Redline ION test drive

Should also be nice if it crosses over to the Cobalt (Cobalt SS?) in a

2-door version which should be lighter than the ION. Is the ION Red Line 4 wheel disc or conventional disc and drum combo?

oh yea, 4 wheel disc and it stops on a dime. The Cobalt SS will be a good looking model when it comes out. I wonder if it will have the same suspension tuning as the RL and if it will go thru the same testing by the GM Performance team.

marx404

The thing I appreciated most in my test drives was the whine of the supercharger being audible when you're at WOT. It's not really loud or anything, but it's there.

Lane [ l a n e @ p a i r . c o m ]

The thing I appreciated most in my test drives was the whine of the supercharger being audible when you're at WOT. It's not really loud or anything, but it's there.

Lane [ l a n e @ p a i r . c o m ]

Honestly, I had the A/C on and could only hear the exhaust note, which was a sweet tone and not too loud. The Supercharger and ecotec are both pretty quiet altogether. This car is definately a sleeper.

marx404

Interesting. I have yet to see one in person or hear one myself. Saturn needs to try "advertising". I cant recall any saturn comercials in a long while. Personaly I wish they put that supercharged motor in the sedan. The supercharged coup looks to much like a ricers wet dream to me...

Oops. Forgot to enter my correct handle. Just done a clean install of windows... :)

I hate the rice look myself, but the RL is nicely done without being overdone. They left the big rear wing as an option and didn't make it standard, so that's good.

Saturn has been advertising this car. See the commercial on TV where both the RL VUE and coupe are driving down the road next to each other and the guys crawl out the window of one and into the other? There has also been some nice garage-themed ads for the coupe in a variety of car magazines. It's here:

Lane [ l a n e @ p a i r . c o m ]

I think the sound on whatever car(s) you're referring to is a function of the exhaust system that's on the car. Most in stock form that I've heard are nearly silent. They do sound bad in my opinion, when people start putting on the big coffee-can mufflers.

Lane [ l a n e @ p a i r . c o m ]

This makes me think of something I keep meaning to ask the group (and usually forget)... is running the engine at high RPM's (even redline) hard on sub systems like the ac compressor, alternator and water pump? I assume they're designed for all rpm ranges, however if you're doing 1/8 mile drags at the local, sanctioned race event and bouncing off the limiter every Friday night are you shortening the life of the accessories? (yeah, I already figured the engine is taking a toll too)

In theory, I would think it would shorten the life. But, I've driven my '94 in at least 15 - 20 road course lapping events over a 5 year period without any ill effects when it comes to accessories. Each event is usually about

3 - 4 hours of hard driving on the track with the vehicle on and off of redline constantly. I've even still got the original alternator in it at around 130k which is kind of amazing by itself.

I'd guess that unless it's a dedicated race car and you hit the track every weekend (or even more often), you'll probably never have a problem with the accessories.

On the other hand, however - if the car EVER sees the track, do yourself a favor and treat it to synthetic oil. It will certainly help the longevity of the motor which is operating a bit outside of what the factory intended as normal use. :)

Lane [ l a n e @ p a i r . c o m ] (been thru more than one motor)

I tried synth when I first started having oil consumption issues (prior to the rebuild). Then I went back to dino and change every 2000 miles (which works out to about every 3 months). In all these years I never made it to a track or autocross event.

Was it your street or track Saturn that had the spun main bearing audio track on your site? Did you rebuild on just get another long block (just curious)?

It happened to my '94, which is my daily driver. Since the car was 4 states away from home at the time, I had the car towed to a Saturn dealer and had them put in a different motor to get it back on the road as soon as possible. The cost on that was the incentive I needed to buy a second car that was just for the track. You do drive a car differently when you know it doesn't have to get you home from the track, and you don't have to drive it to work the next day. I just wish I'd done it a bit sooner.

That spun bearing happened at around 90k. When I pulled the motor apart, it was unreal how much gunk and residue was inside the motor - and I was religious about changing the oil every 2000 - 3000 miles. I've been running synth in the replacement motor since 500 miles. I recently had to swap the valve cover gasket on it at around 50k or so miles. Taking a look a the top end, it doesn't even look like oil has touched the inside of the motor it is so clean.

Lane [ l a n e @ p a i r . c o m ]

...hmmm, I may 're-think' my position on synth. I wonder if the gunk is the aftermath of metallurgical interaction (reaction?) between the internal parts and the dino oil and or themselves, or dino's lubricant ability is less than that of synth? I think Vettes and 911's come factory with Mobil

2. > It happened to my '94, which is my daily driver. Since the car was 4 states

My connection has sucked all this month... Thought I posted the following

Dino oil sludges up mostly because it contains more "ash".

Yeah when my first engine gave up the ghost @ 42K hard miles it was surprisingly clean. I used Mobile 1 from the start and it showed in my opinion! I'll never use anything else...

I swsear by Mobil 1 and wont use anything else. I have has my iol pan removed once in my 94 already at 88K miles and it looked almost clean enough to eat from. I used to street race classic Mustangs ('65 '66) in the '80's and after having oil related problems, I switched to Mobil 1 and have never had any oil problems in any car no matter how I drive or what kind of car I drove. Now I use it in my '94 SL2 and stand firm in my belief in this oil.

Just a note: I have had many a customer ask me if they use synthetic that means that they can go longer than 3 months changing thier oil. The answer is NO. No matter what oil you use you must always stick to a strict regimen of changing your oil on time. All oil wears or chemically breaks down after

3 months of use, synthetic or not.

I am glad that Saturn (albeit thier previous stance against using synth oil in the past) decided to go with Mobil 1. The oil filler cap is even imprinted with Mobil1 5-30 on it. Cool, I want that cap.

btw- If you dont believe about this car, goto your local dealer and drive one, nuff said.

marx404