2008 Saturn Astra - Not the best
First of all, Saturn went out of business or disappeared, so my car brand isn't actively in actual business anymore, therefore parts are a little more expensive. Visually, I like the hatchback car style. It's white with a gray interior, which isn't anything special, but it's held up well over time. I can sort of hunt down generic car parts or tires for this car model, but it's not easy. It isn't comforting to own a car brand that isn't made anymore (unless it's a cool sports car that merits it, right?). It doesn't climb up hills or have much pep to it. It is great with gas, however, and for the most part, hasn't required super expensive repairs as of yet. It's small so it fits into parking lots and spots easily. It's performance is just enough, but kind of sub par. There are issues wit... (more)
First of all, Saturn went out of business or disappeared, so my car brand isn't actively in actual business anymore, therefore parts are a little more expensive. Visually, I like the hatchback car style. It's white with a gray interior, which isn't anything special, but it's held up well over time. I can sort of hunt down generic car parts or tires for this car model, but it's not easy. It isn't comforting to own a car brand that isn't made anymore (unless it's a cool sports car that merits it, right?). It doesn't climb up hills or have much pep to it. It is great with gas, however, and for the most part, hasn't required super expensive repairs as of yet. It's small so it fits into parking lots and spots easily. It's performance is just enough, but kind of sub par. There are issues with it that consistently happen, like the spark plugs need changing sooner. One time the shifter for park, reverse, etc., went out completely while going up a hill I had to travel on. That ended up costing me $500.00 in repairs! It has major issues with clogging, like the acceleration just completely gets "stuck" a bit going from gear to gear and you have to put Seafoam liquid in it to get it to clear out when you fill up your gas tank. The major pros is seriously the cost to fill the tank is pretty affordable, and it has heated seats for cold winter months. You can fold down the back seat in order to make the trunk much longer, so you can fit in a broom or mop or other long gardening equipment without having any special attachments or issues.
I'll give you memorable only because it's funny in hindsight what happened, but it was also frustrating and costly. I drove the car up to the Universal look out point while my boyfriend's mom was in town. Unfortunately, this look out point was up a kind of steep hill. While going up the hill, apparently the shifter decided to break right as we were parking. We get out of the car, enjoy the vie... (more)
I'll give you memorable only because it's funny in hindsight what happened, but it was also frustrating and costly. I drove the car up to the Universal look out point while my boyfriend's mom was in town. Unfortunately, this look out point was up a kind of steep hill. While going up the hill, apparently the shifter decided to break right as we were parking. We get out of the car, enjoy the views and taking pictures, and get back into the car only to discover the car cannot shift anymore. It's completely broken itself. We had to sit and wait for a tow truck to come, and as we are sitting there tinkering with the car trying to figure out what's wrong, a tour bus whizzes by and pauses right next to us, every ten minutes, for over two hours it took for the tow truck to arrive. It was comical that every time it stopped, inevitably someone would be curious and ask what's wrong, or try to help us fix it only to have to rush off to get back on their bus before it took off. Eventually, the tow truck comes and he figures out that the shifter is broken, we get towed, and after a few days and some $500.00 later, the car is back in working order. I'll just never forget all the people staring in at our situation like we were part of the display. It was funny.
For my Saturn Astra car, I would say the pros include that it's easy to fill up at any gas station wherever you are because it utilizes the gas really well. I can afford to fill it up. The heated seats are really nice in the winter. It had a six-CD changer, which I'm sure was cool back when CDs were used, but it didn't come with any auxiliary outlet because I don't think in 2008 they had those. It has a remote starter installed, which was nice when you wanted to get it warmed up in the winter or cooled down in the summer. The A/C worked well while it worked, but the Freon ran out long ago,... (more)
For my Saturn Astra car, I would say the pros include that it's easy to fill up at any gas station wherever you are because it utilizes the gas really well. I can afford to fill it up. The heated seats are really nice in the winter. It had a six-CD changer, which I'm sure was cool back when CDs were used, but it didn't come with any auxiliary outlet because I don't think in 2008 they had those. It has a remote starter installed, which was nice when you wanted to get it warmed up in the winter or cooled down in the summer. The A/C worked well while it worked, but the Freon ran out long ago, and it's a bit pricey to fill but it's effective. I haven't had any extremely major repairs needed for the car yet, despite it being used. I have driven it around in a lot of weather situations, and it's relatively felt safe in rain or storms and snow situations. It has decent room for lots of groceries or laundry or helping people move by flipping down the backseat so the trunk has even more room. Not the same as a truck, mind you, but still decent I guess.
For my Saturn Astra car, I would say the cons include the fact that it's not even being made anymore so something happened with Saturn itself. It doesn't have any pep to it, in terms of performance, it's just okay. It isn't horrible, but it isn't great. Forget going up steeper hills and inclines because it will struggle on those and definitely cannot handle the really steep streets you find in some parts of the states. It's had issues with the power locks stopping working all together, so you have to use pliers to get the back right door open, for instance. It's kind of pricier to repair o... (more)
For my Saturn Astra car, I would say the cons include the fact that it's not even being made anymore so something happened with Saturn itself. It doesn't have any pep to it, in terms of performance, it's just okay. It isn't horrible, but it isn't great. Forget going up steeper hills and inclines because it will struggle on those and definitely cannot handle the really steep streets you find in some parts of the states. It's had issues with the power locks stopping working all together, so you have to use pliers to get the back right door open, for instance. It's kind of pricier to repair or fill with Freon for A/C again, which is off putting. The Astra looks good, but there's nothing visually all that interesting about it when you see it parked in the parking lot. It's not ugly, but it's not really exciting either. The remote starter malfunctioned at some point, making that "cool" aspect kind of useless. The issues I've had with the acceleration is something that really caused me a great deal of trouble for awhile. It didn't have auxiliary inputs for listening to music off your phone.
2008 Saturn Astra - Very neat and versatile
The car gets great gas mileage. It has a dashboard display with lots of sensor readings that tell you about the gas mileage. The hatchback and folding back seats make the car great for transporting larger items. The car is not very big, so it's easy to find a parking space. The CD player is perfect for listening to audio books on long drives. I like that it has a stick shift and a cruise control feature. On the road, it sounds relatively quiet. The shock absorbers are pretty good. The main drawback of the car is simply that it is a 2008 Saturn: when something does need to be fixed, it is difficult to find parts for the car and they tend to be relatively expensive. However, the car has held up remarkably over the years. After eleven years and 100,000 miles, it runs very well. It's prett... (more)
The car gets great gas mileage. It has a dashboard display with lots of sensor readings that tell you about the gas mileage. The hatchback and folding back seats make the car great for transporting larger items. The car is not very big, so it's easy to find a parking space. The CD player is perfect for listening to audio books on long drives. I like that it has a stick shift and a cruise control feature. On the road, it sounds relatively quiet. The shock absorbers are pretty good. The main drawback of the car is simply that it is a 2008 Saturn: when something does need to be fixed, it is difficult to find parts for the car and they tend to be relatively expensive. However, the car has held up remarkably over the years. After eleven years and 100,000 miles, it runs very well. It's pretty comfortable on long drives, and it gets exceptional gas mileage (up to 37 mpg) on the highway. In town, with the air conditioning running, the gas mileage drops to around 25 mpg. Besides non-essential features such as being able to roll down the back driver's side window and such, everything has run remarkably well. It's easy to drive, easy to park, and the opposite of a gas hog. Overall, it handles winding roads very well; driving it in the mountains is easy to do.
When I had the tires rotated recently, the guy who drove my car out of the garage didn't realize that the driver's side door handle was broken; he spent several minutes trying to get out of the car before I noticed and walked over and opened the door from the outside.
When I had the tires rotated recently, the guy who drove my car out of the garage didn't realize that the driver's side door handle was broken; he spent several minutes trying to get out of the car before I noticed and walked over and opened the door from the outside.
The car gets great gas mileage; you can tell this because it has a feature that keeps track of your gas mileage and shows you the instantaneous miles per gallon or the average miles per gallon. This car is also a stick shift, which gives you more control over the vehicle. It has a hatchback, and the back seats fold down, which makes it easy to haul stuff around in even though the car itself is not too big. Unlike most stick shift cars, this one has a cruise control feature which works in fifth gear. This makes it comfortable during long drives on the highway. The car has automatic windows ... (more)
The car gets great gas mileage; you can tell this because it has a feature that keeps track of your gas mileage and shows you the instantaneous miles per gallon or the average miles per gallon. This car is also a stick shift, which gives you more control over the vehicle. It has a hatchback, and the back seats fold down, which makes it easy to haul stuff around in even though the car itself is not too big. Unlike most stick shift cars, this one has a cruise control feature which works in fifth gear. This makes it comfortable during long drives on the highway. The car has automatic windows and door locks. You can adjust the side mirrors using controls on the driver's side door. Also, there is a low tire-pressure light that indicates when you should put air in the tires. All of the car seats are relatively comfortable to sit in for long periods of time. There is a CD player installed in the car, as well as a radio. The silver color of the car is appealing. Even though the car is over ten years old and has over 100,000 miles on it, it runs very well. The car has a good air conditioning system. When driving on windy mountain roads, the car handles turns at reasonably high speeds very well; it has never skidded off the road. The brakes work extremely well.
The front seat adjustment controls are not extremely easy to use. The car does not have an mp3 port so you can't plug your phone into it to listen to music. Awhile ago, the tire pressure light went on, and it continues to stay on whether or not the tires actually need air added to them. The back driver's side window no longer rolls down. The driver's side door handle does not work from the inside, so you have to roll down the window and open the door from the outside; this gets annoying. Sometimes the brakes work a little too well, so it's easy to brake too hard without meaning to. Because... (more)
The front seat adjustment controls are not extremely easy to use. The car does not have an mp3 port so you can't plug your phone into it to listen to music. Awhile ago, the tire pressure light went on, and it continues to stay on whether or not the tires actually need air added to them. The back driver's side window no longer rolls down. The driver's side door handle does not work from the inside, so you have to roll down the window and open the door from the outside; this gets annoying. Sometimes the brakes work a little too well, so it's easy to brake too hard without meaning to. Because the car is so old, it's very difficult to find parts for it when something needs to be fixed. Then the parts have to be ordered, which takes time; the parts also tend to be extremely expensive. For example, the passenger side-mirror glass came off this winter, and I was told that a replacement part would cost over $70. To get the driver's side interior door handle fixed will cost at least $170. The air conditioning system requires a tune-up at the beginning of each summer. So, the car is expensive to maintain. When you push the lock button on your key, the car does not make a beeping sound; this makes it more difficult to locate the car in a crowded parking lot.
2008 Saturn Astra - Quality starter car
It was a great, reliable vehicle, not many bells and whistles, but it got the job done.
It was a great, reliable vehicle, not many bells and whistles, but it got the job done.
I once drove it through a blizzard so I could go snowboarding one evening. It was ridiculous, the roads were terrible, and I was scooting along with my front-wheel-drive car.
I once drove it through a blizzard so I could go snowboarding one evening. It was ridiculous, the roads were terrible, and I was scooting along with my front-wheel-drive car.
It had fantastic gas mileage. I loved that about this car.
It had fantastic gas mileage. I loved that about this car.
Front-wheel drive.
Front-wheel drive.
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