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Def. interested in this thread. My wife drives a Saturn Vue as well. It’s been a rock solid vehicle and she consistently averages 25mpg+ (regularly gets 28 in warm weather) in mixed city/rural driving.
Couple things I’ve found:
-I can’t help but feel the shifter issues some have experienced are a problem with the cable or shifter mechanism. Her’s has never been an issue to get into/out of gear and shifting is never more than ever-so mildly ‘notchy’.
-The RPM ‘flare’ when shifting is caused by your hand/foot timing. The Vue has a somewhat laggy drive by wire system and you have to start releasing the gas pedal probably a ½ sec. earlier than you normally would with a manual trans. Every time I drive her car I have to remind myself to roll out of the gas before actually beginning to depress the clutch or else VAROOOM between every gear.
-Cold weather really makes the MPG’s plummet in these things so I’ve VERY interested in seeing the effectiveness of your WAI.
-Also interested if the lowering springs make any discernible difference. These things do sit pretty high and for no real good reason.
I’ve done some research and one major job I’d love to see someone get some results on is a 5th gear swap. The Vue uses the same Getrag F23 transmission as the Cavalier/Cobalt/HHR and an assortment of other small GM vehicles. The difference is though, the Vue has a 4.41 final drive (which it needs to get this portly thing going!) and a .81 5th ratio. All other versions got a super tall .69 5th and an assortment of final drives ranging from 3.84-4.17; all other ratios and internals are identical.
I considered a final drive swap but like I said, this thing is portly and I feel a taller final might actually hurt in-town mileage. However, the crummy .81 5th has it spinning 2600-2700 (indicated) at 60mph and I can’t help but feel that is simply too high for max hwy mpg’s. Rolling into the throttle at 60 shows there is PLENTY of grunt at those engine speeds leading me to believe lower cruise RPM’s would be beneficial here in the flatter portions of the country.
Anyway, it’s a major job that requires splitting the trans and swapping out a shaft or two (some of the gears are integral to the input/output/counter shafts). However, donor transmissions should be plentiful and cheap. I would just use a donor and swap out the final drive to the Vue’s 4.41 but I’ve heard there are minor external case differences, I haven’t been able to confirm this though. Still, when I go to replace the clutch I’ll probably tackle this as it would drop hwy RPM’s by about 15%.
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