2006 Vue. 12 miles per gallon?

We bought our Vue last July. 6Cyl front wheel drive.
I picked the Vue because of the Saturn experience and
the generally good reviews of this model, including what
others reported as their gas mileage.

It has been about seven months now and we are getting
an average of 12 1/2 miles per gallon. Our last fill-up
was the worst ... 10.3 mpg. The best we have seen was
high 16's. What gives?

Tomorrow we take it in for the first service appointment, an
oil change, and we will see if they can give us some answers.

Phil

 

Something is very wrong. I have on '07 V6 AWD and even driving it hard and
letting it warm up in the mornings, I still get 20-22 MPG. Either you are
driving exclusively in rush hour city traffic, Filling up with that E85
garbage, or something is wrong with the engine.

Steve

 

Can't be right. Check your math.

 

Is this oil change at 3,000 miles or 6,000 miles? If at 3,000 miles and they
were put on over 7 months I'd suspect it was a lot of short trip and/or stop
and go driving. That will kill mileage... I've got a mini van that my wife
uses and it is not uncommon for her to get 10-12 MPG around town and has
done as bad as 9. When we use the van to take even a few 10 mile trips the
MPG jumps up to 16-20. When she used the Saturn she'd get 15-16. I'm using
the Saturn now and get 34-38 MPG on the highway dependent upon the
temperature and whether I've got the A/C on or not.

John

 

Math is right.
1. Fill tank each time
2. record miles between fill-ups
3. Divide by gallons used

 

There are other factors in mileage results:

Where do you live? What is the outside ambient temperature? Are you
running the engine a long time to warm up before driving? Does your
community/state/city require oxygenated fuels in winter which lower mileage?
Is there lower energy content ethanol mixed in the fuel you are using? Is
someone else (ab)using the vehicle or have your driving habits changed?

It is not uncommon to see a reduction in mileage of 10-20% during winter
months for the above cited reasons. If you are seeing worse, then take it
in and have it investigated. It could be a bad sensor (CTS or O2) causing
the computer to send too rich of a mixture. You can also try to see if this
is the case by removing your spark plugs and checking for carbon build up
which signifies tit is running too rich.

Bob

 

We had the Vue checked out. Two hours at the dealership.
Everyone from the service Dept to the showroom area were
very friendly and helpful, but no answers yet as to what is wrong.
They did run a full system check of the computer system.

Here is something ODD. Apparently Saturn had a 'Fuel Mileage
verification Program' on their diagnostic computer system.
But GM, in their quest to "Further Absorb Saturn" into the fold
decided to remove the program. ^%#@*(!!

They recommended that we keep a detailed diary of miles driven
and fuel purchased receipts and then return in a month or two
to look into it further .....

Phil

 

Very good points and if you make a lot of short trip in cold weather
with cold starts that engine never warms up much and/or let it idle a
lot to warm up, MPG will go down the drain so to speak.

 

In the worst of conditions on repeated short trips on one tank of gas in
some of the coldest weather I got 17.9mpg. My engine never got warm
going to work. This was with a 98 bonneville with a 3.8L engine. The car
was rated to get 18mpg in the city. This is the only time of year I can
dip below 20mpg. I can take long trips in the same weather and get 28mpg
average. I know Jap motors in SUV's have by far the hardest time hitting
their EPA numbers but that is really bad if you are doing everything
correctly.