2002 Saturn VUE AWD review from North America

To start off, I pick up my completely new car from the dealer with 2 problems i.e. 1) Air conditioning not working (compressor kaput) 2) Unable to unlock/open the trunk. The two problems were eventually fixed after a lengthy wait of 1 1/2 weeks for parts.

After two weeks of driving in my brand new Saturn, the fuel gauge went kaput! It was giving a wrong reading on the gas that I had. Had to wait another 2 weeks for parts and eventually when it arrived, it took the dealers two days to fix it.

Week 12 of driving my new car, the steering column began to develop very squeaky noise. As the days went by, the squeak became a loud rattling. Again, sent it in to the dealer and found that the bearing on the strut had to be replaced, and that took 2 days.

Week 14 of driving my new car, the rattling noise came back again intermittently. This time when I took it to the dealer for a service, they apparently said they can't hear the noise it's making and hence, as they can't pinpoint the rattling noise, they don't know how to fix it. I even left the car there for 2 days for them to "drive around" to locate the problem, but still they can't pinpoint the problem.

Currently, I am driving around my new car with a rattling noise that comes around quite often.

The quality of the car is totally disappointing. The servicing is good, but apparently dealers don't stock up on parts so when you need part replacements, it's going to be a min of 1-2 weeks wait.

IF you are in the market for a compact SUV, go look for something else other than this car! It's not worth the time and hassle!