On the Right Track; Saturn's Ion Red Line surprises with its performance.(auto File)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Nearly two years ago to the day, Saturn delivered to our garage the then-new Ion economy sedan it had touted as a paradigm-shifting example of affordable automotive nirvana. And yet, we weren't impressed: What was up with the exterior shape? Why was the steering wheel so small? Did engineers intentionally set panel gaps to the mile rather than the mil?

Our feelings did not change after we got behind the wheel: Buzzy engine, horribly vague electric power steering. So when Saturn announced it would build a Red Line performance Ion coupe, our collective pulse increased to somewhere around 60 beats per minute before we asked ourselves if Saturn engineers could transform the little coupe into a real driver's car.

The simple answer is yes, they could. First and foremost, the Red Line team jettisoned the standard car's 2.2-liter, 140-hp four-cylinder in favor of a blown version of GM's 2.0-liter Ecotec four. The Eaton supercharger's 12 psi of boost, along with revised engine internals-such as lightweight, heat-dissipating sodium-filled exhaust valves and forged crank-and a water-to-air intercooler help the engine produce 205 hp at 5600 rpm and 200 lb-ft at 4400. Such output represents a huge gain over the standard Ecotec, and our track-test results reflect the improvement.

We achieved our best drag-strip launches by modulating the clutch between 2500 and 3000 rpm; any less revs and the engine tended to bog, and to sidestep the clutch resulted in speed-killing wheel hop. Thankfully, no matter the launch technique, there was barely a hint of torque steer at the drag strip: Saturn installed equal-length halfshafts and stronger CV joints to tame all 200 lb-ft.

With second gear good for 64 mph at the engine's 6400-rpm rev limit, our test Ion accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in 6.75 seconds; quite respectable, even though nearly a half-second slower than Saturn's claimed 6.3. Still, it was significantly faster than other fun-to-drive small cars we've tested recently, including the Mazda3 (7.97), Ford Focus SVT (7.32) and Honda Civic Si (7.82). Even the much more expensive and powerful VW R32 hovered in the six-second range, with a 6.18 best time.

The Ion Red Line's best quarter-mile time of 15.33 seconds at 94.6 mph also represented solid performance and bettered the Mazda's run by 0.9 second, the Focus SVT by ...