2002 Saturn VUE from North America - Comments

1) The transmission slipped between 2nd and 3rd from day one, but they kept telling us that there was nothing wrong. We complained about this each and every time it was brought in for other warranty repairs, with the same answer every time.

Finally, after about 50,000 miles of this, we went to another Saturn dealer and were told that it was a ‘Calibration’ problem and that they could and would fix it! Interesting, one dealer says nothing is wrong and another says that they can fix it! Does this sound right to you?

I then insisted that they ‘service’ the transmission, in other words change the transmission fluid and filter, since it had been slipping for 50,000 miles and probably had excessive wear on the transmission and fluid.

It took an ‘Act-of GOD’ to get Saturn to pay for the lousy $110 for this service, because they claimed that service wasn’t due until 100,000 miles, even though it had been slipping due to the dealer not knowing how to fix it.

Saturn Customer Service, being as ‘cheap’ as possible, finally gave in and gave me $100 credit towards the transmission service --- they obviously couldn’t afford the other $10! --- But then, of course, this ‘cursed’ car got the dealer as well --- something went wrong during the transmission service and they had to ‘pull’ the transmission to fix it, so a transmission service turned into a 6 day stay in the shop.

By the way, after a few months, the transmission started slipping again on an intermittent basis. For information, when I looked thru the Internet concerning other Customer comments about 2002 Saturn Vue transmission problems, I found a lady who had identical transmission problems and then, at around 100,000 miles, a failure occurred. She was told by Saturn that it would cost $7000 to replace the transmission! --- Quite outrageous to say the least.

2) The vehicle went into ‘Limp-Mode’ right in the middle of the freeway while traveling at 60 MPH. Now that’s pretty scary with 2 young kids in the car ---apparently, saving the engine is more important than saving lives! The car had to be towed. The dealer replaced something with the intake system.

3) A few months later, the same thing as before --- ‘Limp-Mode’ on the freeway, towing and repair of some intake throttle body part this time.

4) Then we saw coolant leaks on the garage floor --- another tow-job to the dealer.

5) A few weeks later the same thing! This time they told us to drive it to the shop --- my guess is that they were even hoping that the car would ‘burn-up’ at this point.

6) Then the key wouldn’t come out of the ignition. They replaced the ignition switch lock assembly and we were told that we can’t have more than 1 key on our key chain, because it is too heavy for the lock --- can you imagine being told something as ridiculous as this?

7) A year later the same thing with the ignition lock occurred --- apparently even the weight of one key was too much for that poor, cheap ignition switch! --- Saturn replaced it again.

8) The passenger rear door power window broke --- needed some new parts.

9) The driver’s door panel began dis-assembling itself --- needed fixing.

10) The rear hatch gas lifts needed replacing, since they wouldn’t hold up the rear hatch any more.

11) The CD player stopped working --- Saturn replaced it.

12) The hood latch even broke when the service manager tried to open it for an engine noise we had identified. Apparently the hood wasn’t made to open this many times!

13) Now, after the warranty has expired, the engine stalls for no apparent reason and will only restart after a 10 to 15 minute waiting period. In fact, once you turn off the engine at a shopping center, you can’t restart it for at least 45 minutes. If you try to scan the computer system, no code comes up, but there sure is a problem!

We took the car to a FORD dealer and they performed the repair after their expert trouble-shooter diagnosed the problem even without that pesky little Saturn computer not giving a hint that there was a problem.

By the way, if you look up 2002 Saturn Vue on the Internet, many people seem to have the same stalling problem and same transmission problems. If you have the time to sift through the huge pile of ‘Service Bulletins’ for Saturn, I’m sure Saturn knows about these problems, just like they probably know about some of the other problems but won’t help the customers who got stuck with their lemons.

My 2002 Saturn VUE has been a nightmare since I bought it new in 2002 --- a TOTAL piece of JUNK that even the Service Mgr at Saturn essentially admitted after numerous repairs were performed during the warranty period.

Unfortunately, for me, many things required repair 2 times but not 3, so I couldn’t cite the “Lemon Law”, but it really is a Giant Lemon to the point that the Used Car Department of Saturn wouldn’t take it as a trade-in because it had too many documented problems identified in their records! Can you imagine, they wanted me to sell it myself (to some unsuspecting poor soul)! --- they didn’t even want to ‘wholesale’ the piece of junk!

Conclusion:

1) Saturn is an inferior auto maker --- Don’t buy one and don’t recommend one to others.

2) Saturn Customer Service is unacceptable, to say the least.

3) The Saturn VUE was spelled incorrectly --- it should have been spelled ‘VIEW’ since you can count on getting a great ‘VIEW’ of the back of a tow truck!

4) The GM and Saturn executives should be held accountable for allowing sales of these inferior products, along with totally unacceptable Customer Service. "A different kind of car. A different kind of company." --- What a joke! --It’s really the same Junk that they’ve always made, at the same company, run by the same un-caring executives!

5) I can only hope that the Saturn name goes by the ‘wayside’ like the Vega and the Corvair, and no longer disgraces our great country with its’ “Made in the USA” label.

I have been a ‘die-hard’ advocate of “Buy-American” ---- but at this point, the Saturn company even got me to switch to a Nissan ---- I just traded in my Saturn today 7/26/08 and bought a Nissan Pathfinder, which is 10 times better than the Saturn ------- SHAME on you Saturn and ditto for GM as well!!!

It is unfortunate that one poor model by Saturn has condemned the entire company for you.

I own a 2000 Saturn SL1 with 155000kms. The only work it has required has been general maintenance (brakes, plugs, wires, oil).

I do admit the vehicles are cheaper cosmetically but it has been worth the trade off.

I have an '03 V6 auto and an '04 4 cylinder stick, and no problems with either except for a squeaky steering wheel on the '03. Dunno if I was lucky twice or you were unlucky, and I've never had a problem with the Saturn service folks. Since the 4 cylinder gets 31 mpg that will be around for a bit, and the '03 just keeps rolling along with well over 110K on it.

Now I'm no Saturn cheerleader, as they don't seem to listen to consumers, but isn't that what's wrong with upper level management? They know what you want, or think they do? I would buy another if they made them look distinctive again and in this country. There were a few niggling ergonomic items and some standard expectations to adjust, but no need to make it look like a KIA. Unfortunately what was a decent American icon is all over the map now.

But I'm fine with the two I have... when the wheels fall off them I'll reevaluate everything, but another VUE will probably be out of the question.

I am sorry to here that you had such a terrible experience. Before I even read your comments, I have been experiencing the same thing regarding the transmission of the 2002 Saturn Vue V6. Even the gear of the slippage that you mention is the same! I am going to see if replacing the transmission fluid resolves this problem. If not, I will keep you posted.

I live in east-central Florida. I own a 2005 Saturn VUE, 4 cylinder 2.2L with 5-speed manual transmission. I bought it in October 2005. It had 1,500 miles on it when I bought it because someone had returned it within the 1,500 mile "no questions asked return period" due to not getting the "city" fuel economy shown on the window sticker.

It was a great deal compared to other cars I looked at. The highway fuel economy is exactly as stated on the window sticker... 28MPG. The city fuel economy is nowhere near the 24MPG from the window sticker, but I drive mostly on the highway, so it doesn't concern me... and who gets the stated city mileage anyway?

I currently have 125,000 miles on the VUE. The vehicle hasn't been as trouble-free as my last few cars. They were:

--- 1993 Dodge Shadow - totaled at 100K miles in rear-end collision. Only problem I ever had with it was the air conditioner, which was completely replaced under warranty.

--- 1995 Ford Windstar - began to have some electronics issues at about 90K miles, dumped it shortly after spending $1300 and the problem still was not fixed.

--- 1998 Dodge Stratus - BEST CAR I've EVER OWNED! 260,000+ miles and never even changed a lightbulb... only regular maintenance.

--- 2003 Ford Windstar - Much better experience with this Windstar than with the 1995. No problems. I purchased it while married, and post-divorce the ex-wife sold it at around 100K miles... still no problems.

Here are the problems I've had with my '05 VUE:

--- Ignition key wears out about every year. The steering wheel lock mechanism grips the key, making it hard to pull the key out of the lock when I turn off the engine. This wears off the sides of the key, which eventually makes the key stop working in the lock. There is always metal shavings from the brass key on the little plastic ring around the key hole. I have had trouble getting a duplicate key from Home Depot or Walmart to work in the ignition (the ignition lock seems to have very little tolerance for keys that are not perfect), so I just go to the local dealership to have new, original keys made. They charge $5.00 each. This is a weird one, but seems to be common with Saturn vehicles. It's cheap to fix and not that much of a problem... as long as you keep some spare keys around. So, stop by your Saturn dealer to get some new keys and eat some doughnuts while you wait. Not such a bad thing! Start using a new key when it becomes difficult to turn the key in the lock.

--- Starting at about 20K miles, there were various rattles and squeaks. I've never complained about them, but they are a little annoying... and I was very surprised that they started so early. I can't remember ever having a car with so many squeaks.

--- One fuel injector stuck open at around 22K miles. Replaced under warranty.

--- BOTH front wheel bearings started making noise within days of each other at about 50K miles. Had them replaced at a local tire shop. Have had no problems with them since. However, I've NEVER needed to replace a front wheel bearing on a FWD car... even with 260K+ miles!

--- Left outer CV joint failed at about 80K miles. I replaced the axle shaft myself with a refurb one I bought online for less than 1/4 of the price they wanted for a new one at the dealership (the part is not available at any of the local auto parts stores). While this was an unusual failure, I suspect that the tire shop tore the boot while they were replacing the wheel bearings mentioned above. This is why I prefer to do my own repairs, but I didn't have time to replace the bearings myself.

--- Ignition control module (ICM) failed at about 100K miles. It caused misfiring on cylinders 2 & 3. I limped it home 2 miles, in which time the excess un-burned fuel being dumped down the exhaust pipe had ruined the catalytic converter. I was leaving town the next day, so I paid the dealer to replace the ICM... and ordered a new catalytic converter online the following week to save myself more than $300. This is a known issue with the ICM and there is a recall on 2002 & 2003 VUE's. I'm saving my receipts so I can get reimbursed whenever they issue a recall for the 2005.

Overall, my experience hasn't been terrible. I have had more problems with this vehicle than I've had with any car I've owned (with the one exception being my first car, which was purchased out of a junk yard for $200). However, when I look at statistics on vehicle repairs, my experience with the VUE is about average when compared to all other cars. In almost 4 years and 125K miles, I would say that I've spent less than $1,000 in repairs so far (excluding regular maintenance, tires, brakes, etc.).