GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Drove the 2010 base, 2.4L Vibe for over 2,000 miles since purchasing it and MPG seems to be different than my 2003 Camry with the same engine. The Camry had a 4 speed automatic, the Vibe is 5 speed automatic. The Vibe is a smaller car, although curb weight is close on both vehicles.

With the Camry, I was able to get over 30 MPG on the highway; however, with the Vibe, try as I might, not able to (total average so far is 27.9 MPG). Regular maintenance has been done on the Vibe, including new spark plugs, air filter, oil, ATF, cabin filter, coolant, cleaned the MAF.

Does anyone else get over 30 mpg on the highway with the 2.4L, 2 WD? Anything else I could do to increase MPG?

Your mileage is around 168,000 miles ... correct? If you have one of the few oil burning engines you may see a slightly less efficiency report otherwise you're not too far off where you should be. EPA is 21 city 29 Hwy. I have the 5-speed manual tranny and get an honest 32-35 highway going the speed limit. The gearing for the manual is higher than the automatics. @ 60 mph the auto cruises at 2200 RPM where the manual cruises at 2600 (something like that if memory serves me correct). Are your numbers 100% highway driving? What speeds are you driving on average when on the highway? AC on or off? (makes a couple MPG difference sometimes)

So yes, you are correct. The last 3 entries are Hwy miles, cruising at 75-80, with AC off. The rpm at 80 is 2,600 and with the Camry it was 3,000. Luckily, so far the engine is not burning any oil. The Camry did, but only after 250,000 miles. Not a big deal, just trying to understand why the marked difference between the 2 vehicle fuel consumption.

There is another difference between the Camry and the Vibe: aerodynamics. The two major factors for aerodynamic resistance are frontal area and coefficient of drag. The Vibe has a much greater frontal area than the size of the body may imply. And it definitely has a higher coefficient of drag because of the hatchback design. This creates a large low pressure zone behind the Vibe whereas the low pressure zone behind the Camry is smaller, essentially it's the vertical area of the decklid and rear bumper.

My 09 GT's MPGTune page. I have achieved an all-time high of 40.311 MPG with 100% highway driving, cruise set at 60 MPH and no AC use. My all-time average is 28.121 MPG. EPA ratings are 21 MPG - City | 29 MPG - Highway | 24 MPG - Combined.