Never put regular oil in your cobalt.
Sorry OP. You won't average 30 mpg without work. Stop fighting us on this. If you didn't do your research abover average mpg its not our fault.
As for the conventional oil, how do you know what they put in? Do they even carry a non dexos oil at gm anymore?
As for the conventional oil, how do you know what they put in? Do they even carry a non dexos oil at gm anymore?
if 22 mpg city is not underrated how come even in hardcore performance testing in the magazines was the cobalt getting like 26 MPGs. What would you have to do to consistently get 22 MPGs? The mpgs have never fallen that low in my unmodified cobalt, not even in traffic jams. wrong section. you people may have a great performance car with all those mods but unmodified it was a reasonable economy car too.
i did not post this fuel economy complaint in the performance section intentionally but i think it is appropriate.
any suggestions on how to improve my engine's fuel economy performance? I think the cobalt's upgrade comes with better sensors so the engine can run thinner maybe. i could say better torque curve but I think it only has a better torque curve if you use it. no, i did not get the stage 1 fuel economy upgrade for better fuel economy but i wouldn't have wanted it if it ruined fuel economy or the life of the engine, voided the warranty, etc. it is supposed to be a plus though.
the environment is important though. tell me how i can help. i dont want to be that loser pulling up in the economy car getting less than 30 mpgs and having prius owners calling me ninny and stuff... let me know what i can do to save my rep.
i did not post this fuel economy complaint in the performance section intentionally but i think it is appropriate.
any suggestions on how to improve my engine's fuel economy performance? I think the cobalt's upgrade comes with better sensors so the engine can run thinner maybe. i could say better torque curve but I think it only has a better torque curve if you use it. no, i did not get the stage 1 fuel economy upgrade for better fuel economy but i wouldn't have wanted it if it ruined fuel economy or the life of the engine, voided the warranty, etc. it is supposed to be a plus though.
the environment is important though. tell me how i can help. i dont want to be that loser pulling up in the economy car getting less than 30 mpgs and having prius owners calling me ninny and stuff... let me know what i can do to save my rep.
Thread Starter
New Member
Joined: 11-12-13
Posts: 17
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From: hamilton nj
there's nothing to fight about. i know what kind of fuel economy i was getting without work before that oil change. appreciate the tips though.
to be honest though, even though i had the same job last winter, i had to go to the field more often and that helped fuel economy. however, if i take a long non highway trip i'm still not going to average more than 30 mpgs after the oil change. in the same conditions i am not going to get 30 mpgs, and with that cheap oil crap, i wasn't getting it before winter.
to be honest though, even though i had the same job last winter, i had to go to the field more often and that helped fuel economy. however, if i take a long non highway trip i'm still not going to average more than 30 mpgs after the oil change. in the same conditions i am not going to get 30 mpgs, and with that cheap oil crap, i wasn't getting it before winter.
Thread Starter
New Member
Joined: 11-12-13
Posts: 17
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From: hamilton nj
I love the car and I hope i can keep it for a long time but a 5 mile commute is not walkable. (It might actually be 7 miles currently because of road work.) Besides, this is not some exotic car, the only problem is the rear brakes. It'll be fine.
I'm kind of being a jerk here though. I know you guys are making reasonable points. If you have suggestions I would really like to hear them but for the most part I am just pissed off at the dealer for not using synthetic without asking. Just venting in a humorous way but it's kind of going on too long. I've been to them before and have used synthetic. One time I didn't specify and they called and recommended it. So it's annoying they through me for a loop. And regardless of the weather conditions I am losing an mpg or two still as the engine adjusts its programming. Also sometimes the idle was a little rough on duracrap. it's not as good as synthetic, period.
Honestly I think you guys are making reasonable points and I am trying to be humorous but this is the truth, all joking aside. It took over 30K of driving for me to get over 30 mpgs and even if it wasn't expected for me to still get it with all these other factors, my fuel economy is suffering just as the programming tries to readjust to synthetic. It's just annoying and I don't know how long it will take.
I'm kind of being a jerk here though. I know you guys are making reasonable points. If you have suggestions I would really like to hear them but for the most part I am just pissed off at the dealer for not using synthetic without asking. Just venting in a humorous way but it's kind of going on too long. I've been to them before and have used synthetic. One time I didn't specify and they called and recommended it. So it's annoying they through me for a loop. And regardless of the weather conditions I am losing an mpg or two still as the engine adjusts its programming. Also sometimes the idle was a little rough on duracrap. it's not as good as synthetic, period.
Honestly I think you guys are making reasonable points and I am trying to be humorous but this is the truth, all joking aside. It took over 30K of driving for me to get over 30 mpgs and even if it wasn't expected for me to still get it with all these other factors, my fuel economy is suffering just as the programming tries to readjust to synthetic. It's just annoying and I don't know how long it will take.
Last edited by ihaveacobalt; Dec 28, 2013 at 08:06 PM.
You idle a DI engine for 5mins everyday for 30k miles, they switch to a non symmetric oil and you think that is the only thing that affects gas mileage? I would bet the intake runners on the head are coked and affecting the mpg more
Senior Member
Joined: 12-19-10
Posts: 780
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From: Coquitlam
If you want 30+ mpg and drive 5 km a day buy a ******* electric car. otherwise all you are doing is short trips and your mpg would be "city" driving where you are getting better than the average cobalt ss in the city.
Go buy a prius if you consider a cobalt ss an economy car
Joined: 12-23-09
Posts: 12,643
Likes: 7
From: Mt. Pleasant S.C.
The dealer wanted to void my warranty because the Cobalt SS don't come with turbo's only superchargers. After the "Tech" told me that, I told him not to work on my car and I want it out of there. He asked me why and said don't worry I won't void the warranty just letting you know. I told him, you can't void my warranty even if you tried ******* this car is stock from factory.
Dealerships don't know ****, mother ****** told me they don't come with turbos. I laughed in his face and told him to **** off.
Dealerships don't know ****, mother ****** told me they don't come with turbos. I laughed in his face and told him to **** off.
Senior Member
Joined: 09-29-06
Posts: 3,110
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From: california
Things to factor in winter time when it comes to MPG's.. Longer you let your car sit idle to warm up the longer your getting 0 MPG's... How can you get miles per gallon when the car is not moving? It's just using up fuel while NOT MOVING, Secondly winter gas is not known as the best and it's generally accepted as netting worse MPG's due to it's lesser quality. Since you have put some miles on the car make sure you dont have build up on the intake valves/other factors robbing you of MPG's, Sea foam will help here as well as a general tune up!
Bottom line is unless it's so cold your transmission is stuck you can just start your car let the idle drop from cold idle (30 seconds or so?) and drive off not waiting the 5 minutes or so. JUST DONT GET INTO BOOST WITHOUT COOLANT TEMP UP TO NORMAL OPERATING TEMP!
Bottom line is unless it's so cold your transmission is stuck you can just start your car let the idle drop from cold idle (30 seconds or so?) and drive off not waiting the 5 minutes or so. JUST DONT GET INTO BOOST WITHOUT COOLANT TEMP UP TO NORMAL OPERATING TEMP!
Senior Member
Joined: 12-19-10
Posts: 780
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From: Coquitlam
new cars are designed to be driven right away once out of cold start.
Senior Member
Joined: 08-22-10
Posts: 2,281
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From: Saskatchewan, Canada
my coolant is like 25c (77f for you yanks) being started up in a heated garage and EVEN WITH having warm starts my car gets really brutal mileage in the winter. Im guessing around 20-22 MPG.. summer is a different story.
Yanks, eh? Aboot time someone spoke up! Is yo9ur garage attached to your hoose? (My best internet canadian)