Test driving the Redline. dealer was nuts!

[Musashi3000GT]

Well I have a new schedule at work now that allows me to get off from work at 7:00, dealers close at 9:00 so I decided that for the next couple of weeks Im going to try and test drive a different car each night.
Why? well for the sheer excitement of the automobile experience. and the fact that my wife is looking for a car so I might as well start doing some research.
So the first one on the list was the Saturn Ion Redline. simply because i didnt wanna wait in line at the chevy dealer behind all the ricers buying Cobalts..... and the fact that Gotian recomended i try it out first.

so I get to the dealer and tell the guy flat out. " Im not here to buy, I have a large sum of money that will be coming my way in a few months. I want a brochure and a test drive". The sales rep goes and gets the keys and we're off.

The initial impression: I love the way it looks, love the front facia, the suicide doors, the seats are fucking sauce and the dent resistent side panels fucking own.
The car is just great to look at, much more sophisticated then the Cobalt SS/SC. It dosent have the ricer wing the cobalt has, the rims actually let you see the disk and calliper, four door but you get to look like your a 2-door sports coupe and the car has four, thats 4 bucket seats. The cobalt only has 2 and a sofa in the back. The only gay thing about the car is that center placed guage cluster....why the hell did they do that?

the drive:
The car is surprisingly slow! I mean it is freaking minivan slow.....until you get to 5000+ rpms that is. I hated that about it. you have to use all of the engines potential to feel any excitement. It sucks on daily driving, if your going from light to light your gonna find yourself falling asleep. I had to mesh the engine to its near limits to feel any kind of emotion. I know its faster then my car and its got better numbers all across the board. 0-60 is about 6.2 and 1/4 mile is about 14.7 but shit, It dosent feel that way. My car produces alot more torque down low which make you feel like your gonna do some damage even if your only using 1/3 of the engine's potential. Its what Muscle car guys get addicted to. that low end rumble, you nip the gas and all hell breaks loose, your only at 4000rpms and already your chest is beating wildly. its macho, its rough, its power......well not here. No, here you have to get up to 5500 to feel like you might loose control. and the redline is at 6500.......no wonder they call it the "Redline", you preaty much need to keep it there to enjoy it. I know the Ecotec is a strong mofo, first engine ever to go over 200mph on stock internalls at the world speed challenge. The engine will last you despite the abuse but you better like to really abuse it all the time if you want this car.
Suspension is ok, not really tight but not sluggish, car glides aroud corners easy enough and it pulls .85 G on the skidpad, not bad for its class.
the ride is smooth, seats are so comfy and the shifts are very solid, feels really well engineered. the Reverse gets locked out for safety reasons, you need to pull a tab on the shifter to get into R.
and despite the center cluster (did I mention I hated it) it dosent affect driving as much as I thougt. You get used to it right away.

when I got back to the dealer the guy wanted me to take it for 3 days and drive it around town to see if it would seal the deal. I didnt want the liability and to be honest I like the car and Id be happy to own one IF I had a different car to thrash on during the weekend, like say a 350Z or a S2000. But no the Redline is a sophisticated car more suited for the family man who enjoys smoking kids on his way home from work. Its just not my style, it dosent scare me!

bottom line. Saturn has made a great looking car that is very quick and nimble but its just not exciting.

[clawhammer]

There is nothing wrong with having to keep rpms over 5500 to make the car move

So, I take it you're not going to buy? What else are you looking at?

Here's what I'd try:
Civic Si
RSX-S
WRX
SRT-4
Eclipse

[TerminalVelocity]

hey, S2K guy sayin its ok to need the RPM's high to feel anything

Yeah, the guages suck balls....

IDK...those cars sound great claw....but what pricerange are we talking about here?

[GForce957]

woot! saturn!!11

A friend of mine has the redline in blue, I thought basically the same as u do. Nice car, nice interior, but the performance is lackluster.

Good review, keep em coming!

[Igovert500]

Honestly, that is the exact same way I felt about the car. I drove a few at work, and I really felt that they were slower than stated. A good car from Saturn, considering their market, but overall, not something I would get because they just didn't seem to have the power you would expect from a supercharged car.

[clawhammer]

ION Redline MSRP: $19,990
Civic Si MSRP: $20,290
RSX-S MSRP: $23,845
WRX MSRP: $23,995
SRT-4 MSRP: $21,295
Eclipse MSRP: $23,699

[TerminalVelocity]

WELL THEN! lol, guess those are all great choices!

RSX-S or WRX are my picks outa that list.

[BullDog71ss]

Yeah, that's about my initial impression of the LSJ when I tested an ss/sc for the first time and there's a good reason for that. First, they don't see anywhere near full potential untill around 10,000 miles, it really does make a big difference. The second and biggest reason they feel so damn sluggish at the dealerships is because dealerships use that filthy 87 octane pisswater in there cars. The LSJ loses a ton of power on low grade fuel because the computer goes into power down mode to compensate for the low octane. It'll run it perfectly safe, but you'll notice a big hit in power.

Overall my motor feels completely different than from the day it was bought and it gets a very good amount of power at around 3,500 rpm. They're not too impressive on the test drives, but give you something to look forward to a few thousand miles down the road. I too think the Redlines' wing also does look a good bit better than the the Cobalt's does as well, but not all Cobalt owners are ricers

[-The Stig-]

Originally Posted by clawhammer

ION Redline MSRP: $19,990
Civic Si MSRP: $20,290
RSX-S MSRP: $23,845
WRX MSRP: $23,995
SRT-4 MSRP: $21,295
Eclipse MSRP: $23,699

Good luck finding a new SRT-4 for sale now days, especially since they're discontinued. I haven't checked any lots recently, but I'd suspect that getting one for MSRP would be quite a hassle, unless you're buying it outright in cash.

Originally Posted by BullDog71ss

not all Cobalt owners are ricers

Nope, you're right. Not all of the Cobalt owners are ricers.

Just you.

[xXxRocker5150]

^HAHAHAHA PWNED!!!!! Musashi man, get your wife a turbo minivan you can get it one for like 1500 and piss away the rest on mods... stomp camaros and still get 20MPG in the city after you drop the kids off at soccer practice.

[-The Stig-]

Originally Posted by xXxRocker5150

^HAHAHAHA PWNED!!!!! Musashi man, get your wife a turbo minivan you can get it one for like 1500 and piss away the rest on mods... stomp camaros and still get 20MPG in the city after you drop the kids off at soccer practice.

Dude, I love those turbo minivans.

Those thing are the poo!

I'd totally dip one if I could find one that's not all thrashed to hell, I'd have a front mount on it that said Nismo just to piss off the import crowd. I'm cool like that.

[youngvr4]

nice review, waiting for the next one

[mason_RsX]

Nice review...C/D did a review of all the cars in that segment...it went

5. Saturn ION Redline
4. Chevrolet Cobals SS
3. SRT-4
2. WRX
1. RSX Type S

Just a little media info of what they thought of the cars...The RSX was the slowest but won cause it had the nicest interior...as per usual at C/D

and I dunno I like torque...the bottom end grunt the just pushes you bak when you tap on the gas is amazing....but I kinda like being fuel effecient down low in the rpm, kinda lazy and boring for those traffic days....then when I really wanna fly I just keep it way up on the tach...

[BullDog71ss]

Originally Posted by RedNeck383

Good luck finding a new SRT-4 for sale now days, especially since they're discontinued. I haven't checked any lots recently, but I'd suspect that getting one for MSRP would be quite a hassle, unless you're buying it outright in cash.



Nope, you're right. Not all of the Cobalt owners are ricers.

Just you.

Ouch, that hurts. Deep down that really hurts.


I kinda walked into that didn't I.

[Musashi3000GT]

Well first off thanks to everyone who read it!
I know it was lengthy but I wanted it to be good.

No I am not buying a car now, I will be in 6-8 months but it will be for my wife not me. I like my 3000GT and specially since its payed off.

I think its better that im not buying a car that way I can be un-biased about the test drives and all.

I dont wanna test the SRT-4 cause I already had one and they cant corner for shit!
I used to like them alot and even considered getting another. In fact everytime someone bad-mouthed them on the street racing forum I would deffend them but then I started auto crossing......wow, they really are only good in a straight line
same reason I'm not interested in a WRX, only good on the twisties, on the highway they get raped too easy.

So guys, if you have cars you wanna request then go ahead and let me know.
So far the list is:

350Z
RX8
Civic Si
RSX TypeS
Mustang GT
Eclipse GT
GTO
Monte Carlo SS
Impala SS
Cobalt SS/SC
GTI (obay my fast)