It has been 2 months since we purchased our Vue Greenline and we continue to enjoy our new "toy". Since purchasing the Vue I have been trying to get the best mileage from it and have the following tips for anyone interested in the Vue Greenline. These observations have been made with the use of a ScanGauge II.

-- First consider your commute. The mild hybrid system is not the best choice for heavy stop-and-go traffic or very short trips. More survival tips for when you find yourself in this situation later on.

-- Second accelerate from stop moderately. Obviously jackrabbit starts will kill your fuel economy; but, so to will agonizingly slow starts. What has worked best for me was to hold the rpms to between 2000 and 2300 to accelerate up to 25 mph. Once you hit 25 let off the gas until the eco light comes on. Then accelerate slowly to your cruising speed.

-- Use the cruise control smartly. On flat terrain, it works very well. On hills, use your brain not the cars. When the road dips with steep inclines, build up additional speed as you approach the low point. If you leave the cruise control on, you can coast uphill without the regen braking slowing your momentum. As your speed approaches the set set speed, hit the cancel button and finish the hill sacrificing speed for economy and keeping the eco light on. On some of the more moderate dips in the road, don't sweat it. The electric assist will help keep up your mpg. If you let the engine tach up remember you get a nice fuel economy boost after you crest the hill and coast back to your set speed.

-- If you are climbing a long hill and you have the eco light on at a reasonable speed, go ahead and set the cruise control to finish the hill.


-- The Vues sweet spot (at least mine) is between 40 and 45 mph. Anytime you can travel at that speed, do it. On the interstates, keep to 65 or less. Anything higher then 65 will cut into your fuel economy.

-- Survival tips for stop-and-go. Learn the technique of driving without brakes and try to match your speed with the traffic lights. Sacrifice speed to keep the wheels turning. The fuel economy from 0 to 10 mph is in the single digits so avoid this if at all possible. Part of this is learning how much the regen braking will slow down your momentum. Just because it feels like its dragging something does not mean its losing fuel economy. The snangauge shows fuel economy at times in excess of 100 mpg while the regen brakes recharge the battery.

-- My biggest complaint about the greenline is the lack of an instantaneous fuel economy gauge. Happily that can be fixed by adding the ScanGauge or other similar device. That will be money well spent.

-- My last tip is to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Life is too short to worry about eeking out an extra tenth mile per gallon. I find I sometimes get the best fuel economy when I am not freeting about it.

 

Excellent tips from firenurse4.
Kudos - you have gotten the hang of driving the Saturn Hybrid Vue to its fullest - hence your constantly improving mpg!!!

On this end I have a few tips of my own -

When accelerating or coasting - I have gotten the ECO light to turn on between the speeds of 19 - 79 mph. Keeping the RPM's low when accelerating is a big key. The key is to easy off the gas pedal, get the ECO light to turn on and then back on the gas pedal. I think I have gotten the RMP's to 3500 once or twice - when jumping into fast moving traffic.

When breaking - I can get the ECO light to stay all the way on until I am stopped. Just make it a smooth stop and it will even go into Auto Stop.

When driving at a constant speed - if you notice that the Hybrid is neither charging or assisting and the green ECO light is on - press the gas pedal more. You will notice that the additional accerlation will come from the battery and not the gas. The green ECO light will remain on and your battery will give you that added boost.

In addition, if you a driving on a long downhill - let the Hybrid coast to regenerate the battery. You will find that when you press the gas pedal the assist will really kick in.

I rarely use the cruise control. I find I can do a much better job smoothing my ride than the cruise control can. The only exception is a completely flat drive.

As for the ScanGuage - it is a nice tool, but I do not use one. I am too busy focused on the road ahead and changing the radio.

Getting great gas mileage is good but being a smooth driver is even better. Here is the kicker - with my driving style you would be hard pressed to pick me out of the crowd. I don't employ "Pulse and Glide" techniques that I have read from some of the Prius/Civic owners. I zip along at 75mpg when the situation allows and move with the flow of traffic. My sweet spot is probably closer to 60mph. If I drove slower I may get even better gas mileage but it would make my 45 mile commute (each way) even longer.

If I did not have the Hybrid Saturn logo on the Vue - you would not know that I was driving a Hybrid.

 

firenurse4 ,
Thanks for the great Saturn VUE hypermiling tips. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to be back in a VUE hybrid, but I'll have to bookmark these tips for sure!

 

Great tips, and nice mileage on your last tank! Good to see that almost everyone's MPG is improving with the temperature, as expected. Right on about the cruise control--more complex hybrids with CVTs and very powerful electric assist may operate better on cruise, but with a conventional tranny and less powerful assist, cruise on the VUE GL isn't perfect. We only used ours once (on its only highway trip so far...). It was fine in the flatlands of the Hoosier state, but the few hills it encountered confused it. It's a whole lot more efficient to lose a few MPH up a hill and allow it to charge coming back down.

We have greatly enjoyed our GL and love the mileage (~27 so far, only rural/city miles), especially for a roomy, low-priced SUV. Can't wait for the long highway trips this summer.

 

Thanks for posting the tips. Just got our VUE earlier this week and love it. Will be using the tips I've seen here for sure.

 

Great tips on hypermileing the VUE Green Line from firenurse4 and HybridVue.

I have been using similar techniques to get good MPGs. I follow an article I read years ago that said it is most efficient to accelerate with the engine at about 2500 rpm (hardly feather footing), get to your target mph and hold the speed steady. I look ahead when decelerating and gradually coast to collect CHARGE, and eventually step on the brake to keep the eco on until I stop. I have noticed that when I do this anticipating, I can get ASSIST on the next stretch of road to get the battery to help my MPGs.
I rarely use cruise control since I like to modulate my foot to keep the eco light on, but without losing more than 5 mph. Does anyone else do this?

Last fall my mileage was a tad above 30 mpg. It dipped to mid-20's in the winter, and is now back to 30 mpg, and even 33 mpg a few fills ago. My drive is an even split of urban stop-go (autostop start is great), 30-50 mph drive, and highway.

I have been thinking about purchasing a ScanGauge. Does anyone know how it comes up with the mpg number?

eco drive!

 

These tips are also true for any conventional car as well. I use these things in my Supercharged Cobalt SS and get 38-41 MPG with a 290 horse supercharged-four banger.

 

Hence my numerous comments about the technique not the technology yielding the better MPG's, which, to my mind, isn't what one should expect when you shell out the extra money for a GL. So, I'd say, take the tips and don't bother with the hybrid - it's cheaper and seems to give better results.

 

As to the comment about technique vs technology it is a combination of both.

When I purchased the Saturn Vue Hybrid I did my own cost analysis and I just recently revisited the numbers.

The Hybrid Vue was $2250 more than a similar 4 cylinder Saturn Front Wheel Drive Vue.
Less a $650 tax credit. (Fortunately, the ATM did not knock out my credit.)
That left $1600 difference.
I average about 28,000 per year and I figured I would get about 5 mpg better in the Hybrid. I current get 20% better than the new EPA numbers. (I get 31.3mpg in the Hybrid Vue and I calcuated that I would get 25.4mpg in a standard Vue.) I then calculated that gas savings would be about $625 per year with the current $3.00 average.
In just over 2 1/2 years I would break even.

From a finacial standard point - the choice is easy for me. I planned on keeping the Hybrid for at least 5 years. From an environmental standpoint it was a no brainer. Save gas - save the environment. Each person has to "run the numbers" as I did. In my case the Hybrid was the right choice for me.

The technology along with my driving style yields excellent results.

 

I agree. Thanks!

The ScanGauge gets fuel flow data from the engine control module (ECM) and uses that to display current MPG. You have the ability to calibrate the reading to compensate for inaccuracies in the ECM measurements.
I highly recommend the gauge.