Saturn is Heaven on Earth

I'm not talking about the planets. I'm talking about my car.

I just recently purchased a 2008 Saturn Vue, my very first car purchase, which consequently led to my very first financially induced heart palpitation. My car loan is worth more than my little life and that worth includes me wearing ever article of clothing and piece of jewelry I own - what can I say? I'm still waiting to make it big and I also don't have any jewels yet.

Anyway, my new, shiny, flawless piece of love on four wheels is currently my pride and joy. I refer to it as its my 2 ton child and require all passengers to either a) remove their shoes before entering or b) wear painting booties which I most conveniently supply free of charge. Hungry? Well, too bad, because no food or drink is allowed in my cool-mobile, which shouldn't be a problem because after 1 minute in my baby you'll be full on the delicious aroma of new car. Sweaty? You better find another sucker to chauffeur your lazy butt around because no one's perspiration is touching my finely crafted, custom made Italian leather seats. (I think the "Made in China" tag means "Luxurious Leather" in Italian.)

However, I recently was startled by an unbecoming sound coming from my steering wheel. This sound had to be a result of a strange automotive virus as I know my precious, one month old car would not produce such a heinous sound on its own accord. So as a worried mother would rush to the ER with a feverish child, I put to the pedal to the metal and drove my ailing baby to the Saturn dealership, where much to my surprise, I experienced heavenly customer service.

First, I arrived to the service center unannounced and unprepared as I wasn't quite sure how to translate my car's disturbing sound into English or luxurious Italian, for that matter. I ended up interpreting the noise as a "weird, winding-like sound". Yes. I'm THAT technical.

In less than 3 minutes, a loyal Saturn "mechanical automotive specialist" (I have decided to refer to the mechanics there as such), was by my side and in my car asking me to drive around so he could hear the "weird, winding-like sound" (see, they even were so kind to speak MY language). And of course, just like when you go to the doctor complaining of pain, when you're on the examining table, lo and behold, you don't hurt anymore. Well, my precious, yet stubborn car (must take after her father), wasn't making her noises. Embarrassed, I practically wanted to turn the wheel as hard as I could just so some kind of noise squeaked out, but the mechanical automotive specialist kindly said, "no, no I believe you - let me take a closer look at the car and see what I can do". 10 lovely minutes later, which were spent in the comfort of the Saturn customer lounge, I was told my car just needed a few tweaks and it was ready to go!

And did you know that when you own a Saturn you get free car washes for life? Monday-Saturday. Any time. My mom drives a BMW and is offered free car washes only on Saturdays at a specified time when the moon is predicted to be full - those Germans sure are tough.

So after my car was examined and gently tweaked, a kind man took my car through the wash and as I get back into my car I notice two remarkable things - 1) there are fresh flowers on my dashboard - I kid you not. Either that's just Saturn etiquette or the car washer liked my over sized sweatshirt and smile and found some flowers laying around in the back of the service shop 2) my seat was just as I had left it - meaning both the mechanical automotive specialist and car washer had their knees up to their chins to drive my car just so I would NOT be inconvenienced by their own comfort. Its always so hard to find your seat "groove" as it is, and it would have been a major hassle to readjust after I had just gone through my first trauma as an offical car owner.

So, if you're looking to purchase a car, may I recommend you look at a Saturn? They are well priced, drive really well and their customer service is out of this world! Plus, take a closer look at the picture above... is that an X5 you ask? No, its my vue :)