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| Sunday, July 1, 2007 |
The Saturn Vue |
Originally published June 1, 2007.
 It is no secret to any of my friends that I have a love/hate relationship with my car. I have a 2000 manual Honda CRV that I absolutely loved right until I had my second child. Before my younger son (YS) was born, I couldn't imagine ever wanting a different car. However, once YS was born, I realized that my feelings towards it had changed: it's becoming too small. Between the two kids, the stroller, the dog and sometime the two cats (inevitably they always need to be seen by the vet all at once and also inevitably it's during the weekends when the traveling vet is off) not to mention groceries or any of my older son (OS's) friends who currently cannot fit in our car, there just isn't enough room. We haven't even started t-ball or soccer yet! Ever since December the Big Giraffe and I have had some serious conversations about replacing our car. It's been a hard decision for us because we both think that a minivan would be better suited for us at this time in our lives, but we would really like to own a hybrid.
When I found out that PBN was looking for people to review Saturn's new Green Line, I was pretty excited. Not only was it a chance to drive a bigger car, (and quite frankly a car that was cleaner than my current one) to see if that would suit our needs, but it's also a hybrid. Let me take a minute to explain what exactly Saturn means when they say this car is hybrid. Not all hybrid cars work the same way. According to their website, when the car is at a complete stop (think stoplight), it automatically shuts off the gas and converts over to the hybrid battery. When you take your foot off the brake, the electric battery starts the gas engine. When you are accelerating the car runs on a combination of the two engines. The word "eco" lights up on the dashboard. The battery recharges while cruising. When you begin to slow down, the battery takes over again. When you brake, the kinetic energy is converted into electric energy and stored in the battery. (See taking physics in college was worth something!) A few weeks ago a Saturn Vue with Michigan license plates showed up. I transferred the boys' carseats and began my two week test drive. (The LATCH was easy to use, and the carseasts were always very secure.)
The inside of the car is very nice. I got several compliments on the silver trim. I'm used to cloth seats, and I found the leather seats very easy to keep clean. OS definitely put keeping the car clean to the test. The interior of the car itself is much roomier than my CRV, and the boys weren't able to reach to poke each other in the back when strapped into their carseats. Our car rides were much more peaceful.
When the carseats are removed, the back seat folds down, and the front passenger seat folds in half and flat. It does not fold into the floor, but it folds flat enough to put a bunch of cups of coffee on it. This makes it easy to carry large items. The passenger seat has a special plastic backing just for this. I was able to fit a Little Tikes 8 in 1 Playground that I bought off of Craig's List (in other words no box) in the car.
Of course, I would never go through a fast food drive thru window of my own volition, but in the interest of testing the car's performance under all conditions, I did take the Saturn through a few drive thrus. The car performed admirably in the drive thru.
The back seat also has a grocery bag compartment which worked very well. It kept the groceries from falling all over the place. The car is also equipped with Onstar and satelite radio. There were even cup holders and a power outlet in the back which would be perfect for a portable DVD player. The windows were also tinted. I really missed that when I went back to my CRV during the recent "heat wave" out here.
Another thing I really liked was how quiet it was inside. When I got my CRV, I decided not to do the soundproofing that Honda recommended because I thought it was a waste of money. Little did I know that it would always sound like I was inside a vacuum cleaner when I drove on the highway. There was very little road noise in the Saturn.
I found the car very easy to drive, and I was sorry to part with it. I had numerous people stop me at the grocery store, playground, (my driveway), to ask me about the car. There definitely was a lot of interest in it. In fact one of my friends bought one today (she was seriously considering it even before she saw the one I was driving in my driveway.)
So here's what you probably really want to know about: how much gas mileage did it get? According to the info folder I got from Saturn, it gets 27 City MPG and 32 Highway MPG. I wish I had written down the mileage when I got the car. Normally I fill the tank of my manual transmission CRV every seven to ten days. Despite the fact that I actually did some extra driving, including an extra hour-and-a-half round-trip to pick up the playground and a couple of 40 minute round trip visits to our local petting zoo, I went almost the entire two weeks until I needed to fill the tank. I have a feeling that I would have really made it at least half a week longer than usual if my usage had been typical. In addition to finding the automatic more fuel efficient than my normal manual transmission, which is a tribute to the fuel efficiency of the hybrid, I was surprised by how smooth I found the transmission's shift back and forth from "eco mode". (I typically find automatic transmissions far choppier than my manual.) The car itself costs $23,750, and the estimated fuel cost is $1, 371. It saves 20% on gas compared to the regular Vue.
So what didn't I like about it? When I first sat in the car, I felt very small. The door comes up much higher on my arm than my own car does. In fact you can see the obvious difference when just looking at the two cars side by side on the driveway. I have heard from other hybrid drivers that this is common in hybrid cars to create the illusion of being much roomier. I have to admit at first I found this made it hard to drive, but after a few days I got used to it. I should probably also add that I'm only 5'4". I'm glad I had the extra time to get used to it. If you are seriously interested in this car and initially find the interior height and arrangement to be a problem, I would recommend test driving it a few times to see if you get used to it.
Another thing I didn't like, is that the gas cap is on the passenger side. This is obviously a minor detail, but I prefer having the gas cap on the driver's side.
Overall, I was really happy with this car. Unfortunately, it still doesn't address one of my biggest needs, which is to be able to put a third child in a carseat. No, I'm not pregnant, but I am a stay at home mom. As such I would like to be able to be in carpools and to be able to drive OS's friends. While there is LATCH in all three seats (I was pretty impressed by that) the current carseats we have (Graco brand) are just too big to allow a carseat in the middle. An engineering colleague of BG has told him that her family has done the study needed to identify the narrowest carseats out there to enable three to fit in a row. Even if I were to pursue that for the two boys, however, (which BG would likely resist because it would eliminate just one more barrier to a third child), I obviously cannot compel my friends to buy the thin models just so I can drive their child. I would also still have to get the "middle child" strapped into a carseat over one of the other carseats. However, once my kids are no longer in carseats, this would be a good fit for our family. |
posted by Alex Elliot @ 9:44 PM
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| Name: | Alex Elliot |
| Home: | MA, United States |
| About Me: | Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe. |
| See my complete profile |
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