why, GM is full of fools.

them plastic pieces are cheaper then them metels, my ex-gf had the outer shell of both the doors taken out because of a city truck, only 300 bucks for both pieces installed and she got the car back like 2 or 3 hrs later like you to get new door shells in under 3hrs lol

Plus it's fun to take the door panels off and jump on them and watch them not even get a scratch. They have a spare door panel at my dealership, and every time I go in there, I jump up and down on the door panel because I can. And every time, it still looks brand new.

exactly.. not to mention my 02 sc2 hauls ass....

Plus it's fun to take the door panels off and jump on them and watch them not even get a scratch. They have a spare door panel at my dealership, and every time I go in there, I jump up and down on the door panel because I can. And every time, it still looks brand new.

hehe, thats gotta be fun.

i also forgot to mention most cars out there today have plastic bumpers, even if they have steel side panels

The only one I don't buy is the bus hit. That's GOTTA leave a mark.

yeah... probably leaves a mark... dont know about the plastic actually breaking though.. id be more concerned about the glass and stuff than the plastic

my gf ran her saturn into a giant green dumpster(i dont know how!) she did more damage to the dumpster than her car after i buffed the green paint off of it!

There's another post like this..it's called dent resistent = plastic, same morons asking the same quetions about plastic panels and i'll say the same thing. Most of the things that happen to my saturn don't involve 5 MPH colissions, they involve my 5 y/o running into it, hitting it, me hitting it with the infant seat, the 5 y/o swinging the door into the house, or the central air unit, or a parking garage support...gotta love that dent resistant plastic, just bounces back...saves me alot of money..and probably the 5 y/o's life!

I have a saturn race car and its been in acouple of wrecks on the track and the only thing that broke was the fender. Its got tons of rub marks on it and staraches, but for a pastic car its had up good