Looks much better than the previous, but GM/Saturn is still lacking in the “little” fit and finish items. My biggest gripe with GM is their lack of attention to detail where the interior of the front doors meet the dash. The black/beige trim does line up across the door/dash and the gap between the door and dash trim gets progressively wider as you move up. C’mon…if the Koreans can get this right, why can’t GM? They’ve only been making cars for about 100 years!

I like where GM has taken the VUE and think this new model looks very nice, however I’m not liking the colour in these pics, it doesn’t do the body any justice.

The interior is a nice step up, my friend has a 2006 Vue (black) and just from looking at these pics I can tell this model is infinitely superior, despite minor quibbles like the door and dash alignment.

GM is on a roll, that’s for sure.

So I take it that the motor is still being produced by Honda?

although nice looking, it is definately related to the equinox. saturn is looking more like chevrolet every day. lets face it, the sky is a mini vette,the aura a malibu, now this.

It looks like a small mini-van to me… I don’t like it.

I agree with the comments about the interior. How many of us spend time adimiring the outside of our cars… we don’t… we spend our time behind the wheel. I owned a GM product (worst new car experience ever), and every time I got behind the wheel I noticed the misaligned interior fittings, the rubber moldings installed half in and half out of plastic trim, the trim in the trunk that I had to put back in place everytime the lid was opened, and the inevitable squeaks and rattles that were the result.

If GM can’t fix that, then the perception in the marketplace will be that GM continues to build low quality junk.

murphy1, you’re right. The Sky has as much in common with the Vette as teh Aura with the Malibu….

Which is NOTHING!

The Sky and the Vette? Shishh I agrree with at interior issues i own a 2007 Ion3 QuadCoupe and even though, it’s an improuvement on my ION 2004, there is still rattles and squeaks. But i at least there keeping the look together with all the lineup.
Hey atleast this aint DC or Ford. This is much more stylish than the Escape, and the VUE REDLINE has always been a good bargain.…BTW the Aura is the cousin of the G6!

Not a bad effort- and about time they started drawing on the expertise of their European counterparts (not that GM of Europe is anything to majorly brag about).

First thing I notice is the excessively minimalist instruments. Way too simple for a semi-upmarket car like this. They don’t look cheap (like most Ford instruments do nowadays), but they do look like something from a car designed for the Indian or Chinese market… way too basic.

>

Nop. Designed by Holden in Australia and is similar to the engine in the Cadillac CTS 3.6 (modified for FWD use).

This high feature engine is very refined and easily comparable to Honda/Toyota DOHC VVT engines.

My previous post was in reply to “So I take it that the motor is still being produced by Honda?” which LLN somehow excluded from my post…

The Aura is a G6 which is a spinoof of the Malibu. All can be traced to the 9-3 which grabs also it’s motor from the Ecotec used in the Cavalier and Cobalt and base Malibu then turboes it.

Kinda funny how GM only has to design one car and then breed it’s components out to fill the lineup…

You could slap the name “Daewoo” on that thing and I would notice the difference.

…. “wouldn’t” ….. sorry.

I’m with buenos. I prefer a great interior to a great exterior. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be caught dead in an overly ugly car, but it’s the interior that I have to commute 2 hours a day in. I bought my 03 Accord V6 b/c at the time it had more features than the old Acura TL and IMHO was the best interior for the money.

A couple months ago while my car was in the shop I had an 2007 Impala rental. At first glance I was very happy with it, but after inspection…the panel gaps weren’t great and all the HARD plastic was terrible. It didn’t look all that bad, but just wait for all the scratches and every time my knee bumped the dash or door I practically got a bruise LOL. It’s hard to tell from the pics, but I’d wager there isn’t a “soft-touch” door/dash panel in the entire car. Is it really hard/more expensive to have a soft rubber/plastic door/dash? Kripes, even budget compact japanese cars have all soft-touch finishes.

No, budget compact japanese cars do not have all soft-touch finishes.

Looks eggy and has too many lines. Like the extra ones on the tailgate and around the wheel arches. Guess GM sees some value in waving the “Opel” name around at marketing events. Sorry, but the real Opels all seem to look better. (excluding the Sky which is the same.)

Sidebar…while the side gill thing is neat…it is much better done on the Ford Focus S-Max.

They did a good job on styling but they f**ked up the front headlights. Too small and too odd a shape.

Why do we still have to have both km/h and mph on our speedometers? Is it in case we cross over into Canada?

Some exterior styling details are overkill, but at least they try to differntiate from the rest.
Good effort. Much better than the current square box.

good one meanpants555, you’d think after 31 years they’d finally give up. what an enormous waste of time and money! we’ll NEVER drive in kilometers here….

Metric is simply the better system. Admit it americans…..

The taillight/rear side window looks directly lifted from the sister Suzuki XL7.. but of course the XL7 has a longer wheelbase and rear door. I’m sure most consumers won’t even notice, but I did.

The europeans prefer metric because in their minds their 8 centimeters sounds longer than our 7 inches. We all know the truth of the matter, but metric simply appeases their genetic inadequacies.
.

Eggy is a good word to describe the exterior, and while the interior is improved (but in reality anything is an improvement compared to the old Vue), it still is mediocre at best and trails far behind those offerings by Honda and Toyota. The plastic is hard, the design unimaginative, and the gaps prevalent and obvious.

nice…

Very nice. Should be a good seller for Saturn and GM.

Bun_a_gm: agreed. Metric FTW.

don’t forget this from a few weeks ago for a laugh

http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/09/28/video-lutz-says-saturn-vue-easily-comparable-to-bmw-x5/

Once again, Detroit has teased us with an awesome concept vehicle (Saturn PreVue), only to build a boring, watered down vehicle like this.

deantj, i would def choose a Suzuki Grand Vitara over this, its crazy how overlooked that vehicle is, when its really quite capable

Wow, this thread really has gone down the drain, hasn’t it?

Not great, not terrible. But it’ll work I suppose. CaddyMTL- I agree…those are pretty funky headlights.

I’d also be curious to see what the Red Line will look like. Red Line trim made even the old Vue look sexy.

nice suv

The front looks like a Pacifica, and the rest of it is just fat. I don’t know I need to see it in person.

Is it still supposed to perform better than a BMW X5 or are we looking at a Cayenne Turbo killer here instead?

Looks like a rebranded Equinox… yawn…

A better alternative to the Rav4 IMO. I wouldnt buy it, but the Vue XR sounds pretty nice with the 3.6HF.

max, i think you’re “witty” little comment about me not knowing if a good car “bit me in the butt” is way off base, if you look at the interior of the Honda CR-V, the fit and finish is impecable, there are no gaps, it is stylish, and the materials are soft to the touch and less cheap and plasticky, im going by facts here bud, i dont think you know a damn thing about good cars period.

i prefer doing 100km than 60 clicks, actually faster

I think I see a bit of a RangeRover Sport killer here…

And I saw an Ion Quadcoupe at lunch today. Couldn’t figure out why anyone would buy a 911 Turbo when the Ion clearly destroys it…

hey max, i know the vue is the god damn opel antara, hence why i said that
my point is, it shouldve came exactly as the opel antara, but some how, some way, GM managed to make it much less attractive, albeit with the same sheetmetal. so cork it **** bite

LamborghiniZ-
I never said anything bad about the CR-V. You are right, it does have an excellent interior. It isn’t my cup of tea, style wize, but nothing Honda sells is. I just think you need to give credit where it is due. Since it is just a picture we lets save our judgement of materials for when one can be sat in at an autoshow. You of all people should know that Honda pioneered the idea of economies of scale. The more of the same radio/HAVC controls that GM produces the lower the unit cost. For a corporation that is trying to save money, it is a good and cost effective idea. Later when GM acquires enough cash, they can begin making the interiors completely separate from each other.

A4-
Maybe instead of going of on a cursing rampage like a misbehaved 2 year old, you could bring some facts to your argument. Considering it is the exact same vehicle, execpt with different tail lights and interior, what has GM done to make it “much less attractive.” Is it the fact that it has a Saturn badge on it?

Hmm it’s ok… I think it’ll grow on me.

Not crazy about the styling but I’m sure it will sell well. This is no worse than the wierd looking CR-V and unlike Honda, Saturn offers you engine choices and a hybrid. Few small SUVs are all that stylish in my book so this is no worse. It will be much faster than the Escape or CR-V. The Honda needs over 9 seconds to get to 60 and barely gets better mileage than the Vue or Rav4 V6 models. Now that is Honda engineering at it’s best.

The Hybrid Vue is a pathetic excuse for a hybrid, read any review and it will describe it as barely getting better mpg, running absolutely terribly, and being even slower than the CR-V you mentioned above sj79. It doesnt even graze the radar for hybrids SUVs

i see saturn finaly stepping out of the whole and becomming a respectable company!!

Chevy 490, not only is your post basically incorrect, as Saturn still trails alll the Japanese companies basically, but I noticed a few spelling errors I can’t help but ignore:

*Finally

*Hole

*Becoming

Vehicles like this from any manufacturer just don’t appeal to me. Just dont see the point of them. This one looks as nice as any, just not something I would buy.

The Vue is a great example of a well excecuted program. Sure, there will always be something that somebody doesn’t like but overall its a great design and has world-class detail. This is a huge step forward for Saturn and GM. I know its popular to bitch all you want about American vehicles but there are so many things that make a car work that I can’t even begin to talk about them here. Its much bigger than door gaps, soft touch, and cupholders. Its time to put down the financial journals, Consumer Reports, and all the other “expert” rags and start looking at this stuff objectively. I could name a thousand things that GM (and others) do better than most import car companies in the world – but there’s not the room here. I didn’t say everthing – they’ve earned multiple prizes for bonehead moves too but you can’t ignore some of the benifits of having huge resources and experience. If they could only hire some more car guys (and girls) and keep momenteum like the Vue going! Did I mention the ZR1?