Saturn Vue Red Line Launched

With the LA Times's Dan Neil giving a surprising cuddle to the new, Daewoo Theta-platformed Saturn Vue, we've become a few clicks above moderately interested in the new Vue Red Line. That's the performance -oriented version of the redesigned small SUV. As it appeared at the Chicago auto show earlier this year, the Vue Red Line is spec'ed with a 3.6-liter V6 VVT engine producing 250 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 243 lb.-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm. That sixer's adjoined with to a six-speed automatic tranny over front- or all-wheel drive and 18-inch zapatos. Neil says the base model is a far sight better than the slushy rattletrap that was the previous Vue, and with the more potent hardware underfoot, the 2008 may become a dark horse in the domestic small performance SUV sweepstakes. Make that the only horse in a one-horse race.