[Roger Jolley]

Greetings. I am new here. I found this forum by googling aveo gas mileage. i own a 2005 aveo and also want to improve the mileage. if you just bought a new 2009 aveo, it may interest you to know that i have had my 2005 for 5 years with no problems except one small one. the door lock cylinders fell down into the front doors. the dealer fixed them under warranty, and said that the setscrews that held them in were loose or missing. no other problems. the gas mileage is the only dissappointment to me, but it is not too bad, i just want to improve it. i am currently a student and drive 100 miles round trip to school each day.
so far, the only thing i have done is to buy tires one size larger than original equipment and to run 40 lbs of air in them. my car came with 14 inch tires. some or all of the newer ones come with 15 inch tires i believe.
i looked at "cold air intakes" but at $200 or so, i may try to rig up a homemade one. next on the list is a belly pan/front spoiler. i am going to use sheetmetal from washing machines. not the white "case" of the washer, but the back of the washer, which is a thinner, gold or brown- colored sheetmetal piece which is lighter but i think strong enough. i repair appliances, and have a couple of these metal pieces to try. i will try several ideas until i feel i have made some improvement in the mileage.
then, i may try some rear fender skirts, either from the same metal, or plastic sheets cut to fit.
after that, i may look at weight reduction. my car weighs under 2400 now, but there is always room for improvement.
i am also waiting for warmer weather to start modding the car, and will keep you informed of results, good or bad, from my experiments.