Saturn VUE (Vanity, Question, Consumer Opinion . . .)

http://www.saturnbp.com/vue/ ^ | 11/17/2001 | theo

[prisoner6]

LOL! Yeah, well that too!

prisoner6

[Standing Wolf]

No union products for me when I can possibly avoid them: I don't care to do business with organizations that contribute millions of dollars annually to extreme leftist causes.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

Get a Subaru Outback. Terrific vehicles: safe, great for touring, stable, reliable, roomy. You won't be sorry.

[theophilusscribe]

I know this is way off the wall, but do you happen to know if it has a low step in? I've got a parent in a wheelchair that can't step up too high.

Thanks for the suggestion! :o)

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

Ingress/egress is very easy, and the doors open wide. Give it a try. It's based on a car... but a very rugged perennial rally-winner of a car. Very durable, nicely sophisticated in a non-la-de-dah way. Great handling, quiet, great headroom, comfy seats. Terrific crash ratings including top scores in its class for the dreaded 40mph offset frontal test. (Basically, it tests out like a Volvo or Mercedes in those tests, actually bettering them in some countries' tests such as Australia's.) Decent mileage; I get 20-25mpg in mine (manual transmission). I truly enjoy driving it and tend to be very fast with it. Previous car was an Expedition (gas hog, ponderous, with more than a few problems). Both the sedans and the wagons are quite desirable. And made in Indiana!

As a 4 wheel drive vehicle, it's the best I've ever been in for my type of snowy on-road driving. Subaru was way ahead of the curve with its 4WD designs years ago, and the bugs have been worked out long ago. It has an all-independent suspension, which is uncommon. If you go down the back-roads, you'll want a truckier vehicle like a Jeep, but what I needed was a skimobile and this fits the bill beautifully. It's like driving a mountain goat. Anyway, we liked it so much we now have a second. We looked at the Audi A4 and VW Passat but couldn't justify the much higher price tags, spotty service records and scarce dealers.

The new 6-cylinder model is really nice; the new engine is a work of art. But the 4 is no slouch, especially with a manual transmission. Subaru is like Saab-- "only" 4 cyliders, but they're GREAT BIG cylinders. Thus, it's 2.5 liter 4 is considerably bigger than the Saturn's 2.2 liter 6. And the 3 liter six just wails.

Recommended.

[ledzep75]

No union products for me when I can possibly avoid them: I don't care to do business with organizations that contribute millions of dollars annually to extreme leftist causes.

Although, you have a good point! But, No foreign cars for me. I don't care to do business with companies that over-charge in price and support extreme enviromental leftist causes. Even if some foreign cars are built in the USA, I'd rather have the money stay in USA than being sent to Europe, Japan, Korea.

[ken21]

when is Saturn going to give up on the 1978 front-end styling for all its vehicles? Zero personality. Bland. BO-ring.

lol!

[lambo]

A late Subaru BUMP here. We're on something like our fifth Subaru, the latest of which is the Outback Limited Sedan with virtually every available option -- leather, sunroof, heated seats and mirrors, etc. It was a dealer demo, and (as near as I can figure with high Blue Book prices for our trade-in) we got it for around dealer invoice (which probably means the dealer still got all sorts of profit I don't know about). Excellent service people, nothing of any significance has ever gone wrong with any of them (largest repair bill I can remember was about $400, and that stands out because it was the only one of its kind), and we've taken a couple of them well over 100,000 miles before trading them in for a new model. And they're legendary for going multiples of that.

RightOnTheLeftCoast is correct about their crash-test performance, and their snow-driving performance as well. We live on rural gravel roads in the Upper Midwest that don't always get the best plowing, and we've had no trouble getting out of here when necessary after more than a foot of snow.

My only regret is that I didn't wait a few more months on this last one to be able to get the 3.0L engine. Not that this car is by any means short of power, but you can never have enough, can you?

One other thing: if you're over 6 feet tall and get a model with a sunroof, which eats into the depth of the roof, you might find you're a little short on headroom. Then I'd recommend the Forester, which is taller but is, for all practical purposes, pretty much the same car built on the shorter Impreza platform. (Though I don't believe the bigger engine is available for it yet.) Like the Outback models, it gets the highest rating in Highway Institute crash tests, though the Hyundai Santa Fe that was mentioned earlier apparently does just slightly better. I believe it's the dog fur in the airbags that accounts for it.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

Thanks for the bump. I think the Legacy/Outback Sedan is one of the great sleeper cars in the mid-priced range. It's great-looking, refined, and a joy to drive. I needed the wagon but if you are looking at Camrys and Accords, this is frankly a nicer car to drive.

On 9/11 I was stranded far from home. Fortunately I had a nice rented Camry, so the long drive home wasn't too terrible. Drove it to the (closed) airport where my car was trapped in the parking lot, turned it in, and took the shuttle to the parking area. Got into my Subaru and drove off... whoa, so much nicer. More solid, more stable, better handling, quieter, more power. Night and day. And, the reliability record is similar to the Camry's.

Really, you have to go to an Audi or BMW for a better driving experience. And not that bloody much better... this summer I spent an enjoyable afternoon doing a comparo in the Blacksburg hills between an Audi S4, a Saab, and a Subaru Outback station-wagon. The Subaru lacked the power of the turbocharged cars and the lavish fitments of the Audi, but it was no embarrassment from a driving perspective. Fit right in.

And you're right-- the new six is a work of art. But, it's currently available only with an automatic. That's no problem for most people, but I prefer a stick, and the 2.5l four gets me in plenty of trouble as it is. (Got into a good-natured race with a small Mercedes the other day... it beat me, but barely!) In any case, the Ltd, LLBean and VDC versions of these cars are absolutely wonderful. And nothing beats 'em--nothing--on wet, snowy or muddy roads.

[Xenalyte]

Can't speak for SUVs, 'cause I love driving low-slung sporty cars, but my 2000 SC1 (the three-door model) is my favorite of all the cars I've had. (And when you consider I'm 32, and have been driving half my life, that number is WAY higher than it should be.)

Seriously, Saturn is a fabulous company. Every Saturn owner I know is on at least his or her second Saturn; they seem to provoke repeat ownership. (I should add that my Saturn-owner friends bought new ones because they had their old ones for an average of seven years and they wanted a new one, not because their old ones broke down. They're quite reliable.)

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

So... what'd you decide?