The windshield slopes dramatically, helping the relatively tall Ion look sleek. And the Ion does stand tall, at 57.4 inches. The sedan's roof curves heavily down to the high trunk line, almost giving it the appearance of a hatchback rather than a traditional sedan. We found the Ion's small, lever-style door handles relatively hard to grasp.

The Quad Coupe breathes through a blacked-out slot above the bumper and a larger rectangular scoop below, but it looks simple, functional, and attractive. Red Line models have three big openings below the bumper.

The Quad Coupe gets its name from a pair of mini-doors behind the main portals that open on rear-mounted hinges, in much the same way as the auxiliary doors on an extended-cab pickup. The rear doors have no exterior handles to compromise the coupe's sporty styling; and when they are open, there's no B-pillar in the opening, which makes access to the rear seat very easy for such a small car. It's an innovative design that enhances the practicality of this sport coupe. The front passenger seat folds flat, improving utility further. Saturn likes to demonstrate that it's possible to stuff a nine-foot kayak into the coupe through its doors, a feat that would be plenty tough for many SUVs, let alone other compact coupes. You may not find the need to stuff a kayak in your car, but you may occasionally need to haul something big and the Quad Coupe's rear access doors will be helpful.

Ion continues the Saturn tradition of attaching composite polymer body panels to a substantial steel space-frame. The polymer panels can't rust and, because they are slightly resilient, they resist the minor impacts that leave small dents and dings in sheet metal. Another benefit of the composite panels is that they are relatively easy to replace. Saturn has exploited this advantage on the Ion by offering alternatively colored roof rails that owners can easily install to customize their car's appearance. Nickel-Silver roof rails are available for the coupe and sedan, and Charcoal rails are available for the sedan only. The downside is that the composite panels look thicker than steel panels, and gaps between body parts have to be greater to allow for expansion and contraction in hot and cold weather.