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Comments
For about the last 1500 miles I have kept track of the milage. It running about 23.5 mpg in mixed driving. I am going to change to synthetic real soon. I want to see if it does affect the mileage.
I have a theory that mileage could be a little low due to high oil viscosity. It takes forever to throughly heat, and thus thin, 7 qts. of oil. It may never make it at very low temps. I purchased Quaker State. It has a lower viscocity at low temps. I will report.
Tom
Not to mention the engine will run quieter and smoother, plus start better in extremely cold weather. We had a few days of -40 degrees celsius this winter and it was no problem starting my car after sitting all day outside in that temperature.
After 9000 miles and a recent mass air flow sensor replacement, the Verona rides smooth and without any problems. I replaced my wipers with bosch excel. They are good. I will be changing oil soon and am filling Mobil-1 synthetic (5W30). Will let you know the details. I have noticed a bacteria build up on the AC condensor by the smell. After you switch off the AC and just operate the fan, you get a bad musty smell. On operating the blower fan the smell subsides when the AC coils dry off. Is there any way you can kill this smell other than the blower? Any spray? etc?. I would also like to know if your dealers strictly follow the maintenance schedule items as stated on the user manual. For example..for severe driving conditions..the manual recommends flushing the brake fluid and refill through the lines at 7500 miles. My dealer tells me that this will be costly and because the brake fluid was still good this was not needed.
There are similar items. What do you feel on this members?
Will keep you posted.
Good luck to all.
Thanks
Good Luck
Thanks for your reply
CC
They should be here in 3 weeks so I will let you know how they look on the Verona.
My mileage for the trip was 27.5 and it was alot of mountain driving with the air conditioning.
No standard sunroof on the LX or I would have already made the leap.
sschriber, yes the deals look great. But my suggestion is that it would be wise to check the history sheet especially about the maintenance and recall items attended. Questions like ...was the ECM replaced?. Was any sensor replaced?. What kind of oil was used?. Was it changed frequently?. Does it perform well after all the replacements?.
ccblloom...I washed the car in the air intake area and the smell seems to have subsided. Very good suggestion ccbloom..thanks. I have yet to have a soap/water mix added and wash it. All I did was to use the car wash soap and rinse in that area and that has helped.
Thank You ccbloom.
If you need to follow the severe service maintenance and are concerned about the brake fluid, look into synthetic brake fluid. You might be able to flush fluid once and be done with it.
Tom
I will be changing to synthetic mobil 1 oil on wed. Verona is running fine, but the gas mileage is not great as I drive in stop and go situations.
and finally realized they made a mistake according to Suzuki and they
changed the oil to the 5W30 at their expense. Needless to say I go
other places now. Has anyone had wheel alignment problems? All except
the left rear was out of alignment and only about 12K miles.
Veronaowner, Ken
My first observations after changing over to 5W30 mobil 1 synth.: The car is much quieter, smoother. No Vibrations felt on idling. Its more fun to ride. Looks great so far. I bought the oil myself and asked the dealer to install the oil filter and replace the oil while he did the 18 month check up and service.
I will keep you posted.
Comments ?
I have seen lots of problems and but I don't know if I will make a decision to purchase the Chevy Epica or Volkswagon's Passat in China. Pls give me some idea before I make my final decision next week.
Thanks,
But I've already purchased one; I'll just have to make sure I don't get in a crash, eh? With the excellent steering and brakes, I'm pretty sure I can do my part...not much I can do about the other drivers on the road.
This is one thing Suzuki will have to fix to get me to buy a Suzuki on my next purchase.
Epica originated from Daewoo's Magnus in 2002. Since then, GM bought the Korea automaker and make some of her models into the Chevrolet's brand name.
The US version is under Suzuki's Verona, the Canandian and European version is under Chevrolet's Epica.
They are similar but not the same. In US or Europe, it has 2.5L 6 cylinder both Stick and automatic shift. In China, it has only 4 cylinders 2.0L sedan automatic.
Before I decide to buy this car, I have chosen Volkswagen Passat, Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla. However, I am very disappointed for the above 4 famous names in China:-
Volkswagon's Passat has both 2.0, 1.8T and 2.8V6 version. The price for 2.0 is 22771US. 1.8T is 25180UD, 2.8V6 is 38554US. 2.0 is within my budget but the details is terrible, SOHC 2 valves engine + manual shift. 10 years old engine is still selling in China from Volks. Might be some of you have not even heard about sohc , single overhead craft engine with only 2 valves instead of the current common 16 valves.
Honda Accord is good but the price is 24096usd which is also out of budget.
Toyota Corolla is the famous car that meets my budget but comes to China with different configuration. The fundermental one is without leather seat and not evan the front reading lamb. The price is 16843usd and the tire has been changed to the R195 one which is awful small because it suppose to be R205. I have seen it remove lots of inside option such as cruise, automatic aircon, sunroof. I like this car but I don't like Toyota have the Chinese version with the price tag as 16843 to 21108.
I heard lots of bad news from Edmund's web site about the Suzuki's Verona and the comment such as "not recommed to buy". However, the cost/performance in China today, Epica is the best of the choice and I decided to take the "risk" to try this car. This is the reason why I choose Epica finally for the price I paid 19927us.
I drove for couple hours since I got the car today. For last 2 hours city drive, the car is quiet, stable, and of course it is not very powerful due to 2.0L 4 Cylinder's hp. However, I am very satisfy for my drive.
I will continue to share my experience if this forum will be kept active about my experience with Chevy's Epica in future.
I am however, having issues with my MPG. I've put 676 miles on it and my MPG average in the city is 15.5 and my average on the highway is 19.5. This is far from the 20 city / 27 highway I was expecting. I try to keep electrical use (except radio) to a minimum...but still poor MPG. With gas at $2.30 a gallon this car will cost me $500 more a year than I expected!!!!
I've read the posts about not using 10W-30 and using 5W-30 oil. But how do I know what kind of oil I currently have in the car?
Any other suggestions on how to get better mileage?
1. Tire pressure OK?
2. Emergency brake FULLY off?
3. Driving in D (not 3)!
Electrical use shouldn't affect the mileage. I drive with the air on almost all the time. If it is not one of these basic problems, you should start looking for a sticky brake caliber or a bad O2 sensor. Are you at high altitude?
Once again, the mileage should slowly and steadily improve as your new "tight" engine starts breaking in. Also, my service advisor has told me that many customers reported better mileage after their first oil change. Good luck!
I have also discovered a problem with some gasoline. I was burning Shell regular in it. I began to notice that the engine was hesitating at very low throttle position. I mean like right off the stop. I didn't notice this until after I changed to synthetic. Possible the lowered friction meant that I was now using this position instead of just throttling right past it. I switched to Phillip/Conoco, and it's gone. No mileage figure yet.
As far as oil viscosity, Suzuki has issued a maintenance advisory emphasizing the use of 5W-30 with 10W-40 as the only acceptable alternative. That makes no sense to me, but hey I always use 5W-30 anyway. I have used 5W-30 in other engines for many years, when recommended by the manufacturer. It works fine, and saves gas.
Tom
Tom