First 55+ mpg tank for my '08 Cobalt XFE

[Fr3AkAzOiD]

Pics delayed till only god knows when due to the munchkin need constant attention.

[undrgnd]

Originally Posted by Fr3AkAzOiD

...Little things like parking in the garage and then walking to get the mail instead of pulling up to the mailbox, idling for 20 seconds, then accelerating from a stop has added a good 1 or 2 mpg per tank.

Being a Prius owner and long time aficionado of fuel efficient autos, I had to read about a conventional auto that rivals the best hybrid ever made. I was starting to believe, until I read that stopping at the mailbox costs you 1-2 mpg per tank. So every traffic light, cow in the road, or any other stop you encounter once a day drops your FE the same? A tenth of an MPG on a tank, maybe. If you see 1-2 MPG for this event, there is no way you'd be getting 55 MPG overall.

[Daox]

Theres lot of conventional vehicles here getting north of 55 mpg. In fact, my conventional vehicle gets better mileage than my hybrid.

[Burnt]

Originally Posted by undrgnd

, there is no way you'd be getting 55 MPG overall.

It's very possible...there are many non-hybrid cars that can do that without breaking a sweat, like an '01 Jetta 1.9L diesel - 39/44 38 combined, as an example

You put a committed hypermiler behind the wheel of a cobalt xfe and it's very possible

why did you register a new account to post this?

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by undrgnd

Being a Prius owner and long time aficionado of fuel efficient autos, I had to read about a conventional auto that rivals the best hybrid ever made. I was starting to believe, until I read that stopping at the mailbox costs you 1-2 mpg per tank. So every traffic light, cow in the road, or any other stop you encounter once a day drops your FE the same? A tenth of an MPG on a tank, maybe. If you see 1-2 MPG for this event, there is no way you'd be getting 55 MPG overall.

I got 45.7 without much effort and have the pictures to show it- but I guess one could always say I doctored up the pic or reset my MPG gauge to take the picture. Honestly, we have plenty of people on this site that get over 50 mpg running regular gas cars.

BTW: I do not always let my car run for a red-light. If it's a warm day and I'm not as worried over keeping my battery charged I will turn off my engine for the long red-lights, and restart when I see it's ready to change. Every little effort like this adds up. The Cobalt XFE likes to ROLL, in fact it likes to roll so much it's not easy to stop, the braking distance is too far. So in these foot hills it is a perfect location to run in EOC- and THAT is truly where one saves gas mileage. I'm sure I could easily get 55mpg on one tank of gas ig I stuck to 55mph and lower roads and used EOC as much as I could (in warm weather). However cold weather lowers the MPG in my XFE due to the need to keep the battery charged.. at least in my car.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by undrgnd

;If you see 1-2 MPG for this event, there is no way you'd be getting 55 MPG overall.

Oh, I'm pretty sure the OP was speaking about his MPG for one TANK OF GAS, not over all. I did get 45.7 over all however, and now I'm seeking ways of increasing my MPG based on each tank of gas.

Your point about a cow in the road, mail boxes, etc.. All we got to do is turn off the motor until we are ready to move- problem solved and still NO HYBRID NEEDED! And Neutral, with a manual transmission, is your friend, as we all should use Neutral as much as possible, even with the engine on it saves us a lot of gas (as long as we are moving and NOT waiting for a "cow" to get out of the way) -lol.

I'm sure if you own a Hybrid there are tricks you can do to raise your 50 MPG AVG, or whatever it might be up too, much higher too.

[slurp812]

Old push-rod motors get better mileage compared to their overhead cam counter parts. Witch is also why a GM 3.8l = 200hp, and a honda 2.0l = 197hp. Of course the bigger GM 3.8 has more torque. In fact, this is what got me started hyper-miling! My G/F had an 02 Monte Carlo SS, and I had a 2.2l accord, and she was getting better mileage, and I said WTF? I went form ~25 mpg to solid mid 30's average, just by changing my driving.

[Fr3AkAzOiD]

The 55 mpg was a push it to the limit tank.
During the summer I was running 3 tank averages of just above 50 mpg for about 2 months and even if I wasn't pushing it 48 mpg was easily to get.

Now that it's winter I am seeing lower mpg from not only winter gas, air temps, but also not EOCing as much due to cold engine, wanting the heater on, battery charge, etc... but even with all that I'm still running low 40's tanks with a car that is rated at 29 mpg average.

My estimates of how many mpg's a mailbox stop takes up were just a guess for the effect of an entire tank and were not come to by scientific method and multiple batches of incidents. It was meant to say that little changes add up.

[undrgnd]

Just busting your balls, you're a good sport. Congrats on the 55MPG tank. I have yet to get that from my new 2010 Prius! Maybe in the spring...

[MetroMPG]

Undrgnd - a Prius is a tough car to coax great numbers from in winter.

If you're finding it a challenge, my bet is your typical use is either (a) high-speed freeway driving (always makes it difficult to beat the EPA), or, (b) short distance sub/urban with a significant proportion of trip distance below full operating temps (particularly hard on a hybrid because the engine shuts down much less than it might otherwise).

Neat car, though. I haven't tried an '10 yet but would like to.