I was just wondering what kind of mpg you guys get in your Balts? Yea ive read the MPG ratings on the window stickers, but i wana know what you REALY get. Please include type of driving and conditions.

 

90% city driving, usually pretty spirited....17mpg. In my defense I have a broken boost bypass actuator, so I have parasitic loss all the time

 

A steady 18MPG right now, thats with heavy idling, and good ol' Chicago traffic. And constant "warm up" sessions before I drive, seeing on how its nice and frosty outside. Thats with a 2.2 on regular gas.

 

What does the "boost bypass actuator" do? And what is Parasitic loss? Im a newbie...lol

Not to sound mean here, but if you live in Chicago, then what are you doing in the South Pacific section?

Also please include your year, model, and mods.

Thanks for your input. Im looking into getting an 09 TC and im just doing a little homework.

 

Until I get a place closer to work I'm back to driving ~270 miles a day (round trip) with about two thirds highway and a third of that in town conditions with occasional stop-and-go conditions. The '08 SS Turbo has been averaging around 28 mpg (calculated from mileage to actual gallons used) with a low once of around 26 and a high of just over 32. That's with some occasionally spirited acceleration too, which has been pretty impressive. For comparison that's the same or a little better than my Focus, and in it's current state a couple better than my Neon, both of which have to be driven with a lot more judicious use of the go pedal to achieve those mileage numbers.

 

I average about 25 mpg. I have seen 33 on the highway. You just have to stay off the boost

 

it takes power to spin the supercharger, and it takes a lot more HP to spin the supercharger when the bypass valve is closed. Say it takes 20hp to maintain a speed of 50mph on the highway. If the bypass valve is closed, it might take 55hp to maintain that same speed, because 5hp is being wasted spinning the supercharger. Because you need more HP to maintain the same speed, you use more gas, which means worse fuel economy.

its good to ask questions, thats how you learn. its just hard finding people willing to teach you. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have

 

i usually get around 19 haha and thats all highway driving so you can see that my car gets shittttty mpg's but hey its all good

 

I usually get about 20 city and 33 hwy

 

i'm getting 24 city and 29-31 highway which is nice. i drove up to Tahoe a few months back before i got an oil change and i did get 27.

 

25 mpg's mostly city driving with some highway, I don't go on the freeway too much.

 

28avg

 

I assumed that this was posted in the fuel economy section, seeing how it deals with well.. fuel economy.

 

meaning it showed up on the links in the left column on the home page. The "Recently Replied To" links

 

Thanks for the input. I recently had two rental cars. One was an 08 Focus 4 door that averaged me about 33 mpg with conservative driving and about 2/3's freeway. I also had an 07 Cobalt 4 door base model. This thing was BASE model. Not even keyless entry. I averaged about 28 mpg doing the same route. Both cars were automatic too.

I just find it interesting that your TCed Balts get almost the same MPG if not better than the base model. I must shamefully admit i absolutely loved driving the Focus. It handled MUCH better than the Cobalt, braked just as well, but I think the Cobalt had a little more power. My experience may have been a little compromized though, because i believe there was a mechanical issue with the drivetrain of the Cobalt. It was making some weird noise coming from the drivers front axle area. It was like a huming/ whining that increased in volume as i drove faster.

But anyway, good to know! Anyone else care to add?

 

i get better gas mileage in my modded ss/sc than i did in my base model. i don't find it surprising though, if you think about it when you're not boosting the car makes less power than a base model.

 

Well i would have thought that a performance engine would still crave a certain amount of fuel whether boosting or not. I know people who have STi's and Evo's. Their average fuel economy is only about 5 mpg greater than me, and that is only if they drove SUPER conservative. IF they drive normal then thier economy is hardly better than mine.

 

the awd sucks the fuel down
fwd dont suffer alot of drivetrain powerloss.
rentals can be iffy people dont really drive em like its theirs
more like drive it like they stole it.

 

That wouldn't surprise me one bit. The base Cobalt is decent transportation and can be had for a good price but it doesn't really stir your soul. The Focus refresh for '08 has grown on me a little bit (it's better than their MY'05 attempt) but even if you don't like the styling, the chassis still ranks up near the top of the class. Ford managed to add equipment and reduce weight and the torsional rigidity is still highest in the class.

The old Focus C170 platform we still have here in the US may not have some of the refinements of the newer Euro Focus C1 platform (which is also used for the Mazda 3 and the compact Volvo models), but for pure driving dynamics the old C170 cars are still slightly better than the newer cars which gained refinement but lost some of their driving dynamics. And if you think the '08 Focus drove well you should try out some of the earlier cars before Ford started softening the suspension and pulling things like the rear sway bar to save money.


Back to the mileage on the SS Turbo being about the same as the base model cars, that isn't as abnormal as you'd think. A big part of that is having more power that's delivered pretty efficiently and not having to work the engine as hard to accelerate. The great thing about smaller displacement turbocharged engines is that many respond well to performance upgrades and if it increases efficiency you may also see that bump in mileage if you stay out of boost.

One last thing to comment on, I haven't taken any long highway-only road trips in the new SS but have done a few longer distance stretches of taking it easy to see what I can squeak out with the car. For example tonight driving up into the high desert going up a couple thousand foot elevation climb and then home, after topping off the tank at the bottom of the hill and staying out of boost and driving at the ~65 limit I saw 36 mpg on the DIC (driver information center/trip computer) when I pulled into my driveway tonight. It's usually fairly accurate within 1-1.5 mpg as long as you don't really hammer the car hard and then try to drive lightly. I've seen around that mileage before on 30 mile stretches of highway driving and bet mid-30's wouldn't be too hard on a longer trip if speeds and boost were kept down and mostly on flat terrain. Lowest I've ever calculated from a tank was after a track day. I did 30+ passes down the track and then some mountain driving afterward and it was still about 24 mpg over that tank.

 

Well I only do city driving, and regular to "nice" driving for me i can get anywhere from 22(getting on it a lil bit) up to 28+(shifting @ around 2k and easing on the gas) and highway only i've hit 40+mpg, a/c off and cruise control on

and i'm still not tuned...but i have '07 SS/SC with an intake. no other mpg helping mods

 

I average 24 city and 33 highway

 

Well this is promising....Does anyone have a 4 door SS/TC? Or know if they get about the same MPG or so? Or what the weight difference is with those.

 

It's the same, they don't weigh much more at all.

 

weight difference between 2 door and 4 door is less than 100lbs...on scale of like 40lbs

 

Oh wow. Well how well do they handle compared to the 2 door?