Hybrid Vehicles Guide

Overview: So it won’t win any awards, and it won’t blow you away with blistering performance or incredible fuel economy, but it will give you a tremendous bang for your dollar. The Vue Green Line, utilizing a simplified hybrid system, can be had for under $25,000 well equipped. With fuel economy right around 30 miles per gallon, which is right about the industry standard for a hybrid SUV, and a bargain basement price, we think that GM has really turned out a winner.

Driving the Vue Green Line

The Green Line gets the majority of its power from a 170 horsepower four cylinder engine that pumps out 160 pound feet or torque. A bit underpowered, but when you add the electric motor (which adds 115 pound feet of torque) the Vue Green Line becomes capable, and perhaps even a little peppy.

Like many Hybrids, there are a few concessions to make in order to achieve maximum efficiency. When you are stopping, for example, the air conditioning will automatically turn off, as will the engine, unless you specifically specify otherwise. If you are fond of using the air conditioning and the concept of being without it for a few minutes at a stop light bothers you, perhaps opting to disable this feature (via the in dash button) may suit your tastes.

Otherwise, we found the Vue Green Line to be a nice ride to scoot around town in. We even took it on the highway, where it had no problem keeping up with and passing traffic. The drive of the Vue actually reminds us of the Honda CRV, of which we are particularly fond of. We have found the suspension to be soft enough for a comfortable ride, yet firm enough to instill confidence in the corners. For an SUV, that means that it has a lot of versatility.

The interior is pretty standard, with nothing really jumping out at us. The in-dash CD player will also play MP3’s (no WMA’s), and has an auxiliary input across all of the models. The stereo sounds pretty good, though it tends to sound a bit bassy at the factory settings. A few minutes of your time to tune it how you want it, however, and that is easily fixed.

Conclusion

There are no other SUV’s on the market with a hybrid power train for this price. Our first thought was that the vehicle itself would suffer because of it, but we’ve actually found the Vue Green Line to be an enjoyable drive, with plenty of pickup and power. It’s fuel economy may not be stellar (around 30 miles per gallon), but it is considerably higher than your typical non-hybrid SUV.

For someone looking for a SUV that they can actually use every day while saving a bit on gas, the Vue Green Line is a sure thing.