I noticed a marked handling improvement on smooth surfaces, which were hard to come by in Quebec's rural highway system. Truly, most of the roads throughout la Belle Province are beyond repair, or at the very least have been repaired so many times that any original pavement would be impossible to find.

The soft seats of the VUE Red Line had very little side bolstering, and therefore couldn't hold driver and passenger in place during even moderate cornering speeds. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

This made it difficult for the VUE Red Line's rigid suspension to find contact with the road, bouncing us around rather harshly and upsetting the SUV's balance.

It might have felt more stable if the seats were capable of holding driver and front passenger in place even remotely, but they are soft with very little side bolstering, about as sporting in nature as an average midsize domestic sedan - i.e. not at all. This left me and my copilot hanging onto the dash, door panel grips or anywhere else close at hand while negotiating high-speed corners.

The leather-wrapped steering wheel and MP3 compatible stereo were nice, but the rest of the interior was somewhat lacking. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

Unfortunately the poor road surfaces also played havoc with other aspects of Saturn's hotrod SUV, causing rattles and rumbles that otherwise wouldn't have been heard. One particular squeak in the dash drove me nuts. I'd press on the spot where it sounded like it was coming from and it would stop, for about 20 seconds, and then start up again in such an annoying way.

I can't say the plastics quality inside the VUE Red Line was particularly top-grade either, maybe one of the reasons the dash squeaked. The leather-wrapped steering wheel (other than the awkward looking hub) and shift knob are nice, as is the CD audio system with MP3 compatibility. I liked the backlit instruments too, along with their white faces and chrome rings - a very nice touch.