Anybody here tried working with a Saturn Vue? Any known mods that work/don’t work on this vehicle?
My wife drives a 2004 Vue 2.2 5sp (fwd). It’s a nice roomy, comfortable car (or crossover, I guess) for our family that seems to be pretty decent on gas. She’s been averaging 26mpg with it during her daily commute (70% in town). The cold weather and high winds seem to be conspiring against any better mileage right now though.
Still, I can’t help but feel there is a little bit more to be had. She could consistently knock down 30mpg with the Focus ZX3 we had before and even hit 32 numerous times when the weather conditions were favorable (same 70% in-town commute as now). I’d LOVE to get the Vue close to those numbers without any crazy hyper-miler techniques (no EOC or P&G)
Here’s some ideas, anyone tried them? :
-lower front air dam. The factory one seems to go just about as low as the lowest underbody parts. It doesn’t seem that there would be a HUGE amount to be gained here. Who knows though…..
-Grill block-partial/full?? There seems to be a fair number of gaps/holes/openings in the front of this thing. Anyone tried capping off a few of them?
-Hotter running temps? Thermostat change? This thing warms up SUPER fast but it never goes past just barely above a 1/3 of the way up the gauge (no idea what the actual temps are- stupid cold-hot gauges!
). Anyone tried putting in a hotter T-Stat and/or blocking the grill to raise the temps?
-Hot air intake? There’s TONS of room under the hood and it seems like it would be pretty easy to fab something up. I know some cars respond better to this than others. Anyone know how the 2.2 GM Eco-Tec likes warm air?
-regear? I know this falls more into the “major project” category but I’m curious if anyone’s done it. This thing turns WAY high rpm’s out on the road (about 2600rpm@60mph). It’s essentially the same eng/trans that was put into the later Cavaliers/and Cobalts. The Vue, however, has a shorter 5th (.81 vs .69) and a shorter r&p ratio (4.41 vs 3.94 or 3.84 for the Cobalt). Anyone swapped in a 3.94 gearset for the factory 4.41? That should drop the rpms a few 100 on the road and I think this engine would be fine with that. Surely the gearing is costing some mileage.
-uncork the exhaust some. I’ve had some older cars (still EFI) that responded REALLY well to this (as in 2-3mpg’s
) and others that didn’t seem to do a thing. The Focus didn’t gain until I swapped in a full header and even then it was only .5-1mpg. The exhaust on the Vue is SUPER quiet (restrictive???) but doesn’t appear especially restrictive (decent size pipe, minimal bends). Anyone tried?
Things I’ve already done.
-remove roof rack. Already did this one (had to buy a set of security Allen bits to do it-STUPID!). It’s too early to tell what difference this made (been off less than a week); all the previous mpg’s were achieved with it on. However, it is noticeably quieter inside so that rack must have been creating some wicked turbulence up there!
-thinner tires at max pressure. It needed tires anyway so I bought the thinner factory spec tire (215/70-16) as opposed to the fat 235’s that were on it. I run them at 44psi (max sidewall).
Other than that the car is pretty much all stock. We haven’t had it very long so I haven’t really had my hands in it yet- lol.