Have been looking at first-gen Saturn Vue Red Lines with Honda 3.5 V6. The interior looks like it has mostly low-end plastics and materials, but I like the idea it might handle and ride better than other tall wagons. Anyone have reliability experience with the V6 and any driving impressions of the Red Line?
My fiance has a regular first generation Vue. It is ok nothing special but it has been very reliable for her.
Is this 3.5L V6 the same V6 engine/trans that seems to have a lot of trouble in the Odyssey?
In reply to jrw1621:
I was looking at that and it seems that Saturn changed something in the transmission so they don't have that problem (I don't think).
Yeah, Vue's didn't share the trans or the craptastic Honda EGR system so they were a lot more reliable than the vehicle they scabbed the parts from. I know, I know.... Honda does no wrong etc etc.
My buddy was a field service engineer for Saturn. Never one to sugar coat the thruth, when they started installing the Honda engines in the Vue he said "It's like putting a 3 carat diamond in a cardboard box". You can draw your own conclusions 
Jeff
JKleiner wrote: My buddy was a field service engineer for Saturn. Never one to sugar coat the thruth, when they started installing the Honda engines in the Vue he said "It's like putting a 3 carat diamond in a cardboard box". You can draw your own conclusions
IMHO it is as good as any of the other CUVs.
i sold the redline vue's when they were new.
i would buy one now, but only an AWD one. i could never put my finger on it, but the FWD ones didn't drive as nice.
belteshazzar wrote: i sold the redline vue's when they were new. i would buy one now, but only an AWD one. i could never put my finger on it, but the FWD ones didn't drive as nice.
I have to agree with this. We drove both AWD and FWD and the FWD ones just felt..... wierd. Like that creepy hot girl in the corner that you can't stop looking at but you know that there's something wrong with her, but you don't know what. She still functions normally, talks and walks and interacts with others, but there's just SOMETHING different you can't put your finger on.
Honda 3.5 Engine & Trans are reasonably reliable, much more so than the 3.0 V6/5-spd AT combo that was in the earlier VUE's. Problem areas on all VUEs are sway bar end links (Fronts in particular), front strut mounts, front control arm bushings, drive shaft carrier bearing (AWD models), ignition cylinders, and wheel bearings (particularly the rear).
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