Faults:

None.

General Comments:

It's a great compact SUV. Before I bought it, I checked out the others, such as the Toyota RAV-4 and the Honda CR-V, and in my opinion nothing compared.

The 250 hp engine was unbeatable. It'll move.

The luxuries are nice. The AWD is awesome in the snow (I live in Utah, so I know snow). It feels safe and is a very fun car to drive.

Faults:

Nothing, though one technician says I have a transmission leak. I need to get it checked out.

General Comments:

This AWD vehicle does what I bought it to do - provide solid, reliable transportation with ample cargo space in all weather conditions. I see a number of people posting reviews that the VUE won't handle off-road conditions well. I suspect that's right - but I wanted a SUV to handle snow on roads, and the VUE does that just fine.

The 2.2 liter engine has barely adequate acceleration - but had I wanted more, I could have paid more for the 3.5 liter engine. Visibility is excellent, road noise acceptable, comfort is good. The rear lift-back door provides shelter from the rain while loading/unloading, and works well in cramped parking conditions. Rear passengers report the ride to be comfortable.

Interior center panel and storage areas look cheap. I see Saturn has redesigned all that for their 2006 models.

I think the "hidden" storage is a bit too sparse. The storage between the front seats is surprisingly small for a SUV. Anything much larger than a flashlight is pretty much going to have to be out in the open - not many hiding places in the VUE. Too bad they can't include a little hidden compartment where they put the grocery bag holder in the back.

The VUE has a lot of well thought-out featurettes - a computer to tell you when the oil should be changed, for example.

Overall - I think the VUE is a good value, and I really like Saturn's "no haggle" policy. You won't get ripped off buying a Saturn, ever.

Faults:

Drivers Seat belt detached from seat housing at base of drivers seat, At about 400 KM I leaned forward and the lap belt popped out of its attachment on the right side drivers seat at the bottom of the chair. It appears to have been an assembly mistake as the locking device was not fully inserted so the locking device was not activated. The dealer showed me how it works and after watching the latch go all the way in I saw the locking device activate and was fully confident that it was not fully inserted prior. As there is no way I could have pulled it out had it been fully inserted. Thankfully I was not in any accident before this happened. I advised GM of the assembly error, they apologized. I bet they sighed a relief it was found out the way it was.

Also at 5000 km oil change I told them the plastic shield that goes over the instrument panel had an annoying squeak, which they fixed by taking it off and placing foam tape and putting it back on, so no more squeaks no matter how bumpy the road to date, knock on wood.

General Comments:

Love The seating position lots of headroom comfortable seats great field of vision, better than any car can give you & being seated higher up helps too. Rear seats have 2 reclining angles for comfort. And the vehicle width gives you lots of elbow room so you're not knocking elbows with the person in the passenger seat.

The turning Cycle is very Small for this SUV, and it can carry a lot of cargo, the rear hatch goes up high enough that I can stand underneath it without hitting my head, is easy to park in tight spaces, again the great view helps, but the rearview mirror could be a bit larger. The Side Mirrors are huge and there is only a very Small blind spot.

Upgraded sound system for MP3 playing stereo player is great, radio reception could be a bit better, the 6 speaker setup sounds great for from passengers, but the back seat occupants lack the high frequency sounds of a tweeter, so I may replace the rear ones with after-market speakers.

Gauges are easy to read, and manual transmission is fun to drive. Lots of plastic, but for an entry level SUV and with no real upgrades what do you expect.