hey all, im from canada and right now i am frozen lol.-15
i just bought my 03 cavalier ecotec last week and my first tank i got 450 kms(280 miles).
IMO, thats pretty bad for a 4cyl "ecotec".
i had a 4.3L s10 and i got the same mileage, about 23-24 mpg. the car passed the etest with flying colors, and by the data it doesnt look like it runs rich. I do about half highway half city driving. in the city it is just short trips(1-2 miles). i have inspected the brakes to make sure theyre not rubbing but i just cant find out what it is.
why does my car get such horrible mileage?
answers are appreciated!
cheers!
Brad

How many liters of gas was required to fill the tank up again? You should fill up at the same station using the same pump and average a couple of fill-ups.
A month ago, I got 600km with one tank. That is when I did not need AC and did not let the car warm up at all. I have a 2000 Cavalier with the 2.2 OHV and four speed auto

50 liters right on, from dead empty.

i only got 220 kms on half a tank of gas is this good or bad?

99 cavalier 2.2

yeah that sucks...
We get about 500km on the same engine in the Saturn ION.
are you sure your first tank was completely full? The gauge may read full for the first 150km or so... and then start dropping. So when you bought it, it might have looked like a full tank when really it was only about 80% full.
see what happens with your next tank or two or three.

im at 130 km and only have 2/3 of a tank left!!yikes, but the car seems to run fine, brakes dont drag, im confused!i shoulda just went ahead and bought that triton v8!

I'm getting 550-600kms from full tank to last notch until empty... but thats mixed hwy and city. are you just doing in city driving?

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<<<<<2003 Sunfire Sedan>>>>>

my girlfriend lives 15 minutes down the highway, and the only time i really use my ar other than that is to work which is about 3km everyday.

Then ya that sounds like the mileage is a little low for that amount/kind of driving. Did you get service records with it? Maybe it just needs a general tune up. I get just over 150km the first 1/4 tank, about 150 then next 1/4 and then probably about 140 and then 125-140 on the last 1/4 depending on how i drive, etc. i guess the tank narrows a bit near the bottom?

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<<<<<2003 Sunfire Sedan>>>>>

Well, if its that cold your IAT is porobably causing a @!#$ load of fuel to be dumped into the engine.

Keep the RPM's under 2.5 if you can, until you are in the higher gears. I filled up today, and when ive been driving its been around 34* F. I got 24mi to the gallon, last week, driving like a granny and i got 28. So, depending on temp and driving style you can loose a lot of millage.

I got 18 mpg one time, I drove it like i stole it to see what it would do to mileage.

During winter I get about 22-25 mpg, and during the summer I get 27-32 mpg. Do not measure mpg/kpg via the gas gauge....they are not an accurate measurement of how much fuel is really left. Like others have said, fill the tank, drive it, fill it back up and then divide the miles driven by the amount of fuel put back in.

If you are getting under 20mpg, then something is either wrong with the car or the way you drive.

From what you have posted so far, you are getting around 25mpg which sound about right for as cold as it is as well as the short trips you do. If it were 70 degrees out and you were doing highway driving at 70mph, you would be up into the 30s easily.

And if you think you were at dead empty by putting 50 liters in, you still still had around 10 liters left in the tank.

ok sounds alright so far. this tank ive got 200 km to the first half, and im really hoping i dont fall short of 400. I know the temp really makes a big diff, and i let it warm up for 2-3 minutes every morning, but will my mpg really jump from like 23 to 30 when it gets warm?

Is it a manual transmission? If so, try skipping gears i.e. 1st to third or 1st to 2nd to 4th and so on. You really don't need to use all the gears just because they are there. Try coasting down hills and up to stop lights, that has increased my in town mileage considerably. I am assuming that if it is -15 deg. that there is snow and ice around. If you are spinning your tires in the snow you will also see a decrease in mileage. By the way I only get around 240 - 260mi in town with my heavy right foot.

its an auto. i never give'r, im always concious of my speed because i want the best possible mileage i can get. ive looked at all kinds of tips to save gas on some different websites and im doing everything i can, coasting downhill, not taking off or braking fast. so, i guess i was just wondering if its normal to get the 450km im getting, or if itll go up much when it gets warmer in the summer. thanks for all the info guys!

I get around 400 miles to a tank in my wifes 96 Z24. On the highway I averaged 30-31 mpg and was very impressed. It's an auto too. I keep wanting to get rid of this thing but it gets such good mileage we keep it around. My S4 is only getting around 21 mpg (on 93 oct) so the Z24 is much easier on my wallet.


Scott
2002 Audi S4, black
1996 Z24 auto, red

wow you get the same number as me but in miles. i think somethings wrong, and im no mechanic so i guess i`ll just take it for a tune-up. thanks all!

A tuneup never hurt, but I still think the primary issue has to do with the outside temps and your short trips. City mileage should be around 22-25mpg, mixed should be around 26-29mpg, and highway should be 29-34mpg with a 2.4. The 2.2 ECO was about the same if not a tad better.

Do NOT base any comparisons off of how many miles per tank someone claims to drive. I can drive 300 miles and think my tank is empty because my gauge (if my gauge actually worked that is...) reads empty. But when I fill up I put less than 11 gallons in, which means I still had around 3 gallons of gas left and could have made it to around 375-400.

its a 50L tank right? because i got 49.6 liters in it and i rode it on empty for a while.

I think it is more like 52-54 Liters (assuming the conversion of 3.7854L per gallon is correct). I can never remember which years had which size tank. If I remember there are three tank sizes ranging from 13.8 to 14.5 gallons...or something close to that.

I think my 01 has a 54L tank, I think it was in the manual if I am not mistaken, I do mainly alot of city driving to work and back and let it idle in the morning a bit to warm up and I think I usually get about 450-500 km to a tank, but that is usually with about 45-50 L of gas on my next fill(about 23.5 miles/gallon, and I usually drive it hard and like to get going fast quickly). highway driving when I don't bag the crap out of my car I can usually get about 650-700 km on the same amount of fuel(30-34 mpg),

drove from calgary to golden about 265 km, and I could only get something like 15-16 L of gas in my car(fully loaded)(work out to something like 38-40 mpg), (all US mileage,not imperial)

I think I know why,

it was colder in calgary with a lower altitude so more pressure so it condensed the fuel, when I filled up it was much hotter (about 30 degrees C warmer) and in the mountains so fuel would expand because of the heat and decreased pressure so I wouldn't be able to fill the tank with as much fuel because it expanded. (most of it doing about 110km/h average set on cruise control) so I likely used more fuel than what I was able to fill up with. (maybe the wind was going in my direction too, I really don't know how to explain it)

my numbers may be a little off, but I consistently get great gas mileage on that stretch of road.

My 1997 Cavy with 2.2 OHV doesn't have any tune-up issues that I'm aware of, and gets regular maintenance. I routinely get about 300-350 kms (180-220 miles) per tank (I usually run it to just below a quarter tank, with about $40-45 to fill it back up). The car does pretty much constant short tripping. I'd say I'm an example of about the worst these cars can do for mileage.



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Geeky wrote:My 1997 Cavy with 2.2 OHV doesn't have any tune-up issues that I'm aware of, and gets regular maintenance. I routinely get about 300-350 kms (180-220 miles) per tank (I usually run it to just below a quarter tank, with about $40-45 to fill it back up). The car does pretty much constant short tripping. I'd say I'm an example of about the worst these cars can do for mileage.

hmm....i think if u let urs go right empty itd be pretty close to mine. I`m just going to hope that its the -5 temperature around here and pray it gets better for the summer!!but i do notice that once its warmed up and on the highway it does reallly really good. so thanks for all the info guys!!cheers!