Throw it into your favorite corner, and you'll find improved steering with more weight and feel than is present in the base car. It is, though, the first Ion that begs to be driven quickly. A new larger and thicker steering wheel improves the mood somewhat, but the Red Line crew kept the gauge cluster over there in the center of the dash, where it challenges vision like an eye chart. Despite slight alterations for 2004, the interior is shiny and flimsy and not a place that will engender envy in the eyes of passersby.
Saturn redline 200 driver#
Unfortunately, that knob is just about the nicest piece the driver will see. Shifts are direct and require a light touch, and if that shift knob looks familiar, it's the same as the one in the Saab 9-3.
Saturn redline 200 manual#
Putting the power to the front wheels is a mandatory five-speed manual transmission. Despite tweaks to improve engine NVH, the supercharged Ecotec is still plagued with four-cylinder thrash, although it's fair to say the racket is distant and unobtrusive. Those numbers are slower than the Dodge SRT-4's, but this engine doesn't suffer from the on-and-off turbocharged nature of the Dodge. It makes its power in a laid-back manner as evidenced by our rolling 5-to-60-mph test, which only adds 0.3 second to the all-out 0-to-60 run. The supercharged mill isn't your typical peaky tuner engine. The engine pulls hard at all rpm, dispatching the 0-to-60 run in 6.1 seconds, 2.3 seconds quicker than a regular Ion. Horsepower increases from 140 to 205, and torque jumps from 145 pound-feet to 200. Starting with the engine, the all-aluminum Ecotec four-cylinder is reduced in displacement from 2.2 liters to 2.0 liters, and a Roots-type supercharger that forces 12.0 psi of boost into the engine is bolted on. The makeover so completely changes the Ion's character that you'll say " do svidan'ya" to its proletarian ways and hello to a car you'll actually want to drive.Īs you would expect, transforming an Ion into a performance car takes extensive modifications, a task akin to changing the People's housing into somewhere you'd want to live. An in-house performance division, like Ford's SVT or BMW's M, Red Line started with the Vue sport-ute and now is trying its hand with the Ion. The new Red Line high-performance Saturns seemingly spell the end of the line for the Reds who were running down Saturn. 20 Best Cheap Performance Cars, Trucks, and SUVsīut there is hope.Best Sports Sedans for $15K: Window Shop with C/D.
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