As i poke around on the internet for information about the Vue i seem to come across a lot of... well, lets not call it hate, lets call it dislike for the Vue vs other stuff on the market that would be direct competitors.
Ive owned a lot of cars and trucks in my life, some good, some bad, but the vue is one of the more sensible rides i think ive had.
- Its just the right size. small enough to be easy to park and get in and out of parkades, but big enough to carry loads of stuff and have room in the back seat for adults to sit.
- Little touches of luxury. nothing over the top, but things like softer feeling panels that other stuff out there from the time period. decent seats, sound deadening material all over the place etc.
- Great power train. ok, i am talking about the J35 here it has good power, durability, fuel economy is really dependent of the weight of your foot. There is actually more space to work on it than there is in the pilot or accord. As far as competitors products, lets be honest, that 3.0 Ford V6 was a nightmare and working on it was an exercise in futility.
- It was/is unique looking and admittedly a little boxy, bt it has aged well compared to many others out there, and lets be honest, boxy is sorta a thing now. Have you seen the nominee for ugliest suv ever made? the new Santa Fe? wow, that is the love child a 1975 suburban and a volvo 145
- The plastic panels. I am actually surprised this idea did not catch on. If you buy an escape/tribute, you can sit around on a sunday and watch it rust. Funny story... i was a salesman at a Mazda dealership in the early 2000s and we actually had brand new Tributes on the lot deveoping rust spots... we had to get the detailers to polish them down prior to sale. Now, Yea, the Theta platform had an undercarrige rust issue, but as long as the suspension mounting points are good ya got some time. Plus from what ive seen a lot of the common issues could be welded with little hassle.
- Longevity, Yea, the company died off but most of the parts are still available and there are lots of these in the wrecking yards, i figure there are probably 2 or 3 years till commor parts get scarce.

Maybe this is just a rant, I guess i just get confused. the Vue actually seems like a really decent ride for the time, and there is that little thing about how about half the SUV market in those years was being built on the same platform.

 

In general, people hate on anything out of the norm. The whole schtick about Saturn owners being a bunch of rabid blindly loyal nut jobs didn't help either. It looked distinctive and had a Saturn badge on it. That's all it took. Just like the S cars look like nothing else when they hit the market. Look at the ion with its cockpit on the center console. People cursed that out to no end. 3 years later, everybody was doing it. It's never easy to forge a different path, especially in a market with so many other vehicles trying to do so. It didn't matter that it had a Honda engine. People judged it by looks, and since it had a distinctive and different look, it must therefore suck. And it's from the whack job Saturn line.

So let people hate on it. It served its purpose in its prime, and the people who owned them knew they had something just a little different than the average Joe. It was excellent for what it was compared to what it was meant to be in its day.

People tend to hate things they don't understand. Their loss.

 

Very true.

 

You're right, derf. That's why I hate doing electrical work.