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Sedans Chevrolet Malibu Chevrolet Malibu MPG-Real World Numbers
292 messages, Last post on Dec 03, 2009 at 8:24 AM
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Bought LT V-6 at end of August. Averaging 22.5 in mix of city/highway traffic here in NJ. Drove to NC and averaged 33 on all highway. Set the cruise to 67 and had to fight DC traffic and still hit 33. Mileage better than expected.
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| are we seeing a significant difference in MPG between the sedan and the Maxx here....it appears so....but hard to tell unless every one specifys if they have the sedan or the maxx here..instead of the malibu with the LT/LS package....still..cant beleive there is that much of a difference between the cars that would account for the difference in mileage...again..a Maxx LT here....24-25 city...and 28-30 highway....an 04 with 45k on it..Im seeing quotes of 33-36 MPG average here...and I have never gotten those numbers on my car since I have owned it...uuuummmmmm and using nothing but Shell and Chervon gas, Mobil 1 5w30 for oil changes...all top tier fuels....interesting | |
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Replying to: rjcal01 (Oct 01, 2005 5:50 pm) 
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The Maxx is less aerodynamic and, all things being equal (LS w/ V-6) will see about a 4 mpg decrease over the sedan simply because of its drag coefficient. Secondly, the maxx has bigger heavier tires (I believe). I specifically bought the LS sedan because of its 205/65/R15s. The LT sedan sports 215/65/R16s, as did the maxx in '04. This tire is wider (more contact area creating more friction) and taller, which adds up to more wieght to get rolling (and to stop). Ialways look for the smallest recommended tire for my car. Bigger and wider is cool and sporty, but mileage usually suffers. A bigger tire also means that the final gear ratio changes, many times putting more stress on the motor by getting in out of its most efficient RPM range. Don't get me wrong, the Maxx is a great car. I am not knocking it. But when people stress mileage, they need to look at the big picture. How do bigger wheels and tires affect the car? How does my driving technique affect the mileage? How does the type of commute affect mileage (long trips w/ cruise or short stop and go trips)? How fast do I drive?
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Replying to: willscary (Oct 03, 2005 3:37 pm) |
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While EPA numbers might be suspect, they do indicate that the Maxx will get less MPG than the sedan. I do not understand aerodynamics well but the Maxx may well have a poorer drag coefficient than the sedan. At highway speeds the difference between the sedan and the Maxx would be even greater. The Maxx is quite a bit heavier as well which undoubtedly have an impact, especially in stop and go driving around town. The sedan also comes with smaller wheels in the less expensive models. I don't know that the gearing is any different between the various models.
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Replying to: crosby1 (Oct 07, 2005 6:11 am) Just for an idea of how big of a deal this is...the new Accord is touted as being extremely aerodynamic for a family car. The last version Accord had a Cd of .33 while the new Accord has a Cd of .30. This translates into about 10% better mileage at 55 mph, and an even greater amount at higher speeds. So I am sure that the Maxx to Malibu difference will be greater. As another comparison, I know that the new Vette had a Cd of .28, and I believe the old Vette was either .30 or .31. As far as gearing differences, I don't know if the tranny or differential are different between the sedan and Maxx, but the final drive can definitely be different due to different sized tires. |
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Malibu's for '06 will be offered with 15 inch (LT0), 16 inch (LT1), 17 inch (LTZ) and 18 inch (SS). My guess is that the outside diameter of each of these isn't exactly equal across the range (though close, as they spec tires with increasingly lower aspect ratios as rim diameter increases), and they might be within a few cm. of each other. I imagine that Chevrolet would have a baseline calibration of the speedometer/odometer for a given model, and then make the decision whether to recalibrate them based on how far off the accuracy falls from this baseline. I believe the feds give auto manufacturers guidelines within which the accuracy of a speedometer or odometer must fall. The question I ask myself is, as the outside diameter of a tire increases and the manufacturer were not to recalibrate sp./od., logic tells me that it would be manifested as an apparent decrease in gas mileage (because the wheels would travel a greater distance for each revolution of the wheel). However, if the driver were to measure the fuel used for a fixed known distance (your commute, for example), you would be able to calculate if the mileage really did fall off. Perhaps the true fuel mileage might even improve, as what you are doing when increasing the tire diameter is tantamount to lowering the final drive ratio (numerically lower). So, I wonder if you could increase your true gas mileage by increasing outside tire diameter, no matter what your trip computer might tell you. BTW, the Maxx does have a numerically higher final drive ratio when compared with the sedan's, surely to account for both it's higher weight and poorer coefficient of drag. I've noted that the Maxx, while typically getting somewhat poorer mileage than the sedan, the difference seems to be hardly worth mentioning. I'd guess the difference would be more pronounced at higher cruise speeds, where the Maxx's higher CD would have a greater impact (drag being a function of the square of your speed through the air, and all that...).
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Replying to: ronbo10 (Oct 25, 2005 5:50 am)  ronbo10, you must be an engineer or something, right? 
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My '04 Maxx didn't do well on mileage until after around 3-4000 miles of run-in. With almost 30K, it gets average of 25-26 mph for freeway/town mixture, and 30-32 mph on the freeway at crusiing speeds of 70 mph or so. For one thing, the transmission appears to calibrate itself to the driver and itself, which helps improve mileage. It also helps to run the tire pressure a little higher than recomended (especially in the front tires which are carrying most of the vehicle's weight) - I usually run 33 psi front/ 30-31 psi rear. Good note on the Yokahama tires (CU toprated one of these recently) - will check those out! |
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