Gas mileage woahs

[UndaCuva]

I keep hearing everyone talk about how great their gas mileage is, and that is basically why I bought a vibe. I drive 63 miles one way to work and back each day. It's all interstate miles. I figured out after the first month, it was costing me $12.50 a day to go to work. That translates to about 26 MPG on the highway, and when I do (rarely) drive in town, it's even worse. Any ideas? I bought this thing used, and I've checked the air cleaner and exhaust, no problems. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[NSimkins]

What year/model Vibe do you have? Also, auto or manual transmission?

[vibebob]

also, how fast you drive and you could have low tire pressure

[Kari]

Driving style often has a lot to do with gas mileage, and I find this car is very sensitive to driving style in its fuel economy. If you are a driver who really "steps on it" to take off from a stop or to speed up, instead of gradually easing into the gas, it will cause your fuel mileage to go down quite a bit.Also, if you are having problems with your catalytic converter, your gas mileage will go down as well. There's a TSB out on the cat for most of the 03 and 04 Vibes, so that might be worth checking into.

[Mavrik]

my driving + cold weather = poor fuel mileage.

[AKLGT]

i had an 03 vibe GT and in the winter often avg 24-26 mpg. that was with my heavy foot and driving style. plus, keep in mind that winter makes a big difference too. in the summer, i would avg 26-28 mpg while others would consistantly avg 30+ in their GT. if you have a base vibe, then see what electronics you are running, radio, heat (winter), headlights, etc. it all plays a role in your fuel consumption.in my new car, i'm happy to avg 20 mpg! right now, i'm getting only 18 mpg with the snow on the ground.

[Jaycie685]

The Vibe doesn't really live up to the "26 city/31 highway" gas mileage as advertised. I think it's false advertising.

[AKLGT]

i don't know. i bet we got some great gas mileage on our road trip. and when phil drives his or my car, he consistantly gets better gas mileage than when i drive. not sure why that is... lol

[Kari]

I usually get 27 around town and 33 on the highway if I'm running the A/C, 37 or even up to 41 if I'm not running the A/C.

[jimincalif]

I have an '03 GT. Around town, usually about 25-26 mpg, unless I hit lift a lot, then more like 24. I tend to accelerate and drive a bit faster than most people.On the road, at approx 65-70 mph average I will usually get 30-32. At average 80 mph 29-30.I've never really noticed much difference running the AC or not.

[Jaycie685]

Mine is getting nowhere near that! I can't even reach 300 miles on a full tank on the highway. There must be something wrong with mine.

[mcgusto82]

it also depends on where you live. in Va, i used to get 34 mpg average every week. i always monitored it. here in NY, i'm getting around 28mpg. it's a great decrease. i would suggest to keep your tires at 36psi, keep your car around 65 to 70 mph, and your mileage should be at the best it can be.keeping the car at 65mph, the car can do 35mpg easy.

[NSimkins]

I've been keeping track of my gas mileage, pretty religiously, since 2002 in this thread:http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...#3069The mileage has been pretty predictable when considering the driving conditions noted at each entry.

[joholste]

does anyone have a copy of the TSB for the catalytic converter on 03's and 04s that i could possibly download and take into get it replace?

[binary]

Quote, originally posted by Jaycie685 »Mine is getting nowhere near that! I can't even reach 300 miles on a full tank on the highway. There must be something wrong with mine. I get two choices when I go to work - a 55MHP highway for 50 minutes or a 65MPH Freeway for 40 minutes.As always - +5 to 10mph speed adjustment to keep up with flow.After 12k milesI find my vibe getting an average 35.6MPG on the highway when I set cruise at 60mph.I find my Vibe's MPG drop to 31MPG when I cruise at 75MPH - tested in many weather conditions. Bursts to 80MPH to pass, or keep up with the current flow... My theory is that the aerodynamics of the car are most efficient at speeds 60MPH.So if you keep it in the sweet spot of 60-70MPH, without hammering it off the line at stops... you'll see good mileage. Not sure about anyone else, but the two Vibe's in my driveway agree.

[ColonelPanic]

Your observations seem pretty solid. I've found that I get the best right around 60-65 MPH.If I stray too far from there, it goes right down the toilet.I often find myself now traveling for 70-something miles at night on an extremely deer infested interstate frequently. This has given me a good opportunity to test out various slower speeds on the interstate and how it affects mileage. 65 MPH speed limit the whole way, but that speed does not seem particularly wise this time of year from the various pieces of evidence you see every few miles. So, considering the best possible conditions, I will usually keep it around 60 MPH and that yields the best mileage. But, conditions have been so bad that I had to travel at 55 MPH for that entire stretch. I can't recall the exact figures, but if I can go 60 or slightly above, the mileage is actually better than it was those times I had to drive 55. It threw me for one at first, I had expected the trips where I was going around 55 MPH to give me more mpg's but that was not how it turned out in real life.And yes, I concur with the others - these things are beyond (removed) about how they are driven. It takes a lot less than you would expect of getting crazy to ruin your numbers for the entire tank.

[ragingfish]

I get better mileage in my G6 (32+ mpg even at 70+ mph) then I did in my Vibe. Ironic.

[ZubenElGenubi]

My overall gas mileage right now is over 29 MPG and that's about a 50/50 mix of city and highway driving. Sounds like you need to do a check of the basics: tire pressure (32 psi is recommended... look on inside of door pillar), air filter (which you checked), clean oil. You might consider having the catalytic converter checked, too, considering the TSB on it. You definitely should be getting better highway mileage than you are.

[BOZACK]

I am getting about 28 mpg around town. 30 plus on the highway.

[binary]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »I get better mileage in my G6 (32+ mpg even at 70+ mph) then I did in my Vibe. Ironic.Not really... I got great gas milage in my Contour SE traveling at 70-75mph... it's all about aerodynamic efficiency of the vehicle, in addition to gearing, power curves, and the always changing tire pressure. That car was arguably ugly up front, but its curves both front and back let it slide through the air. The Vibe's got sudden drop on the back side that creates turbulence behind it, especially at higher speeds.And then there's other stuff like wind speed, air temp, traffic, road conditions... add that all up and you can have a large delta in your mpg even though you drive the same speedI would be interested to know if lowering the car would have any affect on mpg...

[Digger]

I see about 27mpg with my 05 AWD I just turned 5k though. I think it will get better with time. The best I saw was 34 on Highway and 31 with a 50/50 mix

[GatorGirl]

I get 26mpg, will be going on a trip Tuesday so I'll have to check it then as it will be all interstate.

[hjwii]

Well, let's see.... I drive 150+ miles a day. Been trying to stay between 65 and 70 mph; air is always on; radio is always on; using the ol' cruise control. Now, 130 or so is highway miles (but of that, half is in stop and go traffic.. apparently everybody wants out of New Orleans once the sun goes down); and I have a Mickey Mouse ball on the antenna. With all that said, I have been averaging between 34 and 37 mpg. Not so bad...And, just a side note... I live between New Orleans and rural Louisiana (half my time in the city, the other half outside the city)... lots of farm trucks. People were asking if I would sell my Vibe right after the hurricane, what with the shortage of gas and the high price and all. I'm sure they were all were laughing at me before the storm, my lil VIbe among all those crew cab dualies... but , in the end, I was the one that could actually drive to Baton Rouge and elsewhere without worrying about finding a gas station hjwii

[UndaCuva]

i have an 04 base, auto transaxle. Driving around town (10 miles a month)? i romp on it as much as i can. Interstae (99%) i drive "normal" No quick accelleration, tires are checked every week for inflation. i get about 270 miles out of a tank of gas, and i think it sucks. But oh well, can't get out of the loan now, so i guess i'll learn to deal with it. Maybe a few thousand dollars worth of stero will help....Joseph

[renik]

I have a 2004 base vibe with automatic and I find the gas milage to be extremely viotile. I have been to both extremes. The lowest milage I have gotten has be 15 mpg. Yes I said 15 mpg. Mind you that was when the car was brand new in -30 C weather. I have also gotten 35 mpg while highway driving in the summer. Overall my average has been 25 mpg.

[tahoan]

At my bf's encouragement I began using synthetic oil (castrol syntec) in my last car (2000 dodge stratus) and my gas mileage increased from an average of 26 mpg to 29 mpg (2 to 3mpg). I haven't tried on my new vibe, though, b/c he also said not to use synthetic until the car is broken in (around 10k miles). Just an idea.

[Mavrik]

Quote, originally posted by tahoan »At my bf's encouragement I began using synthetic oil (castrol syntec) in my last car (2000 dodge stratus) and my gas mileage increased from an average of 26 mpg to 29 mpg (2 to 3mpg). I haven't tried on my new vibe, though, b/c he also said not to use synthetic until the car is broken in (around 10k miles). Just an idea. yup, best to switch to synthetic after about your third oil change which is roughly around 9000 miles.