Holy MPG Batman!!!

[imflyn]

Last week I took a road trip in my wife's Cobalt. It's a 5spd with the 2.2L and I couldn't believe myself when I calculated the gas mileage. The first tank was 39.8 mpg and the second was 38.6, and the second tank included some stop and go 'cause of traffic! So hybrids, you can kiss my butt. My hat's off to Chevy on this one!

[urstolendesire]

39.8 ....to my 17.3 wow, i shoulda bought one of those for a daily driver.

[ls1speedster]

Yea....well my trans am...

o average 17 on a good day...

but hey...i drive the hell out of it...

[stevenm357]

Wow!!! wonder how long it takes for that lil fella to pay for it's self at that price!!!

[ls1speedster]

gas is to damn expensive...3.19 in central illinois..thats 87 octane on up to 3.37 for 93

[joejenkinsglass]

to each his own I would rather get 5mpg with a v8

[ATCharming]

my moms cobalt has an average of 22mpg. thats fuckin bullshit!! some of the guys here are only gettin a couple mpgs than that. wtf

[Tommycat]

my moms cobalt has an average of 22mpg. thats fuckin bullshit!! some of the guys here are only gettin a couple mpgs than that. wtf

Tell your mom to lay off the lead foot haha... Are you going by the computer reading, or calculating miles traveled to gallons put in the tank.

You may also want to look at whether something is mechanically wrong. and is it a V6?

[imflyn]

to each his own I would rather get 5mpg with a v8

For normal driving I agree, but on a 900 mile road trip you can't beat it.

[imflyn]

Tell your mom to lay off the lead foot haha... Are you going by the computer reading, or calculating miles traveled to gallons put in the tank.

You may also want to look at whether something is mechanically wrong. and is it a V6?

I was calculating manually, but the computer was saying the same thing.

ATCharming, we have the 2.2 4cyl with the manual trans. What does you mom have?

P.S. I was running anywhere from 60 to 75 MPH depending on the speed limit.

[2000T/A Guru]

they dont make colbalts ina v6 and 93 octane is 3.65 here now.

[ATCharming]

i was goin off of the computers calculation... is that bad?

also its the 2.2, auto, but i dont think transmission would make THAT big of a difference. my mom drives like a grandma i swear.

[imflyn]

i was goin off of the computers calculation... is that bad?

also its the 2.2, auto, but i dont think transmission would make THAT big of a difference. my mom drives like a grandma i swear.

Well, I'd double check, but the computer seems pretty accuratein our car though. I'd try some routine maint. Airfilter, Chevron techron cleaner (the expensive stuff), fuel filter, oil change, and if that doesn't help IDK. If it's under warranty still have GM check her out cause I was getting that kinda mileage out of my ls1. I don't think we've ever seen under 30 mpg. An auto should only be maybe 2 mpg less than a 5spd if I had to guess. Good luck I hope you can figure out what's going on.

Oh yeah, the average gas mileage the 'puter gives is a building average since the last time it was reset. So if you haven't reset it since the car was new it's not a good indicator.

[ATCharming]

it should still be under warranty... so we can just go to the dealer and just be like "yo, my mpg sucks. tell me why"
basically...
?

[joejenkinsglass]

For normal driving I agree, but on a 900 mile road trip you can't beat it.

our trip vehicle is a yukon about 15mpg @80 or so

[Tommycat]

Some times I think we intentionally pick the WORST gas mileage vehicle for our road trips... Though admittedly it has made us stop at some really unusual towns....:cool2:

At any rate if you are getting only 22mpg out of a cobolt, something is seriously wrong... I can get nearly that out of my burb(if I baby it).

[djvaly]

I got a Suzuki Swift for daily driver, I pull 37mpg driving not too aggresively, but 35mpg when I floor it from lights and get on it often. good little $3k investment, I put in new 15'' black wheels and 15x245 Falken 512 tires, tint all around, 2900lbs, drives like a go cart. 80hp ;)

[BULLET_WS6]

our trip vehicle is a yukon about 15mpg @80 or so

you dont like the earth do you? its ok i dont either.. i eat through gas like all my other fellow muscle loving americans... i avg 12-14 mpg in my ls1... i rarely go slow, got the tickets to prove it

[joejenkinsglass]

you dont like the earth do you? its ok i dont either.. i eat through gas like all my other fellow muscle loving americans... i avg 12-14 mpg in my ls1... i rarely go slow, got the tickets to prove it

no I do like the earth but dont believe the b.s. about global warming one volcanic eruption puts more shit in the air than we ever could

[BULLET_WS6]

no I do like the earth but dont believe the b.s. about global warming one volcanic eruption puts more shit in the air than we ever could

yeah even if its true, im sure it wont happen for a ton more years

[Wesman]

i was goin off of the computers calculation... is that bad?

also its the 2.2, auto, but i dont think transmission would make THAT big of a difference. my mom drives like a grandma i swear.

Transmission makes a huge difference on economy cars. Manual transmissions are inherently more efficient, due to the fact they have less drivetrain loss, weight less overall, and have better gear ratios, plus a 5th gear.

When your dealing with a relatively small 4 cylinder engine, that the extra work it has to do to overcome the disadvantages of the automatic becomes rather important.

My family has an 03 Civic 5 speed, its managed as good as 42MPG on the highway. No way an automatic version of the same car would even come close to that.

[joejenkinsglass]

yeah even if its true, im sure it wont happen for a ton more years

acctually it does happen around the world but ohwell cant do anything about it

[BULLET_WS6]

:yup:acctually it does happen around the world but ohwell cant do anything about it

[Kjz99z28]

I got 28 mpg the other day on the highway in my Z. :shrug: I was pretty happy with it.

[ATCharming]

Transmission makes a huge difference on economy cars. Manual transmissions are inherently more efficient, due to the fact they have less drivetrain loss, weight less overall, and have better gear ratios, plus a 5th gear.

When your dealing with a relatively small 4 cylinder engine, that the extra work it has to do to overcome the disadvantages of the automatic becomes rather important.

My family has an 03 Civic 5 speed, its managed as good as 42MPG on the highway. No way an automatic version of the same car would even come close to that.

hmm.. yea obviously the transmission makes a difference, i just didnt think it made THAT big of a difference. thanks for the reply tho, i just learned that trannys do make a big difference

[jbb6811]

i was goin off of the computers calculation... is that bad?

also its the 2.2, auto, but i dont think transmission would make THAT big of a difference. my mom drives like a grandma i swear.

trannys do matter. my car (00 z28 m6)gets like 26mpg on the hwy. my freinds
00 auto z-28 gets like 18mpg . and that was running between 75-80mph

[imflyn]

trannys do matter. my car (00 z28 m6)gets like 26mpg on the hwy. my freinds
00 auto z-28 gets like 18mpg . and that was running between 75-80mph

I hope he had some serious mods, cause my a4 t/a got as high as 27mpg on the highway running around 70 - 75 mph with 3.23 gears. My Dad's z28 gets 28 on the highway with 2.73 gears. Trannies make a difference, but only a few mpg, not 10. Somethings up with that.

Charming - on chevy's website they say the 5spd gets 25 city/34 hwy mpg and the auto gets 24/32.

[ATCharming]

I hope he had some serious mods, cause my a4 t/a got as high as 27mpg on the highway running around 70 - 75 mph with 3.23 gears. My Dad's z28 gets 28 on the highway with 2.73 gears. Trannies make a difference, but only a few mpg, not 10. Somethings up with that.

Charming - on chevy's website they say the 5spd gets 25 city/34 hwy mpg and the auto gets 24/32.

ok thats what i was thinking. i really hope ur right

[Wesman]

ok thats what i was thinking. i really hope ur right

Those numbers are not accurate at all. Just so happens that the government tests suite the auto better than the manual version. They are actually reworking the fuel economy ratings so that they are more accurate for real world driving.

In real world driving, the manual will get better fuel economy 99% of the time. And its usually by at least a few MPG, with compact cars it tends to be even more.

[ATCharming]

yea... like i said i knew manuals got better gas mileage, i just didnt know it was such a dramatic difference

[ATCharming]

well... with gas prices where they are, i better learn to drive stick.

[TX_WS6_02]

I had the best gas mileage experience in my Trans Am this week. On my 1600 mile trip from VA to TX I consistently got over 26 MPG. My first tank I had the T-tops off and windows down and got 26.7MPG. My 4th fill up was a freak of nature though. Ran the A/C 75% of the time, raced a mustang twice, stuck in stop and go traffic twice for 10 minutes a pop, ran at 75-85 mph for a good majority of the time, and got 27.2 MPG!!! This was all on 93...

[ATCharming]

I had the best gas mileage experience in my Trans Am this week. On my 1600 mile trip from VA to TX I consistently got over 26 MPG. My first tank I had the T-tops off and windows down and got 26.7MPG. My 4th fill up was a freak of nature though. Ran the A/C 75% of the time, raced a mustang twice, stuck in stop and go traffic twice for 10 minutes a pop, ran at 75-85 mph for a good majority of the time, and got 27.2 MPG!!! This was all on 93...

god thats awesome!
i also went on a road trip in my moms cobalt. i drove like such a pussy, it got up to 47.5mpg. its an auto also!
(everyone was sleepin, so i needed somethin to do. i changed the digi. display to show me my current gas mileage and played around to get the highest possible)

[MYTFASTSS]

I drove a rental AT cobalt for 3 weeks. That little 2.2L is a tiger. averaged around 23-25MPG. Not the greatest gas Mileage though. Now, If it would have had the manual, not only would it have been a blast to drive, but I'm sure gas mileage would have been much better. The computer is off by a little. Mine was telling me I was averaging 28MPG.

BTW, The Auto shifter was junk. The rubber thing in the shifter indicator bunched up.