Modding a Saturn Vue

[Raysp30]

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.

[s006jap]

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

[Ryland]

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?

[JasonG]

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.