This car delivers excellent acceleration performance when equipped with V6 engine. Ours blasted out of South Florida's toll gates and rocketed ahead of other cars with more leisurely drivers.The V6's power advantage over the four-cylinder engine in this 3,100-pound car is quite noticeable, dropping 0-60 mph performance to a respectable 8.2 seconds. On the downside, fuel economy also drops from an EPA-estimated 24/33 mpg city/highway with the four-cylinder engine to 20/26 mpg for the V6.
The four-cylinder engine in the entry-level L100 and L200 produces 135 horsepower, propelling it from 0 to 60 mph in 9.8 seconds with an automatic transmission. The automatic transmission is balky, however, slow to downshift and, in general, not responsive. The standard manual gearbox is a better match for this engine.
Much of the German engineering from Opel remains in the suspension system, and that's a good thing. Saturn increased the suspension compliance for a softer, more comfortable ride. Yet it isn't so compromised as to eliminate the handling capability the Germans contributed to the system. As a result, the L-Series is an agile four-door sedan. It's stable in high-speed turns. On 7-Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys, we found the L-Series did a good job of resisting 25-knot crosswinds with minimal buffeting. It absorbed road vibrations and provided a stable platform over roller-coaster undulating roads outside Phoenix.
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