[Pizza Man]

I made a 220 mile round trip yesterday and my Malibu crossed the 1700 mile mark. There was perhaps 10 miles of city driving, 130 miles of non-stop highway driving and 80 miles of two lane, mostly non-stop driving. I reset the Avg MPG display at the start of the trip.

Using the crusie control, I maintained a maximum speed of 60 mph. I tried to keep the LTZ in as high a gear as possible. I was extremely pleased with the fuel mileage.

At the end of the trip as I pulled into my driveway the DIC reported 30.8 mpg. The highest I noticed during the trip was 30.9 mpg. I truly believe I would have broke into the 31 mpg range if the trip was longer, as the DIC was climbing while still on the highways.

Anyone else care to report their V6, 6 speed MPG performance?

 

[Amge63]

I average only 25mpg. But I run much faster than your 60mph. With ~6,000 miles on the clock, 80% highway miles, my average speed is 56mph on the DIC. I can see that 30+mpg is achievable if I lightened up my foot a bit.

When I drive my wife's car, I also average 25mpg while she can get 30+.

The new 4-cyl, 6-speed set up will probably do much better.

 

[DOACanada]

Pizza Man...

These are promsing numbers as I have also order the V6....Good to see the great fuel economy.

Cheers

 

[youngskip40]

That's pretty impressive. How is the fuel economy during suburban and/or city driving alone?

My first vehicle was a 5.7L V8 Silverado and I currently drive an older Buick V6, and while my gut says I should go with the 4cyl based on MPG alone, I'm wondering if I'm going to regret it. I'm just not sure if I could get used to a 4cyl after what I've been used to.

Any thoughts on 4 vs. 6?

 

[Pizza Man]

Skip, I'm really not a good one to ask about off-highway mileage. My 'Bu gets used so infrequently that I complained to my wife the rotors, which should be bright and shiny, were rusting!

I did notice, however, the wife appears to get about 17 mpg's around town. Most of her trips are less than a mile at a time. I really can't give a good example of prolonged city driving.

 

[dsrtdukone]

My wife drives roughly %75 city, %25 highway. She doesn't baby the accelerator, nor does she drive in "granny mode". Her MPG is 22.8, and her average speed is 27 MPH. I hope this helps in your decision.

 

[Lee]

Most of our trips have been in the 150 to 200 mile range. Our speeds are usually about 60 for half the trip and 75 the other half. Mileage at those speeds avg around 29 MPG.

 

[Pizza Man]

Most of our trips have been in the 150 to 200 mile range. Our speeds are usually about 60 for half the trip and 75 the other half. Mileage at those speeds avg around 29 MPG.

That's exactly why I posted this Thread. So it appears keeping it at 60 mph didn't really have much of an effect.

 

[Lee]

That's exactly why I posted this Thread. So it appears keeping it at 60 mph didn't really have much of an effect.

2 MPG is a pretty good difference.

 

[salgeek]

Skip,

100 % city/urban/short trip driving. I get 17/18 mpg. I'm a lead foot.
DIC average speed is 18 mph +/- 1.

 

[Pizza Man]

2 MPG is a pretty good difference.

At $4/gal, 31mpg comes to 12.9 cents per mile, at 29 mpg it comes to 13.8. Spread that across 50K miles and you see a $450 in savings. At $5/gal the savings increases to $555.

You're right, Lee. That is pretty significant.

 

[BuckyFan]

I did some driving this week and heres what the DIC told me. I used cruise control and there was no traffic to bother me.

100% Pure highway, meter reset when I got up to cruising speed for the first time.

Cruise control set at 65mph - 31.2 mpg.
Cruise control set at 70mph - 31.8 mpg.

The road was mostly flat and instant mpg ranged from 27 to 34 normally. I noticed when I put the car at 70mph, that it seems like it kicked into one gear higher which is probably why I got better mpg.

Edit: I should also mention that the results were derived from driving the same piece of road, but in different directions.

 

[DOACanada]

I did some driving this week and heres what the DIC told me. I used cruise control and there was no traffic to bother me.

100% Pure highway, meter reset when I got up to cruising speed for the first time.

Cruise control set at 65mph - 31.2 mpg.
Cruise control set at 70mph - 31.8 mpg.

The road was mostly flat and instant mpg ranged from 27 to 34 normally. I noticed when I put the car at 70mph, that it seems like it kicked into one gear higher which is probably why I got better mpg.

BuckyFan....

This is great information, considering 95% of my driving is highway, the 65 to 70 mph difference is great to know.

Thanks again.

 

[BuckyFan]

BuckyFan....

This is great information, considering 95% of my driving is highway, the 65 to 70 mph difference is great to know.

Thanks again.

NP. Glad to help Normally you have more wind resistance at 70mph which makes for worse economy, but here it didn't seem to be a problem because I think I hit 6th gear instead of being at a higher RPM in 5th.

I'd really like to try it at 75mph locked in, but thats 10mph over and I don't want a ticket.

 

[DOACanada]

Good Point BuckyFan....There has to be a fine line somewhere.

Wonder if with Tiptronic in 6th how it would do?

 

[Pizza Man]

Where are the shift points on the 6 speed?

 

[08LTZ]

I have a little insight on this. My wife and I traded in an 07 HHR with a 2.4 4 banger 4 speed and she drives about 120 miles a day. The drive is 80% highway and 20% City and in the HHR she would get an average 26-27 mpg. In our new Malibu 3.6 v6 6 speed with 6,000+ miles she gets about 24-25 average mpg.

It's important to note here that HHR the 2.4 used mid grade gas or higher
which is not that big of a deal (works out to about $3 a fill-up) but it does help offset the drop in fuel economy between the Malibu and the HHR.

One other thing to note is that when we first got the Malibu she was only getting 22-23 mpg. At about 5,000 miles and the first oil change the car jumped up to 24-25 mpg.

 

[Malibooboo]

The info posted in this thread leads me to question why the EPA rates the 6 cyl Malibu at only 26 MPG highway. I know they lowered the numbers recently to be more realistic, but they seemed to have lowered this vehicle too much.

 

[Pizza Man]

Doug, 26 mpg's is easy to get in this car. I don't understand it either.

 

[08LTZ]

We're heading to Tucson in mid August and with 900 miles of highway driving I'm expecting 30+ mpg. But, I guess we'll see.