09 Vibe 2.4L issue

[daddytwocoats]

Hey everyone,So, I'm the proud owner of a new 2009 Vibe. I love this thing to death, I can see why everyone here is so enthusiastic! But I have just discovered an issue that is making my purchase bittersweet...So, it turns out I was completely unaware that the 09 vibe had two engine configurations, and I ended up buying the 2.4L thinking it was the 1.8. So basically I bought the car thinking "sweet, 30 mpg at last!" and ended up with a nice shiny newer-model car that gets the same mileage as the 1999 v6 Mazda I was driving before (about 20-22 mpg overall). Is there anything I can do to improve the fuel economy of this car or am I just going to have to deal with it?

[ou.grizzly]

You should be able to get 25-29 MPG with the 2.4L if it is a FWD, unless you have an AWD. Tire pressure, clean air filterr, synthetic engine oil, synthetic trans fluid, cutting back on the use of A/C, accelerating and stopping slowly, reduce an extra weight in the vehicle.Welcome to the forum.

[kowell]

The disappointment of owning the 2.4L model should wear off the first time you need to make an agressive pass on the highway I get the same passing power of my old 1992 nissan Maxima but with 25% better fuel economy. It may not be the most fuel efficient car (in fact in agressive city driving its a pig) but that power is a real "nice to have" when you need it.

[dayday]

Mine is a 5sp. I drive it about 50% highway and don't watch my driving habits at all. The worst mpg I've seen over the 2000mi i've driven it has been 27mpg. I run Shell 87 at every fill up.Do you have AWD or Auto?

[ponta2147]

On my '09 2.4L auto, My worst mpg has been 21 and my best has been 31. I mostly average 25-27mpg, though lately it's been lower due to A/C and aggressive driving, closer to 23-25mpg. I decided I preferred acceleration to saving gas!

[daddytwocoats]

I don't know if it's AWD or FWD, it's got the 5speed automatic with sports shift if that's any indicator.

[Vibe2.0]

I went from an 04 1.8l to an 09 2.4 l. When I went to replace my one gripe with the 04 was the 1.8 l was very doggy when I travelle din teh hills of NC. So I was able stay with a vibe because of the 2.4l option on the 09. As for mileage I did a three week experiment with the 04 during which time I stayed under 65mph, accelerated and braeked as you should, and did some semi drafting. The result? 42 MPG. I have not been able to test the 09 thoroughly yet but early results per tank have been 25mpg ( had to test out that "big' 2.4) 28mpg, 27mpg, and 30 mpg. I will eventually test for optimal efficiiency which i would guess is maybe 35.

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by daddytwocoats »I don't know if it's AWD or FWD, it's got the 5speed automatic with sports shift if that's any indicator.AWD has a 4 speed automatic; the 5 speed with sport shift indicates your vehicle is Front Wheel Drive (FWD).

[DressedInBlack]

Quote, originally posted by ponta2147 »I decided I preferred acceleration to saving gas! preach on, Sista!!

[star_deceiver]

Quote, originally posted by ponta2147 ». I decided I preferred acceleration to saving gas! I don't know... pushing the revlimiter w/ pedal to the metal in the first 3 gears gets me to 125km/h quicker then most... and still I can't seem to get worse then 30mpg (until I put the winter tires on)... must be one of those stick/slush things!!! Welcome to GenVibe BTW!!!

[j42.snyder]

I've found with the 2.4 you have to drive rather conservatively to get really respectable mileage. I think the drive by wire throttle tends to anticipate a bit, and opens more than I'd like it to at times. I didn't realize this until I added a vacuum gauge and started monitoring it.Overall I've averaged 7.46 L/100km which works out to about 31.5MPG (U.S.) since new. My best on a day of mostly highway driving with my family in the car was 6.3L/100 (37.3MPG), and my worst is when towing my boat with a load of "stuff" in it for camping - 8.6L/100km (27.3MPG). Keep in mind I try to limit my maximum highway speed to no more than 105km/h (about 65mph) for a steady cruise speed. I don't find the A/C has too drastic an impact - but the cruise control is quite aggressive, so I generally avoid using it. Lower ethanol content fuels help as well.I like to have the extra power available when needed (especially when towing), and it's much less "buzzy" on the highway compared to the 1.8 I test drove. The larger brakes are a nice bonus too. I can have over 1,000 pounds behind me, and hardly notice a difference. It just took me a while to get used to the "jumpy" throttle response - but now I drive something else and I think "what's wrong with this thing?"Overall I'm quite happy with my decision to get the 2.4. The fold flat passenger seat was also only available with the 2.4 in 2009 - which seemed ridiculous to me - but I make use of it regularly too. That's one of my favorite features inside the car.I'm sure you'll learn to like yours too. Just remember that acceleration requires gas - so your right foot controls the consumption more than anything!John

[ponta2147]

Quote, originally posted by star_deceiver »I don't know... pushing the revlimiter w/ pedal to the metal in the first 3 gears gets me to 125km/h quicker then most... and still I can't seem to get worse then 30mpg... must be one of those stick/slush things!!! Welcome to GenVibe BTW!!! Don't you have the 1.8L engine? I think that makes a pretty significant difference in fuel economy! Quote, originally posted by j42.snyder »I don't find the A/C has too drastic an impact - but the cruise control is quite aggressive, so I generally avoid using it. Lower ethanol content fuels help as well.That's very interesting about the cruise control!

[areles]

My best has been 33.7 mpg.

[j42.snyder]

I find the cruise control is constantly "working" the throttle - especially if there are any slight elevation changes. I'll let the car pick up a couple of MPH going down a small hill with the anticipation that I'll lose that again going up the next one. Obviously the cruise can't "see", so it will back off significantly on the down grades, and then "gun it" to maintain speed on the rises. I find I get better mileage with a steady foot, rather than trying to maintain such a steady speed. 1 or 2 mph isn't going to affect my travel time very much!I try to treat the fuel economy thing as a bit of a game. It helps keep me out of trouble and saves me money. Of course, it still needs to be opened up a bit on occasion...

[daddytwocoats]

So now here's my question Snyder.... how is your worst mileage better than my BEST mileage? Should I take the car in to see if something's wrong with it?

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by ponta2147 »On my '09 2.4L auto, My worst mpg has been 21 and my best has been 31. I mostly average 25-27mpg, though lately it's been lower due to A/C and aggressive driving, closer to 23-25mpg. I decided I preferred acceleration to saving gas! It all depends on how far one drives. My Vibe is just shy of 20,000 miles and I bought new in the beginning of December 2009 with 100 miles on it. I barely get 18-19 mpg with my AWD. And all those miles are from driving around town, that is all. No trips anywhere. If someone barely puts miles on their vehicle, I can see them being able to afford driving with spirit. Now, if someone drives a lot and is refilling every 2-3 days, spirited driving may not be the best option as one would want to maximize their mpg. In your case, you drive far distances and with all the highway (business trips), it may level out and increase your fuel mileage a bit. but if you were to gun it all the time, well, numbers would be lower. Not saying you never drive in the city and make short trips (saying that would not make any sense). Tips from Edmunds http://www.edmunds.com/reviews....htmlTips from FunandSafeDriving http://www.funandsafedriving.c....html

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by j42.snyder »I find the cruise control is constantly "working" the throttle - especially if there are any slight elevation changes. I'll let the car pick up a couple of MPH going down a small hill with the anticipation that I'll lose that again going up the next one. Obviously the cruise can't "see", so it will back off significantly on the down grades, and then "gun it" to maintain speed on the rises. I find I get better mileage with a steady foot, rather than trying to maintain such a steady speed. 1 or 2 mph isn't going to affect my travel time very much!I try to treat the fuel economy thing as a bit of a game. It helps keep me out of trouble and saves me money. Of course, it still needs to be opened up a bit on occasion...What is St. Catherine's landscape/terrain like? If there are hills (inclines and descents) I can see the cruise causing the trans/engine to "search" more (higher rmps and etc) which will cause a drop in mpg. For a long stretch of highway that is flat for the most part, cruise should yield the best results, as long as it is not set at like 80 mph for example.

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by star_deceiver »I don't know... pushing the revlimiter w/ pedal to the metal in the first 3 gears gets me to 125km/h quicker then most... and still I can't seem to get worse then 30mpg (until I put the winter tires on)... must be one of those stick/slush things!!! Welcome to GenVibe BTW!!! The 1.8L is an awesome engine and gets wonderful fuel mileage. When I had my 08 Frosty Automatic, I drove with spirit all the time and worst mileage (except during winter months) was 28 mpg. When I took it easy and cautious, best numbers yielded were 42.3 mpg.

[ponta2147]

Ah, I was going to ask about how hilly the terrain was- out here in Chicagoland it's pretty flat, so the cruise does just fine (when I magically get opportunities to use the cruise outside of traffic).In terms of my driving- it's about a 50/50 split between highway and city. By city, I mean short trips around the suburbs with lots of stoplights, idling, etc. And some of that highway driving is...... well I'd hardly call going 5mph on the highway "driving" at all! The 23-25 is about where I am for an average week if I drive a lot during the day (more people/traffic)... if most of my driving is at night (less people/traffic and no traffic on the highway) then my numbers are higher. I generally fill up 1-2x per week.I did want to clarify that the 50/50 split is in terms of TIME, not distance (it's a Chicago thing, I think, we measure distances in "time it takes to get there" around here rather than hard miles). I'm not sure distance-wise which has more distance, if I include traffic... I'm going to guess highway as long as all my highway driving was outside of rush hour.

[star_deceiver]

Do you drive the car in "drive" or do you use the manual shifting mode???As I recall from driving one of them, when you push it out of drive into manual, it limits the car to 4th gear unless you push it into 5th.

[Vibe2.0]

Quote, originally posted by daddytwocoats »So now here's my question Snyder.... how is your worst mileage better than my BEST mileage? Should I take the car in to see if something's wrong with it?A bad catalytic convereter will knock a good 10 - 15 mpg off.

[j42.snyder]

Quote, originally posted by daddytwocoats »So now here's my question Snyder.... how is your worst mileage better than my BEST mileage? Should I take the car in to see if something's wrong with it?I must admit that I had a harder time getting respectable mileage from mine at first. The vacuum gauge I installed is a very valuable tool for me. I always figured that it was just a very responsive engine - but then learned that the response likely has a lot to do with how the DBW throttle is programmed. It takes very little input on the pedal end to get the vacuum down quite low - which isn't good for fuel economy. I've found by limiting how low I allow the vacuum to go (preferably above 5 in) during acceleration, it made a large improvement on my overall mileage - especially around town.As I mentioned, I also try to keep my speed down and steady. Brakes are your enemy for fuel economy, so try to anticipate traffic as much as possible and coast down as slowly as traffic will permit. Patience is also very helpful - although often difficult. I've spent years trying to perfect that one - and I've gotten much better - most of the time...I also keep the car in "D" at all times to get good mileage. I find it's definitely thirstier in "S" - even when I allow it to do its own thing. It must do something different inside the transmission that requires more energy - so unless I have a specific need, I leave it in Drive. It's not a true manual mode anyway - it just limits the top gear it will go into.I doubt there's much of anything wrong with the car - but it may also improve as it gets more miles on it. I stick with 5W20 oil and change it every 8,000km (5k miles). I'm currently just shy of 50,000km (about 30k miles) - so it should be fairly well "broken in" by now. Keep the tires at the recommended pressure too, as a minimum. I try to keep mine between 32 and 34psi. That's allowed pretty even tire wear so far too. I have about 37,000km of driving on the factory RSA's, and a couple of weeks ago I still measured between 7/32 and 8/32 of tread wear left. I figure I should easily get 75,000km out of them. I don't use them for winter - I have a set of Blizzaks for that. I only took 1/32 off of those in 13,000km last winter which impressed me. Those are pretty soft compound tires. You can take this as an indicator of how sedately I drive - which explains the fuel economy.In this area, we do have an escarpment to deal with, and numerous over/underpasses, skyways, etc. Between that and traffic volume, cruise control isn't always all that useful much of the time for me. I have a 116km round trip commute to work every day, so most of my drives are fairly long as well - which definitely helps in the overall average. Short trips with cold engines use considerably more fuel.I think I've done enough rambling for now. Hopefully I've answered any questions...John

[jake75]

As someone who researches cars to the nth degree before buying I find it incredible that a new car buyer does not understand and recognize the difference between buying a 2.4L and 1.8L Vibe. That said, unless you drive a lot of miles it is really a minor trade off. I prefer the 1.8L for its lower initial cost and better fuel economy, but a 2.4L also has its benefits. Just today driving in a hilly area on cruise my 1.8L had to downshift to maintain speed on even relatively minor upward grades. I knew that before I bought a nd made a decision chose to put up with that .

[Vibe2.0]

Quote, originally posted by daddytwocoats »So now here's my question Snyder.... how is your worst mileage better than my BEST mileage? Should I take the car in to see if something's wrong with it?What are you getting for mileage? Did you state on here what you have been getting for mileage?

[daddytwocoats]

Last fill-up I calculated it to be about 22. But it's been as low as 19. And Jake, I bought the car used so the engine size wasn't something that came up. Also I'm a total moron with cars so I had no idea that engines could be different sizes besides 4,6, or 8 cylinder! Silly, I know.

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by daddytwocoats »Last fill-up I calculated it to be about 22. But it's been as low as 19. What is your driving style like? Terrain? Using A/C? I get 19 with my AWD and I push it hard.

[jake75]

Initial posts said "I'm the proud owner of a new 2009 Vibe." so I assumed you bought it new. I get low 20's when driving mostly in town. Get 32-33 on the highway even at 65-75 mph speeds. The ethanol diluted gasoline they sell probably cuts at least 1 mpg. The EPA numbers are based on pure gasoline I am sure. I think my numbers are"typical". Some of the high mpg numbers claimed here make me think GM should take a look at those cars and see what they did to get such favorable mpg.

[vibenvy]

I have an '09 GT with the 5-speed shiftable automatic. I average 27-28 mpg daily driving (50% highway / 50% city) and my highest with 100% highway driving was 33.9 mpg. I bought my Vibe brand new with 76 miles on it (it was driven from another dealer to the one I purchased it from). It currently has 15,555 miles on it. I always leave the transmission in D. I never use the manual mode. I have a K&N Typhoon intake with an AEM Dry Flow air filter. I always fill up with 89 octane gas from Citgo (89 is the lowest octane available at the local gas station I go to). I use Penzoil 5W-20 and genuine Toyota oil filters. I change the oil and filter every 2500 miles. Factory tires are inflated to 32 psi all around. I use the cruise control whenever possible. I hardly ever use the A/C (I can count on one hand the number of times I've used it since I bought the Vibe brand new in April of 2009). I am, more often than not, the only person in the Vibe and I have nothing in the cargo area or anywhere else (with the exception of going on a trip or grocery shopping, etc.). My driving habits are mixed. I like to have a little fun now and again and give it some gas, but for the most part I drive it pretty easy (not like a grandma though ).For anyone wanting to keep track of their gas mileage, check out MPG Tune.

[Notchy]

On my Florida trip I never got below 30mpg.Mine is a 2.4l fwd auto

[enfield577]

My experience is pretty much the same as Carrie's, with a couple small differences.The worst mileage I have gotten from my Vibe was about 25mpg. The best was 35.1mpg. Everyday driving (back roads, curves, somewhat hilly, only one stop light each way) averages 26-27. Pure highway driving averages 31-32.After putting 8000 miles on this car, I would be shocked if my 2.4L Vibe got less than 25mpg (unless maybe I did some pure city driving - not much chance of that, though).I wouldn't say I'm a particularly aggressive driver, but I really don't do anything in a conscious manner to improve the mileage. If I want to get on it, I get on it (and the mood does tend to strike on curvy back roads. I drive with the A/C on a lot. I use cruise quite a bit on the highway. 90% of my driving is with no passengers and nothing much added in the cargo area. I do put it in S every once in awhile to play around, but most of my driving is in D. Tire pressure checked regularly and kept at 32psi.Basically, I don't do anything much to save gas, but I'm real happy with this car's mileage. I'd really think that something was wrong if it started getting less than 25mpg.

[vibenvy]

Quote, originally posted by enfield577 »Basically, I don't do anything much to save gas, but I'm real happy with this car's mileage. I'd really think that something was wrong if it started getting less than 25mpg.I couldn't agree more Geoff ! My Vibe gets significantly better gas mileage than my old Sunfires did, which is pretty bad considering the Vibe is quite a bit heavier and has a bigger, more powerful engine (the Sunfires both had 2.2Ls).

[Capt.Vibe]

[QUOTE=enfield577]The worst mileage I have gotten from my Vibe was about 25mpg. The best was 35.1mpg. Everyday driving (back roads, curves, somewhat hilly, only one stop light each way) averages 26-27. Pure highway driving averages 31-32.[QUOTE]Not bad for a 2.4L. My best is 42MPG and worst is 36MPG on a 1.8L 5speed non AC with tires filled to 40psi and about 70highway/30city driven with a light foot on flat roads with fairly heavy traffic sometimes. Current mileage is 7500KM. Gave up speeding long ago and this wouldn't be the car to speed in anyways. http://www.trackyourgasmileage...assicOP needs to start tracking his mileage. Too many factors affect mileage, hills, cool weather, fuel type and brand, tire pressure, traffic etc. I'm willing to guess there are plenty of short trips to get such poor mileage.

[Vibe2.0]

I would have 02 sensor , catalytic checked. My 04 when I first bought it ( brand new) had a sulfur smell which at first I dismissed. After a couple weeks of getting mid 20's for mpg ( on a 1.8l) I brought it to the dealership. Despite no check engine light the catalytic converter and o2 sensor(s) had to be replaced. After that mid 30's for mpg. No idea if that is what is going on with yours, but i would get it checked by a dealership. Thats all I got on this one. Wubba wubba wubba