2003 Saturn VUE FWD from North America - Comments

Uggg! This site answers a lot. My 2003 4cyl Vue has what feels like a slipping transmission. Now I know why. I have like 122K on it, so I guess I'm out of luck on the warranty. I'm not about to dump a lot of money into it for a short time fix. Guess I'll be looking for a new car soon. This sucks!

I'm glad to see it's not just me. As of today I have had 5 transmissions fail on me. Today was my fifth. It's an '03. the first one failed at ~ 48,000 miles and now every 14 months or so it fails again. Already sued Saturn, but since they have been replacing them there's nothing much to get. I think this is the final time.

I don't hate Saturn. My sister has over 200,000 miles on her 93 SL1 and had very few issues. It's just a design flaw with this car and the CVT transmission and they never really admitted it, it just went away leaving us first test dummy's out here.

I purchased a used 2004, 2.2 Saturn Minivan, with 60,000 miles and a cvt transmission. I immediately noticed a sort of grinding, slapping noise coming from the transmission when moving slowly in low speed. I can hear the same noise by rocking the car. It is not noticeable during normal acceleration. Is this noise just part of the "noisy operation" of the cvt transmission design, or does this indicate a developing problem?

I have an 03 V6 AWD Saturn Vue no VTI tranny, my car has run like junk since I bought it new. Took it back they'd reset the computer it would be OK for about 1 week and then do the same thing, sluggish, RPM's spin like crazy!! Now it's in the Saturn dealership again this time out of warranty, but I just want a normal running car! Called corporate, nice at first, but now since they see I don't have the VTI tranny I can see where this is going, nowhere, she became very nasty toned and I said this problem should have been fixed 4 years ago! They have kept it to test drive it, if they can't get it to do it (which you know they won't) I guess I'm screwed! I to have heard odd noises thoughout my 4 years owning this car, a banging sound from rear, the "airplane like sound" when you turn the car off! I will never buy another Saturn again, they just wait hoping I believe you'll run out of warranty and then you'll have to pay, knowing something is wrong when you bring them in to begin with! Is there anyone else out there w/o the VTI tranny experiencing the same trans problems as I sluggish, RPM's spinning, won't accelerate. I mostley read just that it's the VTI which is what Saturn is trying to say to me that the others trans have been fine, I said I find it hard to believe someone else w/o the VTI hasn't had problems! Help!

I also have a 2003 V6 Saturn Vue. Everything I've read says that it does not have a VTi transmission. However, since I bought it (new), it will occasionally "slip". That is, I press the gas pedal and the engine feels like it drops into neutral (making the engine rev up real high w/low or no acceleration). If I lay off the accelerator it starts working again. Probably happens once a month, and I haven't been able to nail down when it is most likely to occur.

We are yet another of obviously many, many people who have been stuck with the "03" Vue only to go through considerable headaches as a result. We too bought the Vue thinking it was going to be a safe and reliable vehicle for our family of 5. However after having the transmission completely rebuilt 40,000 miles ago it completely went out in the middle of the road on Christmas night leaving me and my 2 year old stranded in the middle of a lane of busy traffic, in the dark. It was a very scary situation and I would never expect such a major component to go out at 90,000 m. and leave us completely stranded like that. Yes, Saturn did extend their warranty to 75'000 miles however, they did NOTHING to fix the problem that they put the WRONG transmission in that vehicle to begin with and all of there previously loyal customers are paying seriously for it. The worst thing is 2 months age we had a complete diagnostic done on the vehicle by Saturn technicians and we put $1000 into it to do EVERYTHING that they recommended. Currently we owe $10,000 on the car still and they are expecting us to pay $3,200 for the trans. $700 for the catalytic converter and they WON'T EVEN PAY FOR THE RENTAL CAR even though THEY are doing the repairs. I don't like Saturn any more!!! I just talked two people out of buying a Saturn and got my cousin to trade in hers for a different vehicle. They should have just fixed the problem!

2003 vue at 48K miles. 3rd transmission was installed. Interesting thing is that I had been complaining about my hesitation at around 10mph from a stop for a year and the dealership always said they couldn't duplicate issue. Now that my factory warranty expired and extended warranty took into effect, suddenly, they were able to notice the issue and replace the trani using my extended warranty (10 days past my factory warranty ended)

I won't ever buy a Saturn again.

Zach Gabai

I have a 03 vue v6 with no tranny problems (knock on wood) and about 63k miles on it. This is my daughters car and it has just now been not starting once in a while. it does not die while driving only after she turns it off and then tries to restart it, it does however restart a little later and drive fine. No check lights show up to help the tests. I read a comment on a earlier page that suggests maybe the crank case sensor, anyone what to comment?

Thanks.

To the above comment: check the CPS (crankshaft position sensor). That is a known issue on the V6 VUE and not an expensive repair. As for your tranny, you have an Aisin 5-speed automatic, not a VTi, so your tranny will not experience the VTi/CVT failure mentioned here.

So what is going on with the class action law suit???

I have a 2003 Saturn VUE, V6, FWD, and I'm experiencing the same "slipping" that has been described by a few other V6ers on this board. Mine happens when accelerating, at about 3000 RPM. Same deal as described by the others -- I let off the gas for a second and then push it down again and everything's fine.

I am not able to determine any other circumstances that tie one incident to the next, only that it always seems to happen at about 3000 RPM, while accelerating.

Any idea what this might be?

I have a 2003 Saturn VUE with the troublesome VTI. My dealership replaced the original VTI and now I have a leak and looking at approx $1000.00 repair. The car has 108,000 miles on it. I've also had axle assy replaced at 46,000 miles. $1000 is a lot of money to sink into a short term fix.

This is my third Saturn and in the past I've been very happy with performance and service. My experience with the Vue - not so much! I was hoping my next car would be a SKY, but have loss confidence in the brand. I feel Saturn is not standing behind this product.

Any class action suit for us in the Northwest?

Well here I am again. My 03 Vue with the VTI just went out again. they just rebuilt it back in July and it only has 6000 miles on it. They are replacing it again under warranty, but now I have to get rid of it. it is nothing, but a liability now. I am curious to see what they offer me on trade in. I will buy another Saturn if they work with me. I have had 2 Saturns and this is the only one I have had any problems with. I think they should stop repairing those vti's and just compensate the owners and try to do the right thing. The dealership has been very good with me. they are just bound to what Saturn dictates. There is no class action law suiy in Virginia yet and have talked to several lawyers, but until Saturn or the NTSB does something we are just screwed. Let me know if someone has worked out a settlement with Saturn or are they just blowing smoke up my --- long enough to let the warranty expire. thanks MJM

I have a 2003 Saturn Vue V6, and it started losing power and had a slipping noise to it, when I tried to pass in the passing lane. 1 week later it would only go 10 per hour in heavy traffic. It took me forever to drive it home.

I took it to a local shop that said it's the catalytic converters. This Vue has 3 of them. He said it was just the back one and it was going to cost me $276.51, but then he called back an hour later and told me that the congestion is in the front 2 also. Which in total is going to cost me $877.00. If I had gotten these parts from the Saturn dealership, just the back converter alone would have cost me $1500 and the front almost $700. I think this is just crazy.

Well I am supposed to pick up my car tomorrow after he fixes it. Let's hope that is all it is, but as soon as I get it back am going to put a FOR SALE sign on it and get rid of it. Although I have had the vehicle for 2 1/2 years, and this is the only problem I had encountered.

Feb.24.08

I was just informed that my 2003 Saturn Vue had "transmission " problems and that the dealer would have to see exactly what is wrong before they can give me an estimate as to how much it would cost to repair. the "off the top of my head" estimate of between $6000.00 and $10,000.00 was mentioned. I have 105,000kms on the car and up until today was quite satisfied with it. Now it seems as if I'm going to get stuck for a major repair. After reading all the complaints about the Vue I was wondering if any one in Canada had arrived at a solution.