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I filled up at lunch time and the mileage calculated out to be 32.8 MPG. The DIC was saying that my average was 32.1 MPG, so I actually did a little better this time than the on board computer indicated.
Considering that I was driving up to 75 MPH on the trip to the airport and back and that I had a little local driving in the mix, I am not disappointed with 32.8 MPG.
Tom
Tom
I'm pretty happy with the 28.9, considering that there was the usual mix of city and highway driving.
I hope to take a 275 trip this weekend, and it will be mostly Interstate. I'm anxious to see what kind of mileage I will get on that trip.
Tom
I'm thinking very seriously about going with Mobil 1 on my first oil change. I switched a 94 Z28 Camaro to Mobil 1and gained 5% on MPG. I was in the habit of checking gas mileage on every fill-up, and I had a LONG history of gas mileage that showed that I was getting 20 MPG on that car. After switching to Mobil 1, I continued to check mileage on every fill-up, and the average MPG went up to 21 over several tanks.
I have also been one to change oil religiously at 3000 miles, but I now think that I have wasted a lot of money on oil changes. I plan to use the Oil Life Monitor on the little Cobalt to tell me when to change the oil. I don't think I will go more than 7,000 miles, regardless of the OLM reading. Is that a good plan? With the synthetic oil, though, should I let the car go to 10,000 miles, if the OLM says I can?
Tom
i usually change my oil before it gets 3000 miles on it. like you, i think than i have been wasting money considering how much better todays oil holds up. the 12 year old cavalier i traded in had 172,000 miles on it and synthetic oil from the very first oil change. i have a friend that changes his oil every 10,000 miles if he is lucky. he gets the same longevity out of his cars as i get from mine. i think we have been wasting money from my point of view, which is that of a frequent oil changer mind you. since i'll be using mobile 1 from here on out, i'll have no problem waiting for 10,000 miles if that's how long it takes...
Tom
I would have done a little better if I had cruise control. I looked down at the speedometer and caught myself doing close to 80 MPH a couple times, but I didn't run that speed very long, and it only happened a couple times.
Tom
2.2 with the 5 speed. Highway speed kept at 68 mph.
I guess there might still be some breaking-in of the engine to be done yet, since I have only 2700 miles on the car now.
I plan to switch to Mobil 1 synthetic oil at the first oil change, and I believe that will give me an extra 5% on MPG. That's what switching to synthetic did for MPG on my 1994 Z-28 Camaro several years ago.
I'm well pleased with that little Cobalt. It looks like buying that car was a good decision.
Tom
I LOVE the instantaneous fuel readout. I'll get up to speed and let off the gas as far as I can while maintaining highway speed and it'll creep up 32-33-34-35, etc. Changes in road surface (smooth concrete vs. rougher state highway pavement) make changes in the mileage. Drafting 2 seconds behind semi allows the mileage to creep up to 37-38. Coasting shows 99 most of the time but when it drops out of lockup around 35-40 it will drop to 80 or so as speed reduces. I leave the display on instantaneous all the time.
I expect to average 32mpg for the whole rental. The last car we rented was a 2007 Corolla LE sedan and we took it to Houston and back from Fort Worth, averaged 35.6mpg for both tanks. I'm impressed more and more every time I drive a Cobalt and now that my wife has driven it some as well, she doesn't feel uncomfortable in a small car and it's back on our list. I wish they still had 4-cylinder Malibu sedans in the "e" fleet to "test drive" since we will likely be renting another small car for another week later in the month for another round of store visits.
Our only other choices for a smaller car at the small local rental place we used were a 2008 Focus, a 2007 PT Cruiser, and a 2008 Kia Rio. They had larger cars (Impala, Lacrosse, new Malibu) and lots of trucks/SUVs/vans, too. I wish we could reserve specific makes and models.
I drove 284.1 miles on 9.602 gallons of gas for a 29.6 average MPG.
Not bad!
The car is up to about 3300 miles on the odometer now, so it is still most likely doing a little breaking-in.
I think at about 5000 miles I might put some good old Mobil 1 in her.
Tomster
Tom
I am more than pleased with this '08 LS Coupe. It has met my expectations and more as a commuter car that also has a fun to drive factor.
Horsey
WOW! Fantastic MPG you are getting! It really makes a difference when you slow down, huh? Guess you have the five speed manual tranny, right? I have the auto, so I don't have that nice overdrive 5th gear going for me like you have, if you have the five speed.
You got it right about these puppies being fun to drive. That crazy little Cobalt of mine will actually push you back in the seat just a tiny bit during maximum acceleration. I would have never expected a car that gets the gas mileage that a Cobalt gets to have that much acceleration.
I bought the Cobalt for bare bones economy, and I was about as excited over getting that car as I would have been over buying a new pair of underwear. It was the first time I had ever bought a vehicle that I wasn't infatuated with.
Before long, I decided that I REALLY liked the looks of that little car, and I found the ride, handling, and acceleration, especially the acceleration, to be great. I like that car more the longer I own it.
I can't believe that it only stickered for $15,530 and that GM had a $2000 rebate on it! I think the car is a SUPER value.
Tom
The $2,000 rebate was a big factor in this purchase as well, as I figured they would not have that offer for long. It was a good value.
No problems at all so far with this car. I am very satisfied with it. It is nice to have a Forum like this to discuss the vehicle as well.
Horsey
How in the world are you getting that kind of gas mileage with the auto tranny? Is that 37-38 MPG what the DIC is showing, or is it actually calculated manually when you fill up the tank? I always manually calculate my mileage when I fill up.
You said you drive only 55-60 MPH, and I know that helps, but I also drive similar speeds and don't come close to that kind of MPG. The last tank or two, I was not as MPG conscious and drove a little faster, but before then, the best MPG I could get was 29.5 for my usual driving conditions, i.e., mix of rural roads and in-town miles. I avoid jack rabbit starts, I let off the gas well ahead of red lights, so that I often don't have to come to a stop and go back up through the gears, and I try to hold a constant speed out on the highway and not be slowing down and speeding up all the time.
Maybe my engine just isn't broken in good yet?
It doesn't take many in-town miles to kill gas mileage, so maybe your driving is 100% rural, while mine is about 20% in-town.
Tom
EDIT:
OK, I reread your first post, and I see that I missed the part about your car being an auto. Sorry.
In your last post, I either missed the part about the Premium gas, or you edited your post to add that part.
I have read tons of posts and read many articles that say that we should NOT use Premium gas in cars designed to run on 87 Octane. At best we are wasting money, and, at worst, we could be doing harm to the engine. I don't expect you to take my word for it, but please do some research on the subject. Might even be some discussions on it here in Edmunds.
The high 30's MPG figure I used is under optimum conditions. Mix in some city driving, Interstate, etc., my figures are probably closer to what you are getting.
Horsey
Are those 37-38 readings from the "Instant MPG" mode on your DIC? I can get very similar numbers from holding a steady 60 MPH on level roads, but I have never come close to that range for an average for a whole tank.
I'm enjoying this exchange of posts! Good to have some participation in here.
Tom
Until recently, I was able to get 87 straight gas around here at a few stations. Not now though.
Horsey
Mobil 1
My usual driving mix. I'm pretty happy with that mileage.
The car has a little over 4400 miles on it now, so it is probably still not quite broken-in.
I think I will go with just a regular oil change at the dealership at 5000 miles, and then I might go to Mobil 1 5W-30 full synthetic at 10,000 miles. With 4400 miles on the car, the DIC says I still have 62% of my oil life left. If I went by the DIC for the oil change interval, I would be going over 11,000 miles before changing. No way I would wait that long, not even if I were using synthetic oil.
Tom
I took it to firestone, they suggested new sparkplugs. Which i got and didnt necessarily needs. Then they checked for a leak in the fuel line/rod. Nothing. So then i took it to the dealership and they cleaned the air filter and said that may help. Other than that no one can tell me what if anything is wrong. Is it the computer? The dealership says they found nothing wrong.
I'm thinking of putting a cold air intake in the car to help with the mpg issue, yeah it wont help alot, but it will help just that little bit. Help is much appreciated thanx.
In my 35 years plus of pulling wrenches your solution might be as easy as running a fuel treatment solution. Many times the injectors will get dirty and that alone effects mileage.
Not saying the above is the issues, just the most common one I've seen if there are no codes or problems seen by your dealer.
Tire/wheel alignment, tire pressures, transmission fluid and I could go on and on can in time all cause fuel issues.
There are a slug of fuel treatments on the market. Amsoil has the best.
Has this mileage change been a sudden issue or gradual? If gradual then my first suggestion is where I'd start.
Without being able to see, drive and scan your vehicle there are a lot of unknowns for me.
Tom
https://www.amsoil.com/storefront/api.aspx?zo=1473695
If anything it should be done once or twice a year anyway.
You should check the mileage manually before you do anything else.
If the car has really dropped to the kind of mileage you are seeing on the DIC, then it should be running rough, or it should have gotten extremely sluggish on acceleration, or both. If it seem to run as smooth as ever and has the same acceleration that it has always had, then I strongly suspect that you are getting a false low mileage reading on the DIC for some reason.
Check your mileage manually and let us know what you get, OK?
Oh, how many miles on the car, and what are your driving conditions? Have your driving conditions changed since the days when you were getting hight MPG?
Tom
I guess there might be just as much paper in these filters as in some of the small spin-ons. We just don't see how little paper is in the spin-ons, because of the can.
Tom
It looks like I am going to be able to count on getting 28.0 to 29.5 MPG on my normal mix of driving.
Considering that my mix is 15% to 20% in-town driving, and none of it is Interstate or Parkway driving, I am pretty happy with the mileage I am getting.
Tom
Are you happy with that mileage?
Tom
Tom
I did a little experiment as I drove across I 64 in southern Illinois between the Wabash River and Mt. Vernon. I reset the average MPG on the DIC and drove a steady 70 MPG for 15 miles, and the MPG reading was 32.7 at the end of those miles. I reset it again and drove a steady 60 MPH for about ten miles (had to stop at a rest area) and got 37.5 for an average MPG for those miles.
Tom
Ben
Your DIC reading is always based on your last hour of driving. So if you did lots of "stop and go" during that last hours it goes down.
Your DIC reading is always based on your last hour of driving. So if you did lots of "stop and go" during that last hours it goes down."
I didn't know that! That's good to know, but I would prefer that it just kept averaging from the last time it was reset.
Thanks.
Tom
Horsey :-)
You should be a happy camper to be getting that kind of mileage.
I have to admit that it was a little hard to believe at first.
Tomster