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Wagons Dodge Caliber Dodge Caliber MPG-Real World Numbers
221 messages, Last post on Jun 09, 2009 at 5:10 PM
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I set off to LA last weekend expecting to take a mileage "hit" from the high speeds that are common on the San Francisco to Los Angeles run. Earlier in the break in cycle, I seemed to be getting 28-29 mpg on that run vs. 31-32 mpg on my commute (the variation resulting from the amount of city street errands mixed in with my freeway commute). Instead, mileage came up. The only factors that have changed since my last report are (1) I sometimes accelerate harder, running up the rpm (supposed to use more fuel); (2) I sometimes accelerate harder, but by flooring it in a lower gear (supposed to use less fuel than running up the rpm in a lower gear, since the butterfly valve in the throttle body is in the more efficient, wider open position); (3) the car has 5,000 miles on it; and (4) I changed to full synthetic (Pennzoil Platinum 5-20) vs. semi-synthetic (Motorcraft/Conoco 5-20). From all reports I have read, synthetic oil per se does not increase mileage, but on the other hand different makes tend to fall into slightly different viscoscity ranges (all within the 5-20 spec, though) which may affect mileage, but shouldn't affect it by more than a couple of percent. Here are the tank by tank numbers. I wouldn't read very much into the tank by tank variations, since I was on the road and obviously unable to follow my "at home" routine of using the same gas station, same pump, same vehicle to pump orientation (levelness affects fill considerably). 32.59 mp - fill up before I hit the road, this represents my normal "commute" mpg, although it is about 1 mpg above average, probably a fill variation. 34.44 mpg at Kettleman City; 35.14 mpg in Burbank after arriving (probably a fill variation, esp. considering the "hill climb" over the mountains on the last stretch into L.A.); 31.32 mpg in Buttonwillow on the drive back (all my L.A. driving was freeway, very little street mixed in, this leg also includes up the mountains and back down to get out of L.A.); 30.28 mpg from Buttonwillow back to SF (this was the highest speed portion of the run, people were maniacs on the way home on Sunday). Average - 32.75 mpg. Awfully darn good. I suspect a stick shift with a 2.0 would match this mileage - the 1.8 is geared necessarily low due to its small displacement. It makes good hp, but only at high rpm. This car simply won't "pull" at low rpm the way my Cobalt with a 2.2 would - on the other hand, the engine is much smoother and rev's very freely. More of a European experience - small displacement, high rpm for performance. |
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My Caliber now has nearly 15k on it. Overall, it's working out great although the suspension is a bit noisy. On my latest road trip ~2k miles, I had the majority of my tanks above 28mpg with the 2.0 CVT driving at 70-75mph. One tank even registered a hair over 32. Works for me! One thing to note... it has a pretty high drag coef. so anytime you drive into a decent head wind (10mph+) kiss fuel economy goodbye. It will typically drop into the mid 20s then. While I would love to have a hybrid, the $$$ wasn't there for it for me. Caliber offered the best bang for buck + decent mileage + versatility I was looking for. |
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| I am getting almost 30 mpg. | |
| I don't know if it's the warmer weather or what but my last 2 tanks of gas I've averaged 29.8 mpg with my 2.0 CVT. | |
Haven't posted here in months. Bot my SE Caliber 2 liter CVT on Sept. 28, 2006. My first MPG reports were from new car daytrips in the last warm weather we had(Washington State) before the winter weather caved in. Nicely got 32MPG over 4000 foot mountains & even 34.9MPG on 1 flat highway outing. Thru the winter, short trips, cold, winter gas & lots of cooldowns, my average sank to 28.4MPG with low of 24.9MPG & no tanks were 30MPG or more. A month ago with warming weather my Average MPG began rising to 28.8. With the continueing to warm weather plus the switch to summer gas(& longer pleasure drives) my MPG has risen to 29.3MPG with trips in the 31 to 33MPG range. Hope it continues to rise. Might even reach an average of 30MPG in the first year of ownership. We'll see. 
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Replying to: litesong1 (Apr 15, 2007 5:44 pm)
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My SXT is 6 months old and my milage sucks  In US MPG I have gotten: 21.49, 23.04, 20.1, 25.22,and 22.85 on my last five fills. All of our driving is in the city. On the occasions when I get it out on the highway, I see the fuel economy shoot up big time. With gas hitting $1.04 per litre here in Canada I was hoping for something a bit better than my Caravan. I not the lighest foot in the world, but I am very far from the heaviest foot too. Other than the milage issue I love this car, just wished I owned a refinery is all.
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Replying to: commpro (Apr 28, 2007 12:39 pm) formulation you should see an increase in mpg. The CVT if that's what you have for tranny does not like heavy acceleration,the programming allows rpm to go up but is set to protect the belt pulley systems in the CVT from slippage. If you want better 0-20mph starts use "L" then shift to "D" at 20-25mph. Having said that if you drive aggressively the CVT mpg is about what your getting. |
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I was looking at the Caliber and Patriot, and ended up with the latter. They are mechanically clones. My first check with combination driving yielded 26.9 mpg. Not bad for a 3000 pound box. DJP |
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Replying to: litesong1 (Apr 15, 2007 5:44 pm)  I read similar post at other site.http://www.carsurvey.org/model_Dodge_Caliber.html I heard CVT is around 10% better than conventional A/T. I'm looking forward to seeing your post.
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