Test Drive: greenerMIAMI Gives the Saturn Vue Green Line a Try

You may remember that I recently made friends with GM and took a trip on their dime to the NY Auto Show. In fact, check out my interviews with Chevy & Hummer. After I got home from the trip, GM lined up another little treat for me. I got to test drive the Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid SUV.

Now, this is the first time anyone had offered to lend me a car so that I could tool around in it and see how I liked it. I thought it sounded like a great idea. Sign me up. In the end, however, I wasn’t entirely pleased that I had made that decision.

What I didn’t know is that I wouldn’t be receiving a Vue that was already sitting at a Miami Saturn dealer near me. It was delivered to my door directly from Atlanta. That’s 663 miles. I was given the car for a total of one week, in which I tried to drive as much as possible, for testing purposes. I drove a total of 90 miles.

So, assuming that the car made a 1300 mile trip from Atlanta just so that I could put 90 miles on the thing: probably not the most eco-friendly option around.

During the time that I had the car in my possession, I actually had lunch with Chris Paine & Chelsea Sexton – the producer & "main character", respectively, of Who Killed the Electric Car? Ironically focusing on GM and how it destroyed its entire line of EV1′s. I mentioned to them that I was disappointed with the fact that though deemed a hybrid, the Vue didn’t have features that I assumed it would.

For instance, when you are in a Prius or a Lexus hybrid, you start the car without the combustion engine – it’s simply electric (and completely silent). That means that until you start going a certain speed, you are using literally no gas. On the Vue, however, the situation is different. You start the car with the combustion engine and most of the hybrid features aren’t available until 2 minutes after the car has been running.

The Vue’s engine would shut off at stop lights, which is a great way to reduce idling. However, I felt as though I needed to really push down on that brake pedal to get that to happen. I guess in my car, I typically barely tap on the brake, just enough to stop me from moving. In this case, as soon as the foot comes off the brake, the regular engine starts (pretty seamlessly)…even if I wasn’t ready to go yet.

We decided that the Vue is a semi-hybrid – it’s not incorporating all of the hybrid technologies that are available. Now, the Vue isn’t a bad car, it’s just not what I was expecting. It’s a very affordable car (around $25,000), which partially means that I shouldn’t expect to receive the same features from a car that costs twice as much. It gets pretty good mileage for being an SUV (they quote 32 mpg on highway); so if you’re convinced you need an SUV, maybe this is a good option for you. I’ll stick with my ’99 Corolla for now, which still has the Vue beat on mpg.

Many people love the Vue. I know some of them. For the price, people love what it provides. Read what Kicking Tires had to say:

Saturn has really done it right with the Green Line. Sure, the Vue is an aging platform, but Saturn revised it recently, and the new version’s ride and handling is vastly improved. The hybrid works seamlessly with only two noticeable additions to the gauge cluster — a charge/assist meter and an “Eco” indicator light to tell you when the hybrid system is paying off.

Steve Balogh of Groovy Green tended to think more along my lines, though he suggested that the "eco" light be available on all GM cars:

The "eco" light kept my lead foot in check, and while I try not to start-up quickly and rev the engine, this feature really helped remind me to make a smooth steady start.

I agree, a little eco light that turned on when you were driving more efficiently is a nice little reminder to all of us.

So, the Vue isn’t for me. It might be for you. I certainly wouldn’t rule it out. One thing that was made clear to me, however, is that we can’t just assume that the word "hybrid" stamped on the car means anything in particular. We must research each and every car and understand the benefits that each provides. Not all hybrids are created equal.