Is this normal?

[renik]

I recently bought a new vibe at the end of december. Ever since I got it I have been getting brutal gas milage. I do understand that it has been very cold here lately and that brand new cars dont get good milage, but is it normal to be over 10mpg below the rated fuel economy? I have been mostly city driving and this is what I have been getting:1st tank: 17.5 mpg2nd tank: 19.9 mpg3rd tank: 15.3 mpgOverall average: 17.4 mpgI had been warming up the car for about 5min each day at the begining of January, but only warmed it up once on my last tank. I certainly hope the milage will improve because this is one of the main reasons I bought the car to begin with.

[Reynoma]

Something is wrong...I regularly get between 26-30 mpg with my GT...I would think your base would get better than that. Time to bring it back for service, me thinks.

[Robert G]

I would wait awhile before going to the dealer. I believe that all new cars need to break in to get their optimal mileage. It just may be a combination of being a new car, before break-in, and your warming the car up in the winter.

[renik]

I keep close track of my fill-ups. I always fill the tank up. When the pump clicks off I round up to the nearest dollar. I know this will effect the stats a bit but only by maybe 1 mpg. Here's the breakdown. The odometer is in Km:DateOdometerLitres Prev.Odom. L/100Km MPG1/11/200452733.052280 13.38 17.581/20/200476928.612527 11.82 19.892/9/2004102138.624769 15.33 15.35I will hold off going to the dealer for now. I'm going for an oil change at the end of March. If it doesn't improve by then I'll have them look at it.

[drunkenmaxx]

ha ha ha ha haoh yeah...haha!

[VibeChick]

Quote, originally posted by drunkenvibe » ha ha ha ha haoh yeah...haha!That's not nice!

[renik]

Yes I know I was using the US MPG. I used that because that's what most people use on this board. I'm not comparing it to the Can MPG (MPIG). The vibe is rated for 28 MPG city, or 34 MPIG city. Either way I am still a good 10mpg under the rated capacity.

[drunkenmaxx]

Quote, originally posted by VibeChick »That's not nice! you're right, im sorry

[DavidPIL]

Ok, I'm a bit confused with your numbers....If you want Miles Per Gallon, wouldn't you first have to convert the liters to Gallons? Also, is the odometer in Miles or Kilometers? If it's US Miles then I got 1. 280/(33.052*.26417)=32.068mpg2. 247/(28.612*.26417)=32.678mpg2. 242/(38.624*.26417)=23.656mpgWhich all seems normal... the .26417 is the multiplier to convert Liters to Gallons. I dunno but this doesn't sound bad to me unless I'm not reading something right.Dave

[renik]

Yes you are confused. If you read my second post it says the odometer is in KM. I converted the l/100km to mpg by using the conversion tool at: http://www.pege.org/fuel/convert.htm.

[Altus]

I'm like you, and have kept track of every single fillup since we purchased the Vibe. We bought it with 17,500 km on the clock, and it's now over 39,000.Since the beginning of January, I've had 8 fillups and am averaging 23.125 mpg.Even back in the summer, my Vibe only averages around 28 mpg -- this is mostly city driving of course....The only time I've ever gotten over 30mpg is when I've done exclusively highway driving -- and even then the best I've ever gotten is 35mpg.Does this mean I might have something wrong here?

[Stang2Vibe]

Maybe. Check your air filter. If it gets dirty, your MPG will go down. Also check tire pressure. If your tires get low on air, fuel economy will suffer and you will wear the tires prematurely. If those 2 things are OK, then you might want to have a dealer check it.I generally get about 25 MPG city driving with my GT. A little better in the summer. My snow tires reduced MPG by about 3.

[pmh013]

I think there's something wrong. I never got bad mileage like that when I first got my Vibe (though it was July, so maybe you can't compare).The only time I've gotten bad mileage like that is when my catalytic converter craps out. See my post in Problems & Warranty Issues. Does you car seem to have enough power, especially going into the wind?If the dealership just dismissed your bad fuel economy as "break-in" then I'd ask when you can expect it to get better, and take it back then if it's still not up to par.I'd be interested to see if they do a backpressure test on your exhaust system. It sounds like you've got the beginnings of a plugged catalytic converter.

[Sub-Vibe-R]

I never really calculate my MPG, but I remember, at the beginnig, I was doing 300-400Km with 1 tank (40 liters) and now I alway get more then 500km with 40 liters...I also already hit 600km before the low fuel light comes on, but it was almsot 100% highway driving

[satur9]

you know i thought my gas mileage seemed better after my cat got replaced. this is a common problem i only had 10k miles on mine.

[pmh013]

Quote, originally posted by satur9 »you know i thought my gas mileage seemed better after my cat got replaced. this is a common problem i only had 10k miles on mine.Did you replace the cat because you put a performance one on, or was the original one defective in some way? I had mine replaced with an OEM one because the factory one was defective. And I'm talking about the front catalytic converter, not the rear one.You didn't happen to keep your original catalytic converter, did you? I'd be interested in seeing some picture of what the guts of it look like. Apparantly, mine was full of dark chunks, like coffee grounds, which is not good.

[renik]

Just filled up the tank yesterday. My milage improved significantly from my last tank, but still not what it should be. In combined driving I got 20.77 US MPG. Hopefully im on the right track here.

[renik]

I just took my car in for an oil change. While I was there I told the advisor that im getting poor mileage. He asked what I was getting per tank and I said around 350-400km. They seemed to take it serious as they tested the car right in front of me with a computer. They said it seemed normal but they cant do anything more untill I have 10000km on it. They said GM wont look at it until I get to this point. The technican said they have been getting a few vibes in saying that they were getting poor mileage too. He said this could become an issue because they have seen wild fluctionations in fuel economy with other Vibes. He told me to continue keeping track of my fillups.