Saturn Vue Used Car Buyer’s Guide: 2008 - 2009
An all-new Vue model debuted, abandoning many of the tenets of the basic Saturn philosophy. Its body was made of steel, it was built in Mexico—not Spring Hill, and it was essentially a badge-engineered version of the German Opel Antara.
The good news is it was light years better than the Saturn Vue it replaced. The new model was offered in three trim levels; XE, XR, and Redline. All three offered a choice of front- or all-wheel drive.
Vue XE’s basic engine choice was a 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder with 169 horsepower and 160 ft-lbs of torque, paired with a four-speed automatic transmission. XE’s V6 option was a 215-horsepower, 3.5-liter making 220 ft-lbs of torque. That engine was mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. The hot setup was a 257-horsepower, 3.6-liter V6 available only for Red Line and XR. Capable of 248 ft-lbs of torque, it too, used a six-speed automatic—but this transmission also had a manual shift feature called TAPshift. The manual function was standard with the Red Line, optional with the XR.
Buyers had a choice of front- or all-wheel drive, regardless of their engine or model selection.