3rd Aug 2008, 20:47

I bought a used 2004 Saturn Vue about 1 year ago. No problems, everything great.

Then just today I was driving down a busy main street down town with tons of traffic and, went to change gears and it broke... that's right... I heard a loud pop and heard something fall down inside the gear panel, and my gear shift just fell over..

The only thing I could do was pull over into a parking lot. I pulled the cover off over the gear shift and pulled this round piece of plastic with a clip on it.. canceled my plans for the day and headed home in 2nd gear..

Headed over to an auto store and no one knows what it is. Who makes a part holding your gear to your transmission out of plastic... oh yeah. Saturn. Well none the less, I guess I will just have to drive my car to a Saturn service center tomorrow in 2nd gear...

10th Aug 2008, 15:31

2003 Saturn Vue - 4 cyl - VTI transmission. Transmission went out at 80,000 miles $4,600 to repair. DO NOT buy a saturn or GM product. Honda is the way to go...

8th Sep 2008, 09:29

I purchased my 2003 Vue 4cyl. in March of 2006 with 47K miles. Having been in the automotive industry since the early 90's I know Saturn's issues well. The most common issue Saturn has always had is with their automatic transmissions. For some reason though their manual transmission vehicles seem to run fine for years. If you purchase a Saturn GET A STICK!

Still lovin' my Saturn.

14th Sep 2008, 17:32

2006 Vues suck too...

Beware.. although there are a lot of comments about 2003 vue's here, they have not improved over the years.

2006 issues: Heated seats short, windshield still cracks very easy, Leaking sunroofs... and best of all the only part of sheet metal on the exterior of the vehicle is rusting at 110k! The entire rear door of my P.O.S is spot rusting and, as it isn't perforated through the sheet metal, is not covered under GM's "stellar" warranty program.

GM issues: Service departments are schmarmy!

Save yourself the headaches don't buy GM!

16th Sep 2008, 07:05

TO the 17:32 comment:

No, the issues you speak of are to YOUR Vue, not all 2006 Vues. You posted the review of your Vue the same day. :)

Just because YOU have those problems with your Vue doesn't mean it's common to all of them. The sunroof leaking is probably due to plugged drains (you should periodically clean them), and no one else has mentioned anything about rust or broken windshields.

By the way, Vues have metal roofs, hatches, and hoods.

23rd Sep 2008, 14:46

I had a Saturn 1996 2 dr coupe and it always performed well. It was always dependable and a fun car. I kept up with a regular maintenance schedule and it NEVER disappointed me. I sold it at less than 60,000 miles to a high school kid and it lasted her another 5,000 miles until someone T-boned her. It lasted until death by accident. I typically keep a car for 10 yrs. before trading.

I bought a 2004 Saturn Vue FWD 3.5 6 cyl in 2003, and it is now only at 46,000+ miles and does have a cracked windshield from top to bottom without a chip. Very cheap windshield.

I also am now hearing a grinding noise coming from front end when driving and when turning right, a slight noise when turning left.

Brakes work great, but I think it's a shame that something major is going wrong with the front end/steering or something.

This is a low mileage one owner car and only. The nearest Saturn dealership was 4 miles away, but have since moved to a much greater distance away.

Although I like Saturns, they are becoming very high dollar and CHEAPLY made. I will buy some other type next year. And to think I was planning on buying one of the new smaller Saturns in a couple of years (not anymore).

16th Oct 2008, 10:08

I won't bother listing all of the problems we've had with our 2003 Vue V6, because they've all been well documented throughout this thread - and we've seen them all with our Vue.

The overall quality of this car is embarrassingly poor, especially given that it's manufactured here in the good old USA.

Have any of you Vue owners ever looked up at the headliner where the rear view mirror mount protrudes through? Probably not, but next time you're in the car, check it out. It's all you need to know about the building of this vehicle. I've noticed that they've continued to saw through the headliner for years after rather than re-designing the damn thing or at least covering the opening with some trim. My feeling is that they think their customers are idiots who won't notice a hack job when they see it - what suckers we all are to put up with the annual costs to keep these piece of crap cars on the road.

I want badly to cut our losses at 75K miles and get something else, but my wife, who actually owns the thing, wants to hang on to it.

I called the dealer today about the timing belt, and he recommended it be replaced at 90K miles, along with the scheduled maintenance to the tune of 15 hundred bucks. I think she'll go along with unloading it before dumping that kind of cash into it.

Someone wondered in this thread how Saturn gets away with this, and all I can say is that they very well may not get away with it for much longer. I can see GM cutting their losses and shutting the brand down. We'll see.

17th Oct 2008, 09:23

10:08, I think your wife has the right idea to hang onto it. As long as the car is still running, it's better to maintain it and continue to use it, and drive it into the ground. After all, why dump a car that runs over $1,500 and buy a new car that will cost you nearly $500/month in payments? That single maintenance is only three months worth of car payments, except then you'll be stuck with making the same payments for the next five years. Maybe you can spread the maintenance out over a couple of months, so it doesn't hit you all at once.

28th Jan 2009, 19:48

I have a 2003 Saturn Vue AWD that I purchased used in September of 2006. I really can't complain about the Vue except that 4 months after buying it the sway bar links broke. I did buy an extended warranty so I only paid the deductable. Recently I went back to the dealership due to noise in the front and found that I needed wheel bearings. Also the rear diff is failing but because it is not "broken" it is not covered. My warranty is also supposed to cover a loaner car, which I have not received either. I'm on day 2 of not having a vehicle to drive.

The stories I have have read make me want to trade this car in but I owe too much to do so. Really, my problem is more with the warranty company than with Saturn.