I have a 2004 Saturn Ion which now has 5,000 miles on it. My problem, which I noticed when I first got the car, is that the steering is cockeyed. By that, I mean it's easier to turn the wheel to the left than it is to the right. When a car has the correct balance it should always try to center itself so that it wants to go strait ahead but my car always wants to nestle itself a bit left of center. Every move to the right is met with resistance immediately but it can go a ways to the left before any resistance is felt and when the resistance is finally felt (to the left) it's a smooth gradual increase. Going to the right, I feel a knot of resistance right at the center and is not smooth it's just a bit tougher to move all the way over. I've had it in to the service department several times. It's been aligned twice and they tell me it's in spec yet it's still cockeyed. Most messages that I've been reading in which someone has had a problem with steering envolve the powersteering unit. I do not believe that is my problem. I think it is the suspension bushings. I believe they are too soft. They (I believe) are allowing too much unintentional movement to the point where the unequal length shafts of the drivetrain are effecting the suspension geometry. Prior to buying this car I test drove another Ion and it did this as well. Just as a frame of reference, I have had some other cars with the unequal length driveshafts but they had stiff bushings. There steering was not only strait (balanced) but tight, no where near the slop of the Ion. The cars I'm referring to are the Honda Civic and the Mazda 323. Both of these were the standard models not the sport versions.
If your still with me after all that, I have a question. Does anyone else out there with a Ion notice the same cockeyed steering?