[neile300c]

This is just an observation, didn't know if everyone else has noticed this, but my gas mileage is all over the place. I know it depends on city and highway, but it just seems crazy how far the range is.

For example, my wife's CR-V gets between 24-26 mpg, all the time, doesn't matter how much city / highway driving.

But my Cruze has had a low of 22 mpg, all city driving, 5 miles to and from work for 4 weeks.
My high is 52 mpg, at a highway speed of 55 mph for 200 miles to and from Birmingham.

Granted most of the time, I avg 26 mpg city, 35 highway, so no complaints.

 

[obermd]

Yep. This is what happens when you have highway MPG significantly higher than City MPG. The only way to really tell how your car is doing is to track every single fill up.

 

[neile300c]

Yeah, I have used Fuelly since buying the car new, I'm just shocked on the variation.

 

[au201]

Being such a small and turbocharged engine, it's much more sensitive to different types of driving with regard to fuel economy. In town, you're going to be getting significantly less mpg because you're using the turbo to accelerate from stop lights/signs a lot more. More boost = a lot more fuel. However, on the highway, you're getting the benefit of the small 1.4 liter size, as long as you're not going so fast that it needs boost to hold the speed. That's where the variation comes from mostly.


Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

[jblackburn]

Haha, yep. Having little consistency in my driving patterns doesn't help much either (I don't drive to work, so my car is used for errands, visiting friends, or highway trips).

 

[chevrasaki]

That is the advantage of having a turbo charger. When you're in the city doing stop and go, the turbo forces extra air in which gets extra fuel mixed with it to create the power of a V6 (with the efficiency of a V6, when you're in the boost, the engine is much thirstier) The Cruze is a fairly heavy car and needs a bit of power to get it moving. But when you're just cruising and you can carry that momentum without stopping, the turbo doesn't need to spool up and you end up driving around on essentially just the tiny 1.4L engine which is known to get 50+ MPG in ideal conditions. When I say tiny I mean, VERY small. 1,364cc Most motorcycles have more displacement. My lawn mower has a 700 cc engine.

Many other factors bring the MPG down quite a bit, sitting still with the engine running is the worst. You're literally getting 0 MPG. Running the A/C or the heat drastically reduces MPG. Using your brakes wastes the precious fuel you spent buying momentum and just turns it into heat and brake dust, then you're stopped getting 0MPG and have to accelerate which uses a lot of fuel to get back up to speed. Coasting helps a lot, or long trips where you rarely need your brakes are the best. I've tracked every single tank for my Cruze on Fuelly. The link is in my signature.

Long story short: Can be thirsty at times, but very efficient other times. Has a lot to do with the turbo, but depends a lot on driving conditions.

 

[josephz2va]

Depends on your driving behaviors as well. My cruze started at 400 miles to empty, now it's 356 miles to empty in one month, but I've mostly been city driving for one and flooring it on occasion or using the dual clutch mode up to 4,000 RPMs.

 

[jmlo96]

Mine usually stays incredibly consistent, but then again so do my driving habits. I have found that excessive idling and lots of stop and go driving will lower the DIC average a lot. My car averages about 32 MPG with 80 city/20 highway. I have a 14 1LT 6M as well.

 

[spacedout]

If you calculate this percent difference between city/hwy you can compare this average MPG variable on any car. As you can see comparing the trucks below, they get virtually the same city and hwy MPG however there is going to be a much larger variable driving the V8 silverado even with such comparable MPG numbers. It also looks as though the Generation 2 cruze has slightly less variable as well.

2012 Cruze 1LT auto - 26city/38hwy or 46.1% better MPG on the highway.
2012 Cruze ECO Manual - 28city/42hwy or 50% better MPG on the highway.
2016 Cruze(Gen2) Auto - 30city/42hwy or 40% better MPG on the highway.

2016 Ford F150 2.7L ecoboost 4x4 - 18city/22hwy or 22.2% better MPG on the highway.
2016 Chevy 1500 5.3L Silverado 4x4 - 16city/22hwy or 37.5% better MPG on the highway.