We Don't Need No

[ocnblu]

Took my first road trip today in the 2012 Cruze 1LT 1.4t 6-speed manual, headed down to (bare-) Assateague State Park about 9 miles from Ocean City, MD. Stopped at WaWa in Ocean City to begin my trip home and filled the car with gas, then accidentally reset the average MPG along with the trip odometer... so I was starting from scratch. I took it as an opportunity.

I traveled 186.4 miles from there to my garage... and averaged 47.8 MPG!!! And this is with 700 miles on the engine. Talk about being amazed and delighted, this car just blows my mind. And I emerged from the trip without fatigue, the comfortable seats and quiet, smooth ride kept my ass from aching. Willie's Roadhouse on XM kept my hands on the wheel, not on the radio.

Volt? More like static at twice the price.

Prius? I scoff at your nerdishness.

Leaf? It's September, soon time for you to wither and fall.

Edited September 4, 2011 by ocnblu

[Turbojett]

Ah, the joys of highway MPG in a new car! I remember pullin' 36 or so MPG in the Cobalt coming back to So Cal on I40 from Albuquerque; it was about a year after I bought it. Filled up in Alb, and didn't stop for gas again until Flagstaff. I was stuh-hunned.

but almost 48 MPG. maaaayn. that's gotta be like Albuquerque to Kingman or the CA border or so on one tank.

[loki]

curious what your avg speed was? nice none the less.

Edited September 4, 2011 by loki

[ocnblu]

Waitin' for my camera batteries to recharge so I can get a photo to post. Average speed takes a quick dive when idling at red lights.

[ocnblu]

[RjION]

Did you do the math or just picture what the display had to say. I've drove the TinIndian home one night and the display said something like 39 miles per gallon, and that don't mean a thing.

[ocnblu]

I took the display at its word. Didn't do any cross-checking, except for looking at the fuel gauge itself, which is unscientific (you can see the fuel gauge above the display on the right side, it reads 3/4). The route home consists of highway speeds of 65 mph and 55 mph (I went about 65-68 in the 65, drove 60 mph in the 55), rural 2-lanes at 50 and 55 mph, and finally suburban roads of 40 and 25 mph. I stopped at several red lights, and made one pitstop in Northeast, MD to buy a bottle of water and to pee. Maryland travel is all flat land, but when I hit the PA border, it becomes hilly. On the downhill and approaching red lights, I put the car in neutral and let it coast, as I did with the Fiesta. That's the extent of my hypermiling. Going uphill, I maintained the speed limit.

I'm sure the average will go down considerably as I finish the tank out, I have some errands to run in the next 2 days and then it's back to work on Tuesday. I'll do math when it's time to fill the tank again, that'll check the car's accuracy. The Ford Fiesta's display was spot-on every time I did my own math, I would hope GM's is as accurate.

What else would you like me to do to cross-check, Rj? Is there something I can do now, besides refilling the tank?

Edited September 4, 2011 by ocnblu

[RjION]

Fill the tank do the math ............... I can coast down hill for 7 miles and get any diplay to read 60 plus miles per gallon. When I check hiway mileage I fill at the hiway and refill at the hiway. Kinda makes dollars and cents don't it. Think I'm cynical? Oh well.

Edited September 4, 2011 by RjION

[ocnblu]

I'll wait until the tank is near empty to refill it, as I always do, and I'll post the results. That'll be my cross-check. Unscientifically, if my car has a 15.6 gallon tank, and it is showing 3/4 full after 186.4 miles, that translates to 47.794871 MPG by my calculator here on the desk.

[pow]

Imagine if you had the Eco and its cool forged wheels. Then you would have gotten 53 MPG.

All kidding aside, congrats on the car.

Edited September 4, 2011 by pow

[loki]

very cool. best i got with my 99 monte was ~37mpg in flat indiana with an average probably around 50mph. that's ~25% better than what it was rated.

[Cremazie]

That is awesome Mileage, who needs a car with a 500 lb battery that will need to be replaced in 5 years... not me.

[ocnblu]

Me neither. I am all for simplicity, correctly engineered, over complexity (or even "different") to get the same result. The 1.4t will be much easier to service for customers down the road than any hybrid or full electric.

After my skepticism died with a test drive, I am now a fierce advocate of the Chevrolet Cruze for a list of reasons. I wish the parent company would give us more bodystyles of this great car... coupe and 5-door hatch spring to mind quickly.

I also think if diesel fuel remains more expensive than gasoline, a diesel Cruze might face an uphill sales fight against real-world mileage of the 1.4t... although I still think a diesel in the car is a good idear.

Edited September 5, 2011 by ocnblu

[A Horse With No Name]

Not hard to imagine getting this kind of MPG, one of my fav. Chevy's was actually my two door 85 type ten Cavalier, it got 43 or 44 miles to the gallon a bunch of times on trips, a fantastic little car....

Right now I'm thinking of getting a car next year, my top five choices are C30 Volvo, cooper/CooperS by MINI, Cruze, Fiesta, and GTI.

Anything you post on fiesta or Cruze is helpful right now, so thanks...just showed my wife this point and it made big points with the wife, who checked out a Kia soul this afternoon and liked it.

[the_yellow_dart]

I'm confused as to how you're getting better mileage than me, with the same engine and worse gear ratios...

[ocnblu]

I'm not sure, Mr. Dart. This is again a snapshot of the 186.4 mile return trip home from the beach with relatively easy sailing and comparatively few stop-n-go hassles, which eat fuel. I stopped for a few red lights each in Cambridge, Easton and Elkton MD, Willow Street, PA, and a couple of stop signs, but other than my pit stop, it was steady Cruzing all the way. I did read that changes were made to the 2012 LT models to enhance fuel economy numbers... but I thought they involved the automatic version. Is it an Imperial gallons thing? Not sure bud.

Edited September 5, 2011 by ocnblu

[the_yellow_dart]

When I use Google to convert mpg to L/100km, (I'm assuming it's using American gallons) 48 mpg = 4.9 L/100km. I got 5.0 L/100km (47 mpg) going to Quebec City from Toronto on nothing but highways, stopping only a few times in the roughly 800km/500mi trip. I was going 105 km/h (65mph) most of the way. There was one short traffic jam in Montreal, but I didn't think it would affect the average that much... maybe it did. Or, maybe those fuel economy improvements on the Eco are just not that effective in the real world. I don't know.

[Sixty8panther]

When it comes to GM fuel mileage meters (computers)

Instant Fuel Economy is silly nonsense

AVERAGE fuel economy starts to be about 99% accurate after just 10 or 15 miles of driving.

I have done the math on a few of my vehicles.... like my old 1997 Cadillac STS and that car

always showed an average that was within 0.2 MPG.

BUT the "instant MPG" readout had a silly margin of error, downhill with NO throttle input

the MPG would go to like 48 or 60 MPG for a few sec, while the car was coasting at 45 or

50mph. ONE time I reset the computer on the highway in Conn. at like 3:00am when

driving over 100mph and I grabbed a photo of the car saying something like:

Average MPH: 107

Average MPG: 6.3

you get the idea.

Edited September 6, 2011 by Sixty8panther

[Drew Dowdell]

Well the instant may have been right for your downhill test. Modern fuel injected cars shut the fuel off down to a tiny trickle when the car is in such a state.

[caddycruiser]

This is so awesome.

I wish the Cruze fit my wants better, as it's so very impressive in many ways. Then again, for the price...hmm.

The 6-spd 1.4T Cruze again seems to remain the full tilt sweetheart of the mix.

[67impss]

Till that diesel gets here or wagon or coupe or hatch...

[caddycruiser]

And I used to be shocked and impressed with the '07 Malibu 2.2L rental I had for a month that always got 37-39 on the highway and was very peppy...

Something about a very efficient and spunky 4-cyl sedan that speaks to me. Give me the same but in a wagon version, and I'd like even more.

[Turbojett]

We don't need no education...

[A Horse With No Name]

Added a plus one for the wagon idea...

[ocnblu]

12 days and 473.6 miles later, I refilled the tank. I put in 12.85 gallons of gasoline. Doing the math, it runs out to 36.85 MPG. The first 186.4 miles were my highway trip back from the beach, the rest were driven slogging back and forth to work in urban stop-n-go. I'm happy with that.

The DIC indicated 38.9 MPG and 26.9 average MPH... seems as though the DIC is optimistic on this car. I've reset this screen once again (trip meter, average MPG and average MPH), and I'll post my results again when it comes time.

[A Horse With No Name]

36 is still damn good....but...

Most of the guys in the TDI club are getting from 39 to 46 average MPG.. so...there...

[ocnblu]

If my math is accurate, I divided 38.9 into 36.85 (indicated and actual MPG for this tank), it seems the DIC is 5% optimistic. If I take 95% of 47.8, I get 45.4 actual MPG on the trip back from the beach. None too shabby, and still into TDI and Prius territory.

The 36.85 MPG tank figures to 39% highway/61% urban driving.

If the time was right, I'd love to see what this thing'll do running a full tank out on the highway, heading south to a warm destination with palm trees laden with coconuts lining the beach (that's symbolism).

[A Horse With No Name]

While I enjoy curves, I also enjoy the straight and narrow even though I am an autocrosser. However, I wish for you to find lots of coconuts in your travels...and enjoy your bodysurfing down south...

Best thing about your car is the utter simplicity of the thing and the lack of the TDI or Prius complexity. Having done course work on race tracks and torn apart burning cars to extracate drivers, I would hate to think of what would happen to a battery pack in a serious accident...not something I would like to subject my family to.

TDI still has high pressure fuel pump issues...basically, common rail diesel...fuel is at something like 30,000 PSI...if the fuel pump blows, it takes out everything downstream, and it's a 9 or 10 thousand dollar repari.

Cain't see subjecting my family to that risk either.

Cruze interior and exterior are much nicer than Jetta...so...methinks Cruze is on our short list for next car. Six speed only please...and I saw one in the blue you got that looks utterly lustworthy.

Just hope that your coconuts don't turn that shade of blue waiting for the trip down south...more symbolism...

[ocnblu]

This tank was truly daily grind, with two weeks of urban work commuting and weekend errand trips urban/suburban, no highway travel. My car is rated 26/38 by the EPA, this tank was 30.59 mpg (EPA average is 30 mpg). Not as good as the Fiesta under similar circumstances. The Fiesta was rated at 28/37. The Cruze is a much more substantial car, to be sure, and highway mileage eclipses the Ford, which has a 5-speed manual instead of the Chevy's six-speed.

It is still double and more what I was getting with my 2010 Colorado 3.7L/auto, which was getting inexplicably low gas mileage.

[Drew Dowdell]

Didn't you have a non-default final drive ratio in the Colorado?

[daves87rs]

Not bad Ocn!

[ocnblu]

Didn't you have a non-default final drive ratio in the Colorado?

Nah, it was 3.73, which is the default in that configuration. You can order a higher gear, like 3.23, but that truck was off the lot.

Thanks uncle davey, I am itching for another road trip, but I don't know where to yet.

[A Horse With No Name]

Thinking a closed car like that is in my future...my friend just got 33.7 on a 2003 Focus SVT over the road on a trip, which is better than the Miata gets.

Since Ford may be soon out of the question, I really am looking more at a Cruze.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Didn't you have a non-default final drive ratio in the Colorado?

Nah, it was 3.73, which is the default in that configuration. You can order a higher gear, like 3.23, but that truck was off the lot.

Thanks uncle davey, I am itching for another road trip, but I don't know where to yet.

Well, the AACA Eastern Fall Meet is this week... Saturday is suppose to be warm and sunny

[Drew Dowdell]

Didn't you have a non-default final drive ratio in the Colorado?

Nah, it was 3.73, which is the default in that configuration. You can order a higher gear, like 3.23, but that truck was off the lot.

Thanks uncle davey, I am itching for another road trip, but I don't know where to yet.

Well, the AACA Eastern Fall Meet is this week... Saturday is suppose to be warm and sunny

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