New gas mileage ratings helps Cobalt

[Dsuupr]

The new gas mileage figures for the 2.2 liter 4cyl in the Cobalt is spot on with 95% of the foreign small cars. It gets better or near the same gas mileage as any scion, versa, civic . . .

Funny, when they start to use real life figures GM cars shine. Something us fans of GM have been saying for a long time!

[Intrepidation]

In the city I got as low as 16.8. How is that good?

[the_yellow_dart]

*goes to google and finds*

16.8 miles per gallon = 14.0008681 L/100km

Holy crap!!

Were you using the brake and gas pedal at the same time???

[CARBIZ]

I have been saying this for years!!!!!!

The high (?) horsepower/low torque Japanese engines suffer badly under real world conditions, especially when someone like Dodgefan is driving them

If you drive like my great aunt, then the Civic and others look great, but of all the cars I have driven (and I drive pretty hard, too), the Malibu (same engine as the Cobalt) has given me better gas mileage than the Aveo, Optra, Cobalt, G5 and any other 'small' cars I have driven in the past few years. Gearing, programming and the tranny itself are everything.

See how much the Prius' numbers have dropped with the new rating system?

[CARBIZ]

*goes to google and finds*

16.8 miles per gallon = 14.0008681 L/100km

Holy crap!!

Were you using the brake and gas pedal at the same time???

Don't forget to do the mental 'Canadian conversion.' In my first two tanks of real world driving, I am averaging just under 30 mpg (Imperial gallons) with my Optra 5. Interestingly, that is exactly the same as what I used to get with my '87 Shadow ES with the 2.2 turbo and 5 spd.

My Caprice wagon, however, used to give me 23 mpg. Ouch.

[Flybrian]

In the city I got as low as 16.8. How is that good?

You seriously have to suck at driving to achieve that.

[CaddyXLR-V]

In the city I got as low as 16.8. How is that good?

What are you doing to that poor Cobalt? My GTO doesn't even do that bad.

[siegen]

Checking www.fueleconomy.gov submitted ratings, the Cobalt beats the Civic by 2.4 mpg with manual, while the Civic beats the Cobalt by 3 mpg with automatic. Those are mean averages, and there aren't a whole lot of Cobalts on there to sample, around 40 total with 2.2L, while there are well over a 100 Civic samples. So the results may not be quite as accurate for the Cobalt (for example, only one person with a 2007 manual transmission has submitted results, which makes up only 12 total results for manual transmission Cobalts - I wouldn't be surprised if the average drops a little with more people's submissions).

[K.C.]

With each GM vehicle I've owned, I've always achieved a rating within the EPA estimate, except on the highways, and its always been better mileage on the sticker. On a trip this summer in the Av, I achieved a 24 mpg at 60 mph with the AFM kicking in quite a bit. I've gotten used to looking at the EPA ratings on the stickers and thinking that the vehicle will get towards the upper end of that range.

[Dsuupr]

My HHR has been getting 35 mpg+ for the past couple of tanks.

[Intrepidation]

Nope, this is standard driving anywhere between 30 and 45 mph top speed depending on the area of town. No I don't floor it (usually), drive like a maniac or ride with the parking brake on, thank you.

It's best on the highway was 32.2 (all highway...it started dipping down once we got off into the city..that trip ended with 27.4 average)

It doesn't get that 16.8 every time but that was the tank of gas that was all city. It usually averages 17-18 in the city and 25-27 on the highway

It's inexcusable though, as my bigger, heavier car with 2 more cylinders gets 17-18 in the city and 27-29 on the highway.

My girlfriend's car will do 24-26 city and 40-43 on the highway.

I drive all of the cars the same. (I'm not one of those people who beat the $h! out of a rental).

Oh, and my coworker with an `07 Civic gets 24-25 mpg all city.

Edited October 3, 2007 by Dodgefan

[the_yellow_dart]

My highway average is somewhere around

6.5 L/100km = 36.1868591 miles per gallon

which includes traffic jams.

Maybe your Cobalt wasn't maintained properly, or was badly abused?

I just don't see how you can get numbers that bad with a Cobalt.

[Intrepidation]

My highway average is somewhere around

6.5 L/100km = 36.1868591 miles per gallon

which includes traffic jams.

Maybe your Cobalt wasn't maintained properly, or was badly abused?

I just don't see how you can get numbers that bad with a Cobalt.

Besides running, sounding, shifting, looking, and driving like a new car I don't see how the "poor maintenance" idea would work since it's a 2007 and it only had 5,000 miles when I got it.

Also, if it can get up to 32.2 on the highway it means that on the highway it's in line with the EPA estimates...but not around town.

Even 32.2 doesn't impress me considering what the other 2 cars get. Also it only got that high once.

Edited October 3, 2007 by Dodgefan

[pow]

The new gas mileage figures for the 2.2 liter 4cyl in the Cobalt is spot on with 95% of the foreign small cars. It gets better or near the same gas mileage as any scion, versa, civic . . .

Funny, when they start to use real life figures GM cars shine. Something us fans of GM have been saying for a long time!

Really?

Cobalt auto: 22/31

Cobalt manual: 24/33

Civic auto: 25/36

Civic manual: 26/34

Corolla auto: 26/35

Corolla manual: 28/37

Versa CVT: 27/33

Versa manual: 26/31

All are 2008s

[Drew Dowdell]

Only 1mpg better than my Avalanche?

[Newbiewar]

My highway average is somewhere around

6.5 L/100km = 36.1868591 miles per gallon

which includes traffic jams.

Maybe your Cobalt wasn't maintained properly, or was badly abused?

I just don't see how you can get numbers that bad with a Cobalt.

maybe certain things go into it that no one is looking at...

for one, air conditioning... if he's got remote start, maybe he left it sitting for extended periods of time...

i know i've been stuck in traffic so bad, a 45 mile trip took 6 hours... from los angeles to the outskirts... blew through 13 galons in that amount of time in my firebird...because i was basically idling the whole distance... does that mean it gets only 3mpg... no.. but it sure sucked that i filled up before and after that trip to the funeral...

it really has a lot to do with certain things, if its hot or cold, the air density can change fuel ecconomy, your tires, the road, concreete or asphalt have effects on fuel ecconomy, wether you like to shift at 2300 or 5600... or wether you go from 0-60-0 between lights in 11.5 seconds... if you drive like a jackass your automatic transmission knows your habits, and will use them even when your tring to conserve...

i'm not saying 16mpg is good, i'm not saying it was unreasonable for what he was doing at the time either...

i know i've seen low 20's in a cobalt driving to customers houses... it wasnt my car who cares?

maybe he was driving against the wind... against 60mph wind its not uncommon here at fort bliss to experiance 80mpg gusts of wind, does it shake cars, sure... does the sand take the paint off, yep... so why wouldnt it affect fuel ecconomy... there are always extreme cases... when my lt1 averaged 11mpg, it was running on 6 cyl and dumping fuel out the other 2... eventually clogged my o2 sensors... when i averaged 26mpg, i was driving 100% highway 85 the whole way...

[Intrepidation]

maybe certain things go into it that no one is looking at...

for one, air conditioning... if he's got remote start, maybe he left it sitting for extended periods of time...

i know i've been stuck in traffic so bad, a 45 mile trip took 6 hours... from los angeles to the outskirts... blew through 13 galons in that amount of time in my firebird...because i was basically idling the whole distance... does that mean it gets only 3mpg... no.. but it sure sucked that i filled up before and after that trip to the funeral...

it really has a lot to do with certain things, if its hot or cold, the air density can change fuel ecconomy, your tires, the road, concreete or asphalt have effects on fuel ecconomy, wether you like to shift at 2300 or 5600... or wether you go from 0-60-0 between lights in 11.5 seconds... if you drive like a jackass your automatic transmission knows your habits, and will use them even when your tring to conserve...

i'm not saying 16mpg is good, i'm not saying it was unreasonable for what he was doing at the time either...

i know i've seen low 20's in a cobalt driving to customers houses... it wasnt my car who cares?

maybe he was driving against the wind... against 60mph wind its not uncommon here at fort bliss to experiance 80mpg gusts of wind, does it shake cars, sure... does the sand take the paint off, yep... so why wouldnt it affect fuel ecconomy... there are always extreme cases... when my lt1 averaged 11mpg, it was running on 6 cyl and dumping fuel out the other 2... eventually clogged my o2 sensors... when i averaged 26mpg, i was driving 100% highway 85 the whole way...

LOL remote start? It doesn't even have power windows! 60mph winds? No offense but did you pull this out of your ass or what?

The only thing that has validity might be A/C which I use from time to time...just like our cars...so that's not a good excuse.

[CaddyXLR-V]

LOL remote start? It doesn't even have power windows! 60mph winds? No offense but did you pull this out of your ass or what?

The only thing that has validity might be A/C which I use from time to time...just like our cars...so that's not a good excuse.

You need to have service done on your car then. I use my AC 90% of the time, and I averaged almost 24mpg on my last tank of gas. Even pure city driving, I don't get 17mpg. My car almost has 3 times the power, and weighs about 800lbs more than a Cobalt.

[Drew Dowdell]

when I was in France I noted to my friend that the Europeans prefer manual shifters yet have roads that require more shifting while the Americans prefer automatics while having roads that require less shifting.

My friend responded that manuals are more efficient than automatics, thats why they prefer them.

The next time it was his turn to drive I caught him leaving the car in 4th or 5th gear <out of 6 possibilities> for long stretches of road. This was in a diesel which thought nothing of being in 6th gear at 45mph.

I pointed out to him that manuals are only more efficient if you're not a lazy shifter.

[Dsuupr]

Really?

Cobalt auto: 22/31

Cobalt manual: 24/33

Civic auto: 25/36

Civic manual: 26/34

Corolla auto: 26/35

Corolla manual: 28/37

Versa CVT: 27/33

Versa manual: 26/31

All are 2008s

These spreads aren't as bad as the 2007 and earlier ones. Given the extra power and size of the Cobalt vs the versa & civic it compares well. I'm not sure how the corolla gets those figures (wimpy engine I guess). Check out the scion line from toyota for comparison.

[Intrepidation]

You need to have service done on your car then. I use my AC 90% of the time, and I averaged almost 24mpg on my last tank of gas. Even pure city driving, I don't get 17mpg. My car almost has 3 times the power, and weighs about 800lbs more than a Cobalt.

Once more, if it achieves the EPA highway ratings then that would indicate that fuel consumption is working properly.

Anyway, that's something for enterprise to deal with if there's something wrong with it, which I highly doubt.

[CaddyXLR-V]

I pointed out to him that manuals are only more efficient if you're not a lazy shifter.

How is that true? My car gets it's best mileage in 6th gear, staying at steady speeds. I have found that my car gets better mileage when I shift from 1st, to 4th, to 6th.

Manuals are more efficient, because they put more power to the wheels when compared to automatics.

[Sixty8panther]

DF: You deliver Pizza for a living... enough said. That's about as stop-n-go & idle all day as it gets.

[CaddyXLR-V]

Once more, if it achieves the EPA highway ratings then that would indicate that fuel consumption is working properly.

Anyway, that's something for enterprise to deal with if there's something wrong with it, which I highly doubt.

That's not necessarily true. Just because it can achieve it's ratings while cruising, doesn't mean there nothing is wrong. Computers continuously adjust based on a number of factors. The car can be running lean while cruising, then running rich when accelerating. Supercharged Grand Prixs were usually tuned to run rich under heavy acceleration, to curb detonation, because the richer fuel mixture was cooler.

[Drew Dowdell]

How is that true? My car gets it's best mileage in 6th gear, staying at steady speeds. I have found that my car gets better mileage when I shift from 1st, to 4th, to 6th.

Manuals are more efficient, because they put more power to the wheels when compared to automatics.

He was a lazy shifter in that he wouldn't shift up to 6th gear whenever he could. We would be in 4th or 5th for long stretches and he would use engine breaking to slow down.