Die Hard foreign car buying co-worker rents Vue for the weekend and...

[CrunkedRL]

One of my co-workers who btw only drove foreign cars up until now rented a new fully loaded 08' Vue while vacationing with her relatives down in Florida a couple weeks ago. She said she and her fiance were so impressed with the ergonomics and the way the car handled that they had to have a Vue for themselves. I helped as much as I could w/ the process as the 'Saturn Experience' is a lil' different than most other car buying experiences. They had a trade in and got above book value for the car. Her fiance traded his 97 Cutlass and will use her current vehicle a Mazda6 as his car while my co-worker drives the Vue. Oh and it's important to note my co-worker is only 24 so the age demographic apparently maybe going down for Saturn. Needless to say the couple is very happy with their purchase and I'am too since this is the first successful new car referrel I've had yet!!! This is what happens GM when you make stellar products. Keep up the great work!!!

[rhvfd10]

And some people say rental sales are bad things... Good for them!

[zete]

Originally Posted by rhvfd10

And some people say rental sales are bad things... Good for them!

For some folks, like the coworker, the only way to get perceptions changed is to have the new GMs on rental lots. That way they can suddenly see for themselves what's changed. A picture is one thing, a friend's recommendation another, but nothing sells as well as simply experiencing the item firsthand.

[Bravada]

Her finance traded his 97 Cutlass

Yeah, you can call him this way...

[CrunkedRL]

Originally Posted by zete

For some folks, like the coworker, the only way to get perceptions changed is to have the new GMs on rental lots. That way they can suddenly see for themselves what's changed. A picture is one thing, a friend's recommendation another, but nothing sells as well as simply experiencing the item firsthand.

So true. Had it not been but for her renting the car I believe the Vue would have been the furthest thing from her mind. She too didn't know the Vue had changed so much from mine to what it is now and trust me I didn't get the same type of reaction when she rode in my Vue a few months back. I believe its good publicity in having some GM products out there on rental lots but not necessarily the stripped down models.

[CrunkedRL]

Originally Posted by Bravada

Yeah, you can call him this way...

My bad it's been edited

[likearock00]

Originally Posted by CrunkedRL

I believe its good publicity in having some GM products out there on rental lots but not necessarily the stripped down models.

That's the most important part right there! Stripped down models do nothing but push people away from the product- no matter who makes it. If you're gonna have a rental vehicle, make it an average build with some extras thrown in there.

Congrats to you for helping with the process. I'm sure it was fun for you, but it was very thoughtful of ya.

[FoMoCo Fan]

I'm going to seriously consider an Aura or Malibu for my next car after having a rental for a couple of weeks.

[CrunkedRL]

Originally Posted by likearock00

That's the most important part right there! Stripped down models do nothing but push people away from the product- no matter who makes it. If you're gonna have a rental vehicle, make it an average build with some extras thrown in there.

Congrats to you for helping with the process. I'm sure it was fun for you, but it was very thoughtful of ya.

Hey I was all about the referrel bonus on this deal. For every successful new car purchase or lease referrel I send Saturn's way they send me a $75.00 gift certificate redeemable at any retailer for service, parts, etc. It will definetly come in handy considering I have two cars too many. But I'm pretty stoked about this and I gotta hand it to GM for making it easier for me to lure I mean refer more people to Saturn retailers. In the past most I've referred would have shuddered at the notion of even test driving a Saturn product let alone leasing or owning one.

[Tiger]

A nicely equipped 08 Saturn Vue also impressed us...floored us was more like it. It could easily be compared with anything regardless of the cost. Truly a MUCH better vehicle than before.

[marinerbc]

Way to go, CrunkedRL.

One down, 200 million to go.

[BusyBody]

Good job, I really like the Vue (having trouble typing after a few glasses of vino). I would consider it if I was looking at an SUV. Atomicshark, how are you liking your Vue? I want to own a Saturn again. My first car was an SL2 so I have a soft spot for Saturn.

[coaster.n3rd]

Great.. What fully loaded trim level? FWD or AWD? I would think most Floridians are buying FWD. Although AWD comes in handy when yanking a boat out of the water.

[CrunkedRL]

Originally Posted by coaster.n3rd

Great.. What fully loaded trim level? FWD or AWD? I would think most Floridians are buying FWD. Although AWD comes in handy when yanking a boat out of the water.

Well they wanted to keep her payments low so they ended up with a Black XE fwd with a few extra creature comforts like roof rails, floormats, and heated cloth seats (which I didn't know was even available) Her fiance wanted one with a nav screen like what they had in the one they rented in Florida. But I told her that the nav was apart of a package offered only on the V6 trim models and she wanted a 4 cylinder. But even when you compare and I know you know this but even the base model comes with alot of goodies. So she will still have a nice car at a very reasonably priced lease. One question she asked me that I couldn't answer before she finanlized her deal was an inquire she had concerning the residual value of the Vue. Do you know if the residual is much higher than that of the first gen Vue? I'm thinking it would be which would directly affect her payments but I wasn't sure after $230 a month for 39 months of leasing how much it would be just curious.

[coaster.n3rd]

Originally Posted by CrunkedRL

Well they wanted to keep her payments low so they ended up with a Black XE fwd with a few extra creature comforts like roof rails, floormats, and heated cloth seats (which I didn't know was even available) Her fiance wanted one with a nav screen like what they had in the one they rented in Florida. But I told her that the nav was apart of a package offered only on the V6 trim models and she wanted a 4 cylinder. But even when you compare and I know you know this but even the base model comes with alot of goodies. So she will still have a nice car at a very reasonably priced lease. One question she asked me that I couldn't answer before she finanlized her deal was an inquire she had concerning the residual value of the Vue. Do you know if the residual is much higher than that of the first gen Vue? I'm thinking it would be which would directly affect her payments but I wasn't sure after $230 a month for 39 months of leasing how much it would be just curious.

Navigation IS available on XE FWD.

The residual is higher, but I was not around for the first gen Vue long enough to give you a good answer. I'll see what I can dig up at work on Monday.

We have a base FWD in the showroom right now. People think it is a middle of the road Vue and not a base because of all the standard features.