He's had Saturn look over the GL and give it a clean bill of health. He's seeing worse performance than most, probably due to a combination of a sub-par vehicle and traffic that doesn't fit well with the Green Line. (Lots of stop-and-go, for example. Or very hilly terrain, etc.)

I'm on my 4th tank now and have averaged 29.4 mpg with 80% highway miles. I'm still learning how to drive it to achieve the best economy and hope it gets up past that 30 mpg mark on the next tank.

Just checking the signature thing, don't think I got it

The past couple of tanks I've gotten to almost 30 mpg, but I don't think I can get much higher than that with DC beltway commuting.

My overall average is 28 MPG. Winter does bring the mileage down, especially if it gets really cold. My worst mileage was a 23 MPG tank, but that was with fighting to get out of snow for an hour and deicing the car. Se la vi.

~X~

New Best Tank Record - 36.14mpg

60% highway - 40% local, stop and go driving
40% of the time the A/C was on.
100% of the time the radio was on.

To Xyrus: look for my Hybrid on the DC beltway with the MD plates that read BIKERUN. Give me a wave. Usually bettween 7am - 8am.

It can be done!

I had the opportunity to drive a hybrid Vue while on my annual trip to CA. I filled up twice while out there and averaged about 26 MPG. I used cruise control a lot and "forced" the green eco light to come on as much as possible. The MPG didn't impress me considering I have a 06 CRV and get about 25.5 MPG or thereabout. I was also very unimpressed with the quality of the car (interior especially).

For the people that are getting around 30 MPG what are you doing to obtain those numbers? Are you doing a lot of freeway driving? Do you live in very flat areas? Just curious...

I'm doing about 80%hwy/20%city with some pretty hilly terrain. I don't use the Cruise at all. I've only run 3 tanks so far and am working on the 4th, but so far I like mine. But then again, my last car was a Kia Spectra 5.
The Vues are great if you do a lot of hwy driving. If you're mostly city, you probably won't be all that impressed with the mileage, or so I'm told.

Way to go! Great mileage...going to be tough to top. Now that I'm back in IN, our Hybrid will be doing mostly rural/city driving again. Still, we're more than happy with our 28.4 mpg average.

As for the CA rental, you probably did mostly city driving, which isn't the VUE's strong suit. How many miles were on it? The ecotec takes several thousand to loosen up and the mileage improves considerably. As for the quality, must have been a beater rental. I have always been pleased with the quality our the VUE, and prefer its design over the rather cartoonish-looking CR-V. Still, your 2006 is WAY better looking than the current model...

The VUE had about 6K miles on it and I did mostly highway driving (70%) and I always tried to make sure the green ECO light was on. Even in the city I was conscious of the ECO light...I put close to 800 miles on it in a week. Yes it was a rental car and it very well may not have been taken care of...This thing was a rattle box and the road noise was ridiculous. Now I'm comparing the road noise to my TCH...I know that's probably not a fair comparison but the road noise on the VUE was even louder than my CRV. Both my wife and I felt just the opposite about interior quality of the VUE compared to the CRV...we preferred the CRV hands down, but that's another topic. We both came away that week with a very disappointed outlook on the VUE...

If I would have had more time to "learn" how to drive the VUE for optimum mileage I probably could have gotten better than 26 MPG...but better mileage wouldn't have made me happier with the car. I'm currently getting 42 MPG with my TCH and I done as good as 44 MPG on a tank of gas. Not bad considering the TCH is rated for 40 MPG and I live in a very "hilly" area.

It's good to hear it's possible to get at or above 30 MPG with the VUE...I say as long as the individual is happy with their purchase that's all that matters. I'm just thankful I chose the TCH.

To answer Tnsig's question....

If you read my profile and my individual entries you will see what type of driving I do on a daily basis. I commute from Northwest Baltimore to Bethesda MD just outside of DC 45 miles each way. I can get the Vue up to 75+miles per hour and then I am stuck in traffic doing 5mph. I think I have found a way to maximize the regenerative capability of the battery to increase my gas mileage. With stop and go traffic I am able to regenerate the battery and then when the traffic opens up I use the extra boast to maintain an even 65mph if possible.

I definately go with the flow of traffic, no crawling in the third lane. However, I do leave a good driving space in front of me when I drive. This allows me to coast where possible instead of breaking. I drive really smooth.

No tricks on this end with heaters or turning the engine off. Just: good sound driving + a relatively flat communting route + my well programmed Hybrid Vue = High Gas Mileage.