2005 Saturn VUE from North America - Comments

I bought my Saturn VUE NEW from the dealership with only 35 miles on the car. The first problem was 9,000 miles and only 5 1/2 months of ownership. I could not shift in to reverse, it would only go forward while trying to get in to reverse. Apparently it was some type of clip from the cables to the transmission.

At 19,000 miles the slave cylinder, clutch, and plate went out WHILE I WAS DRIVING at 60 miles an hour, 45 miles from the nearest dealership, at 12 noon on a Sunday in Texas at 100 degrees, with my two children in the car. I called roadside assistance, they came and towed us back to Tyler. I was in a hotel for 2 1/2 days waiting for parts. They did loan us a vehicle to use.

At 20, 000 miles when I got back to Austin the clutch kept slipping out between 3 and 4th gears. I took it back in to Saturn and the entire Transmission had to be replaced at only 20,000 miles.

At 35,000 miles the clip holding the muffler had to be replaced.

At 44,000 miles we tried to take it in to a Saturn dealership in NM and they told us that they only saw cars "by appointment", and refused us service unless we wanted to leave the car with them for a few days & they might be able to get to it. They would not give us a loaner. The problems we were wanting service for was the massive wind noise from the front doors, and great difficulty shifting, especially in to reverse.

At 46,000 miles WHILE I WAS DRIVING, at 6:15 A.M. on a very busy road, 35 deg. outside, in the dark, WITH MY CHILDREN, the shifter cables went out and I lost all ability to shift. We were AGAIN 5 feet from being rear ended.

I had bought the extended warranty to 60,000 miles, but roadside assistance expired at 36,000. They were going to charge me for towing. The Saturn Dealership signed for the towing, and gave me a rental. They said that the shifter cables are not covered under the warranty & I will need to pay the $500.00 repair.

The interior is fine, plenty of room for my 6 ft husband, me, and two boys, but every little thing stains the seats. If raindrops get on the seats there are water marks that do not fade.

When the car is not having issues somehow related to the transmission it is a very comfortable ride.

When you are completely under the initial warranty (under 36,000 miles) you get great service, loaner car, etc.

Even with the Extended Warranty not everything is covered, and the customer service isn't so great.

You don't mention if your Vue has the V-6. I'm guessing it does and therefore it has the Honda drive train, which is notoriously problem-prone. Next time opt for a more reliable vehicle with an all-GM drive train.

The GM SUV's such as the Trailblazer and Envoy have extremely smooth and very reliable drive trains. Our 2003 Envoy has 60,000+ miles now and has never had one single problem.

Don't write off a great GM car like Saturn because of their unwise decision to use a less than reliable Honda engine and transmission in one of their vehicles.

I have a 2005 VUE as well. I hate this car. I have had my struts replaced, a wheel bearing, my clutch, and tonight it got towed because the shifter linkage went while my husband was driving it. I agree that the seats also stain from water. It's a plastic piece of garbage and, unfortunately, I have another 3 years of driving it.

I would like to add some additional information about this car, my car. After all of the above initial problems. It is now April 28, 2008 and my vehicle has been rendered inoperable 2 more times & has had to be towed. In March once again while I was driving with my two young children in the car I was unable to shift in to gear.

My car was towed to Saturn for the 4th time in 53,000 miles & 2 1/2 years of ownership. The verdict is that the Shifter cable had snapped & they had to replace the cables. I THOUGHT they had done that in December, but they told me when I took it in that they had only replaced the ends of the cables. This time they replaced both cables. Saturn did give me a loaner car. After I received the car back it shifted better than it had ever shifted before, and I was very pleased.

On April 25th while was almost 300 miles away from home & 55 miles from the nearest town I just about lost the ability to shift... AGAIN! I could not get my car shifted in to 1st or 2nd gear. After a tremendous amount of effort & about 10 minutes of wrestling with it I was able to get it in to 3rd gear, then shift to 4th and 5th. I drove the car in to Abilene as far as I could go without having to actually shift down & coasted in to a parking lot. I had to call for a tow truck... AGAIN. It was towed to the Saturn dealership where they told me it was the slave cylinder. My factory warranty is long expired & my extended warranty specifically does not cover the slave cylinder (which was replaced along with the clutch, shifter plate) at 19,000 miles. It was going to be almost $1,000.

I decided to have a second opinion. I had it towed to a Firestone. They looked at it and said the clutch & slave cylinder are fine, there was just air in the clutch line & they bled the clutch. I drove it almost all the way home yesterday (about 300 miles) with no problems in 1st, 2nd, 4th, or 5th. About 50 miles from home when I shift in to 3rd gear it has a slight grinding noise. I am going to have it checked out today.

The disconcerting part of this besides the 5 times it has been rendered inoperable & has had to be towed, is that Saturn apparently was going to take me for almost $1,000 when my total bill yesterday was $125.00. Thank Goodness for honest mechanics with a female.