Road Trip

[elmteacher]

Just got back from a 3200 mile trip to the Great Smoky Mts, a wedding, and Atlantic Beach, NC. The car was loaded-you know crap stacked to the ceiling and a Thule 1600 box on the roof. We averaged 26.35 mpg over the trip with a high of 27.9 and a low of 24.65. I have always wanted to get rid of this car, but my wife wouldn't let me and it does nothing but work. I know there are bad Vues out there, but I have no complaints with mine. 80k miles, oil changes, 2nd set of tires, new hood(damn hail)-everything else original.

[xtremeranger]

Thats pretty good considering all the extra weight!

[linx3566]

I have a 2005 Vue not very long but I like the car a lot and good to see such good gas milage. I average 24mpg US mixed driving.

[elmteacher]

I guess the Vue just needed the monotony of 10-12 hr drives. The drive east I had a healthy tailwind, but after that it was pretty hard driving. I figured the mpg was a fluke at first, but it wavered only 3 mpg over the whole trip. Of course, I always wanted the extra power of the v6!

[Tom92SCm]

I recently went on a similar trip:
http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=140469

Overall mpgs for the trip was 24.24 mpgs. Not bad considering the speeds we were going, the amount of weight in the VUE, the wind we had at times and almost constant AC use.

[elmteacher]

you practically drove past my house! I too have been searching for minivans-actually I am always searching for the next car, but a van would have made it all a lot smoother. No more crap up to your elbows after two hrs of driving and several hunts for toys/snacks/dolls! Funny thing, we went from a VW beetle thinking the Vue was huge.

[scott2683]

I live in Indiana, and last weekend I took a trip through the smokey mountains, down around the gatlinburg area. I have the 3.5 AWD and I was very impressed with the performance up and down the mountains and with my gas mileage. my worst mileage was 22, which included over an hour in stopped traffic, and my best mileage was 29 mpg, on my way home. I typically averaged 26mpg. I didn't think that was bad at all with 3 passengers and luggage. As far as performance goes, it went up the mountains flawlessly. Even when it down shifted at 75mph my RPMs were barely at 2800.

[BobbyP]

On every car I driven if you keep the rpms under 3000 the highway mileage will be acceptable.

Good mileage considering your load and the mountains.

[Tom92SCm]

Originally Posted by BobbyP

Good mileage considering your load and the mountains.

From my experience driving in the mountains (I live in Colorado, so I have a fair amount of mountain driving experience), driving up the mountains isn't nearly as taxing on the fuel economy as driving down the mountain is good for the fuel economy. A tankful of gas that contains mountain driving in either one of my cars will be 1-3 mpgs better than a normal tankful.

[chillin05VUE]

Originally Posted by scott2683

I live in Indiana, and last weekend I took a trip through the smokey mountains, down around the gatlinburg area. I have the 3.5 AWD and I was very impressed with the performance up and down the mountains and with my gas mileage. my worst mileage was 22, which included over an hour in stopped traffic, and my best mileage was 29 mpg, on my way home. I typically averaged 26mpg. I didn't think that was bad at all with 3 passengers and luggage. As far as performance goes, it went up the mountains flawlessly. Even when it down shifted at 75mph my RPMs were barely at 2800.

When I drove to southern California from Washington earlier this year, 4 people plus luggage, I average about 26 also. My best was 29 and my worst was 21. My rpms stay roughly around 2000 on the flat roads

[scott2683]

I'm glad everyone else is getting good mileage on theirs too, I've mostly had pick up trucks and haven't gotten gas mileage like this before. I just find it impressive that a mid sized suv has the ability get mid to upper 20's mpg. Gotta love the honda engines i guess!

[pdough]

[QUOTE=elmteacher;...I have always wanted to get rid of this car, but my wife wouldn't let me and it does nothing but work. I know there are bad Vues out there, but I have no complaints with mine.[/QUOTE]

I second that. I am only on my third set of tires and second set of rotors after 120,000 miles. These I'd consider well within "normal wear". The only thing I have replaced out of pocket for mine other than normal wear items is an odometer bulb at about $8.

Clutch is still original, motor runs great...

Only complaint is rattles. Dang, it rattles and squeaks like no other. I tried for a while keeping up with them but have given up. I can only laugh when I hear a new one now. It is an SUV and I payed as little as possible for it so I consider every trouble free mile I get out of it a bonus at this point.

[Two Shoes]

Originally Posted by elmteacher

Just got back from a 3200 mile trip to the Great Smoky Mts, a wedding, and Atlantic Beach, NC. The car was loaded-you know crap stacked to the ceiling and a Thule 1600 box on the roof. We averaged 26.35 mpg over the trip with a high of 27.9 and a low of 24.65. I have always wanted to get rid of this car, but my wife wouldn't let me and it does nothing but work. I know there are bad Vues out there, but I have no complaints with mine. 80k miles, oil changes, 2nd set of tires, new hood(damn hail)-everything else original.

I'm curious: does your Vue have a manual tranny? If not, and it's a VTi auto, is it FWD or AWD?

Cheers,
Two Shoes