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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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Has anyone been getting the advertised mileage with this combo? I noticed some wild swings on the DIC and it seems to be slow to calculate the instantaneous. I can not help but wonder if GM pulled a fast one on us. Several years back, the EPA allowed that to happen in trucks with V8. I don't remember what size engine. Of course the EPA was pushing cleaner air and one way to do that was use some alcohol. GM had not yet approved this engine for any alcohol claiming it would be corrosive to a few of the fuel related parts. These were very minor parts that might have needed plating for corrosion and would only cost a couple of dollars per vehicle. To encourage GM to get off their ass and do it, the EPA allowed them an incentive of rating the MPG something like 3MPG higher than real world figures. That was so the vehicle would be approved for 10% ethanol. And everyone knows that you get less mileage with ethanol. And that might answer the discussion of why the rating decreased around 2007. I had wondered about those changes myself, thinking maybe it was cleaner air restrictions or that they revised the test methods. But it could also be that was about the time of national roll out of all service stations moving to the 10% blend and the vehicles might have been tested with that instead of pure gas in 2007. |
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I have been meaning to come back on and post my real-world mileage figures, but haven't gotten to it. To answer e net rider's question, though, I have not seen the advertised mileage with this car. I have an '09 LTZ with the 4 cyl, 6A. Currently there are approximately 15,600 miles on the odometer. The absolute best I have seen is a little over 28 mpg. My wife drove it from KC to DesMoines a while back and got about 29.5 mpg. But neither of us have broken 30. I have seen mileage around town as low as 19 mpg. In mixed driving (in-town and freeway), I usually get 22 - 23 mpg. My barber, on the other hand, has an LT2 with the same powertrain and he regularly gets 30 - 33 mpg on the road. He gets mid-twenties in mixed driving. He drives about 5 mph slower than I do, but so does my wife. One other anomaly I have noticed is that the DIC, on average, shows poorer fuel mileage than does the calculator. Sometimes it's only a fraction and sometimes its a full mpg. But the calculator shows better fuel mileage than the DIC indicates. It's a bit off-subject, but the other disappointment I have with this car is the 6A. It's always 'hunting' and the downshifts (even in manual mode) are quite slow. It's like really bad turbo-lag. Lift in mid-corner, then get back in the throttle and it hesitates. Need quick response in traffic? Forget about it. Plan ahead. I hate it. I wish I had a manual in this car. Very disappointing when you consider that GM's 4As are among the best. For those of you who would council me to consult the dealer on these issues - I have. Everything is 'normal'. (I trust my service dept., by the way.) These two issues seem to be ruining what might otherwise be a good ownership experience. On the whole, I like the car. But, when people ask what I think about it, what they usually hear is, "It's OK, but...." Now, as for my 'Vette with the 6M or any of the GM trucks I have owned (currently an '04 Avalanche) - I have nothing but good things to say about them. They do everything I've asked of them. And they generally get the mileage advertised on the Monroney - even under the old EPA testing methods. I'd like to replace the truck, as it is 5 years old, but it looks like I'll be replacing the Malibu before that happens. That's how unhappy I am with it.
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Replying to: phil53 (Sep 24, 2009 8:26 am) As to the shifting, I have to wonder if a better programming for shift points would help? That is mileage and response. I've noticed a couple of other annoying things in this arena. When letting off from moderate to hard acceleration, it seems to upshift before engine or something properly spins down, giving the vehicle an additional slight bump in accerleration when you've already tried to slow. That seems dangerous to me! And sometimes it will hold in a gear with the engine turning so slowly it seems to be laboring hard, especially if you gradually accelerate. New experiences yesterday: An odd slight vibration, seeming to vary with road surface maybe, but hard to determine exactly what it is. Sound is very subdued. Almost like a bad CV joint sometimes and if it is occurring, it is more noticeable during braking, which then makes it seem like a rotor is also a possibility. And maybe like a flat spot on tire, and more noticeable when doing a slight steering correction (another issue). Regardless of the specific cause of that, I'd say the tires have an issue for certain. When pulling into traffic from a store road, I went through a small pot-hole puddle with moderately heavy acceleration. The road was dry. I found that the vehicle was trying to correct for wheel spin and felt like it was trying to do a duck walk, almost like having wheel hop and positraction going on at the same time. I will certainly being paying closer attention to suspension handling and at the very least say these Firestone FR710 tires are partially at fault. If it had been the Aurora with the same amount of pedal, it likely would not have spun unless I fully dropped the pedal on the V8. So far these tires are suspect for terrible wet traction, noise, poor tracking on varying road surface, maybe out of round, and harsh ride with prescribed pressure. And steering. I like a tight precise steering that tracks well on the road. It may be due to ELS since I'm unfamiliar with that, but there feels like slop in the wheel. Normally this would be like a worn out power steering unit or rack & pinion or worn parts in the steering column.
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If a company talked quality, I'd expect key and incumbant features across all models to show the same quality. That is, they are meant to move something with greater ease. Different models may be for different sized loads or have different colors and features. But you certainly could not claim quality if you made a cheap tinny, rust through in 6 months, flex like a piece of paper, always going flat tires model as well as a real quality one. It seems GM may have some hold-over mentality they need to shed. Like when big engines were only allowed in big cars like a Cadillac prior to the muscle car advent. Or that they have neglected quality with smaller models for most of their years. Which eventually spilled into larger models. |
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still amazed at the decrease in mileage the new malibus are seeing..seems it has declined since the 06-07 MY....an 04 Maxx LT here..with auto and 6 cyl...I regularly get 25 avg in the city driving...and 30-32 MPG highway doing 70 MPH.....increased my tire size from the OEM 16 inch rims to a wider 17 inch rim for a better ride....lost a bit on gas mileage but not enough to be concerned with..probably increased weight with rims and tires....as well as the wider profile on the tire...... have over 154K on the car..and still going strong |
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Replying to: e_net_rider (Sep 25, 2009 3:43 am)
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Replying to: phil53 (Sep 25, 2009 8:55 am) |
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Over the last month, with comparable driving patterns, the MPG numbers were: ____________DIC___Real__Error 2005_Base___29.4__28.4__1.0 2006_Maxx___27.1__24.7__2.4 A surprise for me in the bottom RHS corner. |
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I have owned my 2010 Malibu 2LT 4 CYL for only 1 week. I compared/contrasted the Accord and Camry with this Malibu- the Malibu won hands down. On a trip just today on the interstate (200 miles), my MPG, going between 70-75 MPH ( and using Cruise Control), varied between 32-37. The interior quality and design on this car is outstanding. The safety features are second to none. This is the first 4 CYL. car I have owned in years- remarkable power for a 4 CYL- GM finally did this car right by making available the 6 speed automatic transmission. This car has to be one of GM's best kept secrets.
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Replying to: john178 (Oct 16, 2009 6:03 pm) I have a fair idea of what might be causing low end MPG. It seems that this engine is relatively inefficient under acceleration. The figures I'm seeing on the DIC with normal traffic acceleration or going over a high bridge are much lower than numbers shown on the 4.0 V8 Aurora and my experience with Town Cars. Both of the latter would upshift much quicker. Both are much heavier cars too. There was an old rule of thumb that an engine was at its peak efficiency at the maximum torque RPM. I will have to find what that is for this engine and see if I can spot a correlation. I'm beginning to suspect that GM shortcut the process of working toward highest MPG by simply slapping a 6 speed behind an engine and the two are not well matched because of such an approach.
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