ION Sedan Gets Rebirth

[ragingfish]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04287/394625.stmQuote »Saturn takes another shot at IonWednesday, October 13, 2004By Don Hammonds, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteCan the second time around be a charm for Saturn's Ion?After listening to consumers' complaints about the Ion, Saturn is reintroducing an improved 2005 model.The company sure hopes so. The Ion, introduced a couple of years ago, was roundly criticized by automobile writers and even some owners.The complaints were loud and long. The instrument panel is too weird. The steering wheel is too small and ugly. The car is too noisy. The interior material is cheap. The electric steering is too skittish and uncertain. The front seats are more akin to a torture chamber than a car. And on and on.Never mind that the Ion is one of the best-handling cars in its class. Or that its acceleration is lively and its suspension system supple and responsive. Or even that despite the complaints, it still sold reasonably well.GM and Saturn listened to the negative feedback and they set about making improvements,The result? The 2005 Ion is a much-improved car, and deserves a place on every small car shoppers' list.The list of improvements is quite long. For starters, the car feels vastly more solid than the first one I drove a couple of years ago. The steering it stronger and tighter than it was before. And it feels more "on center" than earlier models; that is, you don't feel like the car is going all over the road.'The seats are also much improved from earlier designs, which were too narrow at the top and offered zip support for my back and shoulders. And the material was ugly to boot.Now, you have substantial and normally contoured seats that provide you that support. And the materials look much more mainstream. The dashboard now features brushed aluminum accents and chrome rings around the gauges. And glory be -- a normal appearing, nicely sized and attractive steering wheel!Prices for the 2005 Ion range from $11,430 for a Ion 1 sedan with manual transmission, to $20,880 for an Ion Red Line Coupe. Fuel mileage was unavailable at press time.For those looking for a minivan, a Saturn dealer can now be added to your shopping list for the all-new Relay. Though these are being billed as sport utility vans by GM, as are the Buick Terrazza, Pontiac's Montana SV6 and Chevy's Uplander, the fact is that these are minivans, with a long hood for a sport utility vehicle flavor.They do have an attractive interior that has a higher quality than the previous generation of minivans, with features like a 50/50 split third row bench seat, low step- in height, and a rear storage bin. There's also a DVD entertainment system that is standard on the Relay, and there's a fabulous optional PhatNoise system that lets customers store hundreds of hours of music, movies and other entertainment media on a single hard-drive cartridge.Power is provided by a 200 horsepower, 3.5 liter V-6.