Another crummy FLASH site. The Saturn site took about 13 seconds to load on my std DSL, mildly overrclocked 1.33 Athlon system with 896 meg of ram. (The Honda site takes about 3 seconds, the Chevy site almost 20.) The site is, however, well laid out and easy to use. It's just sluggish,and painful to try and find good data on standard features and specs. This current generation of FLASH web sites makes me feel like we have regressed to 1995's dial up connections. It is no longer fun to look up and play with new car sites.
Like Chevy, Saturn brings 2 vehicles to the AWD party; and both are based on the same platforms as their corporate siblings.
While Outlook is the newer of the 2, it is also more of a cookie cutter version of the Lambda series. Vue, on the other hand differs more significantly from its Theta platform stablemates.
Saturn AWD Choices
The 2009 Saturn Outlook has 2 AWD versions available; the base XE and the upscale XR. The 8 passenger SUV sits on a 118.9 inch wheelbase. Try as hard as you can, you will NOT find A/C on the Outlook XE's list of standard equipment. That's absurd for a car that cost more than 30 grand. For some reason, to get A/C you have to order the $935 Bose Audio package! Outlook's all-wheel drive system delivers power to all four wheels when you need it. If your
front wheels are slipping, power is diverted to the rear wheels
until you regain traction. It also monitors throttle position and vehicle speed
to adjust engine torque for improved handling. Its GM siblings are Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia, and the Buick Enclave. Outlook shares its sheetmetal with Acadia, while Traverse borrows from Enclave. The baseline Outlook XE AWD starts at $32,625.
Saturn's 2009 Vue; a 5 passenger compact SUV, comes in 3 AWD variants. The base is the XE, and is powered by a 222hp 3.5L cast iron V6 with a 6-speed automatic transmission. It's XR and Red Line versions get a a bigger 257 hp 3.6 liter aluminum DOHC V6. Credit GM with making Vue a different vehicle out of Saturn's Theta based SUV than its Chevy Equinox and Pontiac Torrent brothers. it has a 6 inch shorter wheelbase than those, and so if your needs run towards nimbleness in an urban environment, this should be the better choice. With its shorter wheelbase, Vue tips the scales at 4,084 lbs with the 3.5 V6 and AWD, and that's almost 900lbs less than its big brother; the Outlook. The sport-oriented Red Line version includes a one-inch lowered suspension system. The baseline Vue XE with AWD starts at $25,955
