2005 Saturn Vue

If you haven't bought the vue yet, you want to research it more. We've seen vue's being advertised by local dealers for 0% interest. Makes me leary why they have to sell the vehicle so hard.

just thinking out loud.....

tom @

Part of the reason is that everyone else is offering large dollar discounts and Saturn doesn't budge (often) on the sticker, hence lower interest to make up for it.

Personally, I cannot stand the inside plastic door panels which look cheap. That is going to rattle in a few years once the heat molds the plastic into a form-fitting shape and then the rattles will come (my SL2 seat-belt adjuster cover panel is driving me crazy!).

Too bad they don't paint the bumpers to match the body, excluding the Redline model with it's few color picks. Reminds me of the cheaper SL with black bumpers verses the more expensive SL with the painted ones.

B~

To answer your question, the MAX that a V6 VUE can pull is 2500lbs, and that is considering total weight including occupants of the car.

If you are pulling 3K lbs, you need to look at a more serious utility type vehicle.

marx404

I prefer the unpainted ones. There's no paint to get scratched.

I don't have a Vue, but my retired parents ordered theirs with a factory installed class one hitch on their V6 AWD. I can't tell you how it tows, because I haven't towed with it, but it seems that at least the V6 Vue has the factory "OK" to tow.

However, as with any tow vehicle, to me one of the more important factors with towing anything besides drivetrain/suspension ability is the wheelbase length. The vehicles you described are NOT midsize SUV's, but the small/mini size. I personally wouldn't tow anything other than maybe a 4X8 utility trailer for dirt bikes and waverunners, etc with any of the "mini" SUV's (esp on highways - A nice crosswind will have you fighting and swaying all over, never-the-less stopping capability). bigger Boats, large pop-ups, small camping trailers are good for the bigger mid SUV's (blazer, explorers, Durango). Then you get into the large (Expedition, full size Pick-ups, etc) for anything else....Just my opinion....

Scott

----- Original Message ----- From: "The Real Tom" Newsgroups: rec.autos.makers.saturn Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 10:01 AM Subject: Re: 2005 Saturn Vue

So what vehicle don't you worry about? Virtually all SUVs (except for high priced German ones) have rebates and/or special financing.

Regards,

Ed White

On Sat, 5 Mar 2005 20:43:17 -0500, someone posing as marx404 donned fireproof bloomers and chiseled in the wall:

Actually the V6 is rated to 3500lbs.

We have had ours since 1/2 and my wife really likes it. I've driven it a few times and - except for the smallish size - it feels great and seems well-built.

Let's not forget, too, that beautiful Honda engine. I'm sure it'll last longer than the POS Vortec 4300 I had on my Jimmy.

Perfect Reign wrote in news:b8pyfjpnft3l$. snipped-for-privacy@40tude.net:

Amen on the V6 -- have had mine about a month and only have the following negative feedback...

Are you kidding? The 4.3 sounds like a reflection of ones ownership and that Honda engine is a trash design! I cant stand maintenance on those! Japanese engineers are inconsiderate to mechanics and dont consider we keep licencing our cars after 3 years. The 4.3's were damn cheap to maintain and hauled ass without mashing the gas.

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 04:33:43 +0000, blah blah donned fireproof underwear and scratched on the wall:

I should specify - I had one of the early CPI models - a '95 Jimmy. In the six or so years I owned it I went through three fuel injector spider units, two EGR valve units a head replacement, valve replacements power steering pump, water pump, and an alternator. All that in a mere 145K miles. By comparison, I put 120K miles on my Z24 Nissan engine and only adjusted a throttle valve once.

I really wish I had one of the TBI units from '94 and earlier, cause they were so much more reliable, AFAIK.

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 03:25:44 +0000, Nada Effinway donned fireproof underwear and scratched on the wall:

That RedLine looks like a nice car! I would've sprung for it but this is the wife's car and she wanted a regular V6. She did go for 17" tires though. Darn things are huge!

Wait till you have to get the water pump on the 3.5 replaced... I'll trust the timing chain in the jimmy for 800k before I trust the timing belt in the honda or nissan for 10k. I havent heard or seen hardly any problems with CSMPFI (Injector Spider unit) other than sticking poppit valves. What did your's do to warrent replacing so many times???

Alternators for GM cars are cheap and usually only go bad when the battery goes bad or is discharged to many times. Water pumps are easy to replace on 4.3s and they seldom become a problem unless you go past the coolant change interval.

"EGR valve units a head replacement, valve replacements power steering pump" Didnt follow any of that. EGR's can be cleaned though.

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 20:32:31 GMT, someone posing as blah blah donned fireproof bloomers and chiseled in the wall:

Hmmm, hadn't seen anything when I googled. What is the cost that you know?

Well, we'll see on this one. Fortunately they gave us a 5/60 plan in the deal.

Exactly those. The CSMPFI unit was later than mine. My unit was a CPFI model. It was the first year of that unit, which replaced the TBI "injector" from '94. On several occasions, the valves clogged and the cylinder would go dry. Apparently on one of the occasions, cylinder 5 was firing with no fuel and this caused (somehow) the valve guides to go bad. I ended up needing a new valve guide and cover at that point. This was the third CPI unit - replaced at around 120K. The first was replaced at 70K and the second at 100K.

I did clean the EGR regularly. I used to go the route of putting sea foam in the vacumn hose, like GM recommended. At around 75K teh first unit went bad and I tried to limp along with the sea foam solution. I eventually replaced it. It then went bad again at around 130K

A bunch considering all the timing belt crap has to come off first. I dont have the "Labor Time Guide" for this but I est it to be in the 300-

You should follow the severe use interval for your timing belt or split the difference.

If they just clogged then it required no replacement. A pressurized injector cleaner would clean those right out.

I've never seen such problems. Kind of sounds like some upselling took place? The only majore issues I've seen with that era of s/t platforms have been worn valve bodies and leaking lower intake manifold gaskets, which lead to brown coolant with people to inept to check their cooling system. The 95-96 4.3's were a test bed for the 1997 5.3/5.7 vortecs and those are good engines.

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 23:07:22 +0000, blah blah donned fireproof underwear and scratched on the wall:

I wish. I actually took it in to two mechanics - the one who did that work has been working on my father-in-law's '86 Chevy Van 20 since forever.

Never had a cooling issue. OTOH, GM had so many complaints about this model engine that they ended up giving warranties to 100K for parts. I took adavantage of it once, since the darn spider unit cost IIRC $500 without labor.

Other than the engine issues and a minor power window issue, I really liked driving that little truck.

And I shouldn't complain too much. I did put on 145K miles in six years.

All I've got now is a minivan and the vue.