Ion Red Line turns 30! 30,000 that is...

[Rob]

Well, the Ion hit the 30,000 mark last week. After taking delivery in late 2005 it finally hit the mark. My impressions of this milestone are somewhat mixed. Maybe it's because it's the end of the year? Or is it because my ex has written me lately on how "miserable" life is? Granted, part of what's going on isn't all necessarily his own doing. The current economy has much to do with it. Or is it because life took a major turn for me this year, leaving my native Chicago, my friends, family (of which is tiny), my comfort zone and relocating to the East coast, Boston specifically, to be with someone new, looking for a new job in a new career and basically, starting over? Whatever the reason, the Pacific Blue Ion Red Line, model year 2006 with competition package, GMPP Stage 2 kit, Extrudehone exhaust manifold and front mesh grille is now officially over 30 (thousand miles that is).

I ordered the IRL (Ion Red Line) while I was working at a retailer. My second vehicle from them, the first being a loaded 2003 L300 in medium blue. Great car by the way. I loaded the IRL up as well, with the exception of the advanced audio. For some reason, it wasn't available at the time. URGH! Otherwise it got every option available. So when it came in from Spring Hill, it was the only one on the truck that day for our facility. It came sans spoiler, which parts got in separately. Looked kind of strange with no tail decoration. I ordered the aero wing instead of the stock spoiler. I figured since it's meant to be a "boy racer", Fast and Furious type car, why not. So there it was, sitting on the lot waiting for its "wing" to be installed. COOL! After driving Trans Ams, this was going to be an interesting experience since I wasn't used to a performance Saturn. But, at this point, I already had trust in the brand and was looking forward to driving this car.

So once I signed all the paperwork, cleaned it up and took it home, I was happy. It didn't disappoint in regards to performance and handling. The sound of the supercharger and rush of air was pretty cool. Parking in the city was easier than the L300, but NOW I had to be careful where to not have damaged bumpers. This was a task,especially after driving 54 miles home from work everyday. But with the addition of XM, I didn't mind the commute that much. And if all else, I could pop in 6 CDs and listen to what I had in the car.

My IRL initially had no issues but one popped up within the first month regarding the intermittent wipers. It took some time to figure out what was going on, but once Saturn engineering looked at the actual programming, they found something in the BCM and ECM programming was incorrect. They emailed the tech a corrected program so he could reflash the modules and it corrected that issue. Funny thing was, it also corrected a car in Canada that they had a case on. The only other issue was some "punks" decided my car needed a new spoiler so they cracked mine off the trunk one day. Once that was taken care of, it has been normal maintenance since until I moved to Boston.

I follow a general schedule of: oil changes when the oil change light comes on, tire rotations every 6,000 miles, HVAC filter every 12,000, engine air filter every 30,000 and wiper inserts once or twice a year depending on how well they clear the windshield. So far, oil changes are averaging around every 6-8k miles. That's cool, since it requires 6.5 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic.

Aside from the initial programming issue the only other repair required has been replacement of the rear brake calipers and a door primary weather strip. The calipers were sticking after I'd release the parking brake. Those were replaced around 28K miles. I've seen many manual trans cars have this issue so was no surprise to me. The weather strip issue I don't recall the exact reason. There was a body repair to the front due to a deer strike during my move. OUCH, that one hurt but it could have been worse had I been going faster.

At this point, the car has been very reliable and a joy to drive. Now that I have a personal audio cable to connect my iPod up, I can really listen to whatever, whenever I drive. With gas prices dropping, it's not as costly to fill up with premium but with the onset of winter, it will be interesting to see how MPG is effected. I've been tracking it for the last 4 months and averaging 25 mpg which is mostly highway driving. It does include some stop/go in the evening rush and combined driving running errands and such around town. Visibility is good even with the rear wing. It's not a quiet ride but that's usually because I have the music blasting. Hehehe...

Other "issues", minor as they are and probably typical with the Ion quad coupes, right now have been the rear access doors constantly squeaking on the latches during times of body flex and bumps. The plastic window trim on the rear access doors come loose. I just pop them back in but the clips have been adjusted and replaced once already. The sunroof shade also has a notable rattle at times on the left rear slide when driving on rough surfaces. Paint chips, yep, have those all over the front end and hood but have seen that also on my Trans Ams. Must be something with those low front ends or fast driving? MMMM...

Wear items have held up well. Brakes at the last service visit showed about 50% left even with the stop and go of Boston and rush hour traffic. Serpentine belt is good, battery checks out fine and tires are still at 7/32s (if I remember the checklist correctly). Good thing since those tires won't be cheap to replace.

It's funny, driving the Massachusetts Turnpike, I see so many cars. Quite a few Ion coupes, some sedans. But so far, I've seen only one other IRL, a red one. I still love getting in this car and driving it. The Recaro seats are very comfortable, at least for me. They provide a snug fit, the right lumbar support and the material is holding up very well. To look out the rear with the wing in my view, well it's hard to describe. Sometimes I expect to see little vortexes coming off the wing. The performance of the supercharger is great, the sound even better. The performance kit upgrade I think really enhanced the performance and smoothed out the idle. The car no doubt is fun to drive, except in the snow.

My overall experience with the IRL, GREAT! But would I expect anything less from Saturn, NO. Would I recommend this car to a friend? Yes, but only if they were looking for a pocket racer and not wanting to spend a ton of money. If they wanted it as a daily driver, I'd say only in the warmer months of the year. The car has been easy to maintain, relatively trouble free and considering it is a performance vehicle, has not been a huge drain on the budget. It, like my other Saturns is what has kept me coming back along with the whole ownership experience, service visits included.

Now, if I could only park it for the winters next to my Sky Red Line and drive the Astra XR 3 door as a daily driver.

[joy]

Seriously, Saturn Ion is great in terms of its engine, design and overall performance. parts such as ac condenser and others has proven to give the car performance everyone loves. One of the greatest from Saturn indeed.