I have afriend who sold her 97 saturn after the clutch went out. How much do you think it would have cost to have a decent shop fix it?

 

No more than a grand for sure. Those clutches are cheap and easy to replace. The wife used to have an SC2. I replaced the engine and clutch in the driveway in just an afternoon. Next day I replaced a bunch of the body panels and she took it to Maaco for a cheap paint job. Went from being a crappy beater to a pretty nice car in one weekend. Unfortunately, after all that work it was still a GM product.

 

I must say Saturn is among the least terrible of those, though.

 

Really? i didnt think it would even be that much...i guess i was spoiled by the clutch job i got on my old truck for 278


I recently retired a 2004 cavalier with the 2.2 engine and went over 200,00 with routine maintenance and a new coil pack. That is until the tranny went out. I think if it was a stick i would stillbe drivin it.

 

I have a '95 Saturn SL. I had my clutch replaced several years ago. I bought a Zoom Stage II clutch for about $400. I had the shop where my son worked at the time put it in. They had to lift the body off of the engine cradle in order to disassemble the engine from the transmission. I paid my son $400 for the labor, and it took most of the day. The book time on it was 14+ hours, I believe. The Saturn dealer quoted me $1500 to do it. I think my total drive out was about $850. My son said we could do the job in my driveway, if we could lift the car about six feet off the ground. At the time, my son was working as a mechanic, and he had done more than several of these.

 

ahh okay. Forgot about having to lift the body up....but still people that dont know anything kept telling her 2 or 3 grand and it kinda scared her into selling the car which pissed me off.

 

I've put many clutches in many different vehicles in years past. I have not done any in front-wheel drive though. I did my research before farming this job out. I have the factory shop manual for all of my vehicles. I thought that job might have been more than I could tackle in my back yard.

 

Sounds like good thinking. This job can be quite difficult if you don't have a hella lot of equipment.

People who think having FWD is a minor detail have never replaced a FWD trans before. Comparing it to replacing a RWD trans is like comparing a Ford Bronco to a toothbrush, it doesn't even begin to make sense.

 

Im not a huge fan of front wheel drive...too much torque steer

 

I still get 25+ city mpg and 38 Highway mpg out of it. I think I will keep it, keep up the maintenance on the mechanicals, and drive it till it won't go any more. As of right now, it is my drive to work car.