Zenn Car or Tesla Roadster

I'm sure there are more electric cars out there but I recently mentioned the Zenn Car and Tesla Motors Roadster. Because I've wanted to downsize since last year, and should have done it then, I've been looking at cars. My Saturn Ion 3 does get pretty good mileage: 600 km to a 50 litre tank, or about 30 mi/gallon. That's highway driving. But I don't need the space and therefore could improve on the mileage with a smaller vehicle.

Well, an electric car would be ideal, right? When I looked at the Tesla Roadster http://www.teslamotors.com/, with its 220 miles to a charge, its ability to accelerate, its green aspects, I thought yes! The catch: you have to place an order and it could take a year to get your car. The cost is $109,000, which makes it a toy for the environmentally conscious elite only. It's only available in the US. Still, if some of the jetsetting rich folk think beyond what they can spend on frivolities, then that's a start. And as we know, many rock and movie stars can be role models (just look at Paris!), so let's hope they lead by green examples.

On the other end is the Zenn car http://www.zenncars.com/ made in Canada. It's classified as a NEV (neighbourhood electric vehicle). That's part of the catch; it only goes up to about 25 miles an hour/40 km. Even in Vancouver, should I be puttering about at 40 km, I'm going to make a lot of irate drives in the 50 km zones where everyone goes 60 km. But it's cheap at $15, 995 USD. Available in many states, Zenn is looking at starting in Montreal for Canada. It's taken awhile to get through the Canadian red tape even if it is a Canadian made car. But for delivery vehicles and people who just move about the city from work to the store to home, it's a cheaper alternative.

I can't buy the Roadster because it's expensive and only avaialable in the US. I can't buy the Zenn because its goes too slow (and I drive on the highway to get to work) and it's only available in the US. I can't buy a Prius or any other electric hybrid car because they're too expensive.
Now, I had even more incentive to get a smaller car because of the BC government's impending carbon tax, to make people choose greener alternatives. I've already grumbled about how this would work better if we actually had real alternatives. I should have sold my car six months ago when I first decided to downgrade. I've looked at the Honda Fit, the Toyota Yaris and the Nissan Versa. All are viable as smaller cars, all are similar though one is better at pick-up, one at trunk space, one at turning radius.

My catch? I still owe payments on my Saturn Ion 3. Although it's been reliable and good on gas mileage, everyone is scared to buy cars (let alone trucks) right now. I can't sell it for what it's worth, which means I can't buy a smaller, more energy efficient car. So the government has me where it hurts with their extra tax on the already taxed gas. And soon, it will be cheaper to take the bus, but it's still cheaper for me to drive.

Anyone want to buy a good car?

Why I Won't Buy Saturn Again

I have a 2003 Saturn Ion 3. When I bought it in 2004 it was a demo model with about 4,000 km on it. That the salesperson changed three times before I bought it should have been an indicator to me where Saturn was headed, and it seems to be...out of the world.

The dealership then closed. I had a VIP membership for lifetime free oil changes but had to go to the Morrey dealerships for that, Morrey Nissan. But the car was on warranty and I had to go to a Saturn dealership for any warranty work. Neither of these places were in the same city of course.
Under warranty I took the car in four times because the back passenger door didn't seal correctly and was most noticeable at high speeds. Four times and they never did fix it correctly. Now, if I open the door I have to push the loose molding back into place before shutting the door and it will minimize the air blowing through.

Under warranty I took the car in at least four times because it would idle high when cold out. It would not start high but after I'd driven it even a few minutes it would idle high when stopped at lights. If I shut off the car, it would reset. It only happened when cold, which told me that there was something wrong with the idle or throttle and cold weather caused it to freeze or stick. I took a small automotive course in high school and have enough of a logical mind that I can figure out basic mechanical. Somehow though, these days mechanics can't seem to use a brain to figure out a problem unless they plug it into a computer.

So I drove the car in one day and didn't shut it off and lo and behold they could find the problem. It was fixed but then the weather turned warm and I couldn't test it until the fall when it was cold again. And guess what, problem not fixed. Oh and the car, no longer under warranty and the part isn't working right and it has no warranty. So why would I bother to fix the part again, knowing that if it blows it's still not under any warranty and that I can keep paying and paying for the same part. That's what the service people told me.

Now my car was at about 70,000 km when the fan in the car stopped working. I could get heat but no fan to blow it around. But of course it wasn't the fan itself that wasn't working. It was the computer component and would cost over $600 to fix. On top of that I made an appointment and had to wait over four hours for them to check the car. Then they charged me $60 for telling me it would cost $600. The car's warranty ends at 60,000 km I believe.

I contacted Saturn/GM Canada and their generous offer was to go 50/50 on the fan part. That's it. Nothing on the other things they never managed to fix. And basically they're saying, well we won't make money on this part but we won't go out of the way to satisfy you.

Although the guys were nice and friendly at Lansdowne Saturn in Richmond, the service wasn't that great and one day, while waiting in Richmond to get picked up and taken back to my car, it took them over an hour. I was no more than ten minutes a way. One service guy condescended to me in explaining that the car might just be idling high because it was cold. As if I'm not aware of the difference between a cold idle and a stuck throttle.

So, this is why I won't buy Saturn again. Poor service, poor repair record, a very short warranty and no customer satisfaction from Saturn Canada.

Of the car itself, it's mileage was okay, it has a huge blind spot for turning corners, the visors only work if you're six feet tall. I loved the adjustable heat vents that could blow right on my hands. The door locks are stupidly designed and the pockets on the side doors are smaller than any map should you want to store them there. But a car under warranty comes part and parcel with the dealership and I wasn't convinced that with Saturn's lagging sales that I'll ever buy another Saturn again.