98 SL2 w/ 5spd - questions

I always felt hondas were just has buzzy/wheezy as Saturns. It's in the nature of small displacement 4 bangers.

You too? I've driven so many 'amazing' 4 bangers, and they all were buzzy/whiney and underpowered. I really wish Detroit would get the message and stop trying to force them on us. I've NEVER driven a 4 banger that was as smooth or nice as a 6. And I've driven some shitty

Whatever. I wasn't that unimpressed. I went ahead and bought it...

We own a five-speed 1998 SW2 - IIRC that has the DOHC V4 - also for the fuel efficiency.

I've never driven a Honda, nor have I really noticed "buzziness" in anything I have driven, but our SW2 drives fine. The stick-shift's remarkably forgiving, actually - it's always easy to get into gear with a smooth transition.

We had some temperature sensor problems that made it idle too high when the engine was warm (maybe the automatic choke was confused or something), but other than that there's been nothing too surprising.

(snip)

I didn't notice anything strange about ours but, alas, I don't have it to hand right now - my wife drives it. Sorry I can't be of more help. (Her parents have a 1996 wagon, but that's an automatic - no problems with that either. I can't compare with my Subaru because the stick in that is /very/ different to our Saturn.)

-- Mark

V4? You mean I4.

Gosh, they're all in a line or something? I shall have to look again. Thanks!

-- Mark

Well, it's 1/2 of the V, anyway! ;+)

Ken

In article , The Millers wrote: (snip)

I tried my wife's 1998 SW2 this afternoon - that lever also has lots of side-to-side play in it, even when in gear, so maybe it is normal.

-- Mark

Compared to Honda they are a lot lower geared. I've driven a couple of Civics and they take a little longer between shift (from 1st to 2nd, etc..) On the other hand the Saturn has more pull from a stop. I've had my 98 SL1 for three years now and I wouldn't even think of trading it for a Honda. The only time I've had vibration with mine was when the original AS tires were on. After I replaced them it's run fine. As far as the shifter it does have a little play to it and I guess this is normal. The only problem with mine is that sometimes the shifter "sticks" going up through the lower gears (1 -2 -3 then 4 and 5 are fine). It seems to do this a lot more in the summer with the heat. During the winter months it works great. Hope this helps with your decision.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.

I brought it home on Friday and I'm already used to the shifter and I hear from a few sources this is normal with cable shifters regardless of brand.

Did a lot with the car yesterday -- tune up, oil change, new tires, wheel alignment, lots of cleaning and getting familiar with Saturnfans.com. This car will spend a lot of time on the highway and I've found it is not buzzy at all at highway speeds. Early impressions are I'm going to like this car for a while.

-Fred