Yahoo Autos 2006 Saturn Ion Redline Coupe Is Today's Bring a Trailer Pick
Like frosted tips, JNCO jeans, and translucent Apple products, the 2000s sport-compact performance craze is due for a comeback.
Here's one of the more unusual offerings from the period: a supercharged Saturn Ion Redline.
Even better, this example has been upgraded with some totally lit performance parts, dawg.
If the late '60s and early '70s were the era of the muscle car, and the 1980s the heyday of the bedroom-poster Italian exotic, then the early 2000s were the golden age of sport-compact performance. Mitsubishi and Subaru were locked in their WRC rivalry, revvy Honda Civics were taking on turbocharged VW GTIs, and seemingly everyone else wanted in on the action. Even, as it turns out, one automaker that very publicly claimed to be "a different kind of car company."
That's right, Saturn. Today's pick at Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos) is one of the most unlikely performance machines ever built: a 2006 Saturn Ion Redline, complete with hopped-up supercharged powertrain, stiffened suspension, and forged alloy wheels.
Saturn de-orbited the automotive constellation in 2010, but not without having developed something of a cult following. For a mainstream audience, the no-haggle pricing structure and dent-resistant panels of something like the Ion subcompact weren't quite enticing enough to overlook unusual design choices like a center-mounted instrument cluster on the dashboard. For others, Saturn's quirks filled a niche. It truly was a different kind of company—for a different kind of customer. Perhaps that's why it decided to push the envelope a little.
Being a GM subsidiary, Saturn had access to a broad variety of parts, including those found in the performance-oriented version of the Chevy Cobalt, the SS. In the case of the original Ion Redline, that meant a 2.0-liter inline-four, supercharged with a Roots-style blower up to 12 psi of force induction and 205 horsepower. Saturn tuned the suspension and slapped on a set of 215-series Dunlops, and the Ion's personality became less air purifier and more particle cannon.
This example has the ZZ Performance Stage 2 kit, which includes a performance exhaust, a revised supercharger pulley for additional boost, an ECU retune, and upgraded fuel injectors. Altogether it should take peak power to 255 horses, with 260 pound-feet of torque to dig the Redline out of the hole. In its day, this little coupe would have surprised a stock Dodge SRT-4 owner or two off the line.
The suspension has been further tweaked with Raceland components, though stock spares are included. Mileage is modest at 53,000, and while the Ion Redline is interesting enough to be collectible, it's not likely to be an investment per se. Which just means you get to drive the wheels off it.
Two decades after the sport-compact performance wave crested, the time is coming when nostalgia for these cars will make them sought after. The Ion Redline is a little too new for a Radwood-style event, but it'll find its family soon. Maybe at a show called Booyah-wood? Fo'shizzle-wood? We're still workshopping here.
Meantime, if you want to put a fun and fast little alien in your driveway, this auction ends on September 4. Maybe a different kind of car is exactly what you've been looking for.
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