Ok i have a 2007 Cobalt LT and dam, it seems like i get the WORST gas mileage ever... My tank only takes about $30 to fill and i use premium gasoline, always.
i thought the cobalt was supposed to have great gas mileage? any suggestions on what could be wrong? also, am i allowed to take my car to the dealer and have them run a diagnostics check or something?

thanks for the help in advance!

 

what mileage are you getting? BTW premium is a waste of money....

 

You could be saving money by using Regular gas. Premium is for the SS fella's.

 

Iv always used premium gas in all my cars.. my dad makes us all buy that kinda gas for our cars, why? dont know. My dad has a 2002 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD 4 dr and he uses premium every time and he gets GREAT gas mileage.. my mom uses premium in her mercedes and its gettin good mileage too. so should i switch to unleaded gas then? cuz i really dont trust that digital gas range on our balts....

 

1.) your car is tuned for 87octane, you are wasting your $ on premium, IDK what your dad says...
2.) your parents cars are probably required/tuned to run Premium
3.) That digital gauge has been found to be very acurate.

But if you insist on checking it by hand next time you fill up reset your trip meter & your MPG meter, then when you get gas the next time take the miles driven on the trip meter and divide it how much gas it takes to fill up ex. 250miles and 9.256gal of gas = 27.00MPG, now compare that to your MPG gauge and it should be within .7MPG

oh and #4) Use the search, this has been discussed 100000 times already...

 

I think that using premium would just be doing more harm then good.

Also what does your DIC say you are getting?

 

i have a fucked up axle race my car and in the last 2 months ive reset my MPG gauge i'm getting 27.8 hell man i just raced a quick lil vtec honda last night from 60 in 3rd and he pulled me until a hundred wen he had to shift i still had another 500 RPM's left so i guzzled bout 1/4 of a tank between 3 races and i only lost .1 MPG's but in the last 2 months i've put 3k on it so i guess i'm gonna trip it again and see wat it says for the next month or so

 

^^^ dude what in the hell was the point of that post.

What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

 

What Gas Mileage Are You Currently Getting?????

 

billy madison ftw!

 

First off, I didnt even think about searching this topic, excuse the noob... But reignsoldier, I will take ur advice and do what u recommend. Makes sense now.

My gas is already low, (and i just filled it 2 days ago), so ima fill the tank completely with regular gas ans see how that goes.

I apologize for the inconvenience of this post, i will use the search next time

Thank u to reignsoldier, i appreciate ur input... I will try ur method and see how it goes.

 

you also have to take into consideration gas expantion, and not all nozzles will click off at the same point, so there is soon minimal room for error in the hand calc method. But the DIC bases the MPG on flow rate/hr & miles driven, so it will probably be more accurate then the hand calc. Unless the MPG gauge & the hand calc show a difference of more the 2MPG then your DIC should be the more accurate reading.

Glad i could help, hope all goes well and you start saving some money on gas

 

I get 27 MPG in the city, with a SS/SC and stage 2, plus thats not driving like a granny. How much do you a drive a day? What mileage are you getting, I didn't see you put "im getting 15 mpg" or etc.

 

I have stage 2, avg reads 30.6mog...and when i was running 2.85" pulley I was getting like 29.7mpg...either way my DIC is lying to me...I eat through a tank so quick I figure I probably get around 18-20 mpg.......

 

+rep for billy madison quote

 

is it me or is my ss s/c the only one that reads Average ##MPG

so it means it averages out your Miles per gallons :P


but then idk it could be captain obvious trying to make a breakthrough on the css.net forums

so maybe thats why your gas tank sucks.




oh oh oh oh oh reset that MPG checker thingie a ma bob and just high rev your engine (manual only) and see your MPG through the gears (just dont do it in 5th...you could assume 40-50mpg =P ). and reset your MPG everytime you shift. it may tell you what gear NOT to be in. =P


just a little rant and excuse me i have more wine to drink d(>.<)b

 

I wish people would quote numbers instead of making general statements. Seems like some guys just think they should get more mileage per tank but they actually don't know what mileage they are getting.

When someone can post numbers we can compare them and better advise them as to whether or not theirs are normal.

For example, with my '05 SS/SC I got around 24mpg overall average, with most of that being city driving. Whenever I hit the freeway I would reset the DIC to check it and consistantly got 33.6 at 65 and 31.6mpg at 75mph, with the cruise on.
I took a 2K mile trip the first summer I had the car, kept my gas receipts, and the DIC was right on after 2000 miles.

I normally ran Shell 93 but 91 when I couldn't get that.

 

Are the 2.4's tuned for premium gas, cuz i am likewise i like the best gas and not getting that "knocking" sound u get when u use unleaded, also isnt premium a 2 horsepower gain over unleaded?

 

Yes the 2.4 are recommended to run premium... and ALL GAS at the pump is UNLEADED. You will not see any performance gains over stock if you run 91/93.

 

No, unfortunately, higher octane normally doesn't give any better mileage. There are a lot of myths about that but 99% of the time they just aren't true.

The octane rating of gas is only a rating of how hard it is to ignite, that is all that number tells us. That just means that 93 gas is harder to light than 91 or 87 gas.
Higher octane is recommended for higher compression engines because it is much less likely to detonate, or ping, and damage the engine. In case you don't know, detonation is when the mixture lights before it should, when the crank, rod and pistons are not yet in the exact spot they should be for proper combustion. Just imagine if the mixture fired while the piston was still moving up, the expanding gas would be trying to force it back down when it cannot possibly move down without breaking something.

Also, there is no more energy (or power) in high octane gas than there is in 87 or less. Another myth.

The one good reason for running higher octane than you need is that some companies (like the Shell 93 I used) put more cleaners and stabilizers in the high octane than they do their cheaper gas. Otherwise it is just not worth spending the extra money.

This subject has been well documented on the web, please search if you are interested.

 

I am getting 21.2 mpg in the city and thats with normal drivin conditions. I dont burn out, i dont speed although its really tempting, and i dont race in any form.... highway wise, it says i get 28 mpg... wtf, i just thought it would be more... idk maybe im just tripn.

 

You are right, I think it should be higher than that. Take her back to the dealer, get them to check it out for ya.

 

I TOLD u... I knew something was wrong. Well today I filled up my tank with unleaded gasoline, ima see how long it lasts me under normal driving conditions... if the driver info center tells me the same thng, ima hit up the dealer.

Do u thnk theyl charge me a fee or anything? cuz i just bought my balt this part august...

 

highway... u mean interstate? at 85 or u mean 75

 

my last week of commuting (about 700kms)
has netted me an average of 40.7mpg.

most of it is cruise control 65mph driving, but some town driving too.

2.8, 60lbers intake exhaust and tuned by me.