Terrible MPG Since Day 1..Anyone Else?

[FlaAveo5]

Well while I wait to see if I get my Aveo back from the garage, running again. I might as well ask about my MPG issue since the day i bought my Aveo. The TOP mileage I have gotten is 21MPG! I have heard for the past 6 years that everyone is getting 35-48 mpg! I have the hatchback and an automatic. I bought the car during the last gas/oil 'shortage'....I got rid of a now collectable Ranger truck with only a few thousand miles on it in perfect condition, and it got 19MPG! ,and it had a big 6 cly. in it. I bought the Aveo because it said it would get over 30 in the city. Well it was tested like 4 times at Chevy, and the only answer I got was that since I only drive like 4 miles a day, it never warms up enough to get the high mileage. Its always running 'rich'. So to this day, I get 19-21MPG...thats it.

Nothing in the car but me. Not loaded down with junk, and even when I drive as slow and carefully as a 'little old lady', I barely get 21MPG. IF I have some fun and drive a tiny bit 'fast', I get 17!! ALL my driving is in the city, and I only have 19K miles on it. It runs with 100% synthetic oil,and always have. I have my NEW tires, filled with air as hard as they can be safely filled. I like a firm ride anyway. But is anyone else getting this kind of rotten mileage? Figured I might as well as others.

[petrified.rabbit]

35-48 mpg is definitely highway. strictly city driving, i get in the low 20s. But we have hills and such. If your driving an auto, with ac on and such, 21 is about right honestly. Unless you can get speed requirements to match gears and have the torque convertor locked in the gear, then you will gain some mpg.

[thehunterooo]

21 is not bad if that is 100% city driving

[AveoJoe]

I get 35mpg thats city and hwy driving.

[FlaAveo5]

Wow! Really? I thought this car was suppose to get over 25 in the city and over 35 on the highway. Yes ALL my driving is in the city and there are like 2 hills in my area, it is flat city in Ft.Laud. But damn! I keep reading in other forums that people are getting over 30 in the city and over 45 on the highway...some say more! Yes I am in A/C every-time I am in the car, we get like 1 month out of the year when we can ride without the A/C on. And it is an automatic...(my 1 luxury in this car,) besides my satellite radio.

Man I should have kept my Ranger and I would have a nice medium sized truck, a big 6 cyl. engine, and a 'collectable model' now. A Chrome Yellow 'Edge model' Ranger. I actually saw it at a gym near my house a few weeks later, and the man that bought it came out when I was looking it over, (it has a very distinctive decal kit on it, so I knew it was my Ranger),...he asked me if the mileage was really THAT low....and I told him yes...he thought they rolled it back. It only had like 8K on it in 3 years.

He had a huge accident in it, the passenger side was all pushed in,from the front bumper to the back bumper. I almost cried. He paid more USED, than i paid for it NEW! From the Chevy dealer I traded it in on for my Aveo. That was when we had no gas and a gallon was reaching $4,...like the past year, again. So I trade in something I loved, for what was suppose to be the most economical car around, except a Honda Civic...and this tiny car gets 1-2 mpg more than my big truck,....that stinks. Well...at least I know that I am getting all I can expect and Chevy wasnt lying to me. My 6 year old Aveo looks like it just came off the showroom floor, and no car payments is great! but this upkeep is going to kill me....this new starter at $400 is a BIG payment!

[FlaAveo5]

AveoJoe.....You have THE color I wanted, and you got the LT model? Isn't that why you have the wing on the hatch.? I am still trying to buy one and install it. That I can put on myself. Is your car an automatic? I see you have the in channel VentVisors. I just got my in channel set about 2 months ago. I had the kind that stuck on the outside before. They didnt make the in channel ones 6 years ago. Can I ask you, does your drivers side window now roll up hard when it gets to the visor? I have had to install a second set, Vent visor sent them to me for free! And put in another one on the drivers door, the window wouldnt go past the Vent-visor. So Vent-Visor sent me some kind of channel 'stretchers so the glass would go up. BUT when the glass hits the visor, it still is VERY hard to roll up to the top. Does yours do that?

BTW...IF you or anyone else needs an in channel set for their Aveo, I still have a 3rd set that has never been opened, and I would like to sell,well below what it costs in any store. I think it fits all Aveos,up till they changed the body a few years ago.

[AveoSS]

According to www.fueleconomy.com thats a little bellow average. I get about 26mpg in normal city driving. If driving agressive in hilly areas I've gotten as low as 20mpg and as high as 34mpg hwy at times. The Aveo mpg seems very sensitive to driving style and terrain, the numbers vary. My last Accent was getting 30/32mpg. My Versa gets 28/30 in normal city driving. Hondas seem very consistent too, my Focus and Jetta on the other hand, were inconsistent on the mpg. A dirty air filter and other mechanical issues can drop your mpg. The warm up uses more fuel, your car probably don't have the time to reach the optimum operating temp. that + the low mileage u drive could be 'the' issue, considering u only drive 4 miles a day that mean your fuel is sitting in the tank a long time and evaporating away. I would make sure the car is properly tuned, spark plugs are good, etc. Maybe u should consider adding a mpg gauge/meter so u can better keep trac of it. If everything fails and u still want better mpg u may want to look elsewhere...

[Daox]

AveoSS is pretty much on the money. If your normal trip is only 4 miles your warm up is gonna kill your mileage BIG time. My wife's car is a Prius, and even that only gets ~25 mpg in the first 5 minutes of driving. After that first 5 minutes its 50+ mpg. Warm up is a real killer. To negate the warmup penalty you could consider adding a block heater. Put it on a timer and have it set to turn on ~3hrs before you leave. I do this on the Prius so the wife gets heat way faster (basically halves warm up times) and better mileage.

A scangauge would definitely be a great addition for tracking the mileage and learning to drive more efficiently. They may seem like they cost a lot, but they can pay themselves back very quickly.

The only thing I have to add is that there is an evaporative emissions system on all cars these days. Unless you have the gas cap on the car, your gas isn't evaporating.

[AveoSS]

Thanks.

[serega12]

There's more to life than MPG