One problem related to clutch has been reported for the 1998 Saturn SL1. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Clutch was in perfect conditions, faliure was in the pressure plate that operates the clutch. Parts department told me that this was not un-common for manual transmitions on Sl1 from 96-99 and when new parts were purchased at the dealer, there had been a design change which increased the total cost for the repair. Why was a new design implemented if there was nothing wrong with the old one. Just in hawaii/oahu there has been about half a dozen of low milage manual trans with clutch system falires.