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Dodge Caliber MPG-Real World Numbers

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Comments

  • lexan1965lexan1965 Member Posts: 118
    Well...there was a time when I thought I'd get no better than the 27.3 average I was getting. As soon as the engine hit 17K miles I've started getting 29 to 30 mpg on the car now. I've used synthetic oil since the first oil change also. Perhaps the engine has got 'broke' in a bit...I don't know but I'm happy with my mpg.
  • lexan1965lexan1965 Member Posts: 118
    Update on mpg...my last 3 tanks of gas have given me 28.9, 30.1, and 28.9 mpg. 2.0 w cvt 17K miles. I drive 38 miles one way to work, about 70% hwy. miles.
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    Well, i'm disappointed. "world engine" and "cvt" hype is all it is. I know of some 8 cylinder vehicles can do as well as 27mpg, 6 cylinder cars and trucks that get up to 30mpg highway Not epa estimate, actual real world. SO when my lease is up in two years they can have their Caliber back and I'll be driving a Honda. :P
  • lexan1965lexan1965 Member Posts: 118
    well...as far as that goes I'll probably be driving a honda/toyota when this car is paid off also. gas will only go up in price, no telling what it'll be in 3 or 4 years!
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    i'VE HEARD a rumor the 2009 toyota Prius III might get close to that 100mpg mark???

    otherwise there seems to be a conspiracy in this nation to keep cars using as much fuel as possible. How do you explain the disappearance of the 1984 honda crx 1.3 that got 70mpg ????? (about the time the republicans slapped import tariffs on the more fuel efficient imports) And the current failure of US automakers to provide desireable and fuel efficient vehicles? Why is it only Honda and Toyota can break the 40mpg barrier???
  • faroutfarout Member Posts: 1,609
    There is a conspiracy! The corn farmers are attempting to make foreign oil illegal, and then raise the price so high we will be happy to buy oil for $200. a barrel. Except it's the democrats who are secretly putting up big money to buy up all the farm land, so they can to grow even more corn.
    The real reason "Watergate" happened is that the republicans were trying to find out, why the democrats were buying up so much farm land.
    The real huge plot is by the spinach growers. They have been able to make the American public believe that we Americans like spinach and that it is good for us. Basically spinach is a weed, that has a secret power to shape our thinking to vote for democrats! It's all a huge conspiracy!

    Farout
  • PF_FlyerPF_Flyer Member Posts: 9,372
    Let's stick to the Caliber here and leave the consipracy stuff for some of those "other places" online. ;)
  • lexan1965lexan1965 Member Posts: 118
    Yesterdays fill up I got 32 mpg!
  • bigtsrbigtsr Member Posts: 149
    My 2.0 CVT is delivering Transport Canada milage estimates
    right on the spot 29-30 city and 38-40 highway,no complaints
    at 2000km,no noises, no leaks and I have adapted to the cvt
    or it has adapted to me.
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    I admit I'm getting 27mpg, right in the middle of what it's claimed to get- 26-30. BUt I woulnt be happy with any car that gets less than 40mpg right now realizing this is the 21st century and wondering where the real technology is at we should all be getting at least 200mpg or not using gas at all.
  • pacermanpacerman Member Posts: 62
    2.0, CVT, 9000 miles ...30 MPG combined Canadian. 1900 miles on a two week holiday,2 people and luggage, 70% highway @ 55-70 mph. Calculated manually. :lemon:
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    I suspect as word gets around that these Caliber are not fuel efficient the popularity of them will die rapidly. Esp with the guzzling RT 4wd versions.Chrysler should have spent more $ on the "world engine". :lemon:
  • lexan1965lexan1965 Member Posts: 118
    Yeah, the Caliber does not get great gas mileage. Before you bought the car you knew that, so why complain about it now? I also wanted a car that got 40 mpg and I bought the Caliber anyway because it was different. I knew that I was'nt going to get anything over 30mpg with it and I've accepted that. As I said in an ealier post my next vehicle will be one that does get 40mpg or better. Hopefully by then Ford, Chevy and DCX will get their acts together and offer better fuel efficient vehicles. Until then, live with what you have! ;)
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    Why did I pick Caliber? There were very few Caliber out there at the time and seeing as how a 2.0 ltr engine will get 35 mpg or better in other cars why wouldn't the 2.0 "world engine" and "high tech" CVT ??? The epa numbers are never accurate. Anyway, the Caliber seems like it will be great in the snow, lots of ground clearance. And I only signed a two year lease not knowing if there would be any gas to fuel it by the time I paid off a 5 year loan. AND hoping that in two years the 100mpg vehicles would be available finally.
  • iluvmysephia1iluvmysephia1 Member Posts: 7,709
    will probably never be available.

    2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick

  • mke188mke188 Member Posts: 1
    this is mke188 i have new 2007 dodge caliber sxt,2.0 i am lucky to get 25mpg on my, i don't know what the problem is so i am going to take it back to dealer have checked. I noticed other people with caliber's are having better mpg then me so I think it might be a defect in engine, you might want to have your vehicle checked as well.
  • bigtsrbigtsr Member Posts: 149
    I don't know if you are in the US but if the 25mpg is all
    city driving that's about what the published estimates
    said,however if that's long highway run then you have
    a legitimate complaint regarding mpg.
    I have a heavy foot and I consistently get 25mpg/US gallon
    or 30mpg/CAN gallon in 95% city driving.
  • faroutfarout Member Posts: 1,609
    mke188: Welcome to the forum! What you are experiencing is "typical". This is what DCX will tell you. There are several things they will tell you. What kind of gas are you using? How many miles are on the car? Do you drive up hills most of the time? Have you checked your tire pressure, and air filter? Are you carrying a lot of passengers? Are you in heavy traffic going or coming?
    he list of possible reasons are quite a few. As long as you vehicle is getting the lower mpg as on the factory sticker, that's all they will work with you to archive.
    The caliber is a rather heavy vehicle, and perhaps DCX over stated what you can expect to get in mpg.

    Farout
  • lexan1965lexan1965 Member Posts: 118
    filled up this morning and got 31.1 mpg.
  • lexan1965lexan1965 Member Posts: 118
    Ok...it's been a month now and after 8 tanks of gas I've averaged out at 29.9 mpg for the month with a 2.0 CVT2.
  • jessejames2jessejames2 Member Posts: 12
    Tells you what the average is in big numbers on the MSRP sticker, never said it would get 40.

    30 mpg is still not that bad, could be better but not bad and the car is reasonbly priced. Overall a decent car, i like mine
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    30 not that bad? in the 21st century??
    window sticker: "epa mileage may vary". My 2000 stratus epa numbers says 18 city 24 highway, I get 27 to 28. my 1995 Merc Villager sticker; 16 city, 21 highway, I get 24. perhaps the reason vehicles are not getting more efficient is because nobody compains? or is the planet running out of oxygen? or is it my imagination the OPEC just cut oil production to keep prices high? now that we're used to $2 a gallon we'll never see it less than that, but they will push toward $5 someday... and the automakers continue to produce mediocre engines as cheap and inefficient as possible. :mad:
  • litesong1litesong1 Member Posts: 39
    Bought the 2 liter SE w/CVT EPA rated at 26 & 30MPG. First tank over backcountry hilly roads gave 33.7MPG. A second short tank with intown & rural driving gave 28MPG. A third tank over 4000' mountain passes gave 32.9MPG. I'm a good feather foot, urging my past 2 carbureted econo boxes to highs of 50+ & 53MPG. In heavier traffic it might be v. hard to meet EPA ratings tho. I'll get more miles on my Caliber & report later.
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    I have tried driving featherfoot. I get 27mpg. I drive leadfoot. I get 27 mpg. kind of a good thing, I can have a little fun without worrying I'm going to guzzle. you should see my log book where I keep track of my mileage; 27,27, 27, 27, 27, 27 ect...
  • litesong1litesong1 Member Posts: 39
    I wonder if your definition of featherfoot is NOT my definition of featherfoot. With the big rigs trying to rub the letters off the rear license plate of featherfooters, & make us speed up, it takes the right spirit to oppose the seemingly reasonable adage, "go with the flow". My spirit says the planet has already taken too much from polluters. Conversely, my spirit also appreciates the technologies that have developed so we may know more & do more than we did yesterday. Therefore, I must not squandor given resources. I place before myself the knowledge that 40MPG is better than 20MPG...that I must learn to use 1 gallon of gas instead of 2, to go from point a to point b...& better yet to use half a gallon. I must not let tailgaters dictate my fuel consumption. I must cast the lead off my foot, & drive with knowledge & lightness across the land. I seem to get better MPG than the average Caliber driver, altho that may be of easier driving conditions. But those in the worst MPG driving conditions are in the best position to save the most fuel & apply stewardship to the earth. Some drivers answer with a hybrid car. Good for them. Other drivers cannot afford hybrids. Good for them. Let them learn to be gentle on the gas pedal, so their auto's impact on the earth might be gentler than yesterday.
  • dwadedwade Member Posts: 3
    I will edit this post when I make incremental measurements while my new Cal 2.0 CVT SXT is breaking in and warming up over the first year or so...Florida, 30%hwy/70%city commuting basis.

    1st tank from 67 miles to 345 miles = 22.3 MPG. 9/29/06
    4th tank from 1001 miles to 1301 miles = 25.03 MPG 10/18/06
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    My def of featherfoot is driving like a grampa, eazing my speed gently up to 55, nor accelerating uphill. I let the fools race past as they accellerate at nearly full throttle, stupidly in a hurry to get to work???? who wants to get to work sooner? Let them guzzle, I drive my way and try not to let them kill me. I get 27 mpg no matter how gentle I am with the gas. I drive mostly rural on hills and curves up to 55mph. Those who are getting over 30mpg, what grade/brand of gasoline are you using?
  • habalanchehabalanche Member Posts: 57
    I only have a little over a 1000 miles on my R/T and have yet to take it on a HWY trip above 100 miles,but this thing is a pig on gas at around 18 -19 MPG.Iexpected a lot better but with all of the nice features I got for the price(Ilove the heated leather seats) I paid I'm still happy.I have always had 4WD trucks so I am still getting better MPG than I ever did before.
  • litesong1litesong1 Member Posts: 39
    To jhknight...I drive like you. Don't know why there is such a variance in MPG from Caliber to Caliber. I feather footed a Plymouth Champ & Ford Festiva to highs of 50+mpg & averages of 42 & 45mpg. The reported low MPG from many owners here is why I almost didn't buy the Caliber. I still commute with my Festiva saving the Caliber for pleasure. Recently, I had quite a bit of heavy intown driving that gave 27.5mpg. So commuter traffic would kill my Caliber, just like so many others here. However, on hilly roads(33.5mpg) & 4000'mountain passes(32mpg), the CVT is putting on a good show. Sure, my econoboxes give better mileage, but they also struggled up the mountains. The Caliber CVT takes mountains sweet & easy. Just took a lowland trip with 2 full cooldowns & 1 partial cool down that turned in 34.9mpg.

    I wonder if the air-fuel ratio should be adjusted on some Calibers with low MPG. My Caliber with just 2000 miles shows no blackening on the tail pipe end which would indicate that my air-fuel ratio is not running over rich. An aside:while running thru the mountains & returning to sealevel, my Caliber bucked hard accelerating from a stop & my engine check light lit up. The Dodge dealer said another Caliber came in with the same problem. The dealer said the return to sea level made the oxygen sensor think the Caliber was too rich(when it was not), & adjusted the air-fuel ratio even leaner causing the bucking. A reprogramming & my Caliber runs nice once again. Anyhow, this aside confirms that my air-fuel ratio was right before the mountains & also now, after the reprogram. Those people with low mileage, check your tailpipes. If they are black, your air-fuel ratio may be too rich(& maybe affecting your mileage?). But don't lean your air-fuel ratio too much or you can burn up your engine. I just came across a website that could help you if your air-fuel ratio is wrong. The website is bobblick.com. Click on the green TECH REF. Next page, click on programs. Next page, scroll down to oxygen sensors. For most people, just go to your dealer parts & service & ask about air-fuel mixtures. Hope they don't give too many song & dance stories. :D
  • lexan1965lexan1965 Member Posts: 118
    Just went over 22K miles on my Caliber, getting 30 mpg with my 2.0 cvt. Still waiting for K&N to come out with an air filter for it though!
  • dwadedwade Member Posts: 3
    Replying to my own message...(cant edit)

    I will edit this post when I make incremental measurements while my new Cal 2.0 CVT SXT is breaking in and warming up over the first year or so...Florida, 30%hwy/70%city commuting basis.

    1st tank from 67 miles to 345 miles = 22.3 MPG. 9/29/06
    4th tank from 1001 miles to 1301 miles = 25.03 MPG 10/18/06
    8th tank from 2611 miles to 2901 miles = 25.64 MPG 11/09/06
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    I have until now been recording a reliable 27 mpg. last two tanks; 26, and 25 mpg. :( NOT happy... current miles; 4800 running 87 octane with 10% ethanol. :mad:
  • moparfamilymoparfamily Member Posts: 3
    Hi all, I'm new to this group. My husband and I own a small courier company and we bought a Caliber in May of this year. I already have 22,000+ miles on it. I average 250 miles of driving a day. We have been averaging 22 to 25 mpg. At first we went as low as 19 mpg. Then my husband had them put synthetic oil and it boosted our mpg a little. The service manager of the dealer we go through took our car home to see if he got the low mileage as well, he was very disappointed when he noticed he did. Apparently, they are not getting the mileage that they had hoped they would. Other than mileage, I love my car!
  • nonnemachernonnemacher Member Posts: 98
    I have had several four cylinder cars over the last 15 years. All of them have had 16-valve engines and automatic transmissions. I live in a town of about 30,000 people and nearly ALL of my driving is cold start trips of less than 5 miles where I never exceed 50 mph. I have never achieved the EPA city rating in this kind of driving.

    Currently, I have about 8K on my Caliber SXT CVT and I get 24 mpg, just under the 26 "advertised." I have taken two highway trips that netted 31 mpg and 32 mpg.

    Oddly, the only time I have beaten the EPA city rating was when driving a 1989 Dodge Dakota four-cylinder 5-speed to deliver pizzas...talk about hard miles. I think 8-valve engines are much more stingy in city driving than the 16-valve engines everybody is using these days for performance. Of course, a manual transmission, might help too.

    Yes, I'd like better MPG, but the combination of style, performance, and safety for the price paid, can't be beat on the Caliber. The heavier Caliber should prove good in the snow too - at least better than most lightweight imports that might boast better MPG.

    Keep driving... :)
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    Quick comment on snow; we recently had a 6 inch snowfall, heavy wet stuff. The Caliber handled it as well as the mini van it replaced. the tall tires and extra ground clearance do work. And the ABS brakes work great too.
  • calibreathcalibreath Member Posts: 22
    I have the 2.0 CVT, first 200 miles of driving with speed control at 70-75 mph i got 24mpg hope it gets better, but i love the car. :shades:

    Calibreath
  • jessejames2jessejames2 Member Posts: 12
    Every vehicle will vary a bit and most people on here it sounds like do not have very many miles, sometimes the mileage will improve when everything looses up or breaks in, usually after 10,000 miles is when that happens
  • micwebmicweb Member Posts: 1,617
    It's the size, weight, and acceleration.

    I went out to see the Fit, Yaris, and Versa this weekend.

    Last weekend I revisited the Focus (sedan and hatchback) and my current commuter vehicle is a Cobalt.

    THE CALIBER IS THE LARGEST, MOST FUNCTIONAL VEHICLE IN THE GROUP.

    The Focus is second best in terms of size and usable space, but a lot lighter, not as solid. The Cobalt is a little behind the Focus in terms of interior room.

    The Fit and Yaris apparently get great gas mileage, but their size is a joke. Sure they look nice when new and get sexy gas mileage, but in reality they are not much bigger than the GM Metro's and Suzuki Swifts we laugh at today. The Versa is a little bigger, but not by much, but has a real cheap feel to it. People on the Versa boards complain about 22-25 mpg with the Versa, so gas mileage isn't only a Caliber issue; and the Versa is a lot smaller and lighter.

    SO you can buy a "real" car (a lot bigger) - and get hammered on gas mileage - or downsize slightly but keep most of the functionality of the mid-sized car with the Caliber - and you'll get good gas mileage (most people here report about 25 mpg with a few reporting upper 20's. Your gonna have to seriously downsize to get the last 5-7 mpg of gas mileage to give you bragging rights, though, and I don't think its worth it in terms of long-term utility of the vehicle or saftey.

    Like many of you, I wish the Caliber got the mileage of the Yaris and Fit, but it looks like King Kong when parked next to them. That's why it gets less mileage. BUT the mileage still beats almost all SUV's and cars....

    (Oh yeah, acceleration - I DO get 35 mpg with my stick shift Cobalt - but that is on a long freeway commute using all the gas saving tricks I learned from Popular Mechanics and my dad years ago. AND the Cobalt is a lot smaller than the Caliber, check it out for yourself and you'll see what I mean. IF you have a leadfoot and insist on V-8 acceleration in your compact car, you'll never get compact car mileage. I KNOW how much more quickly other drivers pull away from me at lights, and how hard they have to slam on their brakes at the next stoplight because they don't coast down. The great American leadfoot is the single biggest factor in not making EPA rated gas mileage - that and the fact that you don't drive stick shifts. :P )
  • drive62drive62 Member Posts: 637
    I went out to see the Fit, Yaris, and Versa this weekend.

    I recently started comparing some of the smaller vehicles in preparation for purchasing a vehicle for my wife. BTW where are the comparo threads for the Caliber vs. ....? Is it not comparable to anything?

    The Fit and Yaris apparently get great gas mileage, but their size is a joke.

    THE CALIBER IS THE LARGEST, MOST FUNCTIONAL VEHICLE IN THE GROUP.

    That's not what I seem to be finding. I guess some of it will have to do with one's definition of "largest".

    The Caliber is about 16" longer in length than the Fit, but the inside measurements are fairly close. In fact the Fit has more front head and legroom than the Caliber. Second row is pretty close as well. The Fit also has more cargo volume. I haven't looked at the Yaris or the others you mentioned but I imagine the results will be similar.

    For safety I do have concerns about the Fit being such a small vehicle, but the interior room advantages make me think twice.
  • jim314jim314 Member Posts: 491
    At 350 lb if you are in a front seat and rear-ended even medium-hard, your seat back would probably break and collapse on whomever is sitting behind you. See here.

    As far as know the best seats made are by Saab and Mercedes; possibly Volvo seat backs would not collapse, but I once saw a ~2000 Volvo wagon in the Dallas auto pound with a partially collapsed seat back. The rear end was crushed almost all the way to the back seat back.

    I once observed a group of lawyers and investigators at a Chrysler dealership watch while a Chrysler tech removed the rear seatback from a Ram extended cab pickup. The truck had been rear ended, the driver's seat back had failed and the driver's head had struck the back of the rear seat. The tech cut away the cover and foam from a marked area on the rear seat back and the metal mesh at that point was deformed, presumably by the driver's head. The tech I was standing next to told me that it was either fatal or paralyzing to the driver. I scanned the faces of the investigators when the deformed mesh was exposed and some of them got very grim expressions; others' expressions suggested to me that they thought their side in litigation would be helped by this finding.
  • vocsvocs Member Posts: 7
    Hi

    I read you posting about the Caliber and you referred to a check engine light problem. What are you referring to. We bought our caliber about 6 weeks ago and its got 1800 miles on it and tonight out of no where the check engine light came on. We have a lot of traveling to do over the holiday and I'm concerned. What do you know? Should I not drive the car. Obviously I can't get it to a dealer until after Christmas.
  • bigtsrbigtsr Member Posts: 149
    I saw your post and thought I would mention that the
    check engine light can be as simple as a gas cap not
    tightened properly in any case if you turn the car
    off and the light is gone generally it's nothing to
    warrant immediate action.
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    and if it was a loose gas cap the Caliber will tell you with a message in the odometer readout...

    and at 6000+ miles the MPG has gotten worse; a steady 25mpg. I am looking at replacing the *%*%* !! gas PIG thing with something a bit easier on my conscience!
  • micwebmicweb Member Posts: 1,617
    Are your trips less than 10 miles?

    How many minutes per week (not miles) on city streets vs. minutes on the freeway in free flowing traffic?

    You may be a "city mileage" driver without knowing it.

    You have to look at minutes, not miles - for example, I have a 30 mile mostly free flowing freeway commute, I drive 70 on the freeway, yet my average speed per the trip computer is only 34 mph. This means the time spent on surface streets to get on the freeway and off really drag down my average speed, even though they are a short distance, and hence really impact my mileage.

    Another example. My wife gets 14 mpg in our '06 Impala, with short city drives. Yet when the whole family and luggage was loaded in and I took in on a 800 mile round trip to L.A. from San Francisco, we got 27 mpg. That's how much city driving can kill mileage.

    FOR YOUR ACTUAL DRIVING PROFILE you might be getting great mileage. Usually when people report unusually high or low mpg, it relates more to driving conditions than anything else. I'd like to say some drivers take it easier on jack rabbit starts than others, or don't tailgate which involves braking/speeding up/braking cycles, but in reality nowadays most drivers fall into the "bad driver" category, which is why the EPA is revising mileage charts down in 2008.

    Take consolation. If you are getting 25 mpg in the Caliber odds are you'd be getting much less in an SUV or full size car. Conversely, if you drastically downsized to a Toyota Yaris you'd probably only pick up 3 mpg.
  • micwebmicweb Member Posts: 1,617
    BTW, here are the Consumer Report's gas mileage estimates on their sample SXT with CVT (automatic):

    CU's overall mileage, mpg 24
    CU's city/highway, mpg 17/32
    CU's 150-mile trip, mpg 29

    CR's actually uses a metering device to monitor fuel usage, which is much more accurate than "refill and calculate." Note that steady state highway cruising is 32 mpg, quite good, but that even the small amount of surface street driving that goes with a 150 mile road trip drags the mileage down to 29. The greatest variance is the CR city figure, 17 mpg, vs. the EPA city mileage.

    The way I read CR mileage results in trying to predict my own mileage is to look at the highway and city figures. It's almost impossible to hit CR's highway figures, but if I tanked up and drove to L.A. and refilled on empty I would probably come close. In other words, their highway number is the upper limit.

    The city number tells you how much the city component of your driving will drag down your overall figure. If it's low, like the 17 mpg for the Caliber, city driving will really penalize you.

    Of course the funny part is that your 25 mpg is very close to CR's mixed use driving, actually 1 mpg better. Nothing "bad" going on there....
  • jhknightjhknight Member Posts: 46
    in answer, I drive 17 miles to work, 17 miles back home, country driving no faster than 55mph with no traffic, no stop & go, no excuses. My previous vehicle- a 95 merc villager minivan- got 24mpg under these conditions. My other car is a 2000 Stratus 2.4 4cyl gets 27mpg. The Caliber uses a brand new engine obviously under-engineered for efficiency. This thing is a 2007 model and no effort was made to improve on the status quo of mpg. C'mon folks, this is the 21st century! We should all be mad as hell that the automakers are deliberately manufacturing inefficient vehicles! If I'm getting 25 mpg for a compact car I might as well be getting 18 in a small truck, at least I could haul something. Actually some chevy S10 pickups get close to 30 mpg!!! why oh why didn't I get one of those? (because those 30 mpg trucks are helpless in snow)
  • micwebmicweb Member Posts: 1,617
    Then under the circumstances you describe (27 mpg with the 2000 Stratus 4 cylinder) I totally agree your mileage is disappointing - I only hope I'm luckier with my new 1.8 5 speed....
  • lexan1965lexan1965 Member Posts: 118
    I've just gone over 26K miles in my SXT w 2.0 CVT2. I'm averaging just under 30 mpg going to and from work which is 80 miles a day round trip. I'm still very pleased with the cars performance. K&N has just come out with an oil filter for the Caliber with an air filter coming soon. I'm waiting to see how much of a difference that will make.
  • micwebmicweb Member Posts: 1,617
    My driving pattern on the first tank:

    1. 80 mile free flowing freeway ride home from dealer.
    2. Surface trips the next day - Christmas shopping etc.
    3. Mixed local freeway and surface trips the next day.
    4. Two days of 70 mile free flowing (it's quiet this week) freeway commute to work.

    312.4 miles on trip odometer, 10.697 gallons put in, 29.20 calculated mileage.

    I think the dealer did a good job of topping this tank off at delivery - the "catch" for the pump nozzle is high in the filler spout, so even without topping off the tank fills very full on level ground. When I went to top it off on my refill this morning, it hardly took any more gas than the "automatic" fill put in. (My "top off" technique is the one recommended in Ford's owner manuals - shove the nozzle in far and then partially squeeze the handle to let in more gas. Pushing the nozzle in as far as possible is critical to prevent an overfill that could swamp your vapor recovery system or even spill on the ground or side or your car.)

    I think this is a pretty accurate reading. Based on this reading, I expect 30-32 mpg on our trip to L.A. this weekend (far fewer surface street miles than this first tank, but higher freeway speeds) and 29-30 mpg on my commute (fewer surface street miles than this first tank, but after the holiday there will be a return of the "slow and go" sections I encounter on the freeway on my commute).

    We'll see how good my crystal ball is - I'll report back periodically. At first I want to drive the Caliber on my "commute" cycle with no weekend family trips that bring down the mileage with surface streets, so I can compare mileage with my Chevy Cobalt (which started at 34-35 when the economy was slower and I wasn't taking an exercise class a mile from home after work, but has dropped to 33-34 as traffic has gotten heavier and I started my class). Then I'll switch to a pattern duplicating the former PT Cruiser usage (only one freeway commute a week, weekends hauling family) to see how the mileage compares to the PT on that more grueling pattern.

    The Ford Focus stick shift I had got 32-33 on my commute; the Cobalt is getting 33-34; so I'd say this larger, family oriented "cross-over" is doing quite well indeed. It's certainly no gas-guzzling PT!
  • micwebmicweb Member Posts: 1,617
    Although my mpg on my previous report are in-line with my long road trip mileage, I think there is potentially a lot of tank-to-tank fill variation, since the mpg numbers below represent very similar high-speed freeway driving, and I don't think the actual mpg varied so much as my fill-ups were varying. Anyway, here is the L.A. road trip report:

    Tank #1, from Oakland to Kettleman City along 5 at 75-80 mph: 28.52 mpg, after filling up in Oakland first.

    Tank #2, the rest of highway 5, up the Grapevine, down into L.A.: 33.11 mpg (I would have expected the hill climb to drop the mileage, vs. the initial flat part of the drive on Tank #1).

    Tank #3, whizzing around on the insane L.A. freeways: 34.54 mpg (maybe my average speeds were lower?).

    Tank #4, leave Simi Valley, up over the Grapevine, and along 5 to Little Panoched Road: 27.44 mpg.

    I averaged my roadtrip mileage by adding up all the individual mileage segments, adding up all the individual gallons segment, and dividing (I didn't add the individual mpg figures then average them, in other words, I went back to scratch). AVERAGE MPG, 824.8 miles, 27.174 gallons =

    30.35 mpg.

    Quite good actually. My 2001/2004 Golfs got hammered at 80 mph, dropping to 26 mpg; my early Zetec Focii delivered 30 mpg. THIS IS VERY RESPECTABLE ON A CAR THIS SIZE. It is much bigger than most of the economy cars I drive, and far from aerodynamic. It is zippy, with a rev happy engine, although it doesn't have a lot of low-end grunt. It's willingness to freely rev make up for the lack of brute horsepower - if you want European smoothness (Mercedes contributed the variable valve timing system!) this is the way to go, if you want V-8 grunt from a 4 cylinder, Chevy's Ecotec is better.

    Mileage champ remains the 2006 Cobalt Coupe at 36-37 mpg, and the Dodge Neon at 34-35 mpg tied with the 2003 Honda Civic Coupe at the same mpg.

    These mileage figures are all off stick shift cars, driver only, light load, 75-80 mph on Bay Area to L.A. drives.
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