Name Change! "Greyman" aka "Sir Passed A-Lot"

[kcROB]

I just returned home from a nine day house/pet sitting gig in Las Vegas...(on the road 18 days total). I 40 out n I 7O back to K.C. My 2011 5spd ran like the champ it is, thru a potentially lethal snow storm on the high plateau between Tucumcari n Albuquerque, the 13 mile loop thru the Red Rocks in Nevada, North thru the Utah deserts' red sandstone mesas n buttes to Green River n back East thru the "high" (in both senses of the word) country in Colorado, gearing up n down on 6% grades n cruising @ 2.7k rpm/ 60 mph (up-sized the 15 in tireaspect ratio to 60) thru the wind turbine-clogged Flint Hills of western Kansas. All in all for the 4.1k mile round trip, I couldn't be more proud of my econo road warrior which, for the entire trip, lived up to it's NEW name as ................
"Sir Passed-A-Lot" I had a decal made for the back window. Shown below.

Oil: Wix #57674, Air: Wix #42831, Mobil 1 (M)* 5w-40 x 5 qrts *Mercedes Benz specified

[kcROB]

This is the decal

[kcROB]

Closeup of decal

[Daox]

Hah, very nice!

[northguest47]

Nice post kcROB, I've used the 5-30 mobil 1 synthetic mostly when I find it on sale, didn't know 5-40 was acceptable. So the 26.2 is a lifetime average, correct? I just did a road trip and without calibrating my odometer got 32.7 usmpg which was all gentle highway driving. So I figga say the odometer is off by 10% thats still 30mpg... given city driving, flogging, etc, that number looks like perhaps what my car might be getting too. Done yakima to yuma many times, hope to get out there for a road trip again some time.

[kcROB]

Good to hear from you, northquest47. You live where my beloved (long before I owned an Aveo) 1983 AMC Concord DL station wagon with rare 5 spd was built. I drove that faithful '83 Concord for 17 yrs...wish I had it back! I did quite a lot of research before I put v.i.40 in my 48k mls 1.6L Aveo. My thinking was that, @ almost 50k mls, the factory engine tolerances were somewhat "relaxed" and that really low temps rarely occur here and when they do, I don't go out.Just to be safe however, one of the 5 qts was the factory specifed 5-30 Mobil 1; so the the end result was an oil pan full of slightly <( 20%) v.i. 40 wt oil. My Aveo's mpg wasn't calculated for most of the trip due to a winter storm across panhandle of New Mexico, the 80 mph speed limit in Utah, and the many steep ascents and descents going thru the Rockies. However the 400+ mile stretch of I 70 from Limon, CO to Wichita, KS with a full tank of gas, the P185/60R15 Avid Ascend tires inflated to 37psi, 50 lbs of gear, cruise set on 68mph (with upsized tires the true speed was 70mph), my wife n I weigh around 350 combined; we averaged 32.3mpg. If we had taken my 2008 Dodge Quad Cab with the 4.7L + manual 6spd Getrag trasmission, we would have averaged 17-19mpg..Long Live our Loved Aveo! The blk/white "26.2 "decal, in the back window, represents the 11 marathons, each one is 26.2 mls, I ran during the 1980s and 1990s along with many shorter runs...and yes, I do have a bad right knee (the left one was replaced in 2015), but I had fun!! Be well v.i. = viscosity index.

[kcROB]

I forgot to mention that we did the entire trip with the spare tire n jack assembly/cover removed as well as the rear bottom seat cushion for incresed storage and weight offset.
This post brings to mind a question. My 2011 left the factory Feb 1, 2011 with the optional 15in alloy split-ray wheels. Why did the factory give me a 14 in spare mini-tire/wheel? Didn't the "space-saving"spare also come in a 15 in config?

Update: The local Chevrolet dealer parts guy told me yesterday, that no matter what tire size is on the ground (14-15 in), all Aveos where shipped with a 14" space-saving spare. He said that a salvage yard would yield a space-saving 15 in whl/tire with same bolt pattern from some other GM make/model. Sounds like a project field trip for this spring.