A Road Test: Does the Car Measure Up?

By S.C. GWYNNE

No matter how esoteric the technologies or lofty the management theory, the auto industry reduces ineluctably to a piece of hardware: a car with four wheels, an engine and thousands of little things that make you love it or hate it. For a sneak preview of Saturn, I went to GM's Milford Proving Grounds in suburban Detroit, where officials rolled out all three models: the standard sedan, the high-performance sedan and the sporty coupe. Since this was a secret mission, weeks in advance of the product launch, all traces of the company logo and the brand name were covered by masking tape.

With a roar of well-tuned exhaust, I took off for a test drive to Hell and $ back. (That's Hell, Mich., 30 miles distant, a tiny town consisting of little more than a creek, a grocery store and a bar called the Dam Site Inn.) Conditioned by years of driving subpar American subcompacts, I was genuinely surprised to find almost nothing at fault with the car. Spectacular it is not, but it is very good. And it comes loaded with the thoughtful amenities that have allowed the Japanese to outclass American automakers in the small-car market.

The first thing I noted, with some pleasure, was the engine performance. In the basic sedan, the 1.9-liter, 85-h.p. engine is both peppy and smooth. The 16-valve, 123-h.p. version of the same engine is downright exciting, particularly with a standard shift, and reportedly has a top speed of 120 m.p.h. The five-speed stick shift runs smoothly through the gears, as does the four-speed automatic. Saturn's suspension is supple enough so that at high speed on a bumpy road, the car was perfectly stable. Some critics have complained about excessive engine noise in the Saturn, but I found it as quiet as any other small car I have driven. The variable-assist power steering, which kicks in at low speeds, makes parking-lot navigation easy and comfortable.

Inside, the feel of the car is distinctly Japanese. The instrument cluster and analog gauges have a user-friendly design, and there are plenty of storage cubbies, including an oversize glove box. The split-folding rear seats enable the car to carry skis and other long cargo. Perhaps my only significant objection, one that has been noted by other reviewers, is a lack of legroom in the sedan's rear seats.

Saturn officials have said their benchmark is the popular Honda Civic. Does Saturn make the grade? We will have to wait to see if Saturn is as durable, but I have driven the Civic and my impression is that the Saturn's performance, handling and amenities all measure up to its Japanese rival. The Saturns have been designed for easy servicing too, right down to the transparent, easy-to-read fluid reservoirs under the hood and the clearly labeled fuse boxes and dipsticks. Someone at Saturn has been doing a lot of thinking about what the buyer wants, and that's some of the best news out of Detroit in a long time.