Modding a Saturn Vue
 

Our "new" 2002 Saturn Vue has a V6 3.0L AWD engine. It is rated 17/23 (old rating was 19/25). Right off the bat, I was getting about 28 on the highway when driving nicely and 25-26 when going 75-80 mph. Seems to fit in with the original estimates.

My goal for this car is to get it up to 35 mpg on the highway.

I have already made some progress by extending the front air dam down quite a bit. I was surprised how fast that took to do. And it was using stuff I already had. Two rows of garden edging attached to the existing air dam is what you see in the picture. I also blocked off the grill opening that was above the air dam.

Driving around on the highway last night, I was able to hold about 33 mpg going 55 mph (I reset the trip reading once I was going 55). Not bad considering I couldn't break into the 30s before.

Next up is blocking off some of the lower grill openings and then playing around with a hot air intake.

I have a 2004 Vue I was thinking about making similar changes. How did your mods turn out?

A friend of mine just bought a Vue as well for her gardening business, I was a little surprised that it's rated to tow 3,500 pounds (altho the Red Line trim level is not rated for towing at all), she is replacing a pickup truck that was getting around 10mpg and had seating for 3 people, so this will fit their needs much better, are there other mods that are easy to do for this vehicles that don't affect ground clearance?

That's fantastic improvement from just an air dam.
Seems on a taller vehicle they make a big difference.
Looking forward to your next edition.