Saturn goes for styling in 2007 Outlook

Trendy families who eschew truckish sport utility vehicles and less-than-glamorous minivans will find an appealing choice in Saturn's first crossover SUV, the 2007 Outlook.

With good proportions, attractive styling, commendable handling and V-6 power, five-star safety rating and standard seating for eight, the Outlook has something for mom, dad and the children.

It also has the highest starting retail price of any Saturn production model -- current or past. Starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, including destination charge, is $27,990 for a front-wheel drive Outlook and $29,990 for an all-wheel drive model.

An uplevel Outlook XR with all-wheel drive and options can top out at near $40,000, a price unheard of before at Saturn, which has more vehicles with top, five-star safety ratings than ever in its history.

But the Outlook pricing is about on par with competing crossover SUVs, which are today's darlings of the auto business because their sales are on the rise.

For example, a 2007 Toyota Highlander with three rows of seats and a V-6 starts at $27,435, or $555 less than an Outlook. There is a lower-priced Highlander with three rows of seats that starts at $26,375, but it has a four-cylinder engine. Mazda's CX-9 crossover SUV with three rows of seats and a V-6 starts at $29,630, or $1,640 more than a base Outlook.

Crossover SUVs are hot now because the bubble has burst on the traditional SUV market. Shoppers are turning away from the truckish ride and poor fuel economy that traditional SUVs can deliver.

In response, Saturn's parent company, General Motors Corp., is introducing the Outlook as well as two sibling crossovers -- the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave.

The Outlook has the lowest starting price of the trio.

It comes in two trim levels -- XE and XR. Both get the same 3.6-liter, four-cam V-6 mated to a new, six-speed automatic transmission. But the engine develops 5 more horsepower and 3 more foot-pounds of torque in the XR.

The reason? Primarily, it's because the XE has a single exhaust system, which restricts engine breathing. The XR has a dual exhaust to help develop a tad more power.

The engine performance numbers may not sound like much difference. But the Outlook XR can feel noticeably stronger in its acceleration, so it's worth comparing with the XE.

Specifically, the base engine in the XE develops 270 horsepower and 248 foot-pounds of torque at 3,200 rpm, while the XR engine generates 275 horsepower and 251 foot-pounds of torque at 3,200 rpm.

The transmission worked smoothly in the test vehicle, and both XE and XR models use regular gasoline.

The test XR with front-wheel drive had a government fuel economy rating of 18 miles a gallon in city driving and 26 mpg on the highway, which puts it in the upper half of SUV rankings.

The Outlook can be deceptive, though. It doesn't look particularly large on the outside. But at nearly 17 feet long, it is just 1.4 inches shy of a Cadillac Escalade SUV in length, and there's a roomy feel inside.

Everyone sits up nicely above the pavement in the Outlook. And I didn't have to climb upward to get inside. I simply lifted up just a bit until I could set myself on the seat cushion.

The test Outlook traveled with poise over many kinds of road bumps. Passengers mainly felt as if they rode atop the bumps and road imperfections, though on some concrete pavement with expansion joints, I noticed a slight jiggling of my body.

Saturn officials say an Outlook owner should be able to fit a 4-foot-by-8-foot piece of wood or sheetrock along the flat and wide cargo floor. With second- and third-row seats folded down, total cargo room is 117 cubic feet vs. 80.6 in the Highlander.

Perhaps more importantly, the Outlook's third-row seating can be quite usable for adults, not just children, in part because second-row seats can slide forward and back to help allocate legroom. Just watch that small items or food from little tykes don't disappear into the highly visible sliding-seat slots in the floor.

Rear-seat legroom is 33.2 inches vs. 30.2 inches in the Highlander.

A nice feature on the Outlook: Head restraints on third-row seats that fold down and out of the way on their own in preparation for the seats to go down. In some SUVs, the head restraints must be manually removed and stored away.

All safety equipment is standard, including frontal air bags and side, seat-mounted air bags for the two front seats, curtain air bags and traction control. Stability control, which is offered on some other crossovers, is not available.

I advise buyers to get the Outlook's rear park assist, because it can be difficult to see what's behind the vehicle while backing up. This is a beeping warning system, not a rearview camera, however.

While ads show the Outlook with side roof rails, these are standard only on the uplevel XR.

In preparation for the Outlook, Saturn last December ended production of its minivan, the Relay.

Last month, 13,032 Outlooks and GMC Acadias were recalled because a computer module might not activate frontal air bags in a crash and an alert light in the instrument panel that should warn drivers of such a malfunction also might not be operational.