Can the Saturn Relay Save Saturn's Styling of Cars?

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Saturns have been at the bottom of the barrel in styling. I can mind practicality, but in order to save Saturn from falling down a deep chasm to its dusty death, this machine known as the Saturn Relay has styling that (I admit) is pretty good for a well-recognized ugly American car maker. But if you ask me, if the front styling of this car is done to the front of the cars, we may be looking at a most-improved car company.

With the Relay's styling as a cue to this topic, do you have second thoughts about bashing on the styling of Saturns (if you do)? Reply.
 
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Eh, looks just average to me. It's got a stubby nose which looks to be a cross of Volvo and Honda. The interior doesn't seem to be anything special as well. It's an interesting category, though - 'sport vans'. I don't really have too much to say about it, but I think it has a possibilty of doing well.

EDIT: Something just occured to me that gave me doubts about its success. It seems to me that people would either want their SUV or their van, not a compromise of both. I really can't guess how this one would do.
 
Bah, "sport van" is just GM's way of trying to maket their undersize, under-performing minvan to a new niche. This generation of the GM van platform is no bigger than the last, which is to say it is at least 3 years behind the competition.

The GM van cannot hide its small Euro roots, and "sport van" definitely isnt fooling me. The only chages between this and the past generation are the front clip and rear suspension (I believe).
 
limelife, he says that because he has no concept of sentence structure, punctuation, or common sense. It's sad.

Saturn make some of the ugliest cars. But people buying Saturns don't normally have styling that high up on their list of priorities.

Saturns have the single ugliest headlight arrangement ever. No car can ever come close to touching the pure ugliness that is a Saturn headlight arrangement.

This Relay looks straight out of 1994. Ugly to the twelfth power.
 
i hate saturns...because they are ugly, and because they are small.....and because they sold them on QVC

*dies @ the desparity*
 
Originally posted by Klostrophobic

Saturns have the single ugliest headlight arrangement ever. No car can ever come close to touching the pure ugliness that is a Saturn headlight arrangement.
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I've just named the Vue V6 my 2004 Car of the Year and I hate judging cars by style, but it's so hard to disagree here.

Though as you say most Saturn people don't care about the styling - the Vue isn't ugly, the L300 isn't bought by style-conscious people, and the Ion's owners think it's cute.

Saturn is suffering from the same syndrome that sunk Eagle and Geo in the late 1990s - the host company creates them to be different then stops caring. Here's the worst example - Saturn becomes a platform-sharer to Buick and Pontiac, a signal of its further absorption into GM.

Bah, "sport van" is just GM's way of trying to maket their undersize, under-performing minvan to a new niche.
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Can you think of any other domestic companies trying to do a similar thing?

Neither can I.

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:D

The most interesting thing to me is that the minivan segment is the most obvious segment in the world. If you can have more cargo room than the others, more power than the others, and decent reliability, your minivan is the best. It worked for Dodge originally, then Honda, then Nissan and Toyota.

But God forbid Ford and General Motors actually attempt to attack the Japanese and steal a segment with huge potential - no, they're content selling off their 200-horsepower models (the "sport vans" from GM have one of the lowest-powered V6s in the segment) to Enterprise. Idiots
 
The Relay's nose looks like that of an insecure mouse. And in all honesty, that is one of the smallest and most boring grilles I have ever seen in my life. It's a "Meh"-mobile.
 
To be honest, the Saturn Relay's headlights and grill (haven't seen the rear) tries to look like the upcoming Scion tC, but even the tC looks better than the Relay. Saturn needs some inspiration in their automobiles. And yes, that even includes one of the new tuner favorites, the Ion Red Line. I don't know how an American car company would sound when I say this, but Saturn needs to look at some well-selling Japanese cars. If Saturn wants a sort of a "dopey" look, they can look at the Subaru Legacy from 2001. If they want small, spunky cars, look at the 1998-ish Mitsubishi Eclipse. If they want elegance, look to Honda's latest 2-door Accord, or if they REALLY want attention-getters, look to a company that is turning out to be one of my new favorites, Lexus.

But to me, Saturn needs some outside influence. Their cars are dopey as crap to me. I'm not going to bash on M5 for saying the Vue is one of his favorites. I mean, his view, I am at no position to hate. But the Relay looks to be highly decent to me. If some of the styling can be applied to the rest of their product line, Saturn can be saved. Or do we have to ask that we put every last Saturn in my "Back to the Drawing Board..." thread?
 
anybody ever see the saturn commercials? first we think about whoever is going to be in this vechile, then we make it safe, then we make it beautiful. i dont think they came the the beautiful part yet though. there is a lot of saturn's driving around, i suppose they would be a nice first car or something like that
 
Damn right, Dozer. And people like to knock on tuner cars with fancy bodykits saying THEY are ugly, obviously haven't looked at almost any Saturn. False advertisement can lead to endless arguments, you know.
 
Originally posted by JohnBM01
I'm not going to bash on M5 for saying the Vue is one of his favorites. I mean, his view, I am at no position to hate.
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Yeah, but when I say it's one of my favourites, I'm not even taking the styling of it as a factor. Its position in its segment is clearly number one by a wide margin (I think it's the best small SUV ever). I realise there are other better-looking SUVs in its segment, but none that come close to matching the Vue in the areas that really matter.
 
I think the Relay is about the most decent Saturn out there other than the L300. If the front was styled a little more like the Relay, it would probably be the most decent-looking Saturn to date. The tailights are certainly decent, the sides are alright, but the front of the car needs work. How you look up front can change people's perceptions about whether or not it is beautiful or distasteful.
 
I think the Vue is the best looking SUV in its class. The only SUV that beats it in the looks department is the Cayenne, and that's way out of the Vue's league.

I hate SUVs and I want one now. Too bad there isn't a manual option. WHY SATURN!?!?!?!

Saturns have recently grown on me. I really like the look of the Vue and decent-ish. The L300 and Relay are still ugly, but Saturns appears to be getting better. But I know ****-all about cars, as you are probably well aware of.
 
You can get a Vue manual, but only on the four-cylinder. It's not Saturn's fault you can't get a manual V6 - it's Honda's.
 
I hear that every new Saturn is like Tupplewear. Everything bounces off and no dent or scratch what-so-ever.
 
I used to work at the local Saturn Saab Isuzu Dealer. I can tell you that GM's Miscellaneous car brands SUCK.

I didnt drive any Saturns that were at all decent.

I learned that SAABs just suck. They break down so bad and they are pure garbage.

And Isuzu's, hahahahahahahahahahahaha


I now work at Calgary BMW and I LOVE my job.
 
I highly doubt the Relay is gonna save Saturn.

If you guys were saturn fans you'd know that Bob Lutz is planning to release the Saturn Curve (or something similar) based off the Pontiac Solstice chassis in the near future. RWD, coupe, prolly around 220 hp, the Saturn Curve is supposed to be the halo car for Saturn.

I may consider buying this car when it comes out especially if the Focus Cosworth doesn't make it to America. Only thing I'm worrying about is the weight (the Solstice is looking at 2900 lbs right now and the Curve might be more cause of its hardtop)
 
Or grinds. I was talking to a Saturn club racer and he had a big gring/melt hole in his driver's side quarter panel. I asked what did that and he said it was a Showroom Stock Neon's wheel during a close race at Lime Rock.
 
I'm sorry but I can't believe that any of you think that thing is stylish at all! That is the ugliest suv i've ever seen in my life!
 

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