The Lemon Index$4,500 middle bill · most between $4,200 and $5,600
About the same as the $4,500 middle bill owners of all 175 models reported.
Owners who gave their mileage: a middle of 94,000 miles (16 reports).
Saturn Vue owners reported paying a median of $4,500 for a transmission replacement, with the middle half of bills between $4,200 and $5,600. That's from 18 owner reports (18 complaints to NHTSA). Costs vary by shop and region.
What owners paid
- Under $5000%
- $500–$1,0006%
- $1,000–$2,5006%
- $2,500–$5,00044%
- $5,000 and up44%
Share of the 18 owner reports in each price band.
By model year
- 2003 Saturn Vue12$4,500 middle bill
- 2004 Saturn Vue3$5,000 middle bill
- 2008 Saturn Vue1too few for a middle
- 2009 Saturn Vue2too few for a middle
Reports per model year, with the middle bill where there are 3 or more. YouTube amounts count for the generation the video covers.
How often owners report the failure
- 2003 Saturn Vue94 complaints name it15% of that year's complaints
- 2008 Saturn Vue26 complaints name it6% of that year's complaints
- 2004 Saturn Vue15 complaints name it5% of that year's complaints
- 2005 Saturn Vue10 complaints name it6% of that year's complaints
Owner complaints to NHTSA whose own words name a transmission failure. Raw counts: popular years get more complaints. A complaint is a report, not proof of a defect.
Engine codes that can lead here: P0700 P0730 P0715 P0720 P0731 P0732 P0733 P0734. A code is where a shop starts, not proof the part failed.
Keep going
- Saturn Vue reliability by year
- Transmission replacement cost on every car
- Car symptoms and what they can mean
Other repairs Saturn Vue owners reported
The details
How we count
Every number here is a repair bill an owner reported, never a shop's price list. Two sources: the bills owners wrote in their own complaints to the U.S. government (NHTSA), and the dollar amounts owners said out loud in YouTube repair and ownership videos. A figure counts for a repair when that repair is the part named nearest to it. Left out: purchase prices, payments, rentals, towing, warranties and deductibles, amounts under $50 or over $15,000, parts-only prices ("the part was $80 on Amazon"), bills for two different repairs named together, and money someone else paid. One number per complaint (or video) and repair: the biggest, so it's the bill, not the diagnosis fee.
The range is the middle half of the bills (the 25th to the 75th percentile), so one wild number can't swing it. Owners who complain to the government often had expensive repairs, so a typical bill can be lower. Costs vary by shop and region, by dealer vs independent shop, by parts and by miles. This is what owners reported, not a quote for your car.
Check the bills yourself
NHTSA complaint numbers (search them at nhtsa.gov): 11525489, 11048108, 10667092, 10605186, 10592745, 10556806, 10524734, 10384631, 10344820, 10332459, 10325654, 10307529 and more.
Quick answers
How much does transmission replacement cost on a Saturn Vue?
Saturn Vue owners reported a median of $4,500, and the middle half paid $4,200 to $5,600, from 18 owner reports. Costs vary by shop and region.
Is a Saturn Vue transmission replacement more expensive than on other cars?
The Saturn Vue middle bill of $4,500 is about the same as the $4,500 owners of all 175 models we have reports for paid.
Where do these Saturn Vue repair costs come from?
From 18 complaints to NHTSA: what owners themselves said they paid. They aren't verified bills or a shop's quote.
Which Saturn Vue years report this failure most?
In complaints to NHTSA, owners of the 2003 (94), 2008 (26), 2004 (15) Saturn Vue named it most. Raw counts, not a failure rate.
Sources: NHTSA owner complaints and YouTube videos (amounts said out loud), sorted by The Lemon Index. Owner reports, not a price quote. Costs vary by shop and region.