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

[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.