Saturn Wagons
 

Hello,

Wanted to get some advice for a potential purchase. I've been looking for a wagon to buy and my coworker mentioned that his neighbor is interested in selling his '00 SW2. It has 100k miles and is automatic (i know 5 speed would have been better) and he is the original owner.

The good: He's asking 1k for it.

The bad: shifts hard, coolant leak, and drinks some oil.

From perusing around the boards, it looks like the oil issue and the shifting hard (valve body?) is common for these cars. Are these difficult fixes and is it worth it to buy the wagon at that price?

Thanks.

Valve body for shifting, coolant leak could be anything from a radiator, water pump, intake manifold gasket. Thats something you are going to look to see where the leak is coming from. Oil usage could be stuck rings, and a MMO soak might help. If you can do these repairs yourself it's a good buy. Ask your coworker if he changed the oil every 3K and the transmission fluid and filter every 30K. If not done walk away from the deal.
Steve

limerence -

I have a 1999 SW2 (manual tranny, :) ). Pretty much all of the S-Series burn oil. If it's at or below 1 quart every 3000 miles, then you should be ok. If I were you, I would go to www.saturnfans.com to ask this question. If you want, I can post your question over there and you can watch for responses.

CarloSW2

Thanks Carlos.

I did it the same day.

What was the best mileage saturn wagon ever made?

None of my SOHC motors have ever burned oil. My daughters DOHC does though. The SW1 with 5 spd is the one to own of the bunch, IMO. The newer the better.

A '99 car for a grand? If it is in any sort of decent shape, go for it. Unless there is a lot wrong with it (huge boofs of smoke, won't start, etc) it's probably a good deal. Engines rebuild, transmissions rebuild or replace. But...if they are asking $1000, offer $500. And go from there.