New Chevy Sonic owner here

[dirtydave]

That is a nice car and one I am saving up to buy.

[roosterk0031]

Originally Posted by Cobb

I use kn cause I dont want to pay 30 bucks every 5 thousand miles for a new air filter. and at one time I use to drive 300 miles a day, so that would add up fast.

You buy a new filter every 5,000, if they aren't dirty I don't replace them 50-60,000 mile is my norm for HWY driven cars, maybe if I lived on gravel I'd have to more often, though all of my cars do see gravel roads. I don't even replace my oil & filter that often.

Still don't care if the K&N or ebay kit's improve air flow, the throttle is just going to close more and the engine see the same resistance to trying to fill it's lungs. Put a ram air on, throttle plate still just closes more to give the engine the same air it needs to make the power the car needs. Maybe lean burn cars can take advantage of extra easier air, but not most.

[dirtydave]

I agree I never change the air filter just hit it with the air compressor and wipe down the inside of the air box when I change the oil. OEM filter should last 100K miles.

[backpacker3]

I usually change my filter out with the oil because I get my filter for about $1 with my oil and oil filter from whatever auto parts store has a sale going on with the oil I use.

[shorebreeze]

In terms of mods, I'm probably going to stick with the paper filters for now, and go to LRR tires, most likely the Nokian WRG3 for our very changeable weather, to Mobil 1 0w30 synthetic to take the strain off the engine on winter starts, and to 93 octane gas which I can get cheaply at Costco. We'll see how that goes, and then I'll consider whether a tune makes sense or not. Also I'm adding a Bluetooth OBD transmitter that I can use with the Torque Pro app on my phone. Final consideration; I'm getting a hitch rack for the bikes instead of the roof rack that I had on my Prizm, which knocked a solid 5mpg off highway performance.

One other point about the North American Sonic -- the tires. The stock tires on everything except for the LTZ Dusk Edition, the Hankook Optimo H428, have incredibly high rolling resistance, and they still don't handle slick conditions well. They're quiet, and they're good dry weather tires, but that's about it. So I'm expecting a significant improvement on MPG there. I figure with the LRR tires, synthetic oil, 93 gas and driver-training instrumentation, I'll be good to go for about a 2-3mpg improvement from my current 40 hwy/27 city (3mpg over EPA for highway, par in the city). We'll see. I'd ultimately like to see if 50 is viable on non-Interstate highways.

[Cobb]

Yeah, 5-8 thousand miles, they turn black. The cabin filter I also change about the same time. You could shake it out, but you arent going to clean it, just remove the loose dirt.

When I visit steam and tractor shows I see a lot of internal and external combustion engines that use no air filter at all.

[Mustang Dave]

Get an Air Filter Monitor Gauge from NAPA, and you'll KNOW when to change (or clean) your filter. It costs less than a K&N filter.
Actual restriction pressure differential is much more accurate than visual inspection.

[WyrTwister]

Well , here it is winter . Not running the A/C .

Our little Sonic has 24,000 + miles . Filled it up last Saturday . We have run several errands , 100% in town . The guess-o-meter on the dash is showing 29.5 + MPG .

Only modification is a self installed after market cruse control .

Last summer it got 23 - 24 MPG with the A/C being used much of the time .

I am happy . :-)

God bless
Wyr