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Predictably my mileage is going down....cooler weather and school traffic do it every time... around 39.3 today...in early August I was getting 40.8 mpg..by mid winter it will be something north of 35 mpg.

I always use Shell 87 octane gas. There's a bunch of brands that follow the "Top Tier" standards but Shell is convenient for me. I've noticed a difference in the way the engine performs over time using Top Tier.....little or no knocking and smoother cold engine performance in winter.

Top Tier Gasoline
 
Okay then what is the best first mod for someone running completely stock? Stickers and some nightshade?
the best first mods to do for mpg would be clearing up exhaust restrictions. its kind of a myth that intakes help with your mpg's. if you ever read up on any ecomodder sites you will notice that many run stock intakes with larger exhaust to free up some restrictions. intakes are good for power (that is kinda common sense), but as far as mpg's they dont really help out a whole lot. many of the ecomodders, if they want an intake, choose to go custom and try and get the warmest air possible (which helps mpgs, but you wont see any performance gains most likely, which defeats the purpose for 99% of people)
 
My long term average is 37.6 right now. The weather has been warming up here and traffic was lighter than usaual this week with the holiday on Monday.

Man...there's got to be something wrong with your Cobalt if you're getting 16mpg.
 
I've probably beat on my car more than I should but thinking about it, I've never had it under 23mpg though, I adv 25-29 city driving with moderately heavy acceleration, on a 2.2 and I thought I was getting bad gas mileage till I read thru this, lol.
 
is SW pa, we have alot of windy hills and running through the woods,

in the summer, on summer blend gas, I get an adverage of 22.5

in the winter, I get about 18.5

I use my remote starter alot in the winter, run winter tires, ect, so that is one reason I believe my MPG goes so shitty in the winter, also, they change the formula of the gas in the winter too, everyone sees a reduction in gas mileage around here in the winter
 
I'm on about 21 MPG, but I live i a real crappy area where I need to be starting and stopping all the time, If I reset the MPG before an expressway trip, Harlingen TX to San Antonio TX, I will get well over 30 MPG. MPG depends on your area as well as your ride and driving skills.
 
FREE MODS...

Bump tire pressure up to 38 - 40 cold (40 - 42 warm).

Slow down 5 mph.

Try to time traffic lights.

Walk into the fast food place instead of sitting in the drive through.

Don't rev over 3k when accelerating.

Take the junk out of your car, 100 lbs costs you around 1 mpg.

Keep a large space between you and the person in front of you whenever possible. That way if they turn or hit their brakes all you have to do is let off the gas and coast down instead of slam on your brakes and then get back on the gas.



I have spent less then $100 on mods and they were things like shim kits to reduce toe on the rear tires and foam insulation to make a partial grill block.

Still stock everything else and over the 75,000+ miles I've had my car I have averaged over 45 mpg and my average for 2011 was 52 mpg.

Work on the free stuff before you throw money into something that will cost more money then the gas it will save you.
 
My mileage can be all over the place. Letting the car sit to warm up in the Winter or cool off in the Summer can kill mileage. The same with city driving. I can fill up and be pulling mid to high 30s for a 50 mile drive then get into stop and go traffic in the city. The average drops fast. If I drive "normal" on the highway, 65-75, not trying to milk mileage. I see mid 30s. Take that and combine it with a little city/town/country back road driving and my overall average is usually about 30-31. Setting the cruise control at 56-57 and not caring about the cars going around me usually produces 42-43 MPG.

Fr3AkAzOiD- My tire pressure is currently at 35. 40 sounds like the max safe pressure? I may try the foam insulation. Does it make a noticeable difference in the vehicle's temp from the reduced airflow? I'm still amazed at the mileage that you get!
 
Fr3AkAzOiD- My tire pressure is currently at 35. 40 sounds like the max safe pressure? I may try the foam insulation. Does it make a noticeable difference in the vehicle's temp from the reduced airflow? I'm still amazed at the mileage that you get!

Tires have the max psi on the side of the tires. Most are 44 psi.
I have run my current and past set as well as my wives set at 38+ psi cold for years and they have all worn even and lasted 50k+ miles and only produce a slightly stiffer ride.

The foam is only doing what the active shutters do on the Cruze Eco. While it does raise coolant temps slightly I make sure they stay within reason. I was able to run a 70% grill block all winter and keep temps around 190F. Fan kicks on at 217F. If it starts getting hot I just pull a piece out to let more air in. Helps out quite a bit at highway speeds.

Thanks, it takes dedication to get the mileage I get.
I am definitely the 1% when it comes to mpg.
 
I remembered this thread last weekend when i was driving home from my local road track. I reset my avg mpg when I got there in the morning, and went through about 20 gallons of E85 that day. So yeah, this would be my worst MPG ever.

My motto: it's not about the miles per gallon, it's about the SMILES per gallon :) :)

 
The foam is only doing what the active shutters do on the Cruze Eco. While it does raise coolant temps slightly I make sure they stay within reason. I was able to run a 70% grill block all winter and keep temps around 190F. Fan kicks on at 217F. If it starts getting hot I just pull a piece out to let more air in. Helps out quite a bit at highway speeds.

Thanks, it takes dedication to get the mileage I get.
I am definitely the 1% when it comes to mpg.
I saw pictures of your grill block on the other site. Does it stay in there with no adhesive? I'm thinking about giving it a try.
 
I'm now getting about 19.xx .

I am having some issues with o2 sensors, so I'm losing about 5 to 10 MPG just because of that. I have a 2006, it was in 2007 they fuel economy got better in the Cobalt's, so I think the Cobalt's are doing pretty good, even the old ones.

I used to get about 24/25 MPG when it had no issues a few years back, but like I said before in this thread, I live in a sh1tty area and I have to stop and start so much its not even funny. If I lived in a decent area where the city officials had some intelligent ideas for the roads, maybe I would get more, probably about 35 MPG as required by a new law.
 
I saw pictures of your grill block on the other site. Does it stay in there with no adhesive? I'm thinking about giving it a try.
Top part stays fine.
Bottom part I ended up zip tying a piece of coroplast to each side (on the inside) of the lower grill. The middle stayed fine but the corners were being pushed in a bit by the air flow. Works great now.
 
Top part stays fine.
Bottom part I ended up zip tying a piece of coroplast to each side of the lower grill. The middle stayed fine but the corners were being pushed in a bit by the air flow. Works great now.
What kind of fuel mileage increase did you see? I might do this in the winter, because my car rarely is above 170 at all. Even in summer it doesn't get that warm. Only time I'd take it off is when racing. My right lower grille is just open to the inside of that cavity, blocking it off permanently would help a bit I'd assume.
 
What kind of fuel mileage increase did you see?
MPG increase is hard to gage cause a partial grill block actually helps in three ways.

The more obvious is that air goes around the car instead of slamming into the radiator, then bouncing around the engine bay before being shoved under the car in the mix of dirty air.
The faster you usually drive the more it helps.

But it also help by getting your car up to it's operational temps faster.
Helps a lot for people who take short trips.

Finally it helps by having your engine run at a higher and more efficient max temp.
That helps out once your engine going above what your previous normal temps were.


In the winter it helps a good bit more then the summer cause you can block off more of your grill.

Sorry if I can't give you any numbers, but for the less then $10 I spent on foam pipe insulation it has been worth it and paid for itself in just a couple months.
 
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