I can’t believe I bought a GM. It was only last month that I joined the epinions community in order to vent my frustrations over a run in with an awful Pontiac. But this wasn’t my idea. My wife needed a new car and decided on a small SUV. From the short list we came up with, I really liked the Jeep Liberty after test driving one. The Saturn dealer had a ‘Chile’ red VUE on the lot and red is my wife’s favorite color…I think you can imagine where I’m going with this.

So now we’ve had a Chile Red VUE in the driveway for a week which in my humble opinion qualifies me to regale you with a revue.

Specifically, this is a 2002 VUE with a V6 and AWD. As for options, it has an automatic transmission, ABS, a tan leather interior and floor mats. We paid $16,449.00 cash for the vehicle with no trade in and it had 27K on the odometer. The 3 year 36K mile warranty transferred with the car.


The exterior vue

In my opinion this SUV is about as average as you can get. The only thing that differentiates it from a Blazer or a Rendezvous is the headlights. The flared fenders give it a little bit of a sporty look and I appreciate that they didn’t needlessly jack it up just for appearances. All that does is create large wheel / fender gaps and make it harder to get in and out of. My wife, being all of 5 feet tall, has no problem getting in and out. Anyone who installs a step rail is doing so only for vanity sake. The bumpers and rocker panels are a gray plastic. The dealer sells wheel well trim and lower door cladding made of the same material and I may wind up installing these just for looks. I already bought and installed the roof rack ($150 plus tax). It looks nicer with it on and can hold up to 100 pounds. I realized today that the cross bars of the rack create an awful lot of wind noise at relatively low speeds. It’s obviously just something we’ll have to live with. The dealership wanted $179 for installation and assured me I couldn’t do it on my own. It took me 20 minutes to get it on. You’ll need a torx 25 but that’s it in the way of special tools. The dealer also wanted $350 to install a class II tow hitch. I had a Drawtite installed at my local truck and trailer shop for $240 and it was a class III.


The vue from inside

Now this is where I’m most impressed. This is one comfortable car. And that’s exactly what it is on the inside – a car. Not a truck. The front seats are exceptionally comfortable captain’s chairs with pull down armrests. The driver’s seat has a ratcheting lever to control seat height and this can easily be adjusted while sitting on the seat. Great lumbar support. I could easily imagine long trips in this vehicle. A standard equipment electro-chromatic mirror with outside temp and compass is a nice touch. As is the rear wiper / washer and defogger out back. Front fog (driving) lights are standard equipment too. The A/C works extremely well (I’m writing these words from south Florida in August.) The six speaker radio comes standard with a single CD player but no cassette player. It’s loud enough for most – my wife included. I prefer things louder. The front seats are separated by a floor console which has two cup holders big enough for Big Gulps. The dash has a peninsula jutting out from the center of it. On this plateau are the shifter, the power window controls and the power mirror controls. It looks very nice. The wood package is a little over the top. It looks okay but they need to tone it down a little. First of all it appears to be fake wood. And there’s just waaaaaay too much of it. Everything down to the air vents and door mounted tweeters have there own individual wood trim. Less wood would be more elegant. The back seat is large enough for three full size adults although two would be more comfortable. There’s plenty of leg and headroom to go around. The 60/40 split back rear seat can be straight up at 90 degrees for safer baby seat installation or a second setting can be used for comfort. The seats recline about 5 or 10 degrees. With the rear seat folded flat there is a huge cargo bay. The front passenger seat can also be folded flat which creates an 8 foot bay with the rear hatch closed. The back of the passenger seat is hard plastic and when folded flat there is an accessory available at the dealership which attaches to it and is a compartmentalized tray. The driver can put a laptop or lunch or whatever on it. It’s a traveling salesman’s dream. If you open the rear hatch from the outside there is a door, almost the width of the vehicle, on the floor of the cargo bay right in front of you. When you pull it open it hinges away from you and goes up to 90 degrees. Another ‘wall’ hinges up towards you after that. And then sides pull up to connect the whole thing. It becomes a large, open topped box which is attached to the floor. It’s for holding your grocery bags. Next to it are two large holes in the floor which are the perfect size for a gallon of milk. The boys at GM were not being coy about the marketing intention of this vehicle. They have their sites trained directly at soccer moms who don’t want to have the geek stigma of a minivan. Mission accomplished.


The vue on the road

The 3.0 liter V6 puts out 182 ponies. Not really a lot for a 3500+ pound vehicle. However it makes up for that by being a very high revving screamer. Pulling away from a green light you hit 4000 rpm every time. Actually my wife does, with me driving it’s over 6000 rpm. She takes it just fine though and really does manage to feel light on her feet. The four speed automatic is fluid and shifts at the right time – every time. As an AWD vehicle it is really a FWD most of the time. The transfer case kicks in automatically when it senses slippage up front. You have no control over this feature. I’ve already driven in a few thunderstorms and it really is quite surefooted. I felt the difference. She doesn’t actually drive like a car in the same way the Lexus RX does. Bumps in the road cause the whole front end to shakes the way a real car never would. Saturn has installed a new ‘electric’ steering box in these vehicles. If they read this, please throw it away and go with good old hydraulic. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but it feels wrong. You don’t get the feedback from the road that you expect. It’s not necessarily worse or dangerous, but I have a hard time imagining why it would be better this way and the old way is what we’re already used to. Even with AWD I doubt this will ever be much of a contender for serious off-roaders. That’s’ okay though. Nobody is buying this for that purpose. It’s just a safety feature for rain and snow. The typical owner of one of these ‘cute utes’ is about as inclined to go “muddin” as my wife is. It ain’t gonna happen.

From a safety point of vue

As I mentioned, it’s got the AWD system. ABS seems to work great, although in this day and age I am surprised by the rear drums. The standard crumple zones and airbags complete the safety features. The VUE also protects itself with plastic body panels which resist denting and can be cheaply replaced if they do get damaged.


My final point of vue

Overall I’m a lot happier with this SUV than I thought I would be. I’m getting over 20 mpg running on 87 octane with no knocking or pinging. It’s very comfortable and has a reputation for quality that I hope will prove accurate. I guess the most glowing opinion that can be given is the fact that my wife has already decided that when it’s time, she wants another VUE to replace this one. Now there’s an endorsement for you!

I will update this revue after six months……






Amount Paid (US$): 16,449
Condition: Used
Model Year: 2002
Model and Options: V6 AWD Automatic