gas mileage
 

I Purchased The Vue Greenline November 1, 2006. I Started Checking The Gas Mileage That Month And Continued To Check It Until Now ( February 28, 2007). In Mostly City Driving, In Wisconsin, I Am Getting 16 Mpg On The Average From November 2006 To February 28, 2007. As A Resuly I Am Extremely Disapointed. Does Anyone Out There Have This Car To Compare Their Gas Mileage With Mine? The Advertised Gas Mileage In The City Is About 27 Mpg, Which Is A Long Way From 16 Mpg. Thanks. Tom

Re: gas mileage
 

It's still pretty cold there, I suspect, so hold on until you see your warm weather mileage before passing judgement. Do you drive a lot of very short trips, like 5 miles or less? If so, that and the cold weather explain your very low mileage. Cars work best when warmed up, so if it never warms up you never see peak mileage. Just the nature of the beast. On the bright side, shorter trips mean less driving and less fuel consumption overall.

Care to talk a little about your usual driving enviromnent?

Re: gas mileage
 

Hi Yungwirth, I too am disappointed - see my MPGs tracked under OurGL. My overall is 23.4 at present but that includes some long trips. I find that freeway cruising gets pretty decent economy but short trips and commutes are regularly under 20. I added notes to each tank so if you hover over 'more' you can read them. Basically what I'm seeing is city MPG's of around 18-21, with some dropping as low as 16 on pure short start/stops, and up to around 28-29 on unimpeded flat freeway, the latter being OK with me; however, we didn't buy it for freeway cruising - we were looking for improved town use and that I share your concerns about.

I consider the true sticker to be 20+/- city to 28+/- highway. The 27/32 is hogwash. This comment will invite the usual diatribes about 'your mileage may vary', and 'it's not Saturn's fault - it's the EPA', but I can assure the apologists out there that the dealerships will draw your attention to the EPA as a sales point. I'm working with Saturn on the poor city MPG's, and to their credit they've been as helpful as possible, but it would seem that we're all tending to agree that city is 20+/- with variations depending on the usual factors. 50/50 city/highway comes in around 24+/-.

That aside, I do think it's a very good engine, well paired with the vehicle size, and the electric motor does give a nice boost at the right time. I found the v6 too much for the car (we traded in a 2003 v6 AWD) with some nasty torque steer and rough sound, and the i4 rather underpowered. Saturn probably would have been best to emphasize the BAS as a performance boost rather than a gas saver, the latter only serving to disappoint folk, whereas the former would have been touted as a great feature.

Re: gas mileage
 

30 mpg on average here, the worst I've ever gotten has been around 26 and that was really taxing the car. A lot of it is in driving style, keep that ECO light lit up!!!

Re: gas mileage
 

Not really driving style - that's rather a glib statement. Since I was very unhappy with the city mpg (no real beef with the highway though higher would be nicer) and getting around 18-21 around suburbia, I escalated through the Saturn/GM ranks, and the car has just been returned after 3 weeks of testing in their possession. Saturn got 21.5 MPG city too so there you have it. Also nothing is wrong is confirmed - this is what they do. Basically this is a 20/28 car, which is better than a 12/20 car but not what I was expecting either. Like I mentioned, they draw your atention to the EPA sticker, and hype up those numbers, when they sell you the car. At the time of buying, there wasn't much to research, so due dilligence was difficult - I put a lot of trust in Saturn as the previous 2 had performed as promised.

One thing did come up out of this testing. I did hear of an owner who was getting really bad MPG's - consistently below 18. They found he had a faulty oxygen sensor that wasn't throwing out a code to read. Correcting that improved economy I am told. Perhaps you could suggest that? It's in Saturn's records somewhere.

Re: gas mileage
 

Sorry guys, but I would trade with Toyota RAV4 if I were you.
It does not have to be a hybrid.
This person records 28.96 mpg on his RAV4.
http://www.gassavers.org/garage/viewgaslog/250

CR reports RAV4 is the best in small SUV category.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...picks-2007.htm
You can see all Top 10 are Japanese brand.
It's not only mileage but also quality and reliability.

Ken@Japan

Re: gas mileage
 

Honestly, I drove a RAV-4 and it didn't impress me at all. The interior seemed like it was geared towards the high school video game crowd almost identical to my girlfriend's Celica. The Saturn's interior is much more simple and refined.

Re: gas mileage
 

One data point does not an analysis make.

What is his commute? His weather conditions? His terrain conditions?

For example, if one were to live in Kansas and had 90% freeway commute in a relatively unpopulated area, you could get 30 mpg out of an H3.

However, take the same person but this time have them make a 5 mile commute in the hilly part of northern Montana on dirt roads in the middle of winter, and you could give them a Prius and see 25 mpg (if it didn't end up buried in a snow drift).

Basically, consider your commute and driving conditions BEFORE purchasing your vehicle.

When I was in NH (with the warm winter) I was averaging over 29 mpg doing 50% HW and 50% city/rural. Here in MD on the Beltway during the cold snap, I was seeing around 26 (60% HW, 40% city/suburban). Now that the temperatures have warmed back up, I'm back over 29 mpg.

You should also check fuel mixtures, as some states mandate higher ethanol content in winter which reduces performance somewhat.

OurGL, the car is a 27/32 car. That is what EPA mileage test said. The little sticker says mileage may vary. It may suck for some. It may be great for others. In case you haven't noticed ALL vehicle mileage records vary substantially from the EPA's on this site. Some get abysmal mileage while others are getting exceptional mileage.

As a comparison, take the Toyota Highlander hybrid. It's rated as 33/28. The average is 26.1, which is a good 5 mpg less than what one would expect for an average commute. Looking at the data though, you will see that some have gotten 33+ and some have gotten 23 mpg (I'll ignore the lower ones that only have one tank). That's a 10 mpg spread. At the same time, the VUE has a range of 30.6 mpg down to 23.1 mpg. About a 7 mpg spread. I'm not sure about the distribution being Gaussian, but worst case it would be Poisson with a slight skew.

So does this mean that the Highlander should really have a 26 mpg EPA rating? No. What about the VUE? No. The EPA test is the EPA test. It is, at best, a guideline. It may be inaccurate. It may suck. But every single vehicle is subjected to the same exact test. It is the only apples to apples mileage comparison we have.

You may "believe" whatever you want about the mileage, but it does not change the fact the VUE scored 27/32 on the EPA test.

Due diligence and all that.

~X~

Re: gas mileage
 

As a 2 year Prius owner (my wifes) and a recent Green Line buyer here is my 2 cents:

The cold does cut about 10+% off milage on the Prius, from 48 average to about 44. On my new Green Line I have gotten 33, 31 and 25.4 mpg on my first three tanks at about 60-75 degrees (TN/KY area). The last low milage one was in KY back roads and hills with lots of lugging the motor up hills and up and down speeds with corners. I have about 250 on this tank and just hit half, so I assume I'm back up to the 30's again in mostly highway/rural within 10% of posted speed limit with limited use of Cruise Control to flat areas. I've found that the cruise is the weak spot on MPG race if you come to a hill or long incline. It tends to down shift and race the motor and does not hold the MPH steady on a hill. I assume it is a "analog" system (for price) and will research more. It is the weakest link. On the Prius the cruise will hold like a rock on the speed you set (all digital system) and has the CVT.

Bottom line: You can have a mechanical reason for the poor milage, but more often than not it is driving style. There are a lot of tips on the prius chats, forums, etc..... not so many on the Green Line yet. Here are a few that may help:

On the Prius thay do what they call "pump and glide" to improve milage. They throttle up to speed and let off the gas until the Electric motor kicks in.....then feather the throttle up on Electric only to get max MPG. You can't do this on the Green Line!!! You can however thottle up.....let off the peddle, till the ECO light comes on and the RPM's on the tach drop, and then feather the gas......e.g. you get to 40 MPH....and then work your way up to 55 MPH at the lower RPM in the Higher gear when it downshifts. When you let off then throttle up, notice that the electric assist needle will peak up to assist the gas motor. If you just hold the peddle down you will not get the "assist" to work to the fullest capacity.

DO NOT USE CRUISE ON HILLS......you can control the throttle better than the cruise does on a hill. ON the flats....Use cruise as much as possible. It prevents you from un needed peddle modulation, thus, using less fuel.

Just my opinoin....PLEASE NO FLAMING!!!!

BOTTOM LINE: keep the RPM's down and figure out how to use the electric assist as much as possible and you will improve your milage. This car is designed for HIGHWAY MPH, not CITY like the "Advanced" hybrids. Short trips will kill your MPG.....as in most vehicles, even the prius if it does not get up to temp (more than a 2 mile trip) suffers the same problem.

Good luck!

Dundertaker

Re: gas mileage
 

Have to agree with dundertaker....it's all about the pedal, rpm's and eco light on....

i've had GL since November....mpg's were nothing close to EPA etc....but i was basing it on my estimates.....i live in ontario, canada..so weather is a factor also....and i drive little highway....

just purchased the scangauge...and in the city.....and i live in a city with light's and traffic.....toronto...it's constant stop and go..alot of pedal movement..which kills mpg's.....as i see it on the scangauge....

hwy is great.....did a jaunt to test......but adjustment on scanguage was made yet..so i can't be sure...

city....with scangauge adjusted....no heat/air on....i;m getting 21-23...albeit only a couple of days...

later...