Poor gas milage?!

[ktt88]

I would consider myself as a 50/50 city/highway driver and ive been averaging about 23mpg. (450-500L per tank). I get 89 octane fuel and drive quiet conservatively for most of the time. I searched on gv and most people seem to be getting 30mpg on average.Btw its a stock 2006 FWDAny ideas why it's so bad?? this really sucks esp with these high gas prices

[jake75]

I have only been getting 19mpg the last 6 weeks or so. Combination of winter gas, cold temps, short trips and mostly city driving.

[ktt88]

I live in toronto canada, so would this be normal for below 0C conditions?

[star_deceiver]

Hard to say... even with my studded heavy winter tires and steel rims with the rear tires weighed down with and extra 5lbs of dirt each I was generally able to pull off 28-30mpg regardless city or highway. And I don't drive conservativly....Do you idle lots or have a morning warmup that lasts longer then 10 seconds? Do you drive where there's lots of traffic/traffic lights?

[ktt88]

usually i like to warm up for at least a minute. I drive in typically suburban traffic though

[star_deceiver]

Probably normal... has maintenance been kept up with?

[ktt88]

yea, been maintaining pretty much everything

[10vibe]

The 89 octane you are using probably has ethanol in it. That will hurt fuel economy. Ethanol has 34% less energy in it compared to pure gas, if there really is such a thing with reformulations, oxygenation, etc.. Being that it is probably an e-10 blend, the effects should only be about a 3% difference in fuel economy. I have a feeling that with these particular engine and compressions ratios, it might be closer to 10%. Another thing to consider is that some here have pointed to reports that some places like Florida had much higher ethanol contents in their gas than what was advertised. Idling and warming up affects gas mileage a lot. Short trips do to. Cold does. Tire pressure does.My own experience has been less than stellar too. I drive mostly city and suburb, with short jaunts onto the highway for maybe 5% of tank. Most of the trips I make is under 5 miles at a time with either stop signs or stop lights every .5 to 1 mile. Lifetime mileage is around 24.4mpg. The first winter I had a couple tanks that dropped to slightly less than 18 and 19 while idling a lot. This year I dropped down to around 20 on one tank. I just recently used about a third of a tank of gas on the highway, but have yet to fill up. Hoping to get my averages up with this one, but we are only talking about less than a tenth of a change.If you are not throwing codes and everything is well maintained, I would try different gas and brands. Oxygen sensors and catalytic converters going bad will affect gas mileage. Somebody just posted that the infamous intake and throttle body gasket design flaw is causing their mpg problems. Seems like 2006 Pontiac Vibe's also had some PCM/ECM recalls, but not sure.Good luck.