6th Aug 2007, 16:56

I have a 2003 Saturn Vue that I purchased new. I had both rear wheel bearings replaced at 33,000 miles (in warranty). They are both bad again at 81,000 miles and Saturn said it would cost me $880.00. At 78,000 miles they said the drive shaft was cracked. It cost me $1,010.00. At 75,000 miles the exhaust manifold cracked. The estimate is $439.00. I am currently battling Saturn as EPA document number EPA420-F-96-020 states that the exhaust manifold is an emission related part and is covered under the design and defect warranty mandated by the Federal Government. The Saturn Territory Leader said She didn't care what the document said, they weren't fixing it under warranty. It appears that I will have to sue Saturn to get this repaired. I have a year of payments to go and at this point I don't think the Vue will last until the last payment. At the least I am sure it will need wheel bearings again at 120,000 miles.

7th Aug 2007, 09:21

My service department knows be by name as well. I have them on my Christmas card list. They are nice people, but I hate to visit them so often. I purchased my 2002 Vue in January of 2003. On that same day my favorite cat died. I should have taken that as a sign to bring that piece of garbage back to the dealer. I have had many, if not all of the same problems as above. Today I get to go visit again about a creaking noise on the driver's side front wheel area. I guess it's a wheel bearing. There goes another $400!! It is a crime to disguise such garbage as a vehicle.

8th Aug 2007, 07:53

One correction about the last comment. I got a call from the service department on the front end noise. It was not a wheel bearing problem. It seems I have to replace a front strut mount, a front strut, and have a rod greased. Only $700 this time!! Oh happy day!! The only thing that needs to be greased is the consumers of this lousy vehicle, so the screwing won't hurt as much.

24th Sep 2007, 22:35

2003 Saturn Vue... I also have a rear wheel bearing problems at 60,000K. I mentioned this at the dealership during my warranty period and I was told it was "road noise".

I had a local mechanic perform a Missouri State Safety Inspection today and he demonstrated the bearing problems to me.

Now I know what the "road noise" really is.

This will be the last Saturn I buy.

Dwayne

St Louis.

3rd Jan 2008, 11:22

2002 Saturn Vue. We have had very similar problems to every other comment listed above! Wheel bearings replaced, the steering is making a creeking noise.

We started smelling a burning smell as we parked it in the garage, lately. Just yesterday, all the oil blew out all over the road and in the garage. Luckily, it happened close to home. We took it into a mechanic and found out we had to have gasket seals replaced, etc.

This vehicle is SUPPOSE to be all wheel drive, but this function doesn't seem to kick in until we are almost sliding OFF the road on ice. It kicks in.. in a very unsafe manor and then it shuts off too early and you start sliding all over again.

I would NEVER recommend a Saturn Vue to ANYONE!!

14th Mar 2008, 11:51

I have a 2003 Saturn Vue 4 cyl manual shift. It currently has 150K miles on it. I have replaced tires once, but have done the brakes at least 5 times. I'm not one to constantly jam on the brakes either. I had to replace the AC compressor at 80K for over a $1000. Right now I think I have to replace the exhaust manifold, but other than that, I've been happy with the car. Little things go wrong here and there, but with 150K miles, I think I'm lucky!!!

21st Mar 2008, 09:38

Hello,

I need advice/help. Whitebear Saturn has had my car for over a month. They are very nice folks but so far they are unable to fix my '03 Vue: 4cycle, front wheel drive, 50k miles. They are stumped. Saturn can't fix my Saturn.

I bought it used @ 20k miles. I'm on my 3rd set of tires @ only 50k. It cups them quickly. I've rotated and balanced them all on schedule. The car also pulls left. They have tried alignment, even aligning to the right, and every other fix they can think of, but it still pulls left on brand new tires. They also farmed it out to a body shop to check if the frame might be bent. It's not. I'm desperate to resolve this issue. It's getting old having daily conversations with, and multiple trips to, the dealer. I've always been a drive the car into the dirt kind of guy. I'm starting to lean the other way, especially after stumbling onto this message board. I'm nearly ready to get rid of the thing.

Thanks all.

27th Mar 2008, 13:08

Elaine in Sylvania OH.

When it came time to get a sturdier vehicle, I fell in love with the VUE when I took my 94 SL2 in for service one day. The cost deterred me, so I purchased it used in EO 03. I have owed my 02 VUE V6 3.0 AWD for almost 5 years now and bought it used @ 28k miles. There were several trips on the coolant, the washer motor and the grommet in the washer spray thingee before it lost its warranty after the 1st 5 months I owned it.

Mine is a cautionary tale. I have put in around $5K in repairs on it in the last year and half -- many of them before things were due to be replaced.

October 2006 I replaced the H20 pump and serpentine belt @ 76k miles 25kmi before the pump was recommended to be changed, and in Dec 06 replaced the carrier bearing ($240) and the catalytic converters ($1600), and imagine that neither can be done anywhere else than at Saturn.

The piece de resistance was coming out of a bar on St Pat's day in 07 with a little over 90k miles on it and my car sounding horrible then dying. The Saturn guys burst my engine trying to diagnose that the timing belt tension spanner was off (another almost 10K miles before repair recommended) -- $3200 and a new engine later I thought I was done.

Now with 9 months of payments left, I may be facing at least one rear wheel bearing going out (taking it to the dealer today). It is making kind of a growling road noise that gets louder with speed. Is this what is going on? Can the wheel bearings be bought and repaired outside of Saturn cheaper than $350 + tax?

Contact me at schwie_0924@hotmail.com and let me know. Thanks!

28th Mar 2008, 22:05

2002 Vue... In early 2007 our Vue experienced problems. Catalytic converters failed at 82,000. And the Saturn dealer would do nothing for us other than a bill for $1600 to repair it.

Does anyone want to buy a used Saturn Cheap?

I will never buy a Saturn again.

30th Jul 2008, 13:37

2002 Saturn Vues are a piece of junk.

28th Aug 2008, 10:42

Vue update.

I traded my fine '03 4 cyl 2wd stick to a dealer. I couldn't sell it to an individual in good conscience. Took a shellacking, but it was worth it to be free of this unreliable, dangerous, POS GM product.

At 50k the vehicle pulled hard to the left and quickly ate up tires. Saturn dealers (yes plural) couldn't fix it, as described in previous post. Also had a reputable collision repair/body shop test and verify that the car had not been wrecked or had the frame bent.

After many rounds with the fine folks at GM, after they determined that I was the second owner and had no warranty, I was informed that they considered my problem "normal wear" and therefore would do nothing to help me out. They did offer me a coupon for an oil change though.

I told them they could keep their coupon... keep it stored in a dark place.