 2008 Saturn Vue XE AWD. Click image to enlarge |
Review and photos by Chris Chase
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Photo Gallery: 2008 Saturn Vue
Oshawa, Ontario – Many North American and Asian car makers have used the term “European-inspired” to describe a new model at one time or another. Few, however, actually walk the walk the way Saturn is doing these days, as the brand slowly restocks its line-up with vehicles plucked from General Motors of Europe’s Opel showrooms.
First, there was the Aura, a mid-sized sedan based on the Opel Vectra; there’s also the promise of the upcoming Saturn Astra compact, sold overseas by the same name. But the second of these “un-Opels” to go on sale here is the second-generation Saturn Vue.
Unlike the Aura, which sports some unique styling cues compared to the Vectra, the new Vue is pretty much identical to the redesigned Opel Antara that recently went on sale overseas. In fact, the only major difference looks-wise between the Vue and Antara is found inside, where the Vue gets a unique control layout in the centre stack. But the rest is basically a straight copy of the Antara, which is mostly a good thing.
  2008 Saturn Vue XE AWD. Click image to enlarge |
The gauges are easy enough to read, though the markings could be a little bigger; in contrast, the steering wheel is on the bus-sized side. Functional touches that give away the Vue’s European background include the handy one-touch lane-change turn signals (move the lever halfway and you get three flashes) that some European-branded cars I’ve driven don’t get. Curiosities include the seat heater buttons on the centre console: when viewed from the front seats, the little warm seat pictograms are upside down. Generally, though, controls are well-placed and easy to use and will be familiar to anyone who’s driven a recent GM product.
The front seats are comfortable and the driver and front passenger get all the head- and legroom that’s expected in this class of vehicle. In the back, the outboard seats are very comfortable, but as is almost always the case, whoever gets stuck in the centre position will get grumpy fast. Headroom is great, while legroom is only decent; a consequence of the Vue’s lack of a third-row option is that the second row doesn’t get the fore-and-aft adjustment that’s become common in mid-range crossovers.
  2008 Saturn Vue XE AWD. Click image to enlarge |
The quality of the interior materials is typical of the improvements GM has made in the last few years, with nicely-textured plastics in pleasantly contrasting colours. The faux-carbon fibre trim on my tester’s dash and door panels was attractive, too.
The steering in my XE AWD tester seemed nicely weighted at all speeds despite no mention of variable assist in Saturn’s specs (all V6-powered Vues get hydraulic power assist, while four-cylinder models, including the forthcoming Green Line hybrid, get an electric system).
Steering feel is noticeably better than what’s typical for the class, with surprisingly sharp turn-in and terrific handling. The ride, too, strikes a nice balance between firm and comfortable, much more so than many competitors: the closest thing I can compare it to is the Mitsubishi Outlander, which I thought was Goldilocks’ just-right to the too-firm Toyota RAV4 and too-mushy Hyundai Santa Fe. That the Vue handles and rides as nicely as it does is high praise for a suspension that has its work cut out for it: an all-wheel drive Vue weighs in at 1,962 kg (4,325 pounds) according to Saturn. That’s almost 100 kg (roughly 200 pounds) more than an all-wheel drive Santa Fe, a whopping 300 kg (about 670 pounds!) more than the RAV4, and outweighing an AWD Outlander by about 240 kg (around 534 pounds).
Yet even with all that weight to haul around, the 3.5-litre V6 that came standard in my XE AWD tester had little trouble moving the Vue with authority. Acceleration is average, but the little truck is quick off the line and the engine has a decent appetite for revs and makes nice sounds as the tach needle approaches the 6,500 rpm redline.
 2008 Saturn Vue XE AWD. Click image to enlarge |
As well as my memory serves to remind me of the Outlander I drove a few weeks back, this Vue felt just as quick despite similar horsepower numbers and a much-lighter (to the tune of 1,600 kg) front-wheel drive version of the Mitsu. Credit, perhaps, the Saturn engine’s extra torque (219 lb-ft peaking at 3,200 rpm compared to 204 lb-ft at 4,000 rpm in the Mitsubishi). GM hasn’t published fuel consumption figures yet, but my tester averaged 13.8 L/100 km in mostly light-footed city driving, which is certainly respectable for a vehicle as heavy as the Vue is. Drive with a heavy foot, though, and the all-wheel drive model’s 63-litre tank will run dry pretty quickly; front-wheel drive Vues get an extra 10 litres of fuel capacity.
All V6 Vues get a six-speed automatic transmission, the same no-muss-no-fuss unit used in many other GM products, and it does its job just as well here. The sixth gear gives the Vue an edge against its many competitors that make do with five speeds. It bears noting, though, that four-cylinder Vues use a four-speed automatic.
 2008 Saturn Vue XE AWD. Click image to enlarge |
There’s talk of a manual transmission in the pipeline for four-cylinder Vues; what I’d really like to see is that paired up with a diesel engine. Theoretically, it shouldn’t be that difficult, providing GM could come up with a motor clean enough to conform with North America’s recently tightened diesel emissions guidelines.
As well as the Vue goes, it stops nicely, too. The firm brake pedal is a bit disconcerting at first, but once you’re used to it, the brakes are easy to modulate and grab hard when you jump on the pedal in panic-stop mode.
Some current owners of the old Vue who bought that vehicle for its upright tailgate and correspondingly cubic cargo hold might be disappointed in the new Vue’s sleeker rear aspect, but cargo room is still pretty good. The space between the rear wheel wells doesn’t intrude too badly, making for a wide load floor, though a fairly high liftover height and the way the opening tapers in at the bottom might make loading large objects somewhat taxing. I like the Outlander’s split tailgate setup better.
  2008 Saturn Vue XE AWD. Click image to enlarge |
But adding to the Vue’s utility is a cargo net that fits into brackets in the side of the cargo area that slide fore and aft in handy rails. The rear seats fold perfectly flat, and as with the old Vue, the front passenger seat folds forward to accommodate extra long items.
In his first drive report, Managing Editor Grant Yoxon noted that he found the Vue to be a little pricey compared to some of its competition, most notably the Santa Fe. My tester carried a base price of $31,275 to which GM added $1,070 for the Premium option package that includes an eight-way power driver’s seat with manual lumbar adjustment, automatic climate controls, heated outside mirrors, illuminated vanity mirrors and a leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls. The $1,490 leather package brings heated front seats and leather all around and adds a leather-trimmed shift lever; you can only choose the leather package if you’ve already checked the box for the Premium package, but thankfully, heated cloth seats are a $405 stand-alone option.
All told, that brought the total to $33,935, or $35,135 with $1,200 freight and $100 A/C tax. An Outlander XLS (which seats seven in leather and otherwise matches or bests my Vue tester for feature content) is $34,594 all in, and a fully loaded five-seat Santa Fe – a 3.3 GLS AWD much like the long-term example we evaluated last winter – is worth $35,890.
  2008 Saturn Vue XE AWD. Click image to enlarge |
Check too many little boxes and you’ll wind up with a $40,000 Vue when you ask for stuff like navigation (a $3,655 option on the Vue, $4,000 in the Outlander and unavailable in the Santa Fe), which is too much to pay for any vehicle in this class, really. Overpriced? Only if you get too excited over the options list; stick to just the things you need, though – like trading the leather package for the stand-alone heated front seats, which would save you more than $1,000 – and the Vue comes out quite competitively-priced, I think.
There’s no arguing that the original Vue had its share of fans, and taken on its own it got the job done, but any promises of competitive performance compared to others in its class were hollow ones. Truth in the Euro-inspired pledge is great, but what’s more important is that, performance-wise, Saturn finally has a mid-range crossover with the walk to back up the talk.
Pricing: 2008 Saturn Vue XE AWD
Specifications
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