2008 Vue - Review by Igor

[igor]

I was in our "auto mall" and looked at these four vehicles:
2008 Vue XE I4
2008 Escape XLT I4
2007 Edge SE
2007 CR-V EX

Unfortunately, I only drove the Edge and the Vue, so the comparisons with others will be limited to the interior and exterior. And while I will compare to the others - this is primarily a Vue review - review of a car that seriously gave me 'the bug" and made me - for the first time - seriously consider GM as my next NEW purchase.

So let's begin on the outside .. the other three cars are a common sight on the road by now, but not the Vue. So this was one of the first close up encounters I have had with the car - and must I say - I was not not disappointed. Of course, the class-larger proportions of the Edge make it look more athletic, but from its class the only car that comes close to the Vue on looks is the Mercury Mariner, and even that one would end up losing. The overall exterior is simply well done. It is very comparable to what Honda did with the CR-V, but without the god awful nose ... the Vue is handsome and stylish. I saw a Redline, and XR, and they are nice - definitely can see them making a lot of people happy - but I really like the black molding on the XE ... that is my model of choice - it simply looks perfect. I Would wish for projectors and whatnot .. but no one in this class has them - and I decided not to worry about such details anymore.

Order:
1) Vue
( 1) Edge - but that is a different class)
2) Mariner
3) Escape
4) CR-V

Lets go inside and simple say - BETTER THAN HONDA OR ANYONE ELSE ... I do not care what anyone says - I was very disappointed with Honda - the surfaces were OK material, but the switchgear was flimsy and way below the Vue or even the Escape. The design in the CR-V was pleasant enough, but overall it cannot compare to the Vue. Escape loses on design, the Vue is simply more pleasant. The materials in the Escape feel is very good even though there is way less soft-touch material than in the Vue. The new Ford switchgear also has a very good feel to it - ways better than the old stuff in the Edge/Fusion/Taurus.

The Vue was overall winner - hands down. The design is pleasing to the eye, the surface materials are perfect, and the assembly was perfect as well. To add to it, the little "pieces of flare" around the interior really spruced u the interior - I am talking about the door handles, steering wheel and the handbrake - good job Opel. I also loved that all the compartments were lined with felt, and were damperred - if you lookup my review of the Aura - those were about the only complaints I had. As a final note, I have to say that the GMNA switchgear is completely unobtrusive - sure it looks the same as other models, but the quality of the gear is just right .. the tactile response, design and functionality is good so the design commonality is forgivable (unlike the old Ford stuff which is just hands-down awful).

Order:
1) Vue
2) Escape
3) CR-V
4) Edge


And now comes the drive - and the falling out of love. As said above - I love the XE, moreover, I really want to stick with I4 to save fuel .. so I drove the I4 .. and man was the Vue underpowered. As I mentioned above I did not drive any of the competitors, only the Edge. Moreover, my daily driver is 160hp Mazda3 with a stick - so I have been spoiled ... but regardless, I liked very little about the drive train.

The things that were fine were: brakes, cornering, ride, noise level, driving position ... that is a lot of 'good', but simply put - the 2 "bad" points spoil the whole experience: the engine is too weak, and the transmission kills it even further.

First is the refusal to shift from 1st - every time I took off, I saw the tachometer climb fast to 6k or 7k rpms. That would be fine if the engine by then built up serious steam and was running with the car - unfortunately that is not the case. more gearswould have probably rectified this fast .. but Vue did not have them.

Then comes the overall driving - the engine practically never dipped under 3k rpms .. as a stick driver I keep my car between 2-3k rpms to save fuel - here any stab on the accelerator prompted a down shift and a quick jump well above 3k rpms .. all this accompanied by not a very pleasant noise;do not get me wrong - all I4's sound like lawnmowers revving high, but the Ecotec in the Vue just sounded wrong ... something about it just was off.

finally came the manual shifting .. I put it in M at a red light to see whether it would improve things .. have to say the little shifty buttons are probably cheap addition for GM, but they are way less friendly than actual gate for manual shifting. Then, the response from the computer was completely unacceptable at least in 3 situations .. it simply did not up shift when I told it to .. and I do not mean some 2 second delay common on all "Tiptronic" transmissions - I mean holding the gear for good 10 seconds (1st of course) despite manual input ..that was unacceptable.

Overall? well .. I guess you know by now - I would not buy the Vue .. unless my better half loved it and loved the drive .. I would pass up waiting for improvement, some new model, or would simply keep my current car. I might have had a different option had I had the direct comparison to the Escape and CR-V, but the way I did have a chance to compare it - the experience was well - disappointing.

So, I love the car - I love the interior and exterior - love the seats, the dash, the trunk, the ..everything .. and possibly I would have loved the V6 engines - but in this time, me replacing a I4 compact with a 23mpg V6 CUV would not let me sleep at night - I feel uneasy enough knowing that I want an SUV instead of a car ... V6 would be too much. Seriously - I might need to thank Saturn for this - had the engine been better - I might not be able to reason about the purchase - I would have probably signed the papers right then and there without even talking to my better half - I loved the car so much ....

So here you have it .. a perfect car, with a base engine that should have not happened.

Igor

[igor]

no responses?

(yes I am an attention whore )

Igor

[nsap]

A couple things..

Any NA I-4 CUV of this size is going to be a dog or slower than what the average person is use to. That is simply something you are going to have to live with if you feel the need to get a 4-cylinder crossover.

Personally, I would never bother with the XE 4-cylinder. The XE AWD with the 3.5L and 6T70 6-speed real-world gas mileage will probably manage to rival the 4-cylinder's mileage.

Sounds to me like you need to rethink your wants/needs before you buy. You don't want a dog (I fully agree with you there), but you don't want a V6. It really sounds as if the XE V6 would do you good, but I don't know.

Nice, objective review though.

[zete]

Hmm. I wonder if the Hybrid will give the power and fuel saving you want? It's due out in a few months, is it not?

[coaster.n3rd]

Originally Posted by igor

finally came the manual shifting .. I put it in M at a red light to see whether it would improve things .. have to say the little shifty buttons are probably cheap addition for GM, but they are way less friendly than actual gate for manual shifting. Then, the response from the computer was completely unacceptable at least in 3 situations .. it simply did not up shift when I told it to .. and I do not mean some 2 second delay common on all "Tiptronic" transmissions - I mean holding the gear for good 10 seconds (1st of course) despite manual input ..that was unacceptable.



Igor

Only the XR and RL versions of the Vue come with a true manual shift mode as an option. The range buttons on the side of the shifter in the XE & XR do not manually shift the gear when used, it simply allows the trans to operate in a user selected range or a limited number of gears.

For example when you put it in M and tap up on the button to the 3 displayed on the dash, you are simply telling the trans to operate as if it only has 3 gears. So you were simply experiencing the computer holding 1st until it was acceptable to shift to 2nd. This is particularly useful if you are hauling something heavy or traversing through mountains.

[Smellhound]

Originally Posted by nsap

A couple things..

Any NA I-4 CUV of this size is going to be a dog or slower than what the average person is use to. That is simply something you are going to have to live with if you feel the need to get a 4-cylinder crossover.

I just drove a new 08 Vue 4 cylinder today. A few weeks ago I drove a new CRV with the 4 cylinder. While the CRV is certainly not a sports car by any means, for a 4 cylinder Crossover, it is a little smoother and a LOT quicker than the 4 cylinder Vue. I would say that a 4 in the CRV is acceptable, but the Vue really NEEDS a V6.

As I said in another thread on these boards though, I won't be getting either if the HHR SS comes with an automatic. GM sticks an auto in it, we are getting one within the next 6 months.

[coaster.n3rd]

Originally Posted by Smellhound

I just drove a new 08 Vue 4 cylinder today. A few weeks ago I drove a new CRV with the 4 cylinder. While the CRV is certainly not a sports car by any means, for a 4 cylinder Crossover, it is a little smoother and a LOT quicker than the 4 cylinder Vue. I would say that a 4 in the CRV is acceptable, but the Vue really NEEDS a V6.

The new Vue 4cyl is a pig, it's huge and weighs quite a bit, however the gas mileage is right on par with sticker, sometimes I do better. I have a feeling that a 5-speed or better and a little weight loss would improve things drastically.

[gmhashope]

Yea, go for the XE AWD with the 3.5 V6. Depending on how you drive I think you could get decent fuel economy out of it. GM's OHV V6s usually get a lot higher than rated highway fuel economy.

[mjd1001]

I test drove a new 08 Redline Vue and Rav4 Sport back to back earlier this week (well, about an hour apart)...this is what I thought:

The Vue did feel 'heavier' but in a way that extra weight made it feel more solid. I would still rather have it not weigh that much, but it didn't hurt the way it drove.

Both handled about the same. The Rav4 did feel a bit lighter on it's feet, but the Vue held the corners just as well.

The only time you noticed the Rav4 was quicker was in first gear...and the Rav doesn't hold first gear for long. So if you are racing someone from a standing start, of if you are crusing along at 20-25 miles per hour and decide to floor it...you will feel the Rav4 being a bit quicker (its enough to be noticable, but not a huge difference.) But under the other 95% of driving conditions, (accelerating through a turn, hitting the gas at 35, 45, 55, etc) they felt about the same.

I liked the interior of the Vue better. The Rav4 wasn't bad, but I'd give the edge in materials to the Vue. The Rav4 did have much more room in the back seat though (the Vue's back seat is not unusable by any means, but it is going to be tighter fit for anyone...even compared to the current Vue.

Overall, the Vue is a little better than what I feared. The peformance difference is there against the V6 Rav4..but it is only noticable under certain conditions and you have to really pay attention to find it. Fuel economy may be a concern...but then again I thought the Redline looked a bit better on the exterior than the Rav4 even (although it would have looked 100% better if GM had given it 19" wheels stock instead of 18's.)

I'm not sure if I would buy a Vue or not. Quite honestly, I think I would, but there are 3 main things that needed to be different:
-More power, especially for the redline
-Better fuel economy. It should be getting better, not worse, fuel economy than the outgoing V6 model that is 4 years old and physically bigger
-slightly bigger rear seat

I guess a bigger rear seat can't happen within this design...and less weight would help both the power and fuel economy issues, so that can't be helped either. BUT....if GM can see fit to throw the Direct Injection version of the 3.6 into at least the Redline, that should give it a little more power and 1-2 mpg better economy. I still wouldn't like the rear set, but that would be enough to get me to drop $30,000 down and get a Redline Vue.

[gmhashope]

Yea, Saturn should give their Redline models more power, not just different styling.

[darrelld]

Originally Posted by zete

Hmm. I wonder if the Hybrid will give the power and fuel saving you want? It's due out in a few months, is it not?

The 2-mode Plugin might have the economy I am looking for. Otherwise I will trade my 04 Vue in for the new CRV diesel when it arrives in 2009

[DuSpinnst]

Originally Posted by coaster.n3rd

Only the XR and RL versions of the Vue come with a true manual shift mode as an option. The range buttons on the side of the shifter in the XE & XR do not manually shift the gear when used, it simply allows the trans to operate in a user selected range or a limited number of gears.

For example when you put it in M and tap up on the button to the 3 displayed on the dash, you are simply telling the trans to operate as if it only has 3 gears. So you were simply experiencing the computer holding 1st until it was acceptable to shift to 2nd. This is particularly useful if you are hauling something heavy or traversing through mountains.

Yep it is basically the old 321 on older automatics. Usually GM labels it L (Low) instead of M (Manual)