The Saturn Vue Red Line Is A Totally Strange Performance SUV Everyone Forgot About
For the benefit of those who aren't up on their Saturn history, the Vue was a 2000s-era compact crossover SUV that happened to be the brand's best-selling model. Although Saturn's lineup of vehicles was initially completely unique to the brand, Saturn's parent company General Motors eventually grew budget-conscious, forcing Saturn to share platforms with other GM products. In the Vue's case, those sibling vehicles were the Chevrolet Equinox, Cadillac SRX, Pontiac Torrent, and many more.
With that backstory out of the way, what you really need to know about the Vue is that there was a little-known performance version called the Vue Red Line that was surprisingly quick owing to a V6 engine produced by Honda, of all companies. That last sentence is dripping with irony because the very reason for the creation of the Saturn brand was to compete with Japanese imports, not be powered by them.
However the unholy alliance was formed, the Vue's 3.5-liter V6 cranked out 250 horsepower and 242 ft-lb of torque, coupled to a five-speed automatic transmission, also by Honda. That combination could send a front-wheel drive Vue from zero to 60 mph in less than seven seconds which was a pretty impressive accomplishment almost 20 years ago, before fire-breathing 700 horsepower Hellcats roamed the Earth and distorted our perception of fast. An all-wheel-drive version was also available for areas with inclement weather, though it was slightly slower to accelerate because of the added weight and parasitic drag of the AWD hardware.
Red Line was mostly an appearance package
Interestingly, the 3.5-liter V6 was an available option in any Vue from 2004 to 2007, not just the Red Line. However, for $1,995 extra, the Red Line delivered sport suspension that lowered the vehicle by a full inch, performance-tuned steering, and a set of handsome 18-inch diameter alloy wheels. In the appearance department, the Red Line was differentiated from the standard Vue with a monochromatic paint scheme, a ground effects package, and bespoke front and rear fascias. Arguably, the Vue still looked like a piece of rolling Tupperware, but the Red Line package was a big step in the right direction.
For 2008, a second-generation Vue was introduced — actually just rebadged Opel Antara — and the Honda engine was dropped in favor of a GM-sourced 3.6 liter V6. The new V6 produced a little more horsepower than the previous Honda engine but was actually slower because the second-gen Vue gained approximately 400 pounds versus the outgoing car.
In 2010, the Saturn brand was officially discontinued in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and GM's subsequent bankruptcy, but for a while, the "different kind of car company" was way ahead of its time with its high-performance crossover SUV, a segment that's uber-popular today.
[Featured image by LouieRBLX via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0]