2003 Saturn VUE FWD from North America - Comments

2003 Saturn VUE 2.2L FWD.

My wife and I fell in love with this car when it first came out. We did not have the money to buy brand new, so I bought one on an action sale in 2006.

I had to change the transmission 2 months later. I have to admit I did not do my homework at the time, because I would have sold the car after I changed the tranny, but now after about 43000km I have to change the tranny again.

I wonder why Saturn hasn't given people an option of changing to a more reliable tranny; it would have been so easy to do, and they would have had a lot more happier customers. Does anyone out there know of a way to outfit this car with a better tranny?? (automatic or standard)

Simon.

11/2006 I traded my 93 Dodge Van in for a 2003 Saturn Vue, it had 59,000 miles on it. It now has 82,000.

Three weeks ago I heard a funny noise coming from the front end, sounded like something was loose, took it in to Midas and they traced it back to the transaxle.

Got an estimate from Saturn (told by several transmission shops Saturn was the only ones who could fix a CVT Transmission) - $5,400. Sticker shock, the service person who quoted me this amount sounded very proud of the fact that he had just repaired two other transmissions just this last month. Told me exactly what will need to be done. When I asked why so much, I never received a logical answer.

After reading all the comments, it's nice to know that I am not alone out here. I called the Saturn Customer Service Help line today. I need to get a print out from the Service Department exactly what needs to be done and what the cost is. From what I read, I don't expect much help there either. No warranty left on the car.

I knew nothing about Saturn when I bought it 2nd hand. I had always heard that Saturn was a very good car to buy, boy I was told wrong. I am upside down on my loan right now, and with the noise in the front end, wouldn't get much out of a trade in - if I could talk someone into trading it in for me.

I can't afford to fix it, can't afford to trade it in. Right now I'm up a creek without a paddle. The Saturn Vue sits in my front yard, afraid to drive it. I take the bus, at least I'm saving on gas.

I just hope that Saturn will help with the repairs. If not I will try to find a Class Action Suite to get into. Now I know why the first owner got rid of this car. You can bet ASAP I will be getting rid of it also, my first and last Saturn.

There is NO secret that the CVT tranny in the VUE is flawed and likely to break. It takes a 5 second google search to figure this out. It will also tell you that GM extended the warranty to 5 years and 75k miles on the CVT because of a high failure rate, but now you're beyond that too.

Saturn may offer you some help, but they are under no obligation to do so. They even extended the warranty voluntarily, but you went past it.

Should a tranny fail this early? No, of course not. But at this point it is your problem, and I hope you man up and deal with it rather than looking for some lawsuit to deal with your mistake of buying a known defective automobile. Take this as a learning experience.

It amazes me that folks take such a cavalier attitude to spending a large sum of money on a car without first doing a little research. What you "thought" or "heard" about Saturn was the best you did, and it turned out to bite you. Remember than not all Saturns are the same, and in this case, not all Saturn transmissions are the same.

Wow. Last comments were pretty insensitive. Do you work for Saturn? When I bought my Vue in 2005 I did my research and found nothing regarding transmission issues with the Vue (maybe because I didn't Google the word "transmission" because I didn't KNOW about the transmission issue?) In fact, when I bought the car, the dealer raved about the great transmission...

Regardless of whether people researched this car, the bottom line is that GM/Saturn released a faulty transmission, which they knew about, and have done nothing since then to remedy the problem. As far as being able to "man up" to the problem, contacting a lawyer is one avenue of action, considering Saturn will not "man up" to the fact that there is a problem that they need to fix!

I am on my 2nd transmission, which lasted exactly 45 days. After I contact Lakin Law (who is handling the class action), I am taking my 2003 Vue back to the dealer and demand they take it back and give me something driveable.

I Absolutely agree with your comments regarding Mr. "man up"..

Obviously, he must have some gripe on Saturn customers because no one in sane mind would bother entering two comments on this site (he made 1st one months ago..) I can go on but he is irrevelant if just annoying...

I too am a 03 Saturn Knew err... Vue owner and am livid and appalled with Saturns "manning down" attitude toward our needs and concerns.. I purchased this vehicle for my mothers b-day 2/03 brand new as a proud son! Now, with only 57K miles and a faulty tranny only Mr. Ron Hoover seems to offer any hope.

I feel that there is no need to tell my horror stories as

we all share our frustration but, we must continue to use this medium to voice our stories.. and if Mr. "man up" feels man enough to personally to share his email address he may certainly contact me at lpad_02@msn.com so we may have a better understanding of his views..

Good luck to us all!!!

I am also a victim. I bought the vehicle used last year. The claim was denied yesterday until I called my own warranty provider and explained the issue. He seemed concerned enough to have someone call Saturn and talk to the Service Manager to verify the problem existed even though their inspector didn't experience the problem while on a 9 mile drive. I'm a single parent, two children, work full time, go to school part time and can't afford the uncertainty of the safety issues. I mentioned this to the service guy as well. He agreed that it was a safety issue and was sorry that it was denied for repair.

The salesperson also "raved" about the transmission! I did my homework before purchasing also and would have searched "transmission," had I known to. I sent a very large letter to Saturn corporate this morning and also sent it to the dealership.

I have a 03 Vue. Last week it started to make a beeping noise randomly driving down the road. It is the same noise as when the head lights are left on after the car is turned off. There is no engine lights or anything else. Took it to the mechanic, he said that he cleaned the connector on one of the computers and it stopped. Now it's doing it again. Help?

I have a 04 VUE with 40,000 miles. The CVT trans. has been rebuilt twice. The repairs have a warranty of 12k miles or 12 months. I will be trading it in in the next few weeks before the 5 year/75,000 miles warranty runs out.

GM just settle a class action lawsuit on Sept. 12 concerning the CVT trans. Google "Saturn VUE class action suit".

Driving home yesterday with groceries, my 2003 Saturn Vue, with the Vti, started making a crunching sound around the left front wheel well and my dashboard lights lit up like a Christmas tree. I lost all acceleration power and just managed to get the vehicle off the highway and to the side of the road. Called my hubby to come and get me.

This tranny cranked out at 90,000 miles and had a new rebuilt tranny installed at 84,000 miles. What the heck?

The scary part of this is that I had no warning until I heard the crunching sound and immediately knew I had a serious problem on my hands.

Now, I have a 1997 Cadillac Catera and the tranny went out on that car with 69,000 miles. At this time, I would say that GM has a huge problem on their hands with unreliable and totally garbage transmissions. Neither of these vehicles were cheap when bought and were bought with safety in mind.

I will be calling Saturn tomorrow and see what they have to say about this but will not be holding my breath expecting any resolution.

My husband is a mechanic and will probably rebuild the transmission with much better results than Saturn can offer from the previous posts I have read. He rebuilt the tranny on the Caddy Catera and it runs like a dream... and it cost two thirds less to do than quoted by the dealership where we purchased it.

It is sad that Saturn and GM have decided to take a blind eye approach to all the problems with these vehicles and their totally unreliable trannies.

To the above poster:

The VTi transmission in your VUE was recently part of a voluntary recall initiated by GM. I believe it is now covered up to 125,000 miles, so you will be compensated for the transmission repairs.

If your husband is indeed a mechanic, he should have known that.

My '03 Saturn Vue has had its transmission repaired and/or replaced three times as of last week. With the potential settlement of the class action law suit, Saturn has become increasingly polite in dealing with my transmission issues. I was told by the dealership, however, that the VTI warranty expires at 75,000 miles (NOT 125,000) and that there was NO WAY to extend it (I'm only at 68,000 now). Frankly, if it were extended, it would only mean the warranty would cover me for the inevitable future breakdowns. Saturn can keep replacing and repairing the VTI, but unless the design is changed, what is the point? I'm only grateful that the potential settlement of the class action supposedly includes damages for those who lose money on a trade-in because of the flawed transmissions. That seems like the only way out for me.

Google "the truth about cars saturn VTi" and read the section regarding GM settling the VTi lawsuit. It absolutely DOES extend to 125,000 miles.

Find a different dealer, get your tranny fixed, and then trade it in. Yep, you'll take a hit, but it's a lot better than trading in a broken vehicle.

My neighbor has the same faulty transaxle problem but does not want to mess with the warranty. Can I buy it from him and take it in to be covered under the extended warranty, or is there mention in the class action lawsuit regarding date of purchase. It is a 2002 VUE with 99k miles.

Just wanted to add my misery to the list - bought my Vue 03 VTI in June 03 and am currently driving a rental while Saturn repairs my transmission for the second time, at 54,000 miles. This time it died taking my 6 year old son home from the dentist on a rainy night in downtown. Saturn dealership spent no time even talking with me - just sent me to Saturn corporate, who have been semi-helpful, but the second I get this car back, I'm trading it in and going back to Volkswagen, which was the car I was so faithful to before I decided to try Saturn.