Actual gas mileage

x y scaling · Post by **x y scaling** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 9:43 am

I get 27MPG in town, stop and go, no highway travel in this. I try real hard to keep the RPM at 2000 or lower.Interstate: I get 37MPG 68-70 mph w/cruise no mountains.

MrCritical · Post by **MrCritical** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 10:06 am

You can't reset the computer on an OBD2 car by disconnecting the battery.

MrCritical · Post by **MrCritical** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 10:08 am

The 44/34 estimate is for cars in that class, not your particular car. The larger mileage estimates are for your particular car. The govt sets those estimates, not GM.

Man of Steel · Post by **Man of Steel** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 6:35 am

I have an 05 Vibe with AWD with about 4,000 miles on it. I took a trip from Herrisburg PA to Irwin (near Pittsbugh) It's about a 215 mile trip one way. I was driving about 80mph most of the time, A/C, one passenger, light luggage. I got 29.3mpg. Drove around Irwin locally about 80 miles, (city driving, steep grades) and got 22 mpg which didnt' surprise me. Filled up right before getting on the turnpike to head back home. On the return trip back to Harrisburg, I reduced my speed to between 70-75 and got 33.6mpg. Back and forth to work I do mostly highway and some local driving combined. I get anywhere beteeen 26 and 29mpg. I think I'm getting good mileage for an AWD car plus considering the way I drive it.

binary · Post by **binary** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:40 pm

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic Â»17.6 MPG on the last tank. But hey, the dealer says there is nothing broken. (removed) - I'd hang my dealer. Were you hauling lead on flat tires? Base FWD MT - ~33MPG, but I've been hitting the A/C a lot and tromping on it more than I should.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:59 pm

It got pretty pathetic, I was having tank after tank with sub 20 MPG figures on the f'in highway! But yes, the dealer said nothing was wrong and didn't want to be convinced otherwise. The fact that I had to keep the accelerator smashed down and had to keep winding the engine up to ungodly high rpm's just to get the car to move was certainly killing the mileage. After the catalytic converter/pcm replacement though, i'm getting upper 20's on average. Still not great or as good as some are getting, but I'm just damn glad I'm not getting Excursion-like mileage figures out of something with less power than your average gas powered weedeater. lol So the cat fixed a pleathora of different problems. lol

kostby · Post by **kostby** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 1:38 pm

41.2! 309.7 miles on 7.51 gallons.I was the 3rd vehicle in a 'convoy' behind a pickup truck and a 15-passenger church van, 'drafting' 10 to 20 car lengths back on the trip from Newport, TN up through Kentucky to the Louisville area.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 2:22 pm

Good deal! Kari's car has been up there in that ballpark a time or two as well. It's impressive and almost sounds like it can't happen but I've witnessed it myself.It's all in how you drive it! Plus the condition of the car, that helps too.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 2:41 pm

That does suck... But I would hope that your Rangers weren't getting 17 MPG below the EPA estimated highway mileage and the dealer insisted that nothing was wrong.

Man of Steel · Post by **Man of Steel** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:41 pm

Hey, just curious, what kind of mileage are you getting with your AWD? Mine is all over the place depending on how and where I drive. Has varied from 22 city to 33.6 highway. It definitely helps if you can keep your foot off the floor, speed under 80mph and RPM's under 3,000. These cars are great on gas but they have to be finessed a little in order to achieve the higher numbers. I know some of these folks seem a little unhappy with their gas mileage but I don't think there are too many AWD vehicles that get better mileage than the Vibe/Matrix.

binary · Post by **binary** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:24 am

OUr 03 Escape AWD got roughly 23 on highway... so the Vibes are really doing well >ifIt's nice to know they give you more power - but they really suck the tank dry when you romp on them.

ZubenElGenubi · Post by **ZubenElGenubi** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 7:47 am

I've said it before, CP, but you absolutely need to forget about the dealer and go straight to GM customer service on this. You history with this car is well-documented and I have faith that GMCS will come through for you if you present all your evidence.If I started getting below 20 MPGs on my Vibe and the tires weren't flat, I'd be freakin' out.

litefoot · Post by **litefoot** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 11:27 am

ColonelPanic,If you check earlier in this thread, you will see I had the same issues.The good news is it took me 2000 miles for the new PCM to adjust.I now get 23-24 city and I have gotten 30 Highway. The down side is when you get on it, the gas mileage go south. Keeping the rpms under 3600, gets the best mileage. And keep it under 70 MPH on the highway. But who drives that way?? I just hope that when I put another 23k on the car, the same thing does not happen again.

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:19 pm

That's reassuring. The mileage is much better but it's still not where it needs to be, IMHO. I'll keep tracking it and hopefully it will improve.

redscourge · Post by **redscourge** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 6:28 am

my daughter borrowed the vibe.took to gainsville. brought back empty .put 13.26 gallons of gas .lousy mileage 310 miles .just change the air filter today 24635 miles

iDahoVibe · Post by **iDahoVibe** » Wed Aug 03, 2005 1:26 pm

Go Gators

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 4:43 pm

Ladies and gentlemen, there is something very wrong in the world tonight... Details to follow!So, I filled up and hit the road this afternoon to go back up to Ohio. I took it very easy on the car - the cruise was set to a couple MPH below the speed limit... When pulling hills, I cancelled the cruise and worked the throttle myself - if it slowed down, so be it - that way, I avoided the violent tendencies of our cruise control.Historically, when the car was going through a non-bad spell, I would see the fuel gage at 3/4 by around 100 miles. Much sooner before the new cat/pcm... But by 120 miles, something seemed wrong since here is where the gauge was:Huh? It was still on full! On the way back, I continued to baby the car and only ran the A/C when necessary. And the ol' gauge continued its slow downward motion. It finally got down to a hair below 3/4 of a tank - 200 miles into the trip...Normally, I would see the low fuel light come on right around the 300 mark. Yet again, here I am at 277 and have arrived home, with half of a tank remaining! I was quite skeptical - knowing my luck the gas gauge is broken so I decided to fill it back up when I got back to check...For once in a long time, I've got something really, really positive to say about this car. I never thought it was possible, but sure enough I've joined the few who are members of the >40MPG Vibe club! To think, it was a struggle to get over 20 not too long ago.277.9 miles on 6.776 gallons, $2.339 a gallon so the trip was only $15.85. Not too shabby! 41.01 mpg

ZubenElGenubi · Post by **ZubenElGenubi** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 4:39 am

Wow! What a turnaround for you CP! What was the highest speed you drove on the highway...67mph?

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 4:43 am

I got up to 70 a time or two, but traveling at that speed was short lived. I pissed a bunch of people off by driving like grandma, but oh well - I still got where I was going and got there a helluva lot cheaper.

amhobby · Post by **amhobby** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:27 am

I just bought a 2003 auto. base with 90K on it to tow behind our motorhome and it averaged 37mpg with ac and cruise on from Tx to Ia.

joholste · Post by **joholste** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:59 am

Well on my trip that i took from Fort Bragg NC to Kansas City MO last month i was averaging 44 mpgs throughout the 2400 mile trip round trip. I have never had a problem averaging above 40 mpg on the highway, i travel at 77 MPH the whole way. so i dunno what to tell anyone who gets bad mpgs

Jahntassa · Post by **Jahntassa** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:07 pm

I need to figure out what's up with my mileage.. Gotta check the air filter and all that for when I drive up to Jersey.. I usually would get around 29/30 going from GA to NJ. I've been getting around 20/22 lately, but it's harder to tell since I haven't been able to fill up my tank recently, and i'm too lazy to fix my excel spreadsheet to figure it out.

vibebob · Post by **vibebob** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 10:54 am

while I've only had my Vibe about 6 weeks, I seem to average 26 in town and about 34 highway.

jameyfreeman · Post by **jameyfreeman** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 2:18 am

2005 vibe gt 1500 miles and i break it in like i drive it, fast, and i get a consistent 26 mpg so far

ramenboy... · Post by **ramenboy...** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:25 pm

2004 base vibe about 26kmiles. i drive about 60miles round trip for work. 30-32 mpg.my92 rodeo got 15mpg. i'm happy

BOZACK · Post by **BOZACK** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:20 pm

I was averaging 26 mpg until I hit 3000 miles. I now get about 29 mpg. Going camping again next week so I will keep an average going. Heading to Pa.

briandb · Post by **briandb** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 2:47 am

We bought my wife's 2005 Vibe (base, auto) last April and, so far, the highway mileage has been my only significant disappointment. We get a consistent 26 mpg City, which is acceptable. On the highway, if we only have 2 occupants, don't use AC, and keep the speed around 70-75, we have averaged as much as 31 mpg. But our normal road trip includes 3 people and speeds closer to 80, often with the AC on; in these situations, the transmission frequently (and annoyingly) downshifts 2 gears on hills and the fuel economy drops all the way down to 25-26. (My 2000 Grand Prix gets 24 mpg highway under the same conditions!)The worst part about it is that the 2.3L 1988 Grand Am I used to drive, which weighed 100 lbs more than the Vibe, would easily get 30-33 mpg on the highway under the same loaded, 80mph conditions.

21Rouge · Post by **21Rouge** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:23 am

Quote, originally posted by vibebob Â»while I've only had my Vibe about 6 weeks, I seem to average 26 in town and about 34 highway.I was concerned about the fuel economy on my base 5 speed '05. In the three and a half months I have had it I have put on 4800 mi and I had been getting about 8.5 L/100 km (or 27 mpg) driving around town and 30 mpg with more hwy . Of course I know driving conditions and driving technique make alot of difference so I was pleased that yesterday I had the opportunity to do a 180 mi hwy trip. It is on the hwy that most of us would have much more similar driving conditions and habits. It was nice to see me obtain 35 mpg (6.6 L/100km).Not sure how to get 40 mpg!

Mavrik · Post by **Mavrik** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:43 am

I average now about 550 km per tank now mostly city driving, stop and go and idling at red lights. The occasional drive out of town helps. Of course I haven't but my intake back in... With that on there... some tank fulls never got me more then 400... damn that cool roaring sound at redline...

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:22 pm

Just entered in a huge pile of gas station receipts, made a new graph. The blue line represents US miles per US gallons for each time I put gas in the car, the red line indicates the overall average mpg at that point. Over the entire time I've had the car, my current overall average is 35.93 mpg. I see a trend where Summers are better, winters are worse, this summer almost made up for last winter, but with winter coming on, I am not sure if I can get that average back up over the 36 line.Interesting milestone though, did the tranny swap at 75K and 80K, I wonder if the original bad one was hurting my mpg. Had some great tanks and some awful tanks, I think a lot of variation comes from just how full you fill it up each time, that's why I think it is important to average mpg over a number of fill ups.

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zionzr2 · Post by **zionzr2** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 2:05 am

I've been working on my excel mpg projects to anyalize my data.Here we go: blue represents 2004 and pink 2005. The points are each fill while the line is the trend. this graph should get interesting over the next few years, each year will be a new color. Driving patterns have definitly influenced these numbers. The plot at 41 mpg is actualy a false plot. and has been taken care of in the overall averaging in my log.

ZubenElGenubi · Post by **ZubenElGenubi** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:18 am

I dunno how you do it, joatmon, but those are amazing numbers. It looks like you're filling up all the way each time, too (not half-tanks). I'm guessing you have a lot of highway mileage, given you're over 90K on the car.Here's my latest MPG graph. I use a 12 point moving average to get a better sense of my current mileage. Note the big spike downward at 20K; that's when I put my CAI in! But it is getting better...

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zionzr2 · Post by **zionzr2** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:50 am

Quote, originally posted by ZubenElGenubi Â»Here's my latest MPG graph. I use a 12 point moving average to get a better sense of my current mileage. Note the big spike downward at 20K; that's when I put my CAI in! But it is getting better...how do you get excel to do a moving average? My knoweldge of Excel is pretty non-exsistant. Thanks

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:00 am

Yeah, I always fill it up all the way. Twice a week or so, 130 miles per work day. Mostly open country roads, a dozen or so traffic lights each way, almost always red, and lots of police protection from the evils of speeding. To get a running average in excel, just add another column to your spreadsheet, and define a formula for that cell to average the desired number of individual mpg numbers, then copy it all the way down the column.For example, suppose you wanted to do a running five tank average, and your mpg numbers were in column "D" and for the sake of this example, pick row 10 and you want the five tank average to be in Column "E". In cell E10, type +(D8+D9+D10+D11+D11+D12)/5 When you copy E110 to E11, it will automatically adjust it to be +(D9+D10+D11+D11+D12+D13)/5, etcthat is the way to force one, but zuben's got a much better way to do it /

ZubenElGenubi · Post by **ZubenElGenubi** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:40 pm

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 Â»how do you get excel to do a moving average? Two ways.The first way is to add a new column to your data that averages out numbers preceeding and/or following your plot point (as joatman showed in his example post).The second way is to use the Trendline feature in your graph. You can get to this function by either:Right-click on the plot series and then select "Add Trendline..." from the shortcut menu, orWhile viewing/selecting your chart, select from the main menu: Chart Add Trendline...You can select from six different types: Linear (as with zionzr2's example), Logarithmic, Polynomial (up to 6th order), Power, Exponential, or Moving Average (up to as many points as plotted).

hax3 · Post by **hax3** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:21 am

I get approx 8L/100km or if my calc is correct, approx 29mpg on 85/15 city/hwy.I have an 05 base auto with just under 4000Km and no oil change yet - I know.. I know.. I should get it done soon..

hax3 · Post by **hax3** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 9:56 am

I understand using AC increases gas consumption.. can I assume then that having the fan ON (whether dial is set to cool or hot) increases gas consumption as well?

silver_vibe · Post by **silver_vibe** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:02 am

Quote, originally posted by hax3 Â»I understand using AC increases gas consumption.. can I assume then that having the fan ON (whether dial is set to cool or hot) increases gas consumption as well?it shouldn't effect mileage because it won't kick on the compressor

hax3 · Post by **hax3** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:24 am

hmm.. I just filled up today and I got almost 9L/100km where as normally I'd get only 8L/100Km.. no change in driving.. could it be that gas station pump is... mis-calibrated??

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:30 am

Quote, originally posted by hax3 Â»I understand using AC increases gas consumption.. can I assume then that having the fan ON (whether dial is set to cool or hot) increases gas consumption as well?I figure that any electrical load is going to require additional output from the generator, which is going to make the generator harder for the engine to turn, which will cause gas consumption to go up. However, the effect on gas consumption from just running the fan is small compared to the effect of running the AC compressor. But I don't know for sure. I'd like to get some kind of trip computer thing, that could give instantaneous readings of miles per gallon and do some testing on the car to see what effect vvariosu things have on the efficiency. For example, how much do DRLs affect mpg? I'd also loke to measure for myself that it is better to run with the AC than with the windows open, and see what effect 55 vs 65 has. anyone know of such a tool?

hax3 · Post by **hax3** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:41 am

I saw this episode once of mythbuster (gotta love discovery channel!) that tested this AC vs Windows open.. I don't remember the exact details except that driving with your windows open you get better gas mileage than using AC.. again I don't remember exactly how much the saving is..

zionzr2 · Post by **zionzr2** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 11:17 am

Quote, originally posted by hax3 Â»I saw this episode once of mythbuster (gotta love discovery channel!) that tested this AC vs Windows open.. I don't remember the exact details except that driving with your windows open you get better gas mileage than using AC.. again I don't remember exactly how much the saving is.. they redid this myth... above 50 mph in the vehilce they tested A/C is more effiecnet than windows down. they tested to empty at 45mph below 50mph yes A/C is worse on mileage than windows down...Most efficent is all windows up and as few electricts on as possible Filling the tank early in the morning when its colder. i.e. NO FANS, Lights, radio, phone charging, GPS. (TOP GEAR tips; when they ran a Diesel V8 sedan with a 18 gallon tank go 800miles.)

jasonvibe · Post by **jasonvibe** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:07 pm

Consumer reports did a test 2 or so years ago when these Vibes came out. they do a combined run, city/hwy. How much of each I do not know. But they got 24 w/ AWD and 26 w/ FWD, both 4spd auto cars. My AWD gets about 24mpg, 90% city. Still has less than 2000 miles on it. The EPA rated is 26 city. I was also wondering what RPM's the auto-FWD's turn @ 75mph? Mine is turning exactly 3000rpm. When I did a test drive there did not seem to be a noticable difference in RPM's. I know the sticker says they have different axle ratios. Was` I dreaming? Only stock size tire users need answer.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:32 pm

Quote, originally posted by jasonvibe Â»I was also wondering what RPM's the auto-FWD's turn @ 75mph? Mine is turning exactly 3000rpm. The FWD would be close, but a little less. http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=16070

ColonelPanic · Post by **ColonelPanic** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:30 am

Curious to see if anyone has thought about or has bought one of these yet... Not the prettiest piece of hardware, but it gives a lot of information. I'm interested to see if its fuel consumption tracking capabilities work with these cars. And seeing how my lovely car appears to be developing abnormal fuel consumption tendencies yet again, regardless of whether I'm babying the car or running the hell out of it, perhaps I need something like this to keep an eye on it...

jasonvibe · Post by **jasonvibe** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:25 am

joatman.....just a 2% difference. Thanks for the info. I suppose the AWD axle ratio has something to do with applying the torque to the pavement. Rather than waisting it in the tranny. So these autos are different trannys in the AWD...Very interesting...

VivaVibe · Post by **VivaVibe** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:35 am

I've only had my Vibe for 19 days, so figures are tentative. First measured tank produced 29 MPG, second tank was 30 MPG. Both are surprising to me as driving has been about 64% city 35% highway. I thought I drove a bit more aggressively on the second one, or at least was not as careful to watch my habits.No A/C or defrost on the second one, but the first used it a little. '04 Base, 36,500 miles, auto, dino oil. I'm very pleased that it is actually getting the advertised mileage. No road trips as yet, and I expect to do better then.Way better than my previous vehicle, a '97 Astro Van-V6. So, far I'm a happy camper, and love driving my Vibe.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:59 am

Here's my data for 4 years, ~131K miles2 graphs, one by date, one by miles with an overall average line.they don't exactly line up, as it was down for repairs in spring/summer 2005 (so few tanks/week), and also down fall 2006 when I couldn't drive much.I definitely see a seasonal variation.I have spent about $7150 for about 3640 gallons of gas (avg $1.97 / gal)Figuring in lower mpg and higher cost for premium, a GT would have cost me about $1300 more for gasolineMost of the sharp low spikes have some special circumstance as a cause, such as large objects on the roof, terrible traffic, stuff like that

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VivaVibe · Post by **VivaVibe** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:56 pm

Hey Joatmon, the chart appears to be fairly consistent with seasons, and the ups and downs seem to be mirrored in total mileage too. Did you really get a high of 42 MPG? or is that a spike?BTW I lived in Leonardtown for a while.

joatmon · Post by **joatmon** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:21 pm

You can't put much accuracy into a single tank of gas, it depends on how full you fill up. On those tanks where it looks like I got wonderful MPGs. I just asssume that I put in extra on the fillup before, and then didn't fill it up as much the next time. If I could get several tanks in a row that were all that high, then I might think the numbers were accurate, but usually, a really high MPG tank has a low MPG tank nearby. Most of those tanks of gas were driven off under similar driving conditions, and the jagged nature of the graph shows that you can't look at one single tank as being absolutely accurate, you have look at an average over time.A lot of my driving is on fairly rural country highways, not interstates, at speeds on the order of 50-60 mph. I get less mpg on the interstate at 70. I think I see a drop in MPGs when I drive a lot with the headlights on, or the wipers, and the AC definitely takes it's toll.

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