Think the vibe has an issue

[Jakerooni]

Hey all. I think there might be something wrong with the vibe. to re-cap I bought a 2004 vibe GT about a month ago. Just rolled 4000 miles on it this past weekend (yes I drive alot) but I noticed my last 2 fill ups I wasn't even getting 300 miles to the tank of gas. The window sticker said I should get roughly 32 mpg. (and 90% of my driving is highway) and my last fill up I only got 280 miles. We have a 13 gallon tank right? that equals out to be about 20 mpg. Now I'm a 30 y/o guy that made a large investment in a new car so rest assured I'm not driving this irratcially or doing high rev shifts. I usually shift at 3000 rpms. Is anyone else getting such ****ty results?Thanks

[GMJAP]

I bought a 2005 base about the same time; I've been seeing 33-34 mpg. (Do about 75% highway)

[Jahntassa]

GT is rougly 26/30. I've always gotten 30 highway, and anywhere between 17-22 city, depending on the trips. So anywhere from 200-310 on the gas. Also, when are you filling? You basically need to run it to empty to get the right milage. The low fuel light comes on around 10-11 gallons used.

[VibeR8Lava2Tone]

I have found the vibe to have great gas mileage, I cannot remember a fillup when I got less than 30 miles a gallon. I think one thing you may want to consider is that you're still "breaking-in" your car, so maybe the gas mileage will start going up over time?! Keep some other things in mind too, how full are your tires? What temperatures are you driving in? Are you using the AC? How about head winds...how windy has the area been? And how about the topography, hills or flat and how do you accelerate?Many factors other than a car defect could change your gas mileage.

[Jakerooni]

Well I can see a few MPG's here and there for most of those things listed. And when I first got it my first few fill ups we're in the 350+ miles to the tank. and it's been steadily dropping off the more I go. I just did the oil change on it about a 1000 miles ago. But to go from 30+mpg down to 20mpg is a bit much for even those circumstances wouldn't you think?Defiantly have to check the tire pressure. Haven't checked that since I bought the carUse A/C quite a bit due to the fact that it's still hot as all get out around here.Michigan is pretty flat so hilly conditions aren't much of a factor. Nothing really in the way of bad weather around here for a few weeks now.This just has me a bit stumped. I can see a few mpgs here and there but 10+ mpg loss seems like there might be something else going on. Although I get no codes (And I wouldn't hope to only being a month old)

[Vibration]

You should keep of log and calculate your exact MPG each time you fill up. Filling up with 11 gallons vs. 13 gallons makes a big difference when you figure it out. I have found that a new air filter and oil change has increased by MPG by as much as 3 MPG from 26 to 29 MPG. Mostly highway @60-80MPH. AC always on. Mostly hard driving. If you are regularly getting 25 MPG or less with mostly highway driving, then I think something is wrong. In you filled up with more than 12 gallons and only went 280 miles thas less than 23.3 MPG. Driving as you say, that is much worse than I have seen in my '03 GT, and I never run much less than 3000RPMS and frequently shift at 6000-8200.Just for fun, I would check the air filter.

[VibeR8Lava2Tone]

I have to doubt that you already need to change your air filter, but it really couldnt hurt. Mine is still in GOOD shape after over 40K miles, so I'm sure yours will be clean after just 4000 miles. I've found the AC eats ALLOT of your mileage, hopefully with cooler weather coming you'll see a few miles per gallon back for that... The tire pressure situation is a good thing to check, that could add up to 3 miles per gallon i reckin.Also, take note how you accelerate, if you're gunning your car like a madman...(who doesnt these days) you could be eating up allot of gas.One more thing i want to mention. You say highway driving, exactly what speeds are you going. Did you know that going beyond 65 actually uses more gas??? If you're going 80, you're going to use more gas than going a steady 70, or godforbid 65 or whatever the speedlimit is for highway driving. I know many of my suggested things to check should only cover a few miles per gallon, but with all factors together, you could be eating gas faster than you could be.Also, do you fill up when the light first comes on? I have noticed that the Vibe can be pretty sensitive for when that light comes on because of how you fill up your car. An example...when I first bought my Vibe I would fill up whenever the light first came on, going around 300 to 320 miles per tank of gas, filling up with about 9.5 to 10.5 gallons. The Vibe does have a 13 gallon tank. So one time, I drove with the low gas indicator on and got to about 350 miles, when i filled up i still only had to put in about 11 gallons of gas, but on the NEXT tank of gas, the light didnt come on to tell me to fill up until I reached past about 340 miles, so I had kind of trained my car to sense when I was running low on gas, if that concept makes sense!? Let me know what you think....

[AKLGT]

yes, all those things you mentioned will definitely affect mpg! i have a GT and i drive about 1600 miles/mo. both hwy and city driving. i avg about 26-28 mpg. i get about 265-300 miles/tank. i fill up when the light indicator comes on and it's about a little over 10 gallons. you would have to be VERY VERY low on fuel to have to fill your entire 13 gallon tank! so most likely you are filling up b/w 10-11 gallons and if you run about 280-300 miles/tank, that's pretty darn good! keep in mind, the GT will always get less mpg than the base! it's a HIGH REVVING engine which means lower fuel economy, but a lot of fun to drive!

[Jahntassa]

Like TRD says, the GT will ALWAYS get lower mileage than the base model, so don't compare your GT to anything but another GT..