Saturn of Spartanburg

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Walk Around

Saturn calls the Outlook a mid-size SUV, but it's bigger than that. It's 13 inches longer than the Honda Pilot, which also seats eight with an optional third row. But it's only one inch shorter than a Chevy Tahoe.

It's more than the length that makes the Outlook look a lot smoother than the Pilot. The Outlook isn't as bold as the Edge, Ford's new five-passenger mid-size SUV, but it's clearly a modern design in the GM family, with rounded edges like the latest Tahoe.

The grille with a wide chrome bar and Saturn logo proudly announces itself, and stands out against a black background. The black airdam at the bottom slices a rigid horizontal line across the chin, and its contrast against the body color makes the fascia look like the edge of a cliff. Large trapezoidal openings for the foglamps look like wicked eyes a cartoonist might draw, and above them the similar-shaped headlamps fill the corners of the car; foglamps are unavailable on the XE, leaving big black holes there. A character groove down the center of the hood finishes it all off. It's a good-looking face.

From the side, the nose is conspicuously short and rounded. The eye moves rearward quickly, as the roof sweeps straight back and appears to be a mere thin sliver at its trailing edge. The dark rear glass takes over, wrapping around about 40 percent of the vehicle, finally stopped by a wide sloping C-pillar. The fender flares are fat, and the six-spoke alloy wheels are clean and unpretentious, with six beefy lugs in the hub.

The Outlook loses some of its style at the rear. The black dam matches the front, making the SUV look like it has super high ground clearance. The taillamps are ordinary, and the chrome over the license plate doesn't add anything. In fact, the XE with its body-colored trim is cleaner than the XR with chrome, from door handles to roof rails.

Interior

2007 Saturn Outlook

The Outlook is all about interior space, so let's start with the standard eight-passenger seating, in particular the legroom in the third row. The tale of the tape is interesting. Against an SUV of similar length, its stablemate the Tahoe, it's not even close: the Outlook offers 33.2 inches versus the Tahoe's skimpy 25.4. The Honda Pilot has 30.2, and the Toyota RAV4 30.0.

We put a 6-foot, 3-inch fellow in the Outlook's third row, and he said it was fine. But how did Outlook get that leading legroom in the third row? By squeezing the second row. Witness the second-row legroom: Tahoe, 39.0; RAV4, 38.3; Rondo, 38.2; Pilot, 37.4; and Outlook, 36.9, the least of the bunch.

However, the Outlook's second-row seat slides rearward, providing more legroom when the third row is unoccupied or when kids back there are small enough that you can get away with squishing them.

So this legroom thing is a bit misleading. You can't have it both ways. Still, when we add the legroom of the second and third rows together, the Outlook wins with 70.1 inches; then Rondo, 69.5; RAV4, 68.3; Pilot, 67.6, and Tahoe, 64.3.

As for ease of entry, the Outlook takes the cake, at least for a vehicle that doesn't have sliding doors like a minivan. But even with sliding doors, access to the third row couldn't be improved by much over the Outlook's system, called Smart Slide. Using a massive lever on the either side of the 60/40 split seat, each side of the second row slides way forward on rails, and then the seatback tilts until it touches the back of the front seat. It's an easy one-handed operation, opening a wide path to the third row. Smart Slide is also a feature of the optional captain's chairs.

Cargo capacity with both rows folded is 116.9 cubic feet. With the third row down it's 68.9 cubic feet, and behind the third row it's 19.7, all of them healthy numbers. The third row easily folds flat, from either the second row or through the liftgate.

The rest of the Outlook interior is aces. Our XR test model had the standard cloth interior, in black, and it was comfortable and classy; "Who needs leather?" asks our notes, although the leather-wrapped steering wheel in the XR is sweet. The wood trim in the XR is way prettier than that in GM's past, and the analog instruments are tidy. All the other things are present, and right. Cupholders galore, a deep console compartment, DC and 115-volt AC outlets, an attractive center stack with good HVAC controls, including standard controls for the second row on the back of the console between the seats.

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