I'm looking at replacing my 300k+ daily driver with something and the Saturn Astra popped up on my radar screen. The resale values of these things has taken a huge hit since Saturn folded up shop. I'm looking at a 2009 3 door fully loaded XR with a manual transmission. I like the way it drives although I'm not going to win any drag races.
I have a couple of toy cars already so I don't need anything other than a decent reliable daily driver. My only real concern is parts supply in the future. I know that these were very popular in the rest of the world, and they actually sold pretty well up here too, but they were a captive import that is no longer being brought in. I believe that a fair number of the mechanicals are shared with other GM cars but does anyone have any personal experience or input?
I have one. Parts are readily available for maintenance items, so that makes them somewhat easy to keep running. Oil filters are kind of expensive ($13), as are air filters($22). Oil change interval is 11,000 miles.
Things to watch our for are a 60,000 mile timing belt change interval, and the valves are supposed to be adjusted at this point.
The car is built on the GM Delta platform, which means it shares many parts with the Cobalt, HHR, G5, and Ion.
At the end of Saturn's run, they were practically giving these cars away because they had been sitting since 2008. Mine has a build date of January, 2008. We bought the car in late July, 2009.
So far, we've put 28,000 trouble free miles on the car.
If you're concerned about long term parts availability, they're readily available from Europe. Don't sweat because you can't get parts at the parts store. These cars are the Honda Civics of Europe, and thus have lots of mods available overseas that we don't see here.
Overall, I'd buy another one if given the chance. Very solid car for the price.
By the way, when you go to the dealership and they have to order a part, typically it comes from Europe.
For the performance of the motor, the fuel mileage is relatively lacking. Doesn't stop it from being a great car though!
In reply to HiTempguy:
It's because they picked a crappy motor for the car. They needed something that would bolt to an automatic, and the 1.8 was the only motor that did. That's the story I've heard, anyway. It only really makes power above 3500RPM, so you end up having to rev the snot out of it to move it along.
All in all, for most people, a Mazda3 would probably be a better choice.
You should be able to still get the parts for it through a GM dealer.
In reply to EvanB:
Unless it's a maintenance part, it comes from Europe anyway. Save yourself the trouble and just order from Europe.
I do love saturn. the astra can't be bad.
Oct 31 is the magic date when the Saturn dealerships will disappear.
All I know is the Saturn Astra is the same as the Vauxhall Astra which has the VXR version. 
They also had the uber-cool Nürburgring edition. I think they made 385 of them.
