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Sedans Chevrolet Malibu Chevrolet Malibu MPG-Real World Numbers
288 messages, Last post on Nov 27, 2009 at 5:37 PM
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My wife has traveled a total 87,123 miles since 2003. She has used 3,120.577 gallon of gas = 27.919 MPG. This is with a 3.5 V-6 Malibu Yes we have synthetic oil 0W-30 with once per year oil changes. Ken |
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Replying to: kam327 (Sep 12, 2008 12:57 pm) |
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What's the MPG everyone is realizing on the 6 cyl/6 speed auto Malibu? And, at what speeds? Thanks
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Replying to: hjr3 (Sep 17, 2008 9:39 am) Now to my numbers- driven in these (nearly ideal? I always thought flat terrain would be better, but..) conditions, I have been getting anywhere from 28 to 32 mpg, with the overall sitting right at 29. The overall includes the initial break-in of 500 miles where I stayed off the interstate as much as possible (more stop'n'go), kept speeds below 55 where I could, etc. I have noticed while driving around strictly in downtown Asheville that the reading varies between 16's and 22, with the lighter traffic usually being higher, but lots of stop'n'go / accelerating against the hills being closer to 17. Speed zones anywhere from 35 to 50 mph, though sometimes barely getting up to speed before stopping again. Those are my observations. Let me know if there is anything more specific you want to know. |
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Bought my new Malibu 2008 2LT, 4 cyl engine, last week from CarMax. It is almost brand new and has only 1600 miles on it. The DIC currently shows 21.6 mpg for my last 400 miles driving. I drive about 25 miles one way to work, which has about 60 % City/40% Highway. I have been scared to notice the fuel gauge moving down quickly while driving it on highway. I never experienced something like that. I own a honda Civic 96 and Sienna 04, and have never seen the fuel gauge noticeably moving while driving these cars. My Sienna Van has 6 cyls with 54K miles on it and still average 20.5 mpg. I researched this car for the last 4 months and saw many praises on its fuel economy. But I did not expect it this bad. I was hoping for 26-27 mpg average. When I bought the Malibu, I wondered why the last owner would resell the car after just couple of weeks driving it. I remembered to see 16.7mpg when resetting the DIC. I guess that might be the reason he dumped the car to carmax. Now I am wondering I would do the same. I will start measuring the gas manually tomorrow to see exactly what mpg I got. |
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Replying to: bibo2 (Sep 23, 2008 6:48 pm) 1. Roll to Stop's and Red Lights. Anticipate and judge beforehand and let off the gas pedal and roll to stop. 2. Use as much cruise control as you can. For example whenever you have long strecthes of a certain speed limit cruise control it. 3. Find the speed where you engine hits its last gear. In other words if you have a 4 speed automatic, try to feel at what MPH its goes into 4th and engine enters smooth rpm. What I am getting at is try to get to your highest gear as soon as possible. Obviously obey speed limit as all times. High RPM's kill the MPG of a car. Hope this helps. The Malibu is a nice car and you should achieve good MPG. |
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Replying to: bibo2 (Sep 23, 2008 6:48 pm) Good luck and keep us posted as you too rack up more miles. |
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Replying to: bibo2 (Sep 23, 2008 6:48 pm) The end result is, my first tank was under 24 mpg (23.7 or 23.9, depending on whether you believe the DIC or the calculator). My second tank was just under 26 mpg. My current tank is under 25 mpg. I too have been alarmed at the rate the needle on the fuel gauge drops. I truly expected better. Had I known this was what I could expect, I'd have purchased the Forester for the additional utility and AWD the mini-SUV provides. It's fuel mileage is about that good. I have a list of niggling complaints about the Malibu, but this is the biggest. |
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I have been reading these posts for some time now while shopping for a car. I was trying to decide between the 3.6 and 2.4 both with 6speed transmissions. I started looking at the Malibu but both me an my wife like the Saturn Aura better. Tonight we took a test drive in two Aura XR's with each engine. The purpose of the drive was to travel the same route and compare the MPG after driving as efficiently as possible. The route included a short stretch of highway (3/4 mile) having a couple of traffic lights and about 5 miles of hilly urban 6 lane highway with light traffic. The average speed was 45 to 50 MPH on the highway portion. The 2008 3.6 had 5,000 miles on it and returned 28.2 miles per gallon. The 2009 2.4 had 1,000 miles on it and returned 30.6 miles per gallon. The 2.4 was at 31.7 when I caught a light on an uphill grade and had to reaccelerate up the hill to get back to my starting point. It is true that the mileage improves on these engines after break in. I would run regular oil during the first 10,000 miles to be sure that it is broken in then maybe switch to synthetic oil. I wanted the 2.4 which performed very well, my wife wanted the 3.6 because she liked the dual exhaust look and color better. I liked the 2.4's 17" wheels and she liked the 3.6's 18" wheels better. I felt that the 2.4 could easily achieve over 33 MPG on level highway. The sales manager that drove the 3.6 told me that he put the 5,000 miles on the demo mostly driving from Pittsburgh to New Jersey and that he would get 33 MPG going to NJ and 29 MPG on the return trip. These numbers are from the on board computers and were not hand verified. In any case I lost and we ended up buying the 3.6 Aura. I tried to sway my wife by telling her that we will be owning this car for 8 years or more and who knows how high gas will be by then. But she was not to be deterred. I know that the 3.6 will tease me to drive faster and will result in lesser mileage if I succumb. At least we both agreed that we liked the Aura. I fully expect that the 2.4 has the ability to return 6 more mpg's than the 3.6, but my test only showed 2.4 mpg more and maybe 3.5 mpg if I had not caught that last light. Also the 2.4 was not yet broke in with only 1,000 miles. Hope this helps the discussion some. I will be taking a trip in two weeks and will report the results and back the figures up with hand calcs. I will also use my GPS to check for speedometer error. |
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Replying to: bibo2 (Sep 23, 2008 6:48 pm) Mazda6due, I've been doing tip (1) for years. I understand (2) but find it practically hard to do it with my highway as the traffic is unreliable. (3) is new to me but I don't think I want to do it. I want to save mileages, but I don't want to try it too hard either. I want to be relaxed and enjoy my drive. I hope it is true that after the break-in period or after 5000 miles, the mileage will be improved. But I am skeptical about it. I will let you know my mpg for the next tank |
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