An SUV that gets 28 mpg overall

[zenMachine]

Yes, the sensible, comparatively simple Saturn Vue Green Line is a hybrid, but a "mild" one. It does not get the astronomical fuel economy that Toyota Prius drivers crow about.


But those of us who don't much care for the Prius' driving characteristics might be willing to sacrifice mileage for some of the Vue Green Line's other attributes, such as interior room and luggage capacity. And the fact that the Green Line saves some gas — well, that's gravy.

Actually, it saves quite a bit of gas, considering the relative absence of high-priced, high-tech hybrid components. The Vue Green Line is a partial hybrid, or "mild" or "single mode," as the manufacturers have taken to calling it, meaning that it can't move under electrical power alone, as the Prius can.

The base gas-powered, four-cylinder Vue, by comparison, is rated at 19 city, 26 highway, 22 overall. That Vue starts at $21,875, so given the test Green Line's out-the-door sticker of $24,795, and that includes a lot of equipment, plus its $650 tax credit, going Green Line won't cost you that much more green...

Motoring | 2008 Saturn Vue Green Line | An SUV that gets 28 mpg overall | Seattle Times Newspaper

[shannongirl]

I actually purchased a Saturn Vue Greenline in November of 2006 (the first edition), it was in the shop for the first time by January 2007 and proceeded to continue in this state (4 times with approximately 80 cumulative days) until finally being officially re-purchased under the New Car Lemon Law by GM in September only after getting an attorney of course. The last time it was in the shop it stayed there for 54 days! The reason for this was that Saturn turned this vehicle loose on the general public and never bothered to train any service technicians or provide them with the proper equipment. I feel that this in conjunction with the fact that they still refuse to acknowledge that I no longer own this vehicle by continuing to send me a steady stream of advertisements, service surveys as well as a recent recall for the exact problem that my vehicle had. I have repeatedly requested in verbal and written communication to be taken off of all mailing lists to no avail. This is how stellar their customer service is. This is a very cheaply made vehicle (in every context) that clearly still has problems as I just received that recall notice about a month ago. I strongly advise against doing business with Saturn in general. They simply don't produce the products they used to, period.

I happily purchased my Prius (as I should have done in the first place!) two weeks before turning over the Vue and have been peacefully making it from A to B every time with no visits to the service department.

[cwerdna]

Sounds like shannongirl is not alone... GM gets on the hybrid highway - Apr. 23, 2008 "GM blames battery problems for low production of those vehicles so far this year. The hybrid batteries in many first-generation Vue Green Line SUVs quickly lost their ability to hold a charge, said GM's Wilkinson, prompting a recall to replace the batteries."

A quick search reveals horror stories like New Saturn VUE Green Line Owners -Give Us Your Report - CarSpace Automotive Forums and "2007 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid is Abysmal" - 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line (hybrid) user opinion and rating - CNET Reviews along w/a reference to the recall at Voluntary Emission Recall - GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars.

[Malarkey]

I'm content to wedge myself in my apparently tiny Prius and employ my apparently slow driving characteristics (75mph) to/from work for my extra 22MPG...

[JoeyJoeJoShabadoo Jr]

I wonder what the 0-60 is on this 4 cylinder, 2.4 liter SUV. Considering that acceleration is considered one of the top weaknesses of the Prius I find it odd that it wasn't brought up in the article...

[hill]

Originally Posted by cwerdna

Sounds like shannongirl is not alone... GM gets on the hybrid highway - Apr. 23, 2008 "GM blames battery problems for low production of those vehicles so far this year. The hybrid batteries in many first-generation Vue Green Line SUVs quickly lost their ability to hold a charge, said GM's Wilkinson, prompting a recall to replace the batteries."

A quick search reveals horror stories like New Saturn VUE Green Line Owners -Give Us Your Report - CarSpace Automotive Forums and "2007 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid is Abysmal" - 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line (hybrid) user opinion and rating - CNET Reviews along w/a reference to the recall at Voluntary Emission Recall - GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars.

Well? You get what you pay for, as they say. But sorry for shannongirl. Welcom to PC ~ you'll not regret the Prius, like you did the GM junk. Curious, what made you willing to try it out in the first place?

Hey GM, thanks for the 'hybrid' that gets 28mpg ... when it's not in the shop ... but I'll stick with our SUV hybrid from Lexus ... AWD, lots of goodies, and maybe an extra 15% better MPG's to boot !

28mpg? Why would folks want to settle for THAT kind of MPG's ??
... when your Toyota/Lexus hybrid SUV's can get MPG's like THIS.




I must be slow, cuz the GM offering seems like I'd be taking a cut in benefits. The saturn Vue hybrid has only 172hp ... but - but OUR hybrid from Lexus has about ONE HUNDRED MORE hp that that ! Then there's the whole issue of it being smoggier ... and, Consumer reports says the Toyota/Lexus hybrid SUV get their highest marks for reliability, and ... oh never mind, I'm so confused.

[miscrms]

Very weird article. Also weird that there is a similar rose glasses tinged review of the Malibu hybrid written by another author linked off the same page. Seems like someone really wants to try and make people like these GM products. Wish you could leave comments on these articles.

Actually, it saves quite a bit of gas, considering the relative absence of high-priced, high-tech hybrid components. The Vue Green Line is a partial hybrid, or "mild" or "single mode," as the manufacturers have taken to calling it, meaning that it can't move under electrical power alone, as the Prius can.
<SNIP>
That Vue starts at $21,875, so given the test Green Line's out-the-door sticker of $24,795, and that includes a lot of equipment, plus its $650 tax credit, going Green Line won't cost you that much more green.

Interesting that the BAS system is supposed to make up for what it lacks in economy in being cheap, and yet the "hybrid premium" for this model is almost $3k?

Until then, there's not much wrong with an EPA-rated 25 miles per gallon city, 32 mpg highway, and 28 mpg overall, is there?
<SNIP>
The base gas-powered, four-cylinder Vue, by comparison, is rated at 19 city, 26 highway, 22 overall.

So the GM system boosts the Vue from 22 to 28mpg. Not too bad, except that the Ford Escape gets boosted from 22 to 32mpg. The Escape also appears to cost basically the same after incentives ($26,640-$3,000=$23,640 vs. $24,795-$1300=$23,495.)

And on to the Malibu...

Keep in mind that the car is almost as large as a Chevrolet Impala, Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. It comfortably holds four corn-fed Americans and all of their stuff. And I do mean all of their stuff.

Which is another way of saying that the Malibu is small for its class In reality the Malibu is exactly half way between the Corolla and Camry in terms of passenger space. In other words, it has pretty much exactly the same amount of space as a Prius.

Now, based on those EPA estimates, I wasn't expecting the stupendous gas mileage you get from a Prius. GM's mild system costs less that Toyota's system, but the results are also less dramatic. Putting the pedal to the metal and really abusing the car yielded 24 mpg, about the same as any four-cylinder midsize car.
But imagine my surprise when I drove the car gently, with an eye toward better fuel economy: The Malibu Hybrid returned an impressive 35 mpg — that's 3 mpg better than its EPA ratings (24 city, 32 highway).

So, the average is 27mpg which is 2 mpg better than the non-hybrid and 2 mpg better than the much larger Camry non-hybrid, but 2 mpg worse than the smaller, cheaper Corolla. Of course the Camry hybrid leaves it in the dust at 34mpg, but it is more expensive. Now, wasn't there also a story few weeks back where Chevy had improved the economy of the Malibu by putting a better transmission in it? As I recall the improvement was.... 1-2 mpg Not quite sure where that leaves the Malibu Hybrid.....

Now for some math, and I promise it won't be painful. The hybrid has a base price of $22,140 <SNIP>

Interestingly, the Malibu hybrid is not only the same size as a Prius, it apparently costs the same too.

Like I said, weird article. They seem to be trying really hard to like these cars. Not what I usually expect from an auto review.

Rob

[patsparks]

The RAV4 with 2.4 litre 4 cylinder manual trans and no hybrid stuff at all gets 25mpg combined cycle and the auto 24.5mpg so I'm not sure what is so special about the Vue that only gives you 900 free miles a year over a conventional car for the same 12,000 mile covered. Prius gives a fuel saving equal to about 5,000 miles driving over a year when compared to a similar vehicle.
Anyone get wind noise in their Prius? I thought wind noise wastes fuel?

How much GM advertising is the Seattle Times carrying this week?