Yay laziness

"Logansteno: Bought a VW?" (logansteno)
06/03/2014 at 15:49 • Filed to: None

I was gonna write a whole article on how Saturn was basically Opel's US division the last few years they were around, but then I got lazy. So here's pictures of Saturn's final car lineup.

RIP Saturn, you got good too late to be saved.

DISCUSSION (30)

jkm7680 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 15:53

Agreed, they had a lot going. They were as close as we had to Opel, and I personally liked the Vue and Astra.

dinobot666 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 15:55

Kinja'd!!!

I saw the Vauxhall version of this and the Astra sedan when I was in London a while ago. It was kind of a mind trip seeing what were rare Saturns in the US, all over the U.K.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > jkm7680
06/03/2014 at 15:56

I'm a fan of the entire lineup except the Outlook, I'm just not a fan of the Lambada platform Crossovers.

jkm7680 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 15:57

It looked a teensy bit too much like that Gmc Acadia, and the Traverse for my liking.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > dinobot666
06/03/2014 at 15:57

That would be kinda weird.

Knowing me, I'd call them Saturn Astras instead of Vauxhall Astras on accident.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > jkm7680
06/03/2014 at 15:58

I'm just glad my mom didn't get one like she originally wanted to.

Jacques L' Autre > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 16:01

Had they stopped making the Relay when they got axed?

jkm7680 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 16:01

Me too! Opel badging, (Which I'm still trying to force you to do) wouldn't exactly work.

Hoccy > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 16:01

And now they're doing the same thing to Buick. Though rebadged Opels have been sold in the US since the 70's, they've always been marketed as something else than what they were meant to be. See Cadillac Catera, Pontiac LeMans and so on..

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Jacques L' Autre
06/03/2014 at 16:02

I think they killed that and replaced it with the Outlook in '07.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > jkm7680
06/03/2014 at 16:03

If they car gets handed down to me ever, that'll be the first thing done to it. Promise!

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Hoccy
06/03/2014 at 16:05

Imagine the Buick Regal as a Saturn Aura like it was originally going to be. You could get one a lot cheaper. And without that "waterfall" grille.

That's true about them being sold as Cadillacs or Pontiacs, but it's usually only one car in the maker's line-up. With Saturn it was 80% of their products.

CalzoneGolem > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 16:05

I've seen two Astras in the wild and they were both red.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > CalzoneGolem
06/03/2014 at 16:06

I've seen two or three of them. Someone at my school has a black 3-door with a stick shift. I really like it.

duurtlang > jkm7680
06/03/2014 at 16:08

Not really, current day Buick is closer to Opel than Saturn ever came. Only the Saturn Astra was a 'real' Opel, although you could argue the last gen Vue was one as well. The Sky was an American car, although it was rebadged as an Opel for Europe (and failed miserably). The Aura shared a lot with the Opel Vectra, but wasn't a rebadge. The Outlook was American and there wasn't even a European equivalent as that segment of the market (non-luxury larger SUV) doesn't exist in Europe as there's no demand.

Nowadays the Buick Encore is an Opel Mokka in disguise, the Buick Verano is an Opel Astra and the Buick Regal is an Opel Insignia. The majority of the Buick consists of Opels.

CalzoneGolem > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 16:10

Kinja'd!!!

Craigslist

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > CalzoneGolem
06/03/2014 at 16:11

Kinja ate the link.

CalzoneGolem > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 16:13

Fixed?

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > CalzoneGolem
06/03/2014 at 16:15

Yup!

Dang, that's a bare bones model. I'm surprised it even has power windows.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > duurtlang
06/03/2014 at 16:22

Kinja'd!!!

That's as similar as similar can get.

The Aura shared a lot with the Vectra. It wasn't a direct rebadge, but they were still REALLY similar. Plus the Aura was slated to be replaced with the Insignia.

The Sky was still sold as an Opel though, without anything but the badge being changed.

The Outlook was the odd man out here, and I was going to bring that up in the article.

duurtlang > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 16:24

Only 2 of the 5 Saturns pictured (Astra and Vue) were Opels, 3 of the current 5 available Buicks are Opels. 40% vs 60%.

duurtlang > Hoccy
06/03/2014 at 16:27

Despite being an Opel hater I have to defend Opel here. The Pontiac LeMans was a rebadged Daewoo. A Daewoo based on the Opel Kadett/Astra, true, but it was much shittier.

duurtlang > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 16:32

To be quite honest I always though the Opel Antara (the Vue) was a Korean car. It gives me a Korean vibe. But I was wrong, it apparently was a real Opel. I hardly see them on the road though, I don't think it was very successful.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > duurtlang
06/03/2014 at 16:34

The Aura Concept influenced the redesign on the Vectra C. Look at the body lines on the side of each, the seams in the hood, the headlight shape. Hell even the way the fenders flair are the same. There's some spots where each cars go their own way, but they're essentially the same.

The Sky was sold as an Opel GT, and I do believe Opel had some input in it's creation. Yes it was produced in America, but it has Opel in it's bones.

So like I said 80%

KirkyV > dinobot666
06/03/2014 at 16:50

Yup. A little while back, I saw someone comment something to the effect of 'Wow, an Astra! You have great taste in cars.', after someone posted a picture of their driveway. As that's effectively the equivalent of saying, 'Wow, a Camry! You have great taste in cars.' here, I did a bit of a double take.

Personally, I kind of hate the Astra—particularly that generation. As compared to their contemporary competition, they were dull to drive, dull inside, not particularly reliable, and generally just utterly mediocre.

duurtlang > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 16:54

Fair enough. I guess we used different definitions, but there's something to be said for yours.

That said, looking at GM as a whole you could argue every FWD (biased) vehicle with an available 4 cylinder engine has Opel in its bones. Oddly enough the only exception is the Chevy Spark. Besides the rebadged Opels (Buick Encore, Verano and Regal) the Chevy Aveo, Volt, Cruze, Malibu, Buick LaCrosse and Cadillac ELR are all on Opel-designed platforms and have available gasoline engines which trace back to Opel.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > duurtlang
06/03/2014 at 17:00

Technically then, Opel is GM's main company. Makes sense, how they get the best cars and all.

Ferrero1911 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 18:59

I went to a junk yard yesterday. The number of Saturn's there was astonishing.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Ferrero1911
06/03/2014 at 19:04

I hope they were old ones!

Ferrero1911 > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
06/03/2014 at 21:01

Most of them were. Junk yards are kind of sad.