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Chevrolet Impala Real World MPG
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Comments
Returned 32-34 mpg per tank. Best tank, 640 miles. Kept speeds at posted limits of 65/75 mph, moderate acceleration, full use of cruise control.
Impressed with smooth powertrain, and, amazingly, comfort... no back pain after a 14 hour drive!
Now if they'd just tighten up that suspension. Not confidence inspiring at highway speeds.
And where's that new 2.9 diesel V6? :confuse:
This is excellent mpg for a car of this size. Chevrolet is so very close to earning my business.
In town: driven primarily for short distances of 1-4 miles = 22MPG average.
As the previous poster stated: smooth powertrain and comfortable ride. We are very satisfied with the vehicle. Best car we've owned, as of yet!
Average 21mpg most tanks. Car is a daily driver during the week, around 60 miles per day. Mixed commute, some steady 55mph driving, some stop and go, some 35-45 suburban driving. Lots of hills.
I have been "experimenting" recently and driving VERY conservatively. Very gradual acceleration, no mashing the gas, etc. So far this tank I am averaging 23. So I gain 2mpg if I drive like this. Without all of the hills I could probably get up to 25mpg overall.
The car has never really been on a 100% highway trip for a full tank. I did do a 100 mile round-trip highway run several months ago, and saw about 26mpg for that 100 miles.
All in all, a very economical car compared to my previous V8 SUV. My monthly fuel bill has almost been cut in half since I bought the Impala
So the combination of tightening the plug shafts and replacing the wires solved the problem...for about a month. The problem surfaced again yesterday, so I'll drive it for a little while to see if it consistent, and then pull the plug wires and see if those shafts had worked loose again, or if there's something else going on. While beyond that these spark plugs seem to work okay, they've had no impact on my gas mileage at all (positively or negatively). I would have expected an increase had I replaced them originally with standard plugs, so I was disappointed that I saw no increase with the new plugs.
If I find the shafts are loose again I'll tighten them again, but if the problem continues to come up I'm yanking them out and will probably put a set of Bosch plugs in there and not worry about it again.
So far I have only adjusted the tire pressure to 44 psi (This is the max for the stock tires). My daily drive is from Ortonville, Mi to Detroit, MI (RenCen). This takes me on county roads and I75 (Parking lot).
I am just starting the log which I will base all of my future results on. The results to date are using the on board computer.
Drove from Ortonville, Mi to Frankenmuth, MI., I75 with the cruise set on 72 MPH with the A/C on. We had 2 adults and one 4 year old in the car. We averaged 36 MPG on the way there and 33 MPG on the way back (Ran into construction backups on a Sunday afternoon heading south).
The week of 7 August driving to work and back home averaged 26 MPG. This was combined county Road driving and I75 (Rush hour traffic).
Today (13 Aug 07) I drove in at 8 AM (Much less traffic). I reset the on board computer after entering I75 (Great Lakes Crossing Exit). Set the cruise on 74 MPH, without A/C and one adult in the car. The traffic was so light I was able to maintain a constant speed all the way downtown. As I exited I75 onto I375 (detroit) the on board computer indicated 40.4 MPG.
Future improvements:
Replacing the stock air filter with a new K&N filter. On order, waiting for delivery.
On the next oil change I will be using Mobile Full Sytn 5-30
Replacing the spark plugs with Bosch Iridium Fusion plugs.
Replacing the stock tires with ones that can hadle at least 45 PSI.
I plan to do each one on seperate tanks of gas and measure the entire tank along with the on board computer for results.
I am very interested in your comments and suggestions. I have played around with small onboard hydrogen units in the past with good results. This unit may find a place in this effort as well.
Thanks
Joe
Just fill up, reset the trip meter to zero.
Next time, do the same again and divide the gallons printed on your receipt by the miles shown on the trip meter. Reset trip meter.
Repeat this procedure for at least 3 tankfuls and you will have a fairly accurate MPG figure.
I consistently got 23.9-24.1 MPG during winter.
During summer with a/c consistently get 23.2-23.3 MPG.
Better on hwy, add 2.0 MPG to winter and summer city average.
This is very good to me. What do you get?
14.5 MPG city driving. Might as well be driving a truck.
Tell me steve, what kind of mileage did you get in previous vehicles in the same conditions/average speed?
My only complaint about the car was the lack of a center armrest (and more importantly, cup holders) for the rear seat passengers; otherwise it was a great Interstate cruiser.
I drive my son to college in his V6 Mustang too often and it's an 85 mile trip of which only 30 miles is on an interstate. I counted the lights and discovered there were 60 of them. Thats a stop at an average of every 1.4 miles. The car gets 29 mpg on these trips. I thought it was highway driving until I counted all the lights. It gets 29-30 driving the 47 mile commute to work. Even With heavy stop and go rush hour traffic averaged in, it gets 27-28. The stop and go driving is 20% of the trip distance but adds 20 minutes to the time to get there or back. I do not know the true trip mileage for the car, but don't expect more than 31.
I see a special price on an '08 Impala locally and the opportunity won't come around again. The LS model with a 3.5 liter V6 seems to be capable of low 30's on a trip according to some posters here. My work commute usually gets me 28 mpg for my 3800 Buick and 29 mpg for the 3.8 L Mustang. Based on this I think the Impala could get 29-30 commuting. The Impala is a lighter, smaller, lesser powered, smaller engined car than my Buick.
When I looked into a Cobalt, I was expecting about 32-33 for my commute but didn't get one. This Impala opportunity is at a better price than the Cobalt price was at the time. Can anyone say that the Impala 3.5 is not capable of better mileage for me than my pair of 3.8 liter cars (28 and 29)?
If my commute involved a lot of highway miles, I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 3.5l Impala. On the worst of days it'll equal the best mileage you're getting with the 3.8l cars, and on it's best days it'll do much better.
Here are my results:
Northbound legs
25.34 mpg/54.1 mph and 27.37 mpg/67.1 mph
Southbound legs
29.33 mpg/69.7 mph22 and 22 mpg/64.1 mph
I cheated a little on the 29.33 mpg leg by resetting the car's trip computer after I accelerated to cruising speed. However, the car's indicated fuel mileage was actually slightly lower at 27.7 mpg. I attribute part of this disparity to possibly filling the tank a little more prior to this leg. But, even if I added an extra half gallon at the end, which I know I couldn't have fit, the mileage would have only dropped to 28.7 mpg.
The leg listed first is through fairly level terrain through SC, NC, and VA on I-26 and I-77.
The leg listed second is through the mountains of VA and WV on I-77.
These results are consistent with other trips I've taken over the same route. This is why I believe I may be seeing an overall result of uphill vs. downhill mileage over the course of the leg. It's pretty interesting, though, as my mileage has continued to improve as the car wears in. I now have about 29.5K on the odometer. Regardless, getting over 25 mpg, UPHILL, with a V-8 engine producing over 300 HP is damned impressive. One last note, I achieved these latest results on 87 octane...so maybe I was producing a little less than 300 HP. The lower octane doesn't seem to affect fuel economy so I plan to use it for the road trips from now on.
"I cheated a little on the 29.33 mpg leg by resetting the car's trip computer after I accelerated to cruising speed. However, the car's indicated fuel mileage was actually slightly lower at 27.7 mpg. I attribute part of this disparity to possibly filling the tank a little more prior to this leg. But, even if I added an extra half gallon at the end, which I know I couldn't have fit, the mileage would have only dropped to 28.7 mpg. "
To calculate MPG one should simply divide the miles traveled by the amount of gallons on the receipt after the fill up.
Using the computer won't give meaningful numbers.
You are assuming too much when you state that all that is required to calculate mileage is to divide the miles by gallons at fill up. Filling a fuel tank isn't an exact science since the cutoffs at various pumps will vary. Also, most people usually pump to an even dollar amount. You can never be certain you have filled your tank to the exact same posiiton everytime. That's why I go with averages to compensate for those variances. As I stated, I believe I pumped a little more fuel into the tank before that last leg than I did at the conclusion. That would give the impression that I achieved better fuel mileage than if I managed to squeeze an extra half gallon or so into the tank. I acknowledged that in the post (accounting for mileage if I were to calculate based on an extra half gallon of fuel).
Since I always drive the same route the only major changes happen when the colder (not really very cold) season starts in November or when it starts to warm up in March.
Here in Vancouver, BC, the lowest temperatures we get are around 20 degrees F and don't stay for long periods of time.
By the way, I own a 2007 Sentra that is in for service today and the loaner I got is a 2007 Impala. What a nice car! If I believe the computer I am getting 32 MPG on my commute and that would be awesome!
32 mpg in a V-6 Impala is very feasible...especially with the 3.5L engine.
I just got 33.5 mph on the "highway." That included driving through a few small towns with stop and go traffic.
Most of it was 55 - 65 mph.
City driving is about 25 - 27
I try to "hyperdrive" by anticipating stop lights and stop signs. No jack rabbit starts.
Lots of coasting when possible.
Thanks
My '06 Impala 2LT with the 3.5L has averaged about the same mileage as yours since when it was new. I now have about 33,000 miles on it and the mileage remains in the 21-22mpg range in mixed driving. Pure city driving nets about 19mpg, all highway driving 27-28mpg.
Adding the '06+ SS style 18" wheels to a non-SS '06 or '07 Impala is not a simple bolt on. The front would be a direct swap, but the rear strut mount plates are different between the LS/LT/LTZ models from the '06 and '07 model years and the SS models. To do the swap on '06's and '07's, you would also need to get the SS rear strut pieces installed...otherwise the SS wheels will rub on the back.
In the '08 model year, LTZ, SS, and the 50th anniv. models have the sport suspension as standard which allows them to run the 18" wheels unobstructed.
Adding the '06/'07 17" alloys from an LTZ to an LS or LT model would be a simple swap. The SS wheels, not so much. I looked into it myself, and talked to thers who had done it, and determined it to be too expensive. The 18" wheels/tires themselves would be inexpensive enough on eBay, but getting the rear suspension swapped out was going to easily add another $300 in parts and labor to the project.