Thinking About Cars — Saturn SC

I woke up thinking about the Saturn SC this morning.

The SC was the two door version of Saturn’s S-series of compact cars. It was an SL sedan where two doors were subtracted and one coupe was added. Here’s the equation Saturn used:

SL — 2 = SC

In 1990, SCs made somewhere in the vicinity of 85 horsepower out of a 1.9L inline-4. That power plant was affectionately called “General Motors LK0 SOHC inline-4” by Saturn fans. It was later upgraded to a full 100 horsepower that increased the 0–60 time from “Hmm” to “Yeah, sure.”

Let’s associate some words. When I say “Saturn Corporation,” what words or phrases come to mind? Most people will say “plastic,” or “cheap,” or “marginally better than a horse.” You probably don’t associate the brand with performance, or style.

While the SC and early Saturns have a retro charm to them and performed quite competently as daily drivers, no one is going to rabidly bid on an SW wagon at Mecum anytime soon (but we can hope). Most early offerings from the brand look like a car rendered on a Sega Genesis. And the SC was not an exception.