Actual gas mileage

[bellwilliam]

from what everybody posted here, 20mpg-35mpg seems to be the range, I am guessing averaging about 24-28mpg for most. That is BAD compare to EPA ratings. You go to different car forums, people are usually getting close to city EPA MPG. NOT 25% below city's EPA number. I really believe there is an issue with Vibe/Matrix's fuel mileage.in all forums I go to, I never hear this many complaints about mileage. with all the complaints in the media about Hybrid's mileage. they are only talking about 10% below city EPA figures, and media made such a big deal out of it. Dateline should do a story on the Vibe/Matrix. I will tell them my Z4 3.0 and Chevy V6 Minivan gets the same mileage as my Vibe. at least it beats my 5.7L GTO by 4mpg.btw, I am getting 21mpg, this is post-SC, on a long distance trip, best ever 26mpg. and YES, all my other cars, I am getting at leaset EPA City MPG, often better.

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by bellwilliam »from what everybody posted here, 20mpg-35mpg seems to be the range, I am guessing averaging about 24-28mpg for most.Yeah right, must be nice! I average 16-19mpg each fill!

[litefoot]

I need some enlightening; I picked a used 2004 AWD with 23600 miles two week ago. Can someone tell me, if 21-mpg city is normal for the AWD I know the cold brings it down some. But the salesman, told me, I would get 26 city. Everything I have been finding on this site makes me think that 21-mpg is normal. I took it back today, to have it checked. All they did was hooked it up to the computer to look for error codes. Which I knew there was none. And they have no answer for that wonderful egg smell.The car sat for about six weeks in the lot, before I bought it. Would this have any affecton the smell. It smells all the time, I am trying premium now, to see if it helps. I also asked them to check the gas gauge sensor in the tank. They also checked this on the computer too. I thought the gas gauge went directly to the dash. The gauge hangs between F and ¾ for 60 miles then drops fast to ½ in another 40 miles is this normal?

[ColonelPanic]

Hey! Welcome aboard!For the rotten egg smell, there is a TSB that affects 2003-2004 FWD and AWD Vibes with automatics... Sounds like your car could be a candidate. I too need to get this issue addressed in mine! Come to think of it, I think I'll bring that up on Thu. when I go in for an oil change...Check this thread here, this will take you straight to where the TSB number is and where we have a few folks around here that have had their Vibe's with this issue successfully repaired. http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...age=2 Bring the bulletin # with you when you go to the dealer and see what they say... They *should* have already looked up TSB's when you had it in there. At least my shop, that's the first thing they look for before ever touching the car... Good luck to ya!As far as mileage goes, can't speak for the AWD... I rarely do all city driving, so even if I had an AWD, I couldn't be too much help. But for the gas gauge issue, the travel isn't exactly linear. I'll fill mine up, drive 60 miles, then it moves - until then, it stays right at the highest point in which it will go. By the time I'm at 1/4 of a tank, it usually only takes 100 more miles until the low fuel light is on and I only have a couple of gallons left. Seems like it may be worse for your car, you have a smaller tank... So best thing to do is rely on the trip odometer and the fuel gauge both to determine where you're at. I get ~300 mi out of a tank on mine, yours will be less due to having the awd, less capacity, and different types of driving...Hope this helps, and if you need anything at all, we're here!

[tnpartsguy]

After 6 weeks of ownership, my gas milage has been very odd....anywhere from 28.9 MPG to todays 18.4 MPG. Yeah, the higher mileage was more interstate driving, but I really thought I would get at least 20 around town...it's a bit depressing... On a lighter not, the AWD still rules in bad weather...

[ColonelPanic]

Absolutely! I'll give you that one. What good is a couple extra MPG's if you can't get the thing out of the driveway? If I find myself somewhere down the road in the market for a AWD vs FWD car of the same type, I'd go for the AWD. Taking a penalty in mileage, but it may be worth it...

[DiveNut]

I have a 2004, Base w/auto trans, 11, 400 miles, no-mods other than debadging. drove 300 miles/week all rush hour stop and go sh$t. I tend to keep my foot in it a bit too much!? Is that possible LOL.avg 26-27 MPGavg 33-34 MPG on long trips with cruise set at 75MPH.Perhaps the aerodynamic effects of debadge is helping my mileage?DiveNutGot the OK from the "boss" to add an Injen CAI and Catback exhaust. Will be intersting to see how my mileage suffers at that point.

[ZubenElGenubi]

Mine's settled around 27.5 mpg after 12,000 miles and nine months of ownership (see attached graph).I would say my highway/city mix is roughly 50/50.I would guess that every time I gun it, I lose about 0.1 mpg each tankful...and even though it's a base auto, I sure like doing it.

Attached files

[kep427]

Mine's settled in at about 29 mpg w/13K miles. I too notice a distinct drop when I occasionally punch the accelorator.

[litefoot]

Thanks for all the help.ColonelPanic, I will stop in at the dealer in the morning with the TSB number and see what happens. And now if only they had a fix the for non-linear gas gauge.

[litefoot]

I was at the dealer today; I asked the service person, if they found anything about the rotten egg smell. I was told; at this time there was nothing they could do. Maybe when they do the 30K mile service it would get better. Then I ask him, if he could look up a TB number for me. If you could have seen the look on his face. Well, the parts are now on order. Thanks again. And I think it is time to find a different dealership for service.

[ragingfish]

Welcome aboard fellow Garden Stater...What dealership did you use?

[Raven]

I just got my best mileage ever. 46mpg Canadian gallon. Flat freeway, no wind, 32F, cruise set at 68mph,base auto., CAI.

[litefoot]

Ragingfish,Ramsey Pontiac, on RT 17I also found out, the service person I am dealing with is new.He has only been there a couple of weeks. Which would explain the confusion.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by litefoot »Then I ask him, if he could look up a TB number for me. If you could have seen the look on his face. Well, the parts are now on order.Congrats on that victory! I crashed and burned miserably when I tried to get the smell taken care of. Oh well, I'll just keep buggin' them until they're ticked off at me enough to give in. LOL!Let us know how that all worked out! And hope your experience w/ the dealer gets better. It's rough out there sometimes.

[NJVibe04Salsa]

I would like to know if your mileage improves after they replace the PCM and Cat.

[Flip-Side]

I have never had better than 300 miles on a full tank, and thats on the highway going 65 in my automatic Vibe. Mabey I just never let it get low enough on gas. I don't think my 03 has a low fule light, so I won't push my luck. I usually get around 260 in the city. This car is not as fuel efficient as I thought. I am starting to think I should have gone for the Saturn VUE. At least the Saturn has decent paint and 25 mpg average.

[cohocarl]

Quote, originally posted by Flip-Side »I am starting to think I should have gone for the Saturn VUE. At least the Saturn has decent paint and 25 mpg average.I bought a 2.2L 4 cyl, 5-speed manual front wheel drive Vue last spring. I was getting about 27mpg in the summer (high of 30), and now about 24 in the winter (low of 22). The 6 cylinder they put in them is a 250hp Honda motor and it really goes, and only gets about 2mpg less than the 4 cyl Ecotec motor I have. The Vibe was more fun to drive, but the Vue is better on the X-way where I spend most of my time driving.

[litefoot]

I am waiting for the parts to come in. They said it would be a week for the parts to come in. They had to order the parts. I am calling on 2/10/05 to see if the parts have come in yet. I will let you know what happens.

[litefoot]

Called this morning and asked about the parts, service said they call back.A half hour later, get a call that the parts came in. Drop the Vibe at the Dealer today. Hopefully it will be done by early afternoon on Friday.I will drive it and post the new MPG.I have a question, wondering if anyone has any ideas why.The smell was so bad all the time, and only getting 16-mpg city, I tried this: I ran the tank down to a quarter tank of Citgo Premium I added a bottle of STP injector cleaner (the black bottle) Then I filled up with Citgo Premium about 8 gallons. Ran this tank down to a quarter. 18-mpg cityI added a bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol 90 % 16 oz (simply rubbing alcohol)Isopropyl is supposed to raise the 92 Octane little, plus act like a cleaner. For Octane info http://www.vtr.org/maintain/gasoline-octane.htmlThen I filled with Citgo Premium about 8 gallons.The Mileage jumped to 21 mpg, and the vibe does not smell as bad. I put regular back in the tank this time. I did this in less than two weeks of driving. I drive the same route to work every day.And now the new parts came in. So now I will never know. Any Ideas? Could it be the Premium finally kicking in? Or maybe, I blow all the crap out of the cat, with my brew.

[thorntcl]

Thanks litefoot,I'll pick up the torch and run with that idea for you. I was thinking of trying something similar...Good luck with the new cat and pcm...

[ColonelPanic]

Hard to say if that helped you or not! It could be hit or miss with your car like it was mine, maybe you just caught it on a smelling streak that came to an end. Perhaps the gas you bought wasn't as nasty as what was previously in there. Do keep us posted on the new parts though! I think I need to go out and find the raunchiest gas I can and run a couple tank fulls to get that rotten egg smell constant so the dealer will smell it and do what they should have already done, order the parts! I need a sulfur additive I think. lol!

[ShadowRuleZ]

We get 27-29 in the middle of winter, 50/50 highway/city. 05 auto with 5k miles.

[litefoot]

NJVibe04Salsa,I ran the tank down to a quarter tank. Then I filled the tank up with Citgo Regular. The Mileage jumped to 23 mpg, and the Vibe does not smell. Colonel Panic, you may be right. I am going to run regular, for a while to make sure all the Premium is out of the Vibe.I think two more tanks of regular, should do it. And then I can see what happens with the gas mileage.

[rated_w]

with my rolla I get 630 - 700 KM on one tank.. with winters I'm down to 550

[litefoot]

Here is a copy of the TSB. For rotten egg smell.Hope it helps others.

Attached files TSB_04-06-05-011.pdf (47.2 KB) 

[tecton]

recently been driving 500+ miles a day highway going to and from school on the weekendsim consistantly getting close to 330 miles out of an 11gal tankcomes out around 30mpg

[NJVibe04Salsa]

Which model vibe do you own?

[thorntcl]

Well tried the premium gas and isopropyl alcohol and no improvement; however, the good news is I brought back to the dealer and showed all of my gas receipts and complained about the sulfur smell and they're ordering a new catalytic and pcm.Thanks for the info litefoothttp://forums.genvibe.com/zero...1.pdfThey also mentioned the gas mileage may suffer for a little while until the pcm learns the mixture.The avg I was getting was 29.55 cdn mpg or 9.61 L/100km compared to the adv gm mileage of 36.69 cdn mpg city47.08 cdn mpg hwy a difference of 19.46% to 37.24%Good luck all, and I'll get some feedback after the new parts are installed.How are things going with your new parts litefoot?

[litefoot]

Well, thorntcl the first tank was 23 mpg the second dropped to 21 mpg again. But I am running regular, and no smell on my third tank. I am hoping that with two more tanks the PCM adjusts and the mileage will go up again. I would be happy if I could get 23 city and 28 highway.It has been very cold here in Jersey the last couple weeks, and now next week too. The cold hurts my mpg,So I really not sure if it is the cold or the PCM. But I have to say, the week I got 23 mpg it was in the high 30s.Let me know how long it takes to get your parts in. It took my dealer over a week. Filled my fourth tank today Sunday 2/27/05 dropped again, to 20 mpg all city.

[litefoot]

Well it now 3/12/05 and two more fill ups, now down to 19 mpg. But again all city. But I found this thread.http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=7676 joatmon posted a page from the service manual. I going to the dealer and show them theIgnition System Checks section. Maybe they can check to see if something happened when they put in the PCM. I was getting better gas mileage before they did the cat and PCM fix. LOL. Anyone, who had this fix done, did your mileage change? Or am I just having a run of bad luck.

[thorntcl]

I got my parts in and am scheduled to have the PCM and cat put in on Thursday (17th). Took about a week and half to get in the parts. The dealer did warn me that the PCM would take a bit to relearn, but I will ask how long that means (1-2 tanks maybe??)I'll let you know litefoot how my mileage does after a tank or two. (likely reply the 25th or so)

[cieglo]

I just took a 270mile round trip, got exactly 30mpg on the out-bound leg. Looking at the gas gauge, I probably got similar on the return leg. This is my GT and I did not hit Lift once the whole way, just to see what would happen.That's probably the best mileage I've gotten all in one big chunk.

[ColonelPanic]

My last two tank fulls have been crap for some reason. 23 on one, and around 25.6 on the last. The Vibe really didn't like the last tank full, the fart machine was operating in full force off that stuff. I figured the mileage was not going to be as good as it was, as I usually don't see the low fuel light until 300 miles - but this time, it came on at 250. Filled it up at 300.Wondering where my 30+ went... It used to do pretty good. Hopefully when spring rolls around, it will start to creep back up again.

[loanwolf]

HelloI boughty new Vibe in Dec. We had some terrible weather and snow to dirve through. I got 31 mpg then. NOw I am getting 24 mpg. The dealer gives me the runaround and says that is typical. When they sold me the car- it was a different story as they said it got fantastic mileage and better than anything else they had to offer- they sure chnaged thier tune after the purchase. they won't even look at it as they say 24 mpg is good for a vibe.

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by loanwolf »HelloI boughty new Vibe in Dec. We had some terrible weather and snow to dirve through. I got 31 mpg then. NOw I am getting 24 mpg. The dealer gives me the runaround and says that is typical. When they sold me the car- it was a different story as they said it got fantastic mileage and better than anything else they had to offer- they sure chnaged thier tune after the purchase. they won't even look at it as they say 24 mpg is good for a vibe.Be happy, I average about 17mpg! Depends on how heavy of a foot you have and how you drive. That's why I get 17mpg anyways! It sucks when you expect to get 30something, but they do their tests at less than 60mph always and never hard accelerate or anything like that. Slow take-offs, constant low speeds, and easy driving get those kind of mpg. I won't ever expect to get anything much better than I get now.

[litefoot]

Update 3/22/2005, I put 500 miles on with the new parts. There must be an adjustment period. I ran the last two tanks with 89 octane. I got 24 and 26 mpg city. I am going to try going back to 87 octane on the next tank full. To see if the gas mileage drops again.

[tnpartsguy]

Just filled up (87 oct, $2.05/gallon Exxon, btw)EXACTLY 10 Gallon, I went 244 miles....so 24.4 MPG.....best it's been in a while. It's been getting around 19~20.BTW, got the oil changed Sat, and the tires were all 8~10 lbs underinflated. Never thought that underinflated tires would hurt THAT much....guess I was wrong.

[litefoot]

I have to agree, being down 8-10 lbs psi can really affect your mileage, more rolling resistance, tread design also can affect rolling resistance.

[ColonelPanic]

Woo hoo, 21 MPG on my last tank. Very depressing numbers in recent times, where it takes anywhere from $20-$30 to fill the tank.The best I've had was 31 on a recent trip I took. But my to-and-from work mileage is really suffering. Not sure why, my style of driving isn't any different than what it has been. Mainly it is interstate driving, 55 MPH speed limits. A couple of lights between home and the interstate, a couple more between the interstate and work. Nothing that I would consider "city" driving...Bummer.

[johnsoax]

Check my signature. My daily commute is about 40 miles, 60% highway, and 40% surface streets.

[cieglo]

This past weekend I took my '03GT on it's first long road trip under my ownership. We went Philly - Boston and back, about 355 miles each way. I got 29.5833mpg on the way there (I did that math in my head while falling asleep the first night there) and right about 29.85mpg on the way home. I typically get 23-27mpg in my normal driving, which is about 50% hwy, so I guess I'm pretty satisfied with that.

[DaddyVibeMI]

We did long road trip to visit my grandmother for her 90th birthday. We left Lansing, MI with full tank and we get into small town Libertyville, IL at 1/4 tank left 257 miles because we got lost. On way home from Morrison, IL (full tank) to Lansing, MI (less than 1/4 tank) 345 miles. I'm looing at about 34 miles per gallon....

[SoCalVibe]

Check mi sig for my list of mods. With all these and a heavy foot (the novelty has not worn off yet) i am still AVERAGING 25.2 MPG

[litefoot]

Just an update, 2500 miles on new parts.Now my average is 23, My best highway is 28.

[MrCritical]

The only problem is that the manufacturer has absolutely nothing to do with your mileage estimate. That is the government, my friend.

[ychartra]

I have approx 13,000 miles (21,000 KM) I average 21 miles per gallon or 11 litres per 100 Km. It's been quite consistently at that rate since I bought it new. 04 Base Vibe, with aluminium wheels, power moonroof.

[ColonelPanic]

17.6 MPG on the last tank. But hey, the dealer says there is nothing broken.

[kostby]

32.2 mpg for the ~630 mile round trip to the Genvibe Michigan meet and back. That's 99.5% highway driving at ~72 mph average speed set using cruise control, and air conditioning the whole trip (90 degrees+ ambient temperature both days).

[Rivet]

I have been averaging 33 mpg on mostly highway with the base Vibe (automatic).