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Sedans Chevrolet Malibu Chevrolet Malibu MPG-Real World Numbers
299 messages, Last post on Dec 07, 2009 at 9:43 AM
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Replying to: willscary (Aug 11, 2005 2:18 pm) What did you eventually decide? I have the Comfortreads and have no loss of milage at all. They have a good ride, they handle well and are very quiet. |
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About 24MPG mixed city and highway (about 60-70% highway) with Goodyear ComforTread at 30/30 psi. I use the cruise control every chance I get. I try to cruise at 70-75 on the highway, but sometimes hit 80 (or even 85 but not so often). I can really make my mileage go down (to about 22MPG) if I don't watch the RPMs, make quick passes and go 75-80 regularly. Note: These numbers are from my DIC, which I've found to be usually right on or within 1MPG high. Average speed as indicated by my DIC when I get 24MPG is around 35MPH and is 38-40MPH when I get 22MPG. |
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Replying to: bhw77 (Oct 03, 2005 8:27 am) We drove from Pgh to Hiton Head in the summer and averaged 31 on the way down and 29 on the way back (drove about 5-10 mph faster comming home). |
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I put Tripletreds on the car 6 days ago. Immediately my mileage dropped, but a lot of that had to do with a tank of gas that was about 30% city driving instead of the normal 3-5%. I have noticed that on downhill slopes where I used to gian speed with the OEM tires, I now hold a steady speed. I will not comment fully on these tires and their rolling resistance for several months. We are coming into winter here in WI and my 'bu seems to get better mileage in warmer weather. Also, driving changes at this time of the year as cruise control usage is less due to the amount of deer, raccoons, turkeys and other critters that bless us during the deer rut (a lot of hunters chasing animals out of the woods, and the deer, well...they just get stupid during the rut!) The only real comment I have about the tripletreds are their grip. Holy cow do they hold the road! I have always had an all-season tire. The OEM Bridgestone 450s that I replaced were not a bad tire as far as grip is concerned, but they became a bit noisy and rough at about 28k miles. There tread design was a bit blocky, which to me means "noise". The Tripletreds are quite a bit quieter than the OEMs, but they are a bit stiff. On smooth roads they are perfect. On rougher roads, they are quiet but not as soft as I would have liked. The flip side is the handling. These tires handle awsome! Wet or dry, these things corner like a dream. The car is much more responsive. I will see snow in the next few weeks, and by January can comment on thier snow capabilities. Ask me in spring about mileage gains or losses. |
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My parents bought a 2000 LS with 36,000 miles back in September of 2003. We have now had the car for over two years, it now has just over 74,000 miles and it gets lousy mileage. It is 21 miles to the town where me and my sister go to school and my mom works. Total round trip daily, including about 5 miles of crosstown driving to Wal-Mart, etc. is almost 50 miles. It is 85% highway and 15% city driving. We go in 6 days a week, Monday-Friday for school/work, Sunday for church and sometimes Saturday too if me or my little sister have some activity or another. We practically live in that car. The car gets 22-25 mpg consistently.  We usually fill up at home (we live on a farm so we have our own 500 gallon gas tank) with the mid-grade we get from our local Co-Op, which is as good or better quality gas than some of the gas station premiums. We've tried almost everything, and the car still averages 23 mpg. Sometimes it dips down as low as 20 mpg. The only time it has got better than 26 MPG was when my mom was taking classes down in Limon and making 180 mile round trips every other weekend for about 9 months. On those it got almost 28 MPG. It liked those long trips, it seems. It is extremely frustrating as that while we were waiting for this car to come in, the dealer let us drive a 2002 silver base model. We took it on a 400 mile roadtrip and it got 32 mpg, and the rest of the time it got 28-30 mpg consistently.  Where we drive so much we can't even drive the 2000 for a full school week without having to refill it (as it only has about a 280 mile range, which is lame for a car of it's size; this is due to GM advertising it's gas tank as being 3 gallons bigger than it actually is.) It is extremely frustating WE have friends that have a 1997 Buick LeSabre and they get 27 mpg reguarly, and up to 30 on roadtrips. How could GM produce a full size sedan 3 years older that gets better mileage than a 3 years newer midsize sedan? A mechanic at the dealer we got the car from said GM changed something on the 2001 models so they got better MPG. Has anyone else had this type of consistenly low MPG on a pre-2001 Malibu? If so, post because I would like to know about it. Because I have an inkling that if other people HAVEN'T been getting this low mileage like our 2000 LS has, we might have a lemon on our hands.  Other than the MPG, everything else about the car(aside from interior plastics quality)has been great thus far. Hopefully typical GM reliability issues will not begin to manifest themselves as the miles continue to accumlate (this car will probably be pushing 90,000 miles by May of 2006 with the amount of driving we do.)
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I am considering buying a used Malibu Sedan with the 4cyl ecotech engine. What is real world mileage? Seems to me that most posts here are V6 mileage. Am I correct? Does the V6 get better mileage or the 4? What is the reliability of the 4cyl engine?
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Replying to: frogger123 (Feb 09, 2006 12:01 pm) On the trip west I averaged 32.4 mpg and on the trip east, with the wind, I averaged 34.4. I am more than satisfied with these numbers and expect that they will improve somewhat in warmer weather and after the engine is broken in. I can offer no advice on the reliability of the 2.2L. I can tell you that it is somewhat lacking for passing power at highway speeds but most of my driving is on the interstates so that is not critical to me. I leased the car primarily because of it's fuel mileage rating plus it's value for the dollar and am not disappointed with the results so far. |
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| Here's an update to my post above (#67). On 3/7/06 I filled up for a trip to my son's home in Dearborn. I had driven 225 miles since the last fill up, mostly city driving with some short highway commute from my home to the city. Some idleing in the mall parking lots with the engine running. But mostly typical city driving. It took 7.9 gallons to fill up = 28.48 MPG. I then made the round trip to Dearborn, which was 90 percent freeway driving at about 70 MPH with cruise control as much as possible. I filled up again upon arriving back home. This trip was 278 miles and it took 7.8 gallons to fill up = 35.64 MPG for the trip. My MPG average since I got the car is now 31.67 MPG and it has 1,686 miles on the odometer. | |
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Replying to: boogie_down (Dec 26, 2005 9:40 am)  I also carry very little extra weight in the car, trunk is empty, maybe a textbook or sweatshirt, a car repair kit, but that's about it. Oh yeah - no cruise. My 2000 Malibu gets about 35-37 MPG highway on regular unleaded. (Calculated by 65 mile one way trip using an eyeballed 1/8 gas tank, tank capacity given as 14.1 US gal in the owners manual.)  I haven't calculated out her city MPG, but I do 90% long trips and maybe 10% short.
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got 30 mpg at 85 mph from indio,ca. to phx,az with approx.300 pds of cargo,80% of drive is level rds, i can get 32mpg at 75mph on same trip,but then i get passed by semi trucks on a regular basis!
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