I was heading back into Peoria the other day when I was passed by this Chevy Uplander—No! Buick Terraza? Wait… are those *Saturn* badges?
The Saturn Relay was introduced in 2005 alongside its GM stablemates, and was gone just two model years later (along with the Buick—the Chevy lived on through 2008 in the U.S., and through ’09 in Mexico and Canada). It was the only minivan ever offered under the Saturn name. Despite extensive google-fu, I was completely unable to come up with any production numbers for the Relay beyond the statement that “sales were very low.”
This is likely the rarest minivan I have, or ever will see.
There are actually a few of these still driving around near me, mainly because we live near what used to be a Saturn dealer. For a period time, I owned the Saturn Outlook, the 7 passenger CUV which replaced the Relay in the Saturn lineup. The Outlook was Saturn’s version of the GM Lambda body, and undoubtedly the rarest compared to it’s Acadia, and Enclave stablemates. The Traverse replaced the Outlook when Saturn was ramp-ed down.
Here it is. Was a cool vehicle, back when the wife and I had two good incomes. sigh…
When I lived in middle Tennessee, the home (well, former home) of Saturn, I used to see a lot of these–Saturn workers of course bought a lot of Saturns, whether made in Spring Hill or not, and there was also a local pride factor among the general population, as you might expect. Now, not so much.
Our family had a lot of Saturns. Daughter had a relay. Saw nothing at all to set it apart from it’s stablemates. SIL had the outlook. Wife and I had some SLs which I contend were excellent and different. Good idea with good early execution. When all the models became Opel or corporate there was nothing to recommend them above the others.
By this time, it almost seemed like GM was making excuses to kill Saturn by giving them rebadged minivans and whatnot; the same thing as Ford ended up doing to Mercury, which produced the Monterey, which ended up selling 32,953 units in four slow years.
I think the license plate on this car, “H82CUGO” or “Hate to see you go,” is referring to the sad plight of Mercury, because out the door it went shortly after this car was bought.
After my FIL passed away last year, we became the unwilling stewards of one of these marvels of Ford engineering. I had no idea that they were so rare, at least in terms of a global manufacturer. What’s weird is, I probably haven’t driven a Ford product regularly in over 10 years, and yet this one feels just like all of the ones I had driven up until then.
At 100K miles, it has all kinds of squeaks and rattles, but I think that might be specific to this car. It has spent it’s 8 year lifespan (so far) hauling around my MIL’s power wheelchair. That wheelchair has taken its toll on the rear suspension, and I’m sure that bearing all of that weight is wearing the brakes and the transmission at a higher than normal rate. The tranny groans when you give it some throttle to go up a hill or pass something. Even when unladen. The brakes, even though they were replace not too long before my FIL’s passing are not very effective. (But, they may just be glazed…)
It goes into my mechanic at the end of the month. I’m not looking forward to his report…
Or, it may just be an average Windstar. After my 96 Odyssey got smashed (at 215K) a friend was good enough to let me borrow his Windstar. It was newer, but high mile (maybe 160K or so). A miserable, miserable experience. It squeaked and shuddered too. I did not like driving it at all. Soon after, I bought a 99 T&C with around 180K (a nice car, very cheap). Night and day from the Windstar. I have usually been kindly disposed towards Fords. Not that one.
A Gen I Odyssey Van is a tough act to follow 😀
Back in the soccer mom/dad days, a friend of mine had a succession of Mopar minivans, that stood up to all kinds of abuse. I was often amazed at how well they took the punishment. I will note that these were all post 1998 vehicles, but they all went ~ 150-200K miles with mostly normal issues. (Gas tires oil, struts, tie rod ends from our famous Michigan roads).
I seriously believe that an equivalent age/mileage Grand Caravan would have held up better than this Monterey. That’s really sad, as I came from a Ford family, too…
Son Number One still drives our ’98 Grand Caravan (3.3L) which is approaching 270,000 miles at this point. We bought it used with about 98,000 on it, and the transmission had already been replaced when we got it – still running great with that same transmission, too.
Oh great Ed. You just brung up a slew of memories of how awful these vans were that I have been trying to repress for over a year! AAUGH!
For many years after the launch of Saturn, the brand seemed to sell well in Northern California. And from the twilight years, the final Aura/Astra Opel-clones, the Sky, the Relay, and yes, even the Outlook all can be seen on the streets. They seem more popular than some of the more mainstream domestic brand passenger cars (eg Dart, new Taurus). Though not as prevalent as older Civics and Corollas, there is still an amazing number of 1st and 2nd gen S series Saturns on the road here.
The only thing different about a Relay was the Saturn “one price” stratagy.
WE dont have these and now I cant unsee it
A very close thing indeed. As The Professor stated, Mercury sold 32,953 Montereys over four model years, while Saturn moved 24,829 Relays over two.
That gives Saturn the title for lowest total sales, but the Monterey TROUNCES the Relay when it comes to lowest sales per model year (Monterey- 8,238, Relay- 12,414).
It’s always fun to review old sales data. In 2008, GM reported 163 Relay sales. That means they were still moving 2007 Model Year product a year later…
Whoops- The editor isn’t working with my firewall.
GM reported 163 Relay sales in 2009.
This vehicle is the answer* to the question: “What’s the strangest place that you’ll ever find a Honda V6?”
* Technically, there are two answers to this question, with the alternate acceptable answer being the late-1980s Rover/Sterling.
Actually, these were all GM. The 2004-07 Saturn Vue V6 was the only Saturn ever to use a Honda engine. There are a lot of people that seem to think that all Saturns had Honda engines for some reason. Probably would have been a good thing…but it wasn’t the case.
“There are a lot of people that seem to think that all Saturns had Honda engines for some reason. Probably would have been a good thing…but it wasn’t the case.”
True. Because everyone needs to experience a head-gasket popping VTEC motor at least once in their lifetime… 😉
VTEC… It just kicked in yo. 🙂
Or the 2007 Saturn Vue that we had for a couple years.
Edit: Sorry, should have kept reading comments. Yes we had a 2007 Saturn Vue with the V6 and I concur that it was the only Saturn/Honda marriage that I am aware of. It worked pretty well but after the stomping our 2002 vue gave us, I just wanted to get away from Saturn.
OK, my oldsheimers must be really kicking in! I thought that the Relay and the Vue were the same thing – sorry, my bad!
So it’s possible that I’ve never even seen a Relay . . . I live in Ody/Sienna territory. It’s rare to even see a Mopar minivan without driving about 40 miles out of the city.
There was a family where our kids went to school who had one of these. The dad worked for a Saturn dealer. Not sure I ever saw another one.
Coincidently, as I was waiting to cross the street in downtown Boston today, a red Buick Terraza passes through the intersection. Can’t remember the last time I saw one of those.
Go to China …. the Buick Terraza is everywhere, badged as Buick GL8 or in some trim versions, the First Land. Here are three parked at the Great Wall, this past January.
I’m a little surprised that these were so rare. When they were new I feel like I used to see them all the time… although I bet it was just that someone in my neighborhood had one or something. I would assume the Buick version was even rarer, I think I’ve only ever seen one.
I bet my employer’s rather large automotive fleet includes at least one Saturn Relay. We have tons of Uplanders and Saturn VUEs.
When I worked at Dahl Ford in 2011, we got a Terraza in on trade. That morning’s sales meeting, the manager listed all the sales/trades, and when he came to the Terraza, all the other sales people went “huh? what’s that?” I was the only one who knew it was a minivan.
They are rare. I’ve only seen 2-3 more since then.
The Mustang II has nothing on front overhang when you look at the profile of one of these things. Wow.
It’s BURNING my eyes!
In the mid -00’s, I’m not sure why GM felt the need for EVERY division to have one of these Uplander clones (a mildly revised Venture/Montana/Silohuette). Note: We had an 00 Venture, which for its purpose (when kids were small), served us very well. But fast forward to about 2005-07, in hindsight, it seems that having a variant of the Uplander helped speed along GM’s demise. Even if it’s mild badge engineering, there are still millions spent on advertising, certification, marketing, ramp up and all that. Why bother?
Our 2005 Relay has been a very good vehicle. After four Saturns, we have had a need for more room than we had in our Vue. Our Saturn dealership was always first-rate, and had been asking us when we would be willing to trade in the Vue for the Relay. My wife loved it, and Saturn made us a deal we couldn’t refuse. They gave us more money than the Vue was worth, and we ended up with a Relay loaded with almost all luxury options for $23,000 and 0% financing.
A bunch of us guys at work all had kids within six month period, and two of them bought Honda minivans, one bought a T/C minivan, I got the Relay and after seven years, we still have the minivans. The Hondas went through transmissions at $4000 a pop, the T/C had a couple electrical problems, and the Relay needed a transmission at $1995 this year.
I honestly thought I got taken by my Saturn loyalty, but the Relay is still doing very well in comparison to the other three vans shuttling Kindergarteners too. While the Relay is embarrassingly obsolete mechanically to the others, it has made up the difference by being very reliable, inexpensive to fix when something does go wrong, and still having all the luxury options functioning.
The Relay has definately exceeded my expectations and the expectations placed upon me by auto critics who had found nothing to recommend it during it’s production run. After being rather unfashionable among the minivan crowd while paying it off, the better than the rest reliability, resale and value has made me care less.
And, the dang thing is pretty rare. It looks like a Volvo. I still occassionally get someone asking me what it is I am driving because it is still holding up on the outside as well. How can I really complain?
Where I live, there is exactly one Saturn Relay, and one Buick Terazza. I’ve seen Uplanders and Montanas at a ratio of about 20:1 compared to those two. I did a double take both times because I saw them both from the front and the grilles were something I’d never seen on that model van. “Buick badges on an Uplander?”
I still occasionally see a Relay driving in the Upstate, Ny area. My best friend still drives a 2005 Buick Terrazza now with 130K miles and it’s been a darn good vehicle other than the occasional electric door sticking issue or the rear coolant line that has rusted out. He fixed that issue for about 5 bucks with a piece of coolant line and two clamps and cleans the door contacts once a month to keep them going. Otherwise it’s just normal wear items. Overall a great van.
For a few years in the mid-2000s, GM held an annual ‘Auto Show in Motion’ in LA where they’d let the public drive nearly all their vehicles on small courses. Out of slightly morbid curiosity, I drove the Relay and its Chevy and Buick counterparts back to back one year. The only difference I could feel between the Saturn and Chevy was ever-so-slightly firmer steering on the Relay, and that probably came down to tire pressure or something.
GM was marketing all three as ‘Crossover Sport Vans’ at the time, with the elongated schnoz meant to make you think they were some sort of mongrel SUV. Weird stuff.
“google-fu”…love it Ed, that’s my new word of the week! 😀
I have to mention that I have seen two Relays in the past week–one in my own condominium parking lot! I also saw a Buick Terraza last night and today, a black Mercury Monterey minivan.
The CC Effect is certainly hanging in there.