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Chances are you've read Psyshacks back to back review of the FEH and the VUE Green Line, and heard about the irk that the owner had with the vehicle, ending with him returning it. (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16135&postcount=24 )

However, he's not alone. One of my friends, who is actually an indirect GM employee (And therefore eligible for their employee pricing) has been tormented by me for ages about my fantastic FE and the fact that his (at the time Blazer) got such poor FE. He would always respond with, wait for the GM hybrid, then we'll see. We did, and he got the VUE hybrid. He, incidently, had ordered before I test drove one at Hybrid Fest. When I saw him again, I warned him against it, urging him to cancel, but he wouldn't hear of it.

Well, he drove 300 miles, and returned it. He had asked, and been told repeatedly that the VUE Green Line would be able to offer comparable FE to the FEH. ( :eek: :confused: :D :flag: ) Yes, that's right. Well, when that didn't even come close to happening, he contacted the BBB and whatnot to get them to take their falsey advertised POS off his hands, and get every dime that the dealer "bilked" him out of back. He even had print outs of my own tank data (he asked for the link for my tanks; I just thought it was to compare) and demanded to know how 21 MPG is comparable to 33 MPGs. Yes, he was angry. He got his money back and has vowed never to do business with that dealer ever again, nor will his family, or any of his friends. He probably wouldn't have been so angry if he had been told the truth rather then flat out lied to by the salesman, which I think is probably more common then you think. (Just look at all our horror stories when we had a "good" hybrid product!)

He's also pretty irked at GM for arriving last at the party with the worst product.

I have also heard from a friend of a friend that another recent purchaser was also incredibly displeased with his VUE, and returned it; though I don't have any details as they're not a personal acquantance of mine.

It does give pause to wonder. If I alone have heard of 3 returns, and over at GH, there's a few very unhappy owners, just how successful can it be? What kind of damage does it do to hybrids in general and GM in particular?

Probably not a lot to hybrids in general. But GM has an uphill battle now. One good thing that may come out of this is that they come up with something decent and give it away to try to regain consumer trust.

I'm thinking of the 1980's when GM offered passenger diesels very unsuccessfully. Did not hurt the reputation of European disels at all. ;)

I'm thinking of the 1980's when GM offered passenger diesels very unsuccessfully. Did not hurt the reputation of European disels at all. ;)

LOL, true, but there's still so much misinformation out there, there's still people who believe that if a shopping cart hits a parked hybrid, the result is equivalent to Hiroshima.

Not quite hiroshima, but if a shopping cart hits a parked
hybrid, the hybrid is totaled! [at least the costs reported
of minor body repairs make it seem that way..]
.
_H*

The TCH will TCB.

With the Camry as the best-selling family sedan, fuel-conscious people who bought the 4-cylinder in the past (and need more room or traditional design compared to the Prius) may give the Camry Hybrid a try, and consequently be very pleased. We can't be disappointed at some half-hearted attempts to increase SUV FE figures -- that market is very small compared to the Camry/Accord crowd. I wouldn't worry about it -- but I would be excited at what Toyota is bringing to the table.

RH77