since selling my AMC eagle wagon a few years ago I really haven't been active on this forum. I replaced that wagon with a newer s10 pickup because of my long commute to work and I frankly needed a truck to haul stuff that I really wouldn't want to put in a car. Last year I sold the s10 and bought an AMC Jeep Comanche cause I still have a need for a truck and I always wanted to own a comanche. Over the past month I have been looking for a fuel efficent car to use while the weather is nice and I have my comanche tore apart for paint and a fresh engine to be installed and came across a co worker selling a 1995 Saturn SW2 wagon. 500 dollars latter and I am back into a wagon. I'm very happy with the little Saturn cause it's the peppy twin cam with a 5 speed (even with 200k on the clock). I'll include some pictures of the daily drivers that lead me back to a long roof (cause everyone loves pictures) my old 2001 s10 after I painted it and added lots of aftermarket parts my current work horse 1988 Jeep Comanche my current daily driver 1995 Saturn SW2
My brother bought one of those SWs new a year after they debuted, and drove it until he traded it in on an Ion 2-door in 2003. He offered the wagon to me but I had to decline due to lack of funds. He took good care of it and, I'm sure, still had many years left in it. As long as you don't constantly drive it loaded, the brakes will have good life, and you'll want to flush the clutch hydraulics. When was the last time the clutch was done? Typically, they can last 70-80K miles with good driving habits.
My brother and wife both owned small saturns, and when they each finally started failing completely, they were in the 240,000-260,000 mileage range. Neither one of them was mechanically inclined and really didn't do anything other than periodic maintenance.
Nice find. Keep an eye on the rear door sills, rear suspension arm mounts underneath and the front sub-from suspension mounts on the driver's side. Those are the most rust prone areas on these cars. '95 is my favorite year because it has the first gen body style with the second gen interior. As long as you keep oil in it it will run forever. My wife's '01 SL1 has about 184k miles on the original clutch (and rear shoes for that matter).
the plains I have for the saturn are pretty basic at first ..... going to recover the headliner, install some 17 inch wheels I have sitting in my shop, and drive it until the comanche is painted and the stroker motor is installed. Once the comanche is finished up and the weather turns to snow I am going to pull and rebuild the engine in the saturn and possibly repaint it and add a few aftermarket go faster parts to it
This sounds like a good plan. Thanks for the pics...we really do enjoy them cause they're worth a thousand words. back.
What style wheels do you have to put on it? Sometimes the first gen Saturns can look a little weird with wheels that are too big. Are you planning to lower it at all? I've got Progress 2" drop springs on mine since the stock ride height was way too high. The only issue with lowering a Saturn is the lack of good aftermarket shocks/struts.
I have heard that subaru coil overs are pretty easily adaptable to lower the S series but I don't know if I am going to lower it at all cause I'm what you would call a "fat kid" and it already feels like I am riding a sled down the road comming from my comanche. Here soon I will be installing a 5-6 inch lift on my comanche (for no other real reason then I have all of the parts laying around from jeeps I have owned in the past) so I have a feeling that the car is going to feel even lower when it comes time to use it for the work week. the rims I don't know the brand off the top of my head I did some trade work for a friend of mine where I painted a set of fenders and a front bumper cover of his honda in trade for the wheels he used to have on his car ....... I added a picture of the wheels on his car before he changed them out for some lighter rims
