Where and why did the Saturn Astra fail?

"LJ909" (lj909) 03/24/2015 at 21:28 • Filed to: None

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I've been thoroughly enjoying my Sonic for a month now. Its a good quality small car in a sea of quality small cars that weren't even impressive even a few years ago. But driving around in my Sonic makes me wonder where the Saturn Astra went wrong.

Available from 07 to 09 here in the US, (Saturn's demise) it came in 3 and 5 door hatchbacks, was available with a manual it was decent looking, though midpack. The rest of the world got it as an Opel in the UK or a Buick in China. For some reason, there are like 5 just in my neighborhood, which I find strange.

Other then the little history I gave there, I dont know much more about it other than it was a slow seller, and had kind of a high starting price. Ive heard other people say that it didn't sell well because of a combination of the Ion, and the unknown regarding Saturn's overall future at the time. What puzzles me though, is the fact that now almost all of Buicks lineup is basically EU Opel transplants and they are doing fine. But this one small version didn't succeed for whatever reason. What do you guys think it was? Would it have worked early on as a Buick entry lux small car or was it just not a good car period?

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 21:33

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Made by Saturn, which was probably the biggest problem with it. Then a somewhat slow 1.8L naturally aspirated engine mated to a 4-speed auto or 5-speed manual. Somewhat meh interior with a stereo that didn't have an aux input on it.

While the Cobalt had a worse interior, it had a bigger engine with more power and a cheaper price. Plus America hates hatchback, and the Astra was only sold as one, while the Cobalt got coupe and sedan versions.

I personally would love an Astra XR 3-Door manual as a fun, economical daily driver.

jkm7680 > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 21:35

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Because they called it a Saturn.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 03/24/2015 at 21:43

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All they had to do was give it ONE more gear in both auto and manual, and give us a Redline model with the engine from the Cobalt SS, and it would have sold just fine. Also, if GM hadn't ruined Saturn after the 90s.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 03/24/2015 at 21:48

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Saturn was shit from about 2000 until about 2007 when they started rebadging Opels and building cars that weren't totally plastic.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 21:52

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Personally, I blame it on Saturn's downfall caused by GM's fucking up in the mid '00s. I had an '08 XR automatic 5-door in Twilight Blue as my first car and adored it. It was an excellent DD and a fun rare-ish car with Euro quirks during the time I had mine. Now I see at least 2 a day, and I miss mine more. I'd love to have another in the form of a XR manual 3-door someday. I always dream that GM will give me the newest Astra VXR/OPC one day, but we got the Cruze, Verano, and now the Cascada. :(

All Motor Is Best Motor > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 03/24/2015 at 21:54

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if GM hadn't ruined Saturn from the very beginning.

Fixed.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 03/24/2015 at 21:54

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If they stayed the way they were before GM's takeover around 2000 and had rebadged Opels before '07 they'd have been just fine.

If ONLY Penske bought the brand! ;_;

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > All Motor Is Best Motor 03/24/2015 at 21:55

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THIS!!

All Motor Is Best Motor > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 03/24/2015 at 21:59

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"Hey guys here we have a great opportunity to take a fresh start and build a respectable name in the car industry! Lets come out with ugly outdated cars that are 5 years behind the competition!"

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 03/24/2015 at 21:59

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Technically the Saturn L-Series was a rebadged Opel I think.

And GM never took over, they just became more involved and cut costs. Which generally ruined everything good about Saturn until 2007.

Penske would have done nothing with it. I'd rather see Saturn dead than going like how Saab is.

Blake Noble > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 22:03

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I owned one, a 2008 Astra XR 3-Door in Twilight Blue. It was a fully loaded car with a four-speed slush box.

The Astra failed in America because of a few things:

It was launched right around the time pre-bailout GM started to go under, and doubt was cast on the Saturn brand.

The price for a base model Saturn Astra XE 5-door without air-conditioning was $15,995 before destination. That was considerably more expensive than, say, a similar Chevrolet Cobalt with A/C.

Speaking of the air-con, it was about a $2,000 option.

The snazzy three-door model was only available in well-equipped XR trim. There were no downmarket XE 3-doors. This probably limited the Astra's appeal.

The four-speed automatic was diabolical. It hurt the Astra's fuel economy and sapped some of the fun out of the car.

Fun fact: we weren't supposed to get the Astra. We were actually supposed to get this:

I wish I had access to non-watermarked versions. But oh well. What you see above was going to be the second-generation ION sedan, planned for a 2008 model year launch. This car would've likely been far more successful than the Astra.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 03/24/2015 at 22:05

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And I wish GM never touched Saturn the way they did in 2000. If they were still around today and only had three cars, they'd be the Astra, Vue, and Aura.

Flat Six > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 03/24/2015 at 22:06

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I love those 5 spoke rims in the first pic!

ly2v8-Brian > Blake Noble 03/24/2015 at 22:08

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Well, at least they got good use out of that exterior language

Grindintosecond > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 22:09

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GM loves to take awesome things and "Americanize" them for what they think we all as an entire group feel on average we want. So, since nobody here can drive stick, parallel park, take corners fast enough to cause a slight body roll of any kind and remarkably, on average, need people to tell us how to think and behave, well, it's no surprise they take a sporty car from England and rebuild the suspension with mashed potatoes and fill the rest of the car up with gravy and extra cheese made build quality.

GM can suck it. Look what they did to SAAB and any other manufacturer they bought..... :)

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 22:09

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Because it was very expensive for the features offered, wasn't as good as other offerings, and was really rather boring to drive. Mostly it was just really expensive compared to the same types of cars from other companies, and even other GM brands.

My wife bought one in 08, 5-door XR with a 5-speed manual. It's okay.

AddMustard > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 22:13

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I rented a Vauxhall Astra hatchback 5 speed in Scotland on my last trip there and it was...quite nice! Got this picture of it one snowy morning before I ventured off to see some castles

Funktheduck > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 22:21

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I saw one where they swapped out Saturn for Opel badges

Vicente Esteve > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 22:31

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Even more as it had a great sunroof

sellphones2493 > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 23:07

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Off the top of my head, it had shitty cupholders, and a 24hr clock. Two things that are seemingly dealbreakers for Americans.

AthomSfere > LJ909 03/24/2015 at 23:29

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GM had ruined the Saturn name already... 93.6% of the issue. I think the other issue is that the right audience for these wasn't shopping Saturn.

AthomSfere > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 03/24/2015 at 23:33

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Although that 1.8 gave about the same power as the Civic 1.8 (R18) at ~140hp. The 2.2 Cobalt only went to ~170-180...

Price is really it I think, the Cobalt was an OK everything and still pretty cheap/ easy to find.

itranthelasttimeiparkedit > Blake Noble 03/24/2015 at 23:46

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wait, did anyone order one without AC? I assume you're talking about in the US? Having owned (well own still) 3 cars with nonfunctional AC, in multiple texas summers - I approve of this

Steve in Manhattan > LJ909 03/25/2015 at 00:04

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I think at some point most car buyers didn't even factor Saturn in anymore. A lot of people didn't even know it ever existed. And even if you did, you'd probably assume this car was as awful as earlier Saturns.

LJ909 > Blake Noble 03/25/2015 at 00:15

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I think that is the Cruze which could have worked well for Saturn. Maybe. Its sick that A/C was a 2 grand option, in 2008. I see why it failed.

LJ909 > Grindintosecond 03/25/2015 at 00:21

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That is very true. They have taken great cars and made them middle of the road. The safe approach. I think thats one of the things that brought down Saturn and really brought down Pontiac. The GTO and the Solstice could have been so much more.

LJ909 > AthomSfere 03/25/2015 at 00:25

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True. And in typical GM fashion there was zero advertising for it. They still do that today, come out with these models then see the abyssal sales #s and wonder why no ones buying them. Cars aren't like a restaurant. Word of mouth wont carry it at all. (Im looking at you Chevy SS).

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Vicente Esteve 03/25/2015 at 00:30

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My wife has one with that sunroof. Only came on the 5-doors, the 3-door did not have any sunroof option at all.

It's about the only exciting thing about her car as well. There isn't anything wrong with the car, it drives fairly well, and gets decent mileage. But it's also not very exciting either.

It is better than the Sonic though. I had one as a rental while her Astra was in the shop. What an awful car.

SX-70 > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 03/25/2015 at 00:45

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I hesitate to call the L a rebadged Opel - it did use one of GM's global platforms (I forget which one at the moment) but other than that it didn't bear much resemblance to anything else GM was building. Anyway it was the first Saturn to not have it's own platform (the S-series was unique).

That said, I always felt that GM would've been better off using their global platforms, or actually rebadging Opels, rather than allowing Saturn to develop it's own product independently. Saturn S-series cars were almost out of date before they hit the market, and were kept around for way too long. Their only virtues were the fact that they didn't break down much and were bigger than similarly priced cars.

Vicente Esteve > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 03/25/2015 at 00:50

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The sunroof surely made up for a lot.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Vicente Esteve 03/25/2015 at 00:56

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Not really.

It takes away head room, so I have to lean back further than I'd like when driving it. And since the car is so boring to drive, I just don't have a lot of positive things to say.

Also my DD is an SVT Focus, so I'm admittedly quite biased about constitutes a good drive.

Blake Noble > LJ909 03/25/2015 at 02:06

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I see the resemblance to the Chevy Cruze, nor would it exactly surprise me if the design above eventually became the Cruze. But that is in fact what was intended to be the second-generation Saturn ION. Those sketches were leaked to Cheers and Gears in 2005 (this was when it was a GM fansite, well before I had all that much to do with it) from a source very close to someone within General Motors who confirmed them as such.

Yeah, GM screwed the pooch on making air-con an option for the Saturn Astra, let alone an expensive one.

Also, before I forget, there was another factor in the Astra's failure: exchange rates. The Saturn Astra was produced in Anterwp, Belgium. When GM greenlit the program, the exchange rates between the US dollar and the Euro were favorable enough, if I recall correctly. By the time the Astra was put on sale, they were no longer favorable and GM was losing money on every Astra it sold (like it did every other car it sold back then).

pip bip - choose Corrour > LJ909 03/25/2015 at 03:20

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why did it fail , it was sold through Saturn.

they do have the odd niggle.

my parents have an 05 Astra 1.8 manual Holden Astra 5dr (same shape)

duurtlang > Blake Noble 03/25/2015 at 11:32

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Looks familiar. Like a previous gen Astra sedan. A car we didn't even get in Western Europe (because compact+sedan does not compute). I'm sure you could get these in Russia though.

AthomSfere > LJ909 03/25/2015 at 22:21

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Oh yes, the SS. And by the time the name makes the rounds by word of mouth Chevy kills the thing! Saturn Sky/ Pontiac Solstice/ SS, G8...