2003 Saturn VUE review from North America

VTI Transmission Problems.

My story is like others. I felt a slight kick when I stopped at a red light and knew it was the transmission. I took it into the Saturn Service Center and they could not find anything wrong. Three weeks later, I took the car in again with the same problem. They said I had an internal transmission failure. They quoted me a price of $6900.00. I have spoke to a case manager at Saturn and they reduced the price to $4800.00. This is not an option. I do not even owe this much on the car. I found the resolution to be very inadequate. My case manager even remarked how well my car was maintained. Even though I have 98,000 miles on the car, every oil change and scheduled maintenance was performed at a Saturn dealership. I would like to hear from others about your trade-in experience. I have read that others have received a good trade-in on their Vue. I think this is my only option. Saturn is not admitting to a defective transmission design.

Here is the only help I can give. You can contact the Saturn Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-972-8876. They will assign you a case manager to review your case. They told me they review if you are the original owner, how many miles are on the car, and the maintenance record.

Saturn mailed me a letter dated March 2004.

"It states the 2002-2004 Vue and 2003 and 2004 ION Quad Coupe vehicles with the VTI transmission may experience transmission problems. They extended a coverage period of 5 years or 75,000 miles. This policy covers original owners and subsequent owners".

They state, "This is not a recall".