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Sedans Chevrolet Malibu Chevrolet Malibu MPG-Real World Numbers
286 messages, Last post on Nov 26, 2009 at 7:58 PM
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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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Replying to: bibo2 (Sep 23, 2008 6:48 pm) |
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In July my wife, 9-year old, and I took a vacation to Bush Gardens in Williamsburg VA with plenty of luggage. The drive from Baltimore was about 200 miles each direction. We have a 2008 Malibu LTZ, 3.6 6cyl, w/ 6 speed auto transmission. On the way there, which included about a 1 hours back-up near Quantico, we averaged just over 29 MPG. On the way back - and I swear to you, I'm not exaggerating - we averaged 32.2 MPG. Must have been a downgrade or tailwind for the majority of the miles. My daily commute is 35 miles each direction, about 80% of it is highway, and I average between about 26.5 MPG week in, week out. With a 50/50 mix of city/hwy, I get about 21-23 MPG routinely. My wife does not get as good of mileage as I do - our driving styles are very different. She averages about 19-21 with a 50/50 mix of city/hwy. Regards, Misha |
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I took my first long trip recently, from Pittsburgh to Manassas Va. The car had 5300 miles on it, 37 psi in tires (warm), 55 degrees out, no A/C used. I took the mountain route, lots of up and down grades. I was in 4th and 5th gears climbing the hills and the same gears going downhill to keep off the brakes. I averaged 28.2 MPG over a 181 mile leg under those conditions. My average speed was just under 50 mph. I noticed that the transmission does not shift into 6th gear unless the car is going over 45 MPH. I made extensive use of the manual mode and the tap shifters on the hills. That way I could drop into 5th gear instead of having the auto mode drop into 4th gear from 6th. The result was that for the gentler hills, I never had to go to 4th gear. For the longer or steeper hills, I had to go down to 4th from 5th when appropriate. I was also able to go to 6th sooner than the auto mode would have upshifted me as I crested the hills. I kept forgetting that I had to upshift from the lower gears when in manual mode. A few times, I was stopped at a light in manual mode and the engine rev-ed high when the light changed and I did not upshift. I now put the transmission back into auto mode when I stop. Needless to say, I was very pleased with the mileage under those unfavorable conditions. On the next leg of the trip (57 miles) using freeways only and traveling 60 - 65 MPH, I averaged 33.6 MPH. I checked my speedometer using my GPS and it was 237.9 miles (car) and 237.2 (GPS). When I hand calculated my mileage, I found that the car's computer over estimated MPG by 3% or about 1 mph too high. Still happy with the results. On the return trip, I averaged 33.5 MPG on the expressway using the A/C this time, but saw the MPG fall off to 27.3 when I hit two lane highways, traffic and traffic lights (before 3% error reduction). I expect to get 34 MPG on level uncongested highways and accept that hills, traffic and lights must reduce this figure commensurate with the distance travelled under less favorable conditions. By comparison, my 2000 Chevy Venture van with a 3.4 - 4spd automatic, rarely hit 30 MPG on the trip computer which always read 5% high or about 1.5 MPG less true mileage. The difference was due to weight, aerodynamics and the engine/transmission efficiencies. When I feel that my MPG levels off, meaning that my engine is fully broken in, I will switch to synthetic oil to maybe get even better mileage. If you use synthetic too soon, you may not allow the engine to break in sufficiently.
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