Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
as for the brakes...not sure of the brand...as had them done at Merchants Tire and my local mechanic...believe they both used a NAPA supplied pad...meeting OEM specs
A few months later, still at over 50% oil life, I noted that when I passed 6K that engine seemed to start losing some pep and like maybe dropping a little on MPG for my local driving. My last fill was Chevron premium, wondering if that would make a difference. It does not seem to have effected performance but will know MPG at next fill. So I have to wonder if oil is losing some of its lubricity. I might change ahead of time and try synthetic.
Tried to check mpg yesterday but gas pump didn't auto shut off and spilled gas out on ground.
Using DIC today, I got 25.0 avg mpg from my house to the on-ramp (11 mins). Then I reset it and it reached 41.0 mpg avg for the 9 miles on the interstate.
The total commute to work is 32.6 mpg. It was 25.4 mpg when I first got the car. A very unexpected increase in just 1300 miles.
Rounded off, DIC says I am getting the EPA hwy (33) on my 40% city driving commute. Warm weather, no a/c.
How will you know when it's "broken in"? When do you expect that to
happen? (Doesn't your manual speak of 600 miles? Mine do...)
Tried to check mpg yesterday but gas pump didn't auto shut off and
spilled gas out on ground.
Relying on a DIC's reading is a mistake, in my opinion, unless you are
interested in a trend, not absolute numbers.
DIC says I am getting the EPA hwy (33) on my 40% city driving commute
Just don't trust it -- don't spill gas on the ground and make an
honest computation yourself :-)
Did you have the service tech ride with you in the vehicle so they could feel the shifting problem? What engine do you have in the vehicle? Thank you,
Mariah GM Customer Service
If nowadays they are broken in at 600 miles, does that mean mpg peaks at 600 miles? What I mean by 'broken in' is that mpg hits max.
The DIC was accurate to within .1 mpg for an entire tank of gas recently on avg mpg.
For my Bu's 05 DIC shows about 1.2 better MPG than it is in reality.
06 Maxx DIC lies big time, adding about 2 MPG.
And I hope you reset the DIC MPG meter at each fillup -- you do it, right?
I need to get some information from you in order to at your situation further. Can you please email me your VIN, current mileage, dealership and service request number if you have one? You can get my email by clicking on my name. Thank you,
Mariah GM Customer Service
We feel totally ripped off and even reading the forum posts by people happy with the malibu, I'm disapointed. I mean.. what' up with being ok with a lying odometer?
At any rate, I'm lucky to get 15 mpg in town with this beast. And that's if I drive llike a granny- not that there is much choice with this car. If I drive like a granny on the highway, I MIGHT get 30 mpg.
My last car was a honda accord with 225,00 miles on it, also a four speed. Got 35 in the city til the day I traded it in.
Also the GPS, what freakin' did the voice recognition? I have to turn off my windshield wipers or they can't hear me?
I also had to talk and talk to the people at onstar. They must live in a small town and assume I have time to chat before asking my directions. I'm in Chicago. Small talk can make me miss an exit. A garmon would be quicker than dealing with a varying degree of clarity and understanding issues.
Also, the turn signals already broken and won't turn off automatically. yeesh.
Malibu 2009 20000 miles on it. 4 cyl w/ useless automatic.
Otherwise, a very helpful post,thank you. (My 05 and 06 Bus have none of the 08+s "advanced features" and (the sedans) a perfect mileage. Very happy with them all so far.)
I also noted that the engine seemed to have a bit more power when using 89 or 93 octane.
I did send you an email. Please let me know if you don't receive it. Thank you,
Mariah GM Customer Service
I have 820 miles on my 4 clyinder 6 speed 1LT. Up to now I have HORRIBLE gas mileage of 15.1 mpg, per the DIC system and also my calculations. Granted most of my driving is in Queens NY with stop and go traffic, I also drove with the fan on speed 2 for most of 2 weeks, for we have had some heatwave in NYC lately
I just reset my DIC AVG and plan to drive to maximize my MPG I will report after 2 more tank fulls.
I intend to drive with the INSTANT MPG readout on screen, maybe this can help me drive to maximize MPG. Does anybody use this INSTANT MPG readout for this purpose?? If so any success?
Lastly I think my 2010 1LT may have a touch of what lemonmalibu has described. Ive asked 2 people to drive it a bit and they say they like how it drives but can feel some hesitation or jump.... I will take it to my mechanic soon and will report.
Best to all,
RayGAZZman
No action on this board, too bad.
Well I am upadating my previous post. I recently took a road trip and got somewhere over the advertised 33mpg on strictly HWY miles.. yippeeeee.
However my City miles are still lagging the advertised 20mpg.
After driving veeeeeery carefully around the city trying to manage my MPG optimally, Im still getting only about 16-17 mpg. But I am happy bout my HWY mpg.
I havent taken my car in yet for service but I will soon and will post if there is any
success with my CITY mpg..
Thanks,
Ciao
Around town - some urban, some suburban and a bunch of freeway (interstate loop), I get low 20's - about 22. If I actually drive just around the 'burbs or in the city, I get high teens.
I just keep thinking - for that kind of mileage, I coulda had a V6. And, actually, my Corvette with the 350 V8 gets just as good a mileage. Of course, it takes premium fuel, but it's also a LOT more fun to drive. And it can get out of its own way - something the Malibu with the 4A has trouble doing, unless you're really flogging it.
TN (about 1100 miles each way).
There (loaded): 35.9. Back (empty): 36.9.
The trip included plenty of mountain climbing in NY, PA, and TN (a gross
MPG killer), and some stop-and-go on the way "there". This time I
also made two fill-ups at the south and north borders of VA, a
relatively flat road. For that span of the road (back), the result
(by the fuel purchased) is 40.4 MPG, better than I expected.
A bit under 42K miles on the car now, and I've been happy with it.
I live in Brooklyn NY and I use 87 and 89 octane gasoline.
With A/C on Hwy average is 32-35 mpg but city is very bad, between 12.7-14 mpg
I have this car since April 28, 2010 and truly regret buying it for few reasons.
I was going to buy Camry but Malibu had a factory rebate at the time that is why I went for Malibu. BIG MISTAKE.
I've had 2006 Chevy Equinox before and city milage was about 17 mpg.
My October MPG average was very bad 10.9
No A/C, no sitting in traffic, just normal city driving
:lemon:
300 miles in two months? 150 in one month? I find it hard to call in a "normal city driving". How many gallons on gas have you purchased to drive those 300 miles? You do one fillup a month? Sorry, your numbers look suspicious to me.
I am getting only about 20 mpg according to the display, but my avg speed is only 29-30, with 50/50 highway & stop-&-go local driving. MPG is much better on long, hwy trips of course (25+), but I was hoping it would be better overall.
And I would tell 'gonogo' that cold weather appears to have little to do with it. I've owned my 09 LTZ 4cyl 6A since they came out and I have never seen 30 mpg - not once, in any weather. Actually, my wife saw right at 30 mpg once - on a trip from KC to DM doing all interstate driving. The best mileage I have ever seen (same route) was about 28 mpg. Normally, in combined driving, I get around 22 mpg. For that kind of mileage, I coulda had a V6! I will also note that this is the first GM product where I haven't gotten the advertised mileage or even close to it.
As to Dwayne's observation, the reason we don't see those kinds of mileage figures is that we don't drive like the EPA loop nor are we hyper-milers. We are just ordinary drivers who get in our cars and drive them. And, since these are little 4 bangers whose transmissions are tuned for mileage instead of performance, it actually back-fires and we see worse than we should. I'm guessing if I had a 6M, I would see better mileage - but still not what is advertised on the sticker.
You comments are right on the money! ----- The four cylinder in this car IS NOT sufficient to power this vehicle. ---- (It is working too hard to move the vehicle!) This is where the mileage is going!!!! ---- It does not come close to a four cylinder Honda Accord engine. (What was GM thinking putting this "toy of an engine" in this vehicle?) ------ Maybe if this engine had a Turbo something might happen! ---- In addition, the "original equipment tires" ARE NOT "mileage friendly tires." ---- They are at the low end of the tire spectrum! ----- I am seriously considering putting on four Michelin tires at a cost of $888.00. --- I will
bet this will improve the mileage. ---------- Best regards. ----- Dwayne. :shades:
Personally, I prefer performance over mpg. But that's just me.
As an interesting side-note, I recently found myself in a Dodge Avenger rental car. Now, this car was nowhere near as polished or comfortable as my Malibu. But the thing I noticed is that I had better response, smoother shifts and seemed to get similar mileage. The engine was the same size, although not quite as powerful and I'd bet that the transmission was a 5 speed at best - maybe a 4 speed. So this is an area where the Malibu really disappoints.
On the other hand, I wait until the 'oil life' read-out on the DIC is down to single digits - or, at least low double digits - before I change oil. I'm not changing oil nearly as often as I used to under the old 5000 mile rule and I suspect that my engine is better protected (although it's hard to prove without tearing it down).
We have all been discussing the poor fuel mileage on the four cylinder Malibu! ---- We have been discussing the possible causes of this condition.
I am sure that there are General Motors Representatives on this forum. ---- Why haven't they joined the discussion, and in the process, share some insights from the factory point of view?
Best regards? ----------- Dwayne :shades: :confuse:
Maybe it's just Chevy.
QUESTIONS:
1.) Do you have a six speed automatic transmission in the 09 / G6?
2.) What tires do you have on this vehicle?
Size:
Manufacturer:
3.) Do you run synthetic oil in this engine?
4.) What fuel do you use in this engine?
5.) Do you use the cruise control?
6.) Do you run the tires hard 32+ psi?
Best regards. ----------- Dwayne :shades: :confuse:
You do have one customer service rep who frequents the board..but not sure how effective she is in handling issues...
I have always run Mobil 1 0w or 5w-30 full synthetic oil (change interval averages 6000 miles), I upsized my tires from 16 inch (215/60/16) to 17 inch aftermarket rims running 225/50/17 tires...have run Michelins, BFG, and currently GY Eagles on them....MPG has remained constant with the only difference being tire wear, cruise is used on long drives and tire inflation is 32 lbs (checked weekly), and I use nothing but tier 1 brand fuel....in my case I pump nothing but Shell regular....
Lets look at this from a "public relations point of view!" ---- This is an open board where owners and people who have an interest in this vehicle can express their opinions with regards to the quality of the vehicle.
We have people on this board, who are not happy with the advertised fuel mileage. ----- If no one at the corporate level addresses this issue in a professional manner, the conclusion from the customer's point of view is that; --- 1.) The company does not care. --- or --- 2.) There is no fix for the problem. --- or --- 3.) There is a "fix" but the company does not want to spend the money. ------ The net result of this action is that "sales will suffer!" ------ Chevrolet & GM have a nice vehicle, but it does not live up to their posted fuel figures. ---- If the tires are the issue, let the owners know that a better grade of tire will make a difference. ---- Give the owners some credit on the old tires, and let them "trade up" to a better grade of tire! ------ Best regards. --------- Dwayne
However vehicle may not yet be tested. Makers are allowed to come up with their own figures until EPA tests. In an attempt to keep them honest, there is a penalty if it is off, on each built vehicle.
My 09 LT2 was satisfactory on mileage, but it seemed to drop some as mileage increased. And my 11LacrosseCSX did get the 28MPG highway until around 2500 miles. Since then mileage has dropped about 3 MPG highway and local. No explanation so far and the 4.0L V8 Aurora with four speed was doing slightly better on highway.
2. P225 50 R17 Hankook touring
3. no
4. 87 octane
5. yes
6. yes, 32 psi came from dealer that way