It was May 21, 2007 when our new Saturn ION died on us after returning from a week long vacation. The Saturn dealership was so apologetic that they swiftly put me into a Saturn Outlook for free while our ION was in the shop. I had an opportunity to drive the Outlook for 10 days to and from work, on the freeway, across town, with and without passengers. Therefore my opinion is based on an "extended" rental – and not ownership – so read it with that in mind. Overall, my opinion is this is one great SUV – if you can afford the gas.

WHY TO BUY:
► Size. Seats 8 comfortably, even adults, and has trunk space.
► Comfort. Nice large wide seats, dual air controls for front passengers, air conditioning controls for back passengers.
► Umph: Great acceleration. Handles nicely for a large SUV.

WHY NOT TO BUY:
► Gas. Swallows, no GULPS it down. In 10 days I put over $80 into it.
► Length: Almost as long as a van and a bad turning radius equal hardship when parking or pulling out of a space if you turn too sharply.
► Gas. Did I mention that the $80 I put into it left the take on empty by the time I returned it.

► Total Cost to Rent: $71.99 daily (waived), $15.99 daily extra insurance, $80 in gas. MSRP is listed as: $30,290.


EXTERIOR:
The first thing I noticed about the Saturn Outlook was its height. I'm a 6'3" guy and the roof of the Outlook was about equal to the top of my head. I'm not used to driving vehicles that tall. The exterior body was bulky but well rounded and very sturdy. Doors were easy to open and closed with a whisper. The trunk release lever was no lever but in fact a button that when pressed opened the hatchback – good to know since I would assume it would become disabled if the Outlook were to ever lose power.

The Saturn website listed the width of the Outlook as 78.1 inches whereas our Saturn ION is 67.2. As I briefly discussed above the Outlook is a very long car – too long – more on that later – coming in at 201.1 inches when I was used to 184.5. Surprising the website does not list any specifications on tire size but the ones on my rental were good sized.

Unlike our Saturn ION – the Outlook does not have two antennas (one for radio, the other for ON-STAR) – instead the Outlook has one positioned towards the back. It looks like the radio antenna is wrapped around the On-Star antenna making the design more simple.


INTERIOR:
With the height difference I had to climb up into the Outlook. The interior was extremely nice – posh almost – and I felt very comfortable yet a bit confused by the numerous panel controls that surrounded me. Unlike our ION – everything in the Outlook is push button controlled. There are no knobs for air conditioning – just sleek looking buttons that control everything in the car. Besides standard controls for power windows, doors, and rear windows – there were a couple of buttons listed on the dash that to this day I have no idea what they control. I even took a picture of them with my digital camera so I could explain them while writing this review. There was a check mark button. Another check mark button inside a box with an empty box underneath it. A car with an "I" next to it. And a button with a road leading to a horizon. We were so tempted to push these buttons to see what they did but decided to air on caution.

The radio controls are listed both in the center control and on the steering wheel. On the steering wheel you can change the volume, tracks, and preset radio stations. The radio looked very much like our Saturn ION with a center knob that controls volume and off/on – preset buttons to save your favorite stations, and an auxiliary jack input to plug in an IPOD or external device. The only that confused me with the radio is I couldn't figure out how to change the bass or treble. The knob that normally did this function in our other car – changes pre-configured styles of music like "Rock", "Pop", "Classical", "R&B" – but I couldn't figure out how to simply change the bass and treble controls – or the fade and balance.

The air conditioning controls are all electronic and they allow you to control the temperature for both front seat passengers. You can also change the degree on how much air flows out to the top or bottom and the fan speed. Controls were however a bit delayed. I would hit a button and it would take 2 seconds or so for the desired action to take place. Sometimes I found myself hitting the controls again believing I didn't press hard enough only to have the setting doubled after the delay.

The interior of our car was various shades of grey with a brown-reddish wood interior highlighting the mid section of the dashboard and the middle consol in-between the front seat passengers. It looked like there was a section that could include a GPS or in-dash video display but on the rental it was simply a compartment to store sunglasses or something.


ENGINE:
The Outlook has a very quiet yet powerful engine. I would press down on the gas pedal and the SUV would spring into action with nothing more than a purr. The Outlook was a V-6 six speed automatic transmission with 275 horsepower. All this power comes at a great price – that being gas. EPA estimates have the Saturn Outlook with automatic transmission coming in at 18 miles to the gallon in the city – and 26 miles on the gallon on the highway. My work is about a 14 mile round trip and so I was spending close to a gallon of gas a day just to drive back and forth. I was used to getting 26/35 so the 18/26 hit our gas budget hard.


DRIVING:
I loved driving the Saturn Outlook. It handled nicely; great response, powerful engine, no loss of power with A/C on – just an overall enjoyable vehicle to drive. I did however hit a bit of a snag. Because the car is longer than I am used to I did accidentally hit or more like rub against a car parked to the right of me while I pulled out of a spot. Since the Outlook is so long I should have pulled further out before turning to the right. Instead I kind of pushed the car's front bumper a bit over with the right side of the Outlook. No damages though – and on both cars a quick wipe with a rag removed all signs that something had happened. Besides that minor mistake – driving the Outlook was best fun I've had driving a car.


ON-STAR:
Being a GM car the Saturn Outlook comes with On-Star. It is simply a paid service built into your car that will assist you if you are in an accident, lost, or simply wanting to make a phone call. The costs about $100 a year for basic coverage and more if you want to make phone calls.


OVERALL:
There is a part of me that wishes I could own a Saturn Outlook. Although I do like smaller cars – and parking a big SUV like this was a bit cumbersome (and I did have one little bitty mistake pulling out of a spot) – I loved the power, the comfort, the control of the Saturn Outlook. But, I just don't like how much gas it uses. No surprise – gas prices keep going up and spending $100 a week in gas is a waste of money in my book – just to drive back and forth to work. I can't wait to see where the hybrid-SUV market goes – and hopefully one day Saturn may build a hybrid Saturn Outlook. That may just be my dream car.


Amount Paid (US$): 0.00
Model Year: 2007