Redesigned Vue boasts hybrid options

One of the bright spots in General Motors’ lineup in this year of high fuel prices is the Saturn Vue compact crossover utility vehicle.

Completely redesigned just last year, the Vue comes in gasoline-only and gasoline-electric hybrid versions; and later this year, as a 2009 model, there will be a second hybrid version added.

That will make the Vue the only vehicle on the market that has two different hybrid versions —- one with a four-cylinder gasoline engine and one with a V-6.

For 2009, Saturn will drop the “Green Line” name used on the 2008 and earlier hybrid models. In the future, they will be called the Vue Hybrid.

The new hybrid version uses the two-mode system that GM introduced this past year in the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size sport utilities, but this is the first application of this technology in a front-wheel-drive vehicle.

While the 2008 Vue Green Line comes with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and a single electric motor, an arrangement that will continue into 2009 for the base Vue Hybrid, the new two-mode model will have the same 3.6-liter V-6 engine as the Vue XR and Red Line models, but with two electric motors —- one to drive the vehicle by itself at low speeds and the other to augment the V-6 engine at highway speeds.

It will be the most-fuel-efficient V-6 hybrid on the market, GM says.

For this report, we tested the gasoline-only 2009 Red Line all-wheel drive model (base price $29,900 plus $695 freight), the top of the line.

It came with the uplevel 3.6-liter V-6 engine, with 257 horsepower and 248 foot-pounds of torque. It’s connected to a new six-speed automatic transmission. This drivetrain combination also is standard in the midlevel XR model.

The Vue’s new exterior design has a European flavor, in keeping with the recent Saturn renaissance as General Motors Corp. moves the brand upscale.

The Vue, introduced in 2002, competes in a crowded field of compact crossovers, including the Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner/Mazda Tribute, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Nissan Rogue, Suzuki Grand Vitara, Mitsubishi Outlander and the Vue’s two GM stalemates, the Chevrolet Equinox and Pontiac Torrent.

This newest Vue is very well done and is a nice family hauler for those who can make do with just five seats. The RAV4 and Outlander offer a third-row seat, giving them a capacity of seven; the rest, like the Vue, have just two rows.

For 2009, Vue prices start at $22,075 for the four-cylinder, front-drive XE model and run to the $29,900 of our tester.

In between the XE and Red Line are the V-6 powered XE V-6 all-wheel drive and XR models. All-wheel drive is available only on the V-6 models.

The price of the new two-mode hybrid model has not been announced yet, but the 2009 Vue four-cylinder hybrid starts at $26,955. I would expect the V-6 hybrid to run at least $2,000 more.

Sporty ride and handling are the hallmarks of the newest Vue, but the best package comes with the Red Line.

The model I tested had a total sticker price of $34,320, including freight and options.