2009 Chevy Cobalt LS Coupe XFE

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...I know it's a "...barn door's already open..." statement, but IF ONLY:

1) GM had had the good sense to implement the XFE option a year earlier, BEFORE things went to hell in a hand basket!

2) if NOW they'd make it applicable to automatic cars too!

3) duh! GM duh!

Gosh I don't think I could pull off the way I have taught myself to drive in an automatic. I tend to cruise in neutral in idle speeds when I do not know what to expect up ahead, especially around corners, and I can not bump start a car with an automatic transmission, so it would greatly hurt my MPGs...

However, you MIGHT be in luck. I have read something about GM getting a lot of feed back about making a XFE with an automatic in it, but I'm not sure if they have taken action or not. If you don't hear something before me I'll let ya know.

I agree about GM's timing. But, I really do not believe very many people seen $4.25 87 Octane prices in 2008 until they hit us. Given the time they had I feel it's about the fastest I have ever seen GM move! OTH: They just copied exactly what Ford had once done with one of their cars when gas prices shot high- I do not recall what model it was, but GM was not the ones that thought up this combination of changes to raise the EPA almost 10%.

Of course Toyota (which has a plant in my home state) was spot on with their Prius!

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by Jammer

I tend to cruise in neutral in idle speeds when I do not know what to expect up ahead, especially around corners, and I can not bump start a car with an automatic transmission, so it would greatly hurt my MPGs...

...oh, I don't know about that...those are techniques I'm using on my '09 Vibe with 4-speed automatic...I nudge the shifter into "N" whenever possible, especially when decelerating.

...I've HEARD (but don't know 100% for sure) that the new ECU and transmissions talk, so that when you "coast" the computer cuts back (totally?) on injection duration and volume, and the transmission goes into "over-drive" coasting mode. Anybody know this for sure on Toyota tranny's?

[Jammer]

I "mis-typed", I typed that I was used to automatics, I am not. I meant to say I am used to manuals. Can you shut your engine OFF with all of your electrical stuff working with the key turned back to ON- My CD player does not even skip a beat when I am driving and turn off the motor and then put the key back to "ON", my lights do not even blink, as I have drifted past many a speed traps, been followed by curious cops (driving slow), bump started my car and they did not seem to notice anything, at least I was not pulled over. I have never drove an automatic that could do that. I guess what I'm asking is can you cruise in EOC with an automatic, because I have never seen that done yet.

Good News: For the member that was asking about cold starts and tire pressure vrs MPG, I did some research tonight. I admit my gas tank is getting empty, so perhaps that lack of weight had an impact, but I doubt it.

It got down to 42 degrees F here, and my tires were at 36 PPSI- which is about 5 pounds less than I consider ideal for my tires which have 44MX stamped on the sides, and we all know tire pressure goes up with use and with higher temps. It seems cold nights are setting in here so I decided to pump all of my tires with 4-5 more pounds of air, and GUESS WHAT? IT PAID OFF. I admit, it's not a lot, but as long as my over all AVG MPG keeps going up I am very happy.

I reached 45.7 today, which is my all time record for driving this car since I purchased it without and ever resetting the gauge. Of course I took a picture!

'Amazing how a little tire pressure can tack on 2/10ths so fast. So far the mileage continues to go up, maybe slowly, but surely. My goal is to meet or beat 50 AVG MPG for over all driving.

I do not mean to beat everyone to death with my MPG pics, so I might delete my previous trophies.

Cheers.

[gone-ot]

...I can't "speak" for the Admin but I say keep your pictures...you EARNed them!

...of course the Admin might wince at their bandwidth (JPG compression is great).

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...I can't "speak" for the Admin but I say keep your pictures...you EARNed them!

...of course the Admin might wince at their bandwidth (JPG compression is great).

I deleted 1 or two of the older pics of the avg mpg- But if I ever have reason to suspect that bandwidth is a problem on a site there is a great FREEBIE website called www.photobucket.com in which one can post and link to the pics without it getting overloaded. I have no idea how that site makes any money.

[Burnt]

Hey guys, I just bought a barely used 2009 cobalt sedan LT XFE (3k miles on it for $13k OTD), i'm brand new to hypermiling, but I'm really enjoying the challenge of learning the driving skillset


Currently, I'm 20% highway, 80% city (ouch).I've been averaging 30-32mpg on this tank - I think I can do much better though, as I get the hang of driving efficiently.

In a couple months I will be switching to 60-80% highway (I'm a grad student studying anesthesia, I'll be switching to a new hospital), and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with the XFE

I just taught my wife how to drive stick, so hopefully she'll get into it too....she's very 'eco-concious', and I think she's happy with my new obsession with fuel efficiency.

[Daox]

Welcome to the site Burnt. It'll be interesting to see what you can do with the Cobalt.

[Fr3AkAzOiD]

Welcome Burnt, we could use another Cobalt XFE on Team Chevy.
Here is the link to the mpg competition.

EcoModder Team Competition

We just need to help you get those mpgs up a bit you will be doing alright.

[Jammer]

UPDATE: I had a complete oil change and lube job today. Yesterday I rotated my tires according to the pattern in the manual.

The oil change place I went too removed about 10 PPSI of air from each tire- I plan on adding back another ten pounds tomorrow. As it gets cold their 30 pounds will become 20 ppsi! So I have to push the limits closer to the 44 ppsi Max to get better MPG. Once that is all done I will update my MPG here.

[Fr3AkAzOiD]

lol, I tell them every time to not mess with the air in the tires and I still need to reinflate them once I get home 1/2 the time.

I'm hoping to get everything I need to do my own oil changes for X-mas or at least with X-mas bonus money. Probably won't save much $ per oil change but at least I will know if the car gets messed up it's my own fault and not the fault of some highschool dropout.