[[email protected]]

Purchased a CPO 2015 Cruze LTZ, and after 3 weeks of my wife driving to work and back home she's averaged ~17mpg. It was looked at today, they drove it (100 miles?!?!), checked for any codes and said it was operating as expected.

Except, I expected better than 17mpg and they seem to think this is acceptable for in town driving?

 

[Tomko]

Your mileage may vary.

Meaning if you drive it like my wife (gas-brake-gas, rinse, repeat) there ain't no way your going to get EPA.

 

[spacedout]

On the drivers information center, whats your average speed? Short trips with a cold engine will produce the worst MPG you will get. Do you use remote start? Running the engine while not moving gets ZERO MPG, that gets averaged into each fill up. Even a few minutes of remote start a day will burn an extra gallon every week.

 

[spacedout]

I should add with colder weather I use remote start every day, I loose 8-10mpg off my summer average. Some of that loss will be winter gas, allot more the much longer warm up times when cold. It takes 8-15 minutes of driving just to reach operating temps when below 40F outside.

 

[dhpnet]

That does seem low to me. I drive mostly urban in San Francisco. Lots of stop signs, waiting at stop lights, hills, and no freeway. I am also a lead foot with jack rabbit starts. I usually get around 23 mpg. I think to get 17mpg she would have to be riding the brakes everywhere and idle a lot.

 

[spacedout]

That does seem low to me. I drive mostly urban in San Francisco. Lots of stop signs, waiting at stop lights, hills, and no freeway. I am also a lead foot with jack rabbit starts. I usually get around 23 mpg. I think to get 17mpg she would have to be riding the brakes everywhere and idle a lot.

Your not dealing with winter weather and cold temps, those long warm up times really bring down your mpg. I drive one route 5 days a week, and typically if I reset my DIC when I get in the car I'm up to operating temps at the exact same spot(a driveway I pass) and my MPG is typically at 36mpg(and climbing) at the same point. Once below 40F I'm lucky to be at 24MPG at the same spot, and I need to drive an extra 2-4miles to get the engine fully warmed up. The colder it gets the more this can be seen.

 

[ChevyGuy]

I've got a 2013 LTZ. I get right around 20 MPG in the city. By "city", I mean I get 1-2 blocks per light in a 25 MPH zone. I also run the A/C which cuts it down a bit. I wish I could drive the EPA city cycle. It's got a much better run. They actually get up to 56 MPH. This sure doesn't look like my driving. I also have very short runs, so the engine spends a fair amount of it's trip "cold".

One thing to improve your gas mileage - if the light on the next block is red, get off the gas. Once you hit 4th gear, the Cruze will glide like a toy Hot Wheel. No point in staying in the throttle until you get to the light.

 

[neile300c]

What kind of car and mpg did she get before? That seems low to me, and I drive mostly back and forth to work 4 miles each way, speed of 50 for about half, 35 for the other part. I avg 26 mpg. My old 300c averaged only 17, so it is a big improvement, about what I expected.

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I realize that winter will yield a decrease in efficiency, but 2 of these weeks were warm weeks (60-70's). With that in mind, the transmission feels messy and it seems like it stays in gear too long before shifting..even under a light foot.

Now, she does have a short trip to work, not much stop and go traffic but still a short distance (under 4 miles). We live in Northern Indiana so she'll definitely use and abuse the auto start during the winter when the cars not in a garage.

I'm more of an aggressive driver than she is, and we both drove a 00' Audi A4 @ ~14mpg during the winter. Same exact driving and use, Audi is a V6 AWD.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much? I recently switched to premium (last fill up), maybe I should wait another month of running premium and see if there's any change?

 

[Cruzen Vegas]

My lifetime average on my LTZ is 26.0 at 25mph average...99%city

 

[obermd]

Folks - OP has another thread, http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/34-1...ing-engine-dealer-doesnt-know-what-video.html, that this same dealership is clueless on. Cruzen Vegas, I know there are multiple Chevy dealerships in the Vegas area. Run, don't walk, to another one. The dealership you're currently using is absolutely worthless. You have two problems here - unexplained noise coming from the engine and crappy fuel economy. My bet is something is dragging and causing both issues.

Name the dealership you've been going to so others can have a shot at avoiding them and go find a different dealership. Do the latter (find another dealership) today and get an appointment to get your car fixed.

 

[neile300c]

If your Audi got 17, I would say something is wrong with the Cruze. You should be getting at least 8 mpg better would be my guess

 

[Robby]

As I've said to other posters......there is no point in looking at fuel usage in short trip, stop and go, city driving.

Too many variables that include driving habits.
One poster may have ten stoplights in a row.....all turn red while approaching.....zero mpg.
Next poster also has ten stoplights but that poster is good at timing the lights......gets all greens, shows 30mpg.
Poster one is operating at 20 degrees......five mile trip, auto started for ten minutes, ten redlights.....crummy mileage.
Poster two starts the day at 70 degrees....five mile trip...started car and pulled out, timed the lights....happy with mileage.

So, how many ways does it have to be written regarding city driving mileage variables?
This is why a dealer won't check anything.....they are well versed in knowing it would be a pointless venture.
Now, if the car was running poorly AND was getting lousy mileage, they now have something to fix......but beyond that, nothing will improve the mileage results.

I recommended to a member last week to take a 100 mile highway ride at 60 to 65 mph in an effort to see what kind of mileage the car is capable of......you know, fill tank, get on the road, refill on return and do the math.......hasn't returned with results yet.

I make the same recommendation to the OP.......and, if you find your mileage is exceedingly poor, then you can think about having the dealer give a look/see.

Rob

 

[spacedout]

I recommended to a member last week to take a 100 mile highway ride at 60 to 65 mph in an effort to see what kind of mileage the car is capable of......you know, fill tank, get on the road, refill on return and do the math.......

This is great advice as city MPG is about half what I get on the highway. Anytime I've been disappointed with my MPG, it just takes one 2hr+ trip to see it was all my route/driving style and lots of cold starts getting me poor MPG.

 

[NickD]

Ha, Nixon should have increased the speed limits in cities to 55 mph instead of decreasing the interstate speeds to this amount.

Must have a better Chevy dealer than you, least he will look at my Cruze, won't do anything to it, but will least take a quick glance at it.

Nobody asked you what kind of fuel you are using, spark plugs, proper gap, and if those boot springs for plug contact are not hung up on the shoulders.


Have a manual transmission, found in the city at 25 mpg, average much better fuel economy then going no further than 2nd gear, also adds some engine braking for that next dang light. Higher gears at these low speeds cause a lot more engine loading, little thing is working its butt off. Worse fuel economy ever was 27 mpg, in the winter months with snow on the ground. Only use ethanol free 91 octane gas.

 

[boneheaddoctor]

If you have to stop every block or two for a stop sign, and deal with heavy stop and go traffic between those....then 17 mpg is not bad at all.

Its all relative. if you was talking 17 mpg on secondary roads or highway...then I'd say you was on to something.

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I guess I'm hyper critical with it being new, but I do worry a bit seeing the car under a quarter of a tank and only 200 miles on current tank of fuel.

I will be making a trip to Indianapolis in January, so I will make sure to make note of the mileage it gets with all highway miles. It's ~120 miles away and the trip will be 99% highway.

 

[Robby]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I guess I'm hyper critical with it being new, but I do worry a bit seeing the car under a quarter of a tank and only 200 miles on current tank of fuel.

I will be making a trip to Indianapolis in January, so I will make sure to make note of the mileage it gets with all highway miles. It's ~120 miles away and the trip will be 99% highway.

That will be a very good test as long as you can keep it in the 65 or less speed range.
Like most gasoline burners, this ones mileage starts going downhill as soon as you get much past 2000 rpm......a conspiracy caused by rpm and wind resistance.

Rob

 

[[email protected]]

That will be a very good test as long as you can keep it in the 65 or less speed range.
Like most gasoline burners, this ones mileage starts going downhill as soon as you get much past 2000 rpm......a conspiracy caused by rpm and wind resistance.

Rob

The shifting was a concern I brought up with them. Besides it feeling like it's constantly searching for a gear to cruise in, it seems to stay in the 2500-3000rpm range for way too long.

Speed limit is 70 between here and Indy, but it's all flat so it should be a good indicator of how it does. Of course, this is of course if the weather cooperates which is a crap shoot around here in January.

 

[Merc6]

2015 with how many miles? Winter gas sucks even if you get these random warm spells. These engines take an eternity to get to normal temps so cold engines are extremely inefficient on short trips. Toss in hills, and revving up to 3k and MPG will take a hit.

I know that feel about turbo AWD, my Leggy got 16 city on a good day and 29 only on the turnpike. Totally justifies the cost of 93 in my eco 6MT.