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Sedans Chevrolet Cobalt Chevrolet Cobalt
2171 messages, Last post on Nov 23, 2009 at 6:04 PM
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Replying to: horsey55 (Oct 16, 2008 11:23 am) |
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I just refilled the Cobalt for the second time. DIC indicated 31.7 (reset on last refill) and my calculation indicates 31.1 mpg, which on the face of it is close but I don't have enough information to formulate a trend yet. Fill variations from gas station pump should make the DIC more accurate, but the DIC on my '06 read about 1 mpg consistently over my calculations. Anyway, I was about 1/3 of the way through an approximately 90 mile round trip when I had to refill, so I re-set the mpg and speed indicators after the refill to see what free-flowing freeway driving would show on the DIC, in comparison to the mileage I get from my commute, with is 70 miles round trip with a small amount of surface street when I leave, and moderate amounts on the other legs (freeway off to work, work to freeway on, freeway off to home). In this trial case, I had about 5 miles to my destination after leaving the freeway on somewhat congested suburban surface streets, and 5 miles of very free flowing main artery surface street back to a different freeway on ramp. So those surface street miles - more than my usual work commute - probably brought down the DIC mpg. What was my DIC mpg? A whopping 34 mpg. Subtracting my current apparent DIC error of .5 mpg, that gives me 33.5 mpg, or subtracting 1 mpg from my former car's error gives me 33 mpg - simply astonishing for an automatic, 2800 or so pound car. Apparently I have more "slow and go" and "stop and go" during my work commute; I also haven't learned how to time my "coast downs" to traffic and lights, the automatic holds it's speed more than the stick shifts I usually have, so I find myself having to break harder at the end. At one point I was on a 9 mile bridge going across water (hence very level) with no perceptible wind, going only 60 mph, and the instantaneous DIC option indicated 45 mpg (the instantaneous function is much better than on the '06, instead of measuring economy by a fraction of a second, which caused the indicator to jump around too much to be useful, it seems to have a longer duration, maybe a second or second and a half, which means I can readily see the effect of my foot, of ever so slight coasting and of almost invisible rises in the road). It would be interesting to see a club competition with one of these things driven at a constant 40-50 mph - probably quite phenomenal gas mileage. Of course, warming the car up and ANY amount of surface street REALLY hits the tank average mpg hard. My average speeds on the trip were generally around 60-70 mph and at the end of the 60 miles (the last 2/3 of my overall trip) the average speed on the DIC was 45 mph. I suspect interstate trips at 75-80 mpg would probably produce more on the order of 30-32 mpg, still excellent. I figured out why I like this 2.2 in the Cobalt over, say, the 2.2 in the old Malibu or the 2.4 in the new Malibu. You get TERRIFIC acceleration. I remember from my test drives of the old Malibu that acceleration was more than adequate, but as the poster a couple of posts up notes, even with an automatic Cobalts can be darn quick. By the way, for those of you who want to experiment, reset both the mpg and average speed indicators on your DIC when you refill. You will probably note a very strong correlation between average speed and average mpg. The higher your average speed, the more you have been freeway cruising, and average mpg rises with it. If you have an average speed of 25 mph, you are probably driving a lot more city miles than you realize, or have been sitting in traffic or letting the motor run while waiting to pick someone up. |
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I posted this on the "Cobalt Real World MPG" discussion. It goes along with what you were saying in your post. Speed really does kill gas mileage. I took a 265 mile (each way) trip yesterday and checked gas mileage. The pump failed to shut off automatically when I filled up on the other end of the trip, and a good amount of gas overflowed before I could get back over to the nozzle and shut it off. I was on the other side of the car getting ready to clean the windshield when I heard the splashing noise. The last time I made the same trip, I averaged 33.7 MPG. I did a little experiment as I drove across I 64 in southern Illinois between the Wabash River and Mt. Vernon. I reset the average MPG on the DIC and drove a steady 70 MPG for 15 miles, and the MPG reading was 32.7 at the end of those miles. I reset it again and drove a steady 60 MPH for about ten miles (had to stop at a rest area) and got 37.5 for an average MPG for those miles. Tom Can you BELIEVE the acceleration of these Cobalts? For cars that get such great MPG, the acceleration is fantastic. Tom |
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It's the first time I drive with winter tires in 33 yrs of driving. Last night the car in front of me made a sudden stop, when I applied the brake at my surprise I slid and almost rear-ended the car in front of me. On another occasion, I was turning after making a "dead stop" and when I starting to turn, my wheels spun making a "screeching" sound (first time I make my tires spin, I was surprised again. Is it normal for a winter tire to do so on dry pavement? or my "new" tires are no good?
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Replying to: grosloup (Nov 04, 2008 10:36 am)
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Replying to: tcalof (Nov 04, 2008 5:22 pm) Thanks to you I had a good night sleep knowing that it's totally normal. |
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Please read, and then post comments, on the Edmunds article here: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=134506 I don't know what it would take to make them happy - maybe a $35,000 Prius instead of a $15k (after rebates) Cobalt XFE? Hopefully the current economic situation will remind people that thrift is a virtue, not a punishment, just like the trend in some forums is to discuss, and hence value, careful driving for MPG. |
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The annual buyers guide from Consumer Reports panned the Cobalt as usual. What was interesting was the black mark signifying the fact that owners (who answered the annual questionnaire) were highly dissatisfied with the car and most likely wouldn't buy another. I wonder what is so wrong with this car. The coupe is sportier than anything else in the price range, the powertrain is fairly simple, gas mileage is average for a compact, and the car rides as well as an Impala. I haven't had any problems with mine thus far although I understand from the dealer that the 05 and 06's had lots of annoying small problems.
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Replying to: dispencer2 (Nov 13, 2008 8:08 am) The Cavalier was made to "American" quality standards - a little loose, a little off, but highly functional (had a 2004). The Cobalt is made to "Japanese" quality standards - much tighter, much better put together. The Cobalt has some features that are outstanding, like daytime running lights, auto on/off headlamps, a digital MPG, average speed, etc. computer, OnStar, and XM radio. It has the biggest, strongest engine in its class, yet also has top fuel economy. So why does CR pan it? Because auto reviews are a large part of its mission, and sell a lot of subscriptions and special issues. In reality, the spread in actual number of defects between low ranked and top ranked cars is very small, but they don't like to point this out, since it doesn't sell magazines. In fact, if you look at the ranked categories, the '07, '08's are very highly ranked by the readers. If buyers are less happy with their sturdy Cobalts than buyers of Hondas, is that a reflection of the cars or of the buyers? If everyone tells you your wife is beautiful and sweet you will feel happy even if she seems like a nag sometimes, but if everyone says she is plain and average, the nagging will drive you crazy and you'll join your friends complaining too. Positive feedback breeds more positive feedback, negative feedback feeds on itself. That's why it's called "feed back." Michael Milken made investors millions of dollars, and companies even more, by demonstrating that junk bonds did not have a significantly higher risk of default than blue chip bonds, back in the 80's. Car buyers can save themselves a lot of money by studying reliability reports carefully and figuring out which cars, like Cobalts and Focii, are being underpriced in the marketplace to to misperceptions on the part of consumers. That assumes you buy them very cheaply and/or hold them long term, since resale is affected by misperceptions too.
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Replying to: micweb (Nov 13, 2008 9:01 am) If we keep in mind that we are talking about a car that carries a sticker price below $16,000, and if all the features and the performance of the Cobalt are viewed from this perspective, then I don't see how anyone could be less than thrilled with this car. I absolutely love my Cobalt, and I have zero complaints. What a fun, economical little car to drive! The build quality is at least "average." The acceleration is unbelievable, and the ride and handling are reminiscent of a much bigger car. The trunk is huge, and there is plenty of leg, shoulder, and head room up front. If the back seat space suffers a little, that's a small price to pay for the large trunk and the front seat room. Only time will tell regarding reliability, but I have no reason to think the car will not hold up over the long haul. Tom
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