Improving gas mileage

[Craigmri]

When we first bought our Base 5-speed Vibe mostly city driving yielded mid 20's for the first two tanks. On the third tank we noticed some improvement to upeer 20's and recently a tank of mixed city and highway mileage yielded just over 33 MPG so it seems there is a break-in period. At least our fuel mileage figures reflect that.

[Kari]

My gas mileage fluctuates greatly depending on what kinds of things I'm running in the car. The A/C and defroster absolutely suck gas...and the defroster is worse. The vent and heat are fine, though. It gets 39 mpg on the highway with the vent going on medium. But you turn that A/C on and WHOA, you'll be stopping to get gas a lot sooner.

[Merzbow]

I know a sure fire way to descrease gas milage!!! Go on ebay and look for a little nozzle you screw onto your exhaust tip. It forces the air through a little whole to make a turbo charger hissing noise. Now that's a great way to choke your poor little engine...The head line for this product says: "why pay thousands of dollers on a turbo charger, when all you want is the sound?"-----lol, I dunno about you guys but I'm pretty sure I would want the power that goes along with the turbo!!!

[DavidPIL]

Hi Kari...The AC thing is kinda odd. I mean, I know it hurts the mileage in town (stops and starts) but honestly, with my GT, I got as good, if not better mileage on the highway with the AC on as I did with windows down or cracked... Going 70+ mph. I would get somewhere between 31 and 33 mpg either way... Now remember this is the GT so that's actually very good.Craigmri, yeah, it actually took me over 1000 miles before I started to see the mpg increase to a respectable level. I think it was only after my first Oil change did I see anything close to the rated amount. I change my first oil at around 2000 miles to make sure no residue or possible metal shavings or whatever were floating around in the engine. I've heard it's best to do the first oil change early. Then I went on a 3000 mile schedule through the Summer and now I'm switching to a 5000 mile schedule. You should notice a gradual improvement up to that first change then maybe even more after that.Dave

[aggie_vibe]

Many cars keep improving up to 10000 miles. My Honda burned oil (1/4 qt per 1000 miles) up till then as well.

[Stang2Vibe]

Quote, originally posted by DavidPIL »The AC thing is kinda odd. I mean, I know it hurts the mileage in town (stops and starts) but honestly, with my GT, I got as good, if not better mileage on the highway with the AC on as I did with windows down or cracked... Going 70+ mph. I would get somewhere between 31 and 33 mpg either way... Now remember this is the GT so that's actually very good.DaveDave, I noticed the same thing. This past summer when I was making the trip cross state to go to the Northeast Vibe/Matrix rally, I got the best gas mileage I ever had cruising for hours with the cruise control set around 95-100MPH, A/C on and loaded with camping gear and luggage for 5 days for 2 people. I got even better milage than what you posted with my GT. I couldn't believe it. I guess having 2 overdrive gears really helps.