The SolCar (2015 Chevy Sonic LT)

[jeff88]

Hey Guys!

So I've been a ghost the last 6 weeks or so, but the reason why is because I got promoted at work, so my time is essentially devoted to work right now. As I grow into my position it should even back out, but for now I've been busy! As part of the promotion I get a company car, although I received mine a couple of months early (I got lucky because of circumstances).

Anyway, here it is... A 2015 Chevy Sonic LT. It's a 1.8L EcoTec. It's EPA estimated for 26/35 C/H and my first full tank averaged 29.36 MPG.



I would have preferred the available 1.4L Turbo EcoTec since I would stay out of the turbo (after a tank or two of fun ) and the smaller engine would mean better FE. Alas, I'm sure the company went with the cheaper option.

I probably won't do anything to it directly since it's not mine and as far as I know it doesn't even belong to SolarCity as I believe they are leasing it. I know I'll keep up on maintenance and keep the tire pressure up. I'll try to adjust the "nut", but I already drive conservatively which is why I've never seen gains from my other cars unless it refers to mechanical changes. It does have the manumatic, just shift to M and press the button on the shifter up or down to shift. I'll play with that after a couple of tanks of "normal" operation to see how it effects FE.

[Daox]

Congrats on the new ride. I look forward to seeing what kind of mileage you get with it.

[Sven7]

Congrats on (getting to drive) a new car. One question: do you mean you shift with the button on top of the shift lever? That sounds kind of clunky; what do you think about it?

[jeff88]

Thanks guys! I would love to average 35+ with no physical mods!

Here's some pics of the shifter. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, so I don't know what the manual is like. It seems that it would be fine, but there are no paddles so I have to use the shifter. The only thing that's a little annoying is that the Park and Reverse are REALLY far apart, so I keep moving the shifter down to go and I have only gone as far as neutral because of muscle memory and then I need to get one more click.



Here's the button on the side. Doesn't seem to be to clunky. I usually rest my thumb on it while driving, so I don't think it will be a problem.

[ME_Andy]

These are solid little cars. My fiancé actually has the same model and gets 32-33mpg. Not bad considering the traffic she has to deal with. And also the only compact that is assembled in the USA.

I also wish we had the turbo, but the 1.8 is supposedly more reliable and I would bet more long-lasting (not that you care since SCTY is paying for it...) I'm sure somebody there crunched the #'s and decided the turbo wasn't worth it.

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by ME_Andy

And also the only compact that is assembled in the USA.

The Ford Focus is assembled in Wayne, MI, the Dodge Dart in Belvidere, IL, the Honda Civic in Greensburg, IN, and the Chrysler 200 in Sterling Heights, MI.

Actually, looking at the EPA list, there may be more--the list of cars classified as "compact" is extremely long, and includes everything from the Toyota Yaris to the Mercedes S-class coupe. Surprisingly, the Sonic 5-door is actually "midsize", along with the Cruze. I wonder what the volume measurement cutoff is between the two classes?

Edit: The Dart and 200 are also "midsize," apparently.

[2009Toyotoad]

Congrads on the new ride. As to the 1.4 turbo option, I have friends with issues when it was used for the chevy Cruze Eco. Basically, in their case it was the little turbo that "clogged," too many cold starts and lack of cool down cycles. I believe they trade up after the repair.

[jeff88]

Good to know I got a more reliable engine than I guess. I'd hate to lose a customer, because I was late to an appointment because of car troubles.

Last tank MPG was 30.1, nearly a full MPG better. Not bad considering I do a lot of mixed driving (driving from one customer's house to another's). That includes some A/C use, however, I use it sparingly and try to use it when coming to a stop or while stopped. Still I like my MPG going up, we'll see how the next tank does!

I think I'll go one more tank to set a baseline, then I'll play with the manual shifting.

[jeff88]

I've finally had one full tank using the manual setting on the transmission. Let me preface my review by saying that I've never driven a (real) manual for a long term amount of time nor day to day. I know how to drive a manual, but it is certainly not "second nature" to me.

The button on the shifter works fine in terms of location and functionality. It's not quite at the correct angle ergonomically speaking, but neither is the shifter itself. Maybe it might be for somebody else's hand, I don't know. After driving everyday in manual mode, I think paddle shifters would have been really nice, especially since there is already functional buttons on the steering wheel. Maybe a higher level trim has this feature, but I'm not sure. I just know that for the everyday driving environment (messing with the radio, HVAC controls, cruise control, etc.) paddle shifters would allow for a much higher ease of use. Also, because the armrest is in the absolute worst position possible (regardless of using automatic or manual shifting - it just plain sucks), I can't have the arm down to shift. It's just too awkward to reach over and around the armrest.

Unlike a true manual, you cannot shift until the computer is ready which means you have to be at a set speed before you can shift to the next gear. From what I can tell, it is solely speed based, nothing else. You can, however, start in any gear from a stop (just "shift" before you start moving forward). Once moving forward, I have to be at 11 MPH to shift into 3rd, 18 MPH to shift into 4th, 26 MPH to shift into 5th and 35 MPH to shift into 6th. If you try to shift before that specific speed, it won't shift under any circumstances, including situations like downhill driving. In fact, if you try to shift too soon it will actually flash at you as if to say "hey idiot, look at your speed, you really expect me to shift now?". It sucks to be one MPH slower than needed, but you think you're fast enough to shift, but it doesn't actually... then you finally realize when your RPMs are 3 or 4k. If you're accelerating with any sort of pace, however, you can shift before the preset speed threshold by a MPH or two. I think this is only because the digital speedometer can't keep up with your pace.

One nice thing it does automatically is shift back down when you slow down, meaning when you come to a stop, you go back to first gear. If you slow down, but then accelerate again before coming to a stop (say slowing to a red light, but then it turns green) it will automatically put itself in whatever gear is correct for that speed. It usually gives you 2 or 3 MPH cushion below the threshold I mentioned above, so I can slow down a little bit more while maintaining the same gear. Of course, this can cause problems if you think you're in 4th gear, but it's actually third, for example.

I'm still trying to figure out which gear, but either 1st gear or 2nd gear is absolutely useless. I'm not sure if 1st is too short to be used for any stretch of time, 2nd is to close to 1st to gain any major mechanical advantage, a combination of the two or something else completely. Because of this, when I start the car and shift into manual mode, I just immediately shift into 2nd. I have plenty of acceleration between 0 and 5 MPH in 2nd gear and then I just shift to 3rd at 11 MPH like normal. Another nice thing it does is remember what gear you started in at idle, meaning when I'm driving in the city and I come to a red light it doesn't shift all the way back to 1st, but down to 2nd where I started. The only issue is that when I turn the car off, it won't remember which gear I started in, so it will have to "re-learn" the next time I start the car.

OK, now to the good stuff...

I am going to try one more tank in manual mode and see what I get, but the first tank didn't show any real noticeable improvement. The first three tanks I had with the car in automatic mode averaged 29.6 MPG with a low of 29.3 MPG and a high of 30.1 MPG. The MPG for the manual mode tank was 30.2 MPG, the highest I've seen in the 4 fill-ups and about 1/2 MPG better over the average. We'll see in the next tank what happens. I think the increase (if any) isn't so much using the manual mode as much as it is me paying even more attention to my driving technique and trying to keep my accelerations slow (below 2k RPMs). I can do that in automatic mode too, though. With a city rating of 29 MPG and highway rating of 40 MPG, I can easily see the range of MPGs so far being a result of more or less highway driving for that tank. I also can see myself getting better MPGs in manual mode if I pay better attention to where the transmission is in the sequence. More than a handful of times, I accidentally forgot to shift until I could hear the engine revving to 3 or 4k. Certainly not good for MPGs and basically a complete waste of using the manual.

Long story short, I need another tank to determine for sure, but I don't think using the manual is worth the extra effort.

[jeff88]

Another tank of gas, another increase in FE!

Filled up this morning and hit 31.5 average. This was in full automatic mode.

It's tough to say if automatic or manual mode is better. I think the 2 reasons why I got better FE this tank is because the temperature was even hotter this last week and I think I did more highway driving and less city driving. Those 2 variables combined probably netted me the extra .5 MPG from the last tank.

I'm going to run another tank in "automatic" mode and see what happens, then move on to something else (like messing with tire pressure). I'll try manual mode again when temperatures even out and keep steady long enough to test over multiple tanks.