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Finally some miles on the Outlook

11K views 17 replies 5 participants last post by  lsuduke 
#1 ·
Well, I have finally gotten some miles under my belt ( about 1000) in the Outlook, all I can say is I love it. Had some recent need for 8 passenger transportation, and the Outlook handled it like a champ. Took it to my camp in the Southern tier of NY, about 1 hr away from home , took it to Batavia on my birthday , about halfway to Buffalo from here and, took the family and some friends to a Rochester Red Wings game the other night, wow was it cold... Anyway, the Outlook is to replace my wife's 05 Grand Caravan with 120K on it. So far no issues, other than it is hard to get into my 80plus year old garage, and I hope it stays that way. I love the Outlook and enjoy driving it almost as much as my Vue. Gotta say I love the site and check it every day to see what has been updated, and added. I want to know as much as I can about my Outlook because I do my own repairs on my vehicles when I can, and there are many of you who can share their knowledge with the rest of us, Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Glad to hear the Outlook is getting some miles under it...

As a Buffalo native now living in the Northeast, we use the '09 XR for the 750+ miles R/T to visit my parents in Buffalo throughout the year, typically for a long weekend, and the ride never disappoints.

How did you obtain your '10? I thought all of them were initially made for rental fleets.
 
#3 ·
yeah- he probably bought it used- ex rental...
as I too had read that all 2010's were rental only...
BUT- I have seen used 2010 Outlooks on delaer lots. (they are previous rentals).

Also- check the Traverse, Acadia, Enclave forums too.
Ive posted a few HOW TO threads over there that you may be interested in.
 
#4 ·
Yep, all the 2010 Outlooks were sold to as fleet vehicles (rentals). They started showing up at auction last summer and GM dealers started snatching them up and selling them Certified. I bought mine from the local Saturn dealer who was still open at the time. Was a heck of a deal compared to new or even similarly equipped used Traverse. Local Chevy dealer had a very similar 2010 Traverse 2LT for $35K and my Outlook XR was just under $30K. Acadias and Enclaves were even more.

Really love ours too, but I do miss the interior space of our Odyssey.
 
#5 ·
Yep was a rental ,out of Chicago just under 12 k miles when I got it , and the price was great for an AWD people mover compared to new. Was at local Chevy dealer had my XE and a red XR they bought from auction. The XR would have been nice but hat the beige interior, couldn't image what it would look like after one trip with the kids and the dog. So the XE worked well for my situation, paid under $25k for it, about 4k less than any other dealer around, all of which had higher miles or were a year or two older, and way less than a new Traverse or Acadia. Wife's not too keen on the interior space, she loves her Grand Caravan, she is concerned she won't have room when we go camping this year compared to what the van held. We shall see this summer, hopefully it will do what we need it too, if not I'll toss a hitch on there and carry the extra on a rack out back, then I can take it to tow my fishing boat.
 
#6 ·
lsuduke said:
Wife's not too keen on the interior space, she loves her Grand Caravan, she is concerned she won't have room when we go camping this year compared to what the van held...
Won't have room? She needs to adopt a more minimalist attitude when it comes to camping!

Or you can always order the roof crossbars and install a roof storage box, if absolutely necessary...
 
#7 ·
lsuduke said:
...Wife's not too keen on the interior space, she loves her Grand Caravan, she is concerned she won't have room when we go camping this year compared to what the van held. We shall see this summer, hopefully it will do what we need it too, if not I'll toss a hitch on there and carry the extra on a rack out back, then I can take it to tow my fishing boat.
I had an '05 Montana SV6 (extended body) and carry just as much "stuff" in my '09 Outlook. Some creativity is required in packing or re-packing to get the puzzle solved. If in doubt, hook up fishing boat and call it a day. :cheers:
 
#8 ·
Behind the third row, the Outlook is maybe 50% of the space of the Odyssey. On our last 1,200 mile round trip to my wife's family, we folded 2/3 of the third row and still had trouble finding room for what fit well in the Odyssey with all seats up. Check the stats on a new minivan vs. one of the Lambdas, minivans are much bigger inside.

The Outlook is an awesome vehicle and we like ours, but if we didn't have to tow a trailer, we'd have another Odyssey in a heartbeat. More space, better MPG, easier to drive and park.
 
#9 ·
salguod said:
Behind the third row, the Outlook is maybe 50% of the space of the Odyssey. On our last 1,200 mile round trip to my wife's family, we folded 2/3 of the third row and still had trouble finding room for what fit well in the Odyssey with all seats up. Check the stats on a new minivan vs. one of the Lambdas, minivans are much bigger inside.

The Outlook is an awesome vehicle and we like ours, but if we didn't have to tow a trailer, we'd have another Odyssey in a heartbeat. More space, better MPG, easier to drive and park.
Agreed, the Ody has a deeper or low floor area just in front of the gate. Stow-n-go model on the Dodge I think provides similar. They are pretty roomy.

Thankfully our family has outgrown the minivan phase of our lives and I'm glad to say that I will *never* be going back. Minivan's served us well over many years. Just don't want to 'go there' anymore. As you say... "The Outlook is an awesome vehicle and we like ours," I couldn't agree with you more. We REALLY like our Outlook.
 
#10 ·
I don't know if minimilism will work for our camping, (tent, supplies, fishing gear, kids stuff, dog and her stuff) but the overall space inside vs the minivan is much less , considering the length of hood on the lambda vs the van and the low flat floors with the stow and go, quite a bunch more room behind the 2nd and/or 3rd row. As far as the Montana space not even close to what you can cram in the back area in a Grand Caravan. Roof rack, not a great idea, wife is 5ft 2 she couldn't reach it , wouldn't be an issue for me at 6ft 6, but if she were to go alone, without a ladder she'd be out of luck, so the hitch rack is the only way to go for me. With my size I don't fit into many vans anyway, can't get my knees out of the dash without special accomodations and with the recent history I have had with Chrysler products, I'm not a fan anymore. Wife hates the new boxy style and people who own them have told me they are not as solid, well built and it doesn't have that solid feel of the older vans. Can't get into Odyssey, Sienna, Sedona, just not the room I need for me to be able to drive any distance at all. The brand new Sienna is really, close I could probably do it but for the extra cash , I'm good with what I got.
 
#11 ·
Well, I'm a huge fan of the minivan, the stigma doesn't bother me. Not when I can haul 40+ bags of mulch, 6 adults and weekend gear comfortably on a 6 hour road trip, the 5 of us + 4 bikes + camping gear + pop up trailer (that was a stretch), 2 love seats and average over 20 MPG over 9 years, all which I did with my Odyssey. The only thing that let me down with the Odyssey was the towing, which led me to the Outlook. 5,000+ lb towing with the promise of near minivan MPG (not realized) and class leading interior space made it the best choice for our needs.

What drives me a little nuts is taking a look under my Outlook. Seems like GM could have lowered the floor 3"-4" and changed nothing on the outside about the SUV look (and probably lost very little ground clearance) while gaining significant interior space. If they were willing to compromise just a little on styling and ground clearance, a 6" drop would have made for huge interior gains. Maybe that would have made it feel too van like and would have cost them sales, I dunno, I'm not in marketing, but it sure seems like there's a lot of air under this truck for no reason. ;D
 
#12 ·
You have not attained 20 MPG yet?

Hard to believe since im at 20.9 and im sitting in rush hr traffic.

I wonder if lowering the bottom- would compromise the rigidity of the platform (accidents?)...

Also- dont lose or remove that front air dam... the one way at the bottom of the bumper.
I saw a video- where a GM aerodynamic Engineer said that piece-- adds 1MPG to the vehicle.
 
#13 ·
I hit 22.6 with one tank on our big Thanksgiving trip, another was 21.7 and two tanks under 20 on the same trip. I was disappointed as it was the first road trip with no trailer, so I was looking to see what it would do. To date my average is 17.7, but it spends most of its miles in town and most of the road trip miles have been with the camper and 4 bikes on the roof. Best towing MPG I've gotten is 15, I think.
 
#14 ·
I wonder if youre seeing what I experienced.
Loaded- 5 passengers, cargo bag, and hitch rack- Los Angeles to Florida. the best of 23.x MPG. About 5 tanks at 22.x +

On the way back- its like we were fighting the wind. Only 1 tank yielded 23.x. the rest were lower--- with 1 tank yielding 18.x
But definitely noticed the wind headed back.
 
#15 ·
We were loaded - 5 of us and gear plus the dog :D - but the two high tanks, one was the way out the other the way back.

I did notice one tank in my records showing 25.8, but I think there's a missing tank or an typo as it's 475 miles when all the other tanks are 360 or less.
 
#16 ·
how many miles on your 2010 now?

Ive alreay changed out my air filter and run a bottle of techron- and cleaned the throttle body.
Im at about 31,500
 
#17 ·
Just at 33K, they're piling up fast. :-\
 
#18 ·
At just under 13k now, haven't checked the mileage, changed the oil with Royal Purple and gave it the once over, still want to do some looking under it, but the temp outside is too cold ( wont get out of the 40's and rainy for weeks now) to be rolling around under it for any amount of time. Maybe this weekend, they are calling for the mid sixties, should be good enough. I am really hoping to see 23+ mpg on par with the minivan. I know what you mean about the utility of the van, it is very practical and can haul quite a bit, when it's gone I'm gonna miss the ability to throw 4x8 sheets of anything in it and shut the rear door , it was great when I did some remodeling around the house. Dropping the bottom of the Outlook would add to the interior space, trying to get away from that minivan look ( stigma) would be my guess. I had heard comments like that before on why other companies killed their minivans. Stigma of the minivan never bothered me either, it fit the bill for my growing family and had the utility I was looking for at the time.
 
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