This American Car Has A J35 Honda Engine Under The Hood, And You'd Never Expect It

Honda has built some incredible naturally aspirated engines in its history, from the screaming B-Series VTEC engines that powered the first versions of the Integra Type R and Civic Type R, to the world-beating F20C engine from the S2000 and the venerable K-Series four-cylinder. Equally deserving of a place among the company's great engines is Honda's widely used J35 V6, which has powered everything from Accord Coupes to Odyssey minivans and Ridgeline pickups. 

The J35 first debuted in the 1999 Odyssey, and after various updates and output boosts, is still being used today in vehicles like Honda Pilot, Passport, Odyssey, and Ridgeline. The J35 has also powered several Acura models over the years, and is currently used as the base engine in the Acura MDX crossover. But did you know that the Honda J35 also once powered an American car built by General Motors? 

That's right. If you happened to purchase a Saturn Vue SUV between 2004 and 2007 model years and opted for the V6 engine, your Saturn-badged, GM-built SUV was powered by J35 V6 provided by Honda. Let's take a closer look at this unique partnership between Japanese and American auto industry giants.

The Saturn Vue first debuted for the 2002 model year as Saturn's entry into the sizzling hot SUV market of the 2000s. The base engine was a four-cylinder, with a 181-horsepower 3.0-liter GM V6 an optional upgrade. For 2004, V6-powered Vues got a major update under the hood. The old GM V6 was gone, and in its place, a Honda J35 V6 that made 250 horsepower. The choice to use the Honda engine was the result of a partnership where Honda agreed to provide 50,000 V6 engines for GM's Saturn Vue, while Honda would receive diesel engines from GM's Isuzu affiliate for use in Europe. 

Going to the Honda engine provided the Vue with a big power boost, and the J35 even got its own internal GM designation as the L66 engine. The most interesting version of the J35/L66-powered Vue was a niche, high-performance variant, called the Saturn Vue Red Line. Offered from 2004 to 2007, the Vue Red Line didn't get any more horsepower than other V6 Vues, but it did get a sportier suspension, larger wheels and tires, and a unique exterior treatment. The result was one of the most unusual "performance vehicles" of the 2000s, and strangely deserving of street cred from both Honda and GM fans alike.

2007 would be the last year you could get the Honda V6 in the Saturn Vue, and also the last model year of the first-generation Vue itself. A second-generation Saturn Vue arrived for 2008, riding on a new platform co-developed by Opel, with the V6 now being a homegrown GM 3.6-liter unit. The second-generation Vue would be short-lived. In 2009, General Motors discontinued the entire Saturn brand as the company worked to slim down as it emerged from bankruptcy. Today, that brief period when you could get a Honda V6 in a car from Saturn remains an interesting footnote in GM's history.

Though the once-ambitious Saturn brand is now long gone, the V6 Vue wouldn't be the last time that General Motors and Honda partnered up on an SUV product. The current Honda Prologue electric SUV is a close cousin of the Chevy Blazer EV (as is the Acura ZDX). Both the Prologue and ZDX are built by GM on the brand's Ultium EV architecture as part of an agreement to provide Honda and Acura with electric vehicles for the segment as they work to bring their own dedicated EV platforms to the market.