Thoughts? How long do these things run for without major issues? Borrowed this this one that a friend has for sale on his lot, been driving it for a few days. At first I wasn't fond of the whole saturn thing but it's actually a decent dd and I could get a pretty good deal on it. Put a couple hundred miles on it and it only has a couple issues. One is when you first start driving from having the car parked and off theres a small hum from the back (probably just a barring or something so whatever). The other is twice when I've started the car the idle got kinda jumpy, then a reduced power light came on on the dash and the car wouldn't go over like 1,500 rpm. Now this has only happened twice and it always goes away if I turn the car off and back on again, but I have no idea what it is. It's the V6 AWD model. How are these things reliability wise? I've never considered owning a saturn before, and it already has 104k.
2003 Saturn VUE
- Thread starter GTwolf
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Also the general build quality is complete shit. You will hear and feel every pebble on the road. The overwhelming feeling of lack of quality and refinement is the only thing I get when I drive customer cars. (we get a lot of saturns at my dealer). If its the Saturn motor don't even consider it as it is as unreliable as they come, if it's the honda motor then beware of the trans
They had a cvt behind the 4cyl for a while and it blew. I don't know about the 3.0
My dad has one, same year. Its FWD V6, and yes its a honda motor. The thing has run pretty much flawlessly since new and now has 130k miles on it. Lower control arm bushings wore out this year, the rear wiper motor took a dump, replaced the timing belt a few months ago since the mileage is getting high, and basic maintenance.
My mom and dad both have one. They have had them since day one, so 9 years now. Both 2003 AWD V6, they have not had any major issues. They have been pretty good. Only issues that my dad has complained about was the T-Stat. It goes bad and I guess it's a pain in the ass to replace. Besides that nothing major, no electrical issues. My dad's probably has about 130k and my mom's about 100k. My dad drives his hard, my mom not so much, however my dad always uses my moms on the weekend.
Thanks for all the input guys. As far as the ride goes I'm not expecting a sub $5k car to drive like a benz (to me the ride actually feels amazing because I'm used to a gp with bad struts 
). Reduced power light stopped coming on now but it still probably needs to be looked at, maybe it just needed to be driven and have some fresh gas? I think it was sitting for awhile. The only thing that's really turning me off right now is lack of abs, had to slam the brakes in the snow the other day and the thing went flying. AWD helps you get going for sure, but the thing is actually lighter than my car so it slides easily. Are the engines reliable in the long term? It's a 104k, will it go to 140k without major issues? What mileage do you have to replace the timing belts at?
). Reduced power light stopped coming on now but it still probably needs to be looked at, maybe it just needed to be driven and have some fresh gas? I think it was sitting for awhile. The only thing that's really turning me off right now is lack of abs, had to slam the brakes in the snow the other day and the thing went flying. AWD helps you get going for sure, but the thing is actually lighter than my car so it slides easily. Are the engines reliable in the long term? It's a 104k, will it go to 140k without major issues? What mileage do you have to replace the timing belts at?Why does this happen? Is it a spark issue or what? Would a tune-up solve the problem?
As I said above the ride isn't the best but it feels awesome to me right now because I usually drive a grand prix. Are the motors not long-term reliable? Do youguys do a lot of major repairs on them?
The L81 3.0L units seem to have a lot of problems with the reduced power light, pertaining to issues with the DBW system. The reliability engine wise is there for the 3.5L Odyssey motor in the 04 and up, the transmission is no where near as bad as TLs and CLs of that age were, but they do see problems. I personally would stay away from all models.
My moms just hit 100k. Never had any engine problem. The suspension rattles on the front, never figured out what it was. Sometimes when youre accelerating the trans slips (auto), and rpms shoot up and the car goes stumbles. Doesnt happen all the time though. Never had any electrical issues with it. Other than that the car has been running strong.
She said the dealer told her that it was an electrical issue and they wanted to replace the wiring harness. Also in my opinion it is just a cheap feeling car and I dont like it.
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