The Ion will be offered with optional 5 spoke 17 inch chrome wheels.......

I will post a link to the pictures if anyone wants to see them. They look really good IMO!

 

I'd like to see them...

 

http://osx.wieck.com/pv/WKA/2002/04/...0855026_pv.jpg

 

Saturn is based on the chassis that will eventually replace both the Cavalier & the Sunfire should it continue.

Might be why Saturn will be the 1st small GM hotrod.

 

It'll smash hondas that are N/A, but not stockers that have turbos, that will easily turn up the boost.

It'd be nice if GM turboed the Cav, then see what people really want. They could choose from a SC saturn or turbo Cav. Now I'll wake up, because that'll never happen.

But all of you know which would sell more, or which would be faster.

 

It kinda sucks that this thing will be SC and not turbo'ed. Super's perform great, sure. I know that. I don't want to debate that. But a lot of what is in the car industry is IMAGE and when you say WRX with a Turbo engine and AWD, that sounds cool to uneducated people. You say Neon SRT-4 with a Turbo engine and AWD, uneducated people are impressed. Turbo and AWD to many takes a car and elevates its level in some people's eyes. The ricer community won't have anything less if it wants a car like the WRX or the SRT-4. FWD SC Saturn. Doesn't fit the formula that sells. Eclipse GS-T was FWD, true, but it was turbo'ed. The GSX was AWD and turbo'ed. Its a good effort, but it needs some work if its going to sell to the masses who mostly don't know everytihng about cars. The people that would debate "turbo's are superior ALWAYS to superchargers...," "AWD is better than RWD for handling reasons..." and the list goes on.

 

The sad thing about the neon is that it'll only come in FWD. How great it would be to be proven wronge on this one. If I am wronge, I welcome the bullets. I would love for this car to be AWD. I think it's a complete mistake for it not to offer an AWD version of this car. They never had aa AWD version of the Daytona, but it still was fast (after you turned up the boost, like all turbo cars).

Can you imagine LT1 fbodies getting killed on the highway, street or strip by a Neon(turbo). Sorry to say that it'll happen. It's getting to a point you have to have a blower or nitrous just to stay respectable around the track. Feels good, huh.

 

Though it'd be cool to have an AWD Neon or Saturn to compete with WRX (total sales of under 20,000 last year) I think SRT & the supercharged Ion will sell every one they make.

Alot of those uneducated people who would be impressed by Turbo & AWD are the ones who have used riced out Hondas they drive to high school, so I wouldn't exactly call them buyers. On the other hand, I'd bet that most WRX buyers know an awful lot about their car.......except the one I ate a couple of weeks ago, but I think he was in the minority.

 

I think it looks like an Alero.

I think it shoud be a true 2 door coupe.

I like the name Ion.

I think Supercharged is better than NA, but not as good as Turbocharged.

I think it is a step in the right direction. Rice boys will be more willing to buy a Saturn than a Chevy.

It better be priced less than $20K, cuz for that same $20K you can get a Cooper S made by BMW.


Also on a related note, Ford has given the turbo shop where my cousin works a new Focus and a whole truckload of 4 cyl engines to try and blow up. We will be seeing a turbo Focus within a year I would say.

About a month ago I drove an SVT Focus, and was very impressed. It needed more power, but it drove very nicely. MSRP $20k.

 

Seems a whole new market of sub $20,000 high performance cars are comming from the big 3 in very short order. With Cadillac, Lincoln, & Chrysler all reaching towards 400 horsepower in the next couple of years, I think it's time to focus on us mid-range $20-30K buyers.

 

I would disagree. I like the quad coupe and wish my Trans Am had that. Would certainly be easier to get back seat passengers in, to clean and work on the interior, and be easier in a parking lot (especially college lots). As long as the car keeps the coupe lines and look (which the Saturn does), I would say it's great to have the extra doors.

As for the price, sub $20 would be nice, but if it's gonna be a real import challenger (read: faster, handles better), I think they can get away with a $21,000 price tag. The VW golf performance version I believe goes for $24,000, so it would still be a better deal then that.

Chris

 

20,000 was Subaru's goal; they sold almost 35,000. Here's the breakdown through June 2002.


WRX sedan, manual trans. - 20377
WRX sedan, auto trans. - 2351
WRX wagon, manual trans. - 9815
WRX wagon, auto trans. - 2161
____________________________________

TOTAL: 34,704 WRX models

Source

 

the SRT-4 should put a good size dent in WRX sales, mostly because of the lower price. Most people don't care about AWD for performace, they like it because it is good in the winter. A lot of people still think that FWD is better in snow than RWD so the SRT-4 should sell well in the North east. The WRX is still better for the performance enthusist that are willing to shell out the extra cash for AWD. I have heard that Ford is coming out with a rally type version of the Focus, I don't know how true this is but I can see that stealing just about all the sales away from the fugly WRX since it should be lighter and cheaper. I myself would wait for a new syclone before I bought a AWD turbo ride.

 

According to a J.D. Power and Associates study released October 3rd, the following are the new vehicle brands and models most attractive to Gen Y consumers. FYI, "Gen Y" includes those born between '77 and '94.

Top 5 Vehicle Brands
1. Kia
2. Volkswagen
3. Saturn
4. Hyundai
5. Pontiac

Top 5 Vehicle Models
1. Saturn SC
2. Hyundai Tiburon
3. Dodge Stratus
4. Honda Prelude
5. Subaru Impreza

 

Well the ION is a bit werid looking....worst is the guages in the middle of the dashboard! Plain stupid. I drove an Echo (guages are in the same spot) it SUCKED---totally takes my eyes off stuff right in front of me. But it is a sign that maybe GM will have some AFFORDABLE fun cars---maybe this would trickle acccros to other small GM cars.

Forge the AWD---price goees up--no thanks