[Rick Tinley Park]

OK I have had my SKY for 3 weeks and driven almost 900 miles.
I have not driven manual transmission in about 6 years so it took a bit of getting back into the swing, to drive comfortably. I am very comfortable now .
A lot of my regular driving so far has been to/from work about 10 miles, seems the average speed is about 34 (thank you DIC).
The first day I drove to work my MPG was 17. Now (this morning as a matter of fact) it registered 24.9. I reset it in the same place (my driveway before I leave for the morning) both runs so it is for the trip only. The average speed increased by 1 to 35. Is the increase in mileage due to the break in period, my getting better at shifting? Both? Either way I have to say I look forward to the days I drive Sunni into work. :driving:
Has anyone else seen dramatic gas mileage increases as they put on the miles?

 

[GaryH]

OK I have had my SKY for 3 weeks and driven almost 900 miles.
I have not driven manual transmission in about 6 years so it took a bit of getting back into the swing, to drive comfortably. I am very comfortable now .
A lot of my regular driving so far has been to/from work about 10 miles, seems the average speed is about 34 (thank you DIC).
The first day I drove to work my MPG was 17. Now (this morning as a matter of fact) it registered 24.9. I reset it in the same place (my driveway before I leave for the morning) both runs so it is for the trip only. The average speed increased by 1 to 35. Is the increase in mileage due to the break in period, my getting better at shifting? Both? Either way I have to say I look forward to the days I drive Sunni into work. :driving:
Has anyone else seen dramatic gas mileage increases as they put on the miles?

I'm guessing it has more to do with your driving. In older cars you could see a big increase after break-in but todays cars are built with such close tolerances that break-in doesn't make a large difference. Some difference but I don't think it would increase from 17 to almost 25. But I'm no expert, just guessing.

 

[ggccg]

In just 10 miles of driving, HOW you drive can make a big difference in your calculated gas mileage. A few full throttle accelerations up to the speed limit will knock it down considerably. Conservative driving will boost it.

 

[1994SC2]

OK I have had my SKY for 3 weeks and driven almost 900 miles.
I have not driven manual transmission in about 6 years so it took a bit of getting back into the swing, to drive comfortably. I am very comfortable now .
A lot of my regular driving so far has been to/from work about 10 miles, seems the average speed is about 34 (thank you DIC).
The first day I drove to work my MPG was 17. Now (this morning as a matter of fact) it registered 24.9. I reset it in the same place (my driveway before I leave for the morning) both runs so it is for the trip only. The average speed increased by 1 to 35. Is the increase in mileage due to the break in period, my getting better at shifting? Both? Either way I have to say I look forward to the days I drive Sunni into work. :driving:
Has anyone else seen dramatic gas mileage increases as they put on the miles?

Rick, I drove down to the Carolina border over the 4th and noticed that my milage had increased significantly from when I first owned the car. I believe its because I have gotten more used to the clutch.

I was going to make a post about this also, but I really feel as though the car drives smoother (dare I say quicker) and has better gas milage than it did when I rolled off the lot.

 

[Rick Tinley Park]

Rick, I drove down to the Carolina border over the 4th and noticed that my milage had increased significantly from when I first owned the car. I believe its because I have gotten more used to the clutch.

I was going to make a post about this also, but I really feel as though the car drives smoother (dare I say quicker) and has better gas milage than it did when I rolled off the lot.

It has to bwe HOW I drive now. I was over reving and taking WAY too long to drop in... I had SUCH a time getting used to the 3 inch throw compared to teh 15 foot throw in a S10 :lol: I was double clutching and just making a mess of it at first. Now, like 'budda'!! I usually use my thumb and forefinger for shifts.
Still practicing my high rev shifts... Still too herky-jerky for my liking.

 

[nighttripper]

I get about 9.2 liters/100 kms, thats approximately 30 miles per gallon. After a highway trip it got as low as 8.9 liters/ 100 kms. Of course the old Canadian gallon is larger than the American gallon, 4.5 liters/ gallon CAN.

 

[brentil]

Did a test tonight since this has been a huge topic at the SolForum lately.

70 mph, top up, AC on, cruise control on = 24 mpg
70 mph, top up, AC off, cruise control on = 25.5 mpg

65 mph, top up, AC on, cruise control on = 24 mpg
55 mph, top up, AC off, cruise control on = 34 mpg

If you can keep this engine at 2000 rpm you can get some phenomenal fuel economy from it.

 

[GaryH]

Around town 24.3mpg. Normal driving.

 

[maddogg015]

34 MPG:thumbs: are we driving civic convertibles?? lol

 

[brentil]

34 MPG:thumbs: are we driving civic convertibles?? lol

The hard part is driving this car in the manor needed to get 34 mpg. I know my right foot never stays up long enough to get better then 21 mpg in general.

 

[MCW Sky]

mpg

My dad's sky showed 20.0 MPG up to about 37 miles on the odometer - droped to 19.5 as I took it up a hill. I figure that less than 2 gallons used is not likely the best point to use for accuraet reading - and not sure how idle is calculated or not. In my 2004 Civic 5 speed manual I get anywhere from 32 to nearly 40 mpg depending on various factors - the nearly 40 mpg involves burning essentially the entire tank at around 75 mph on cruise control.

 

[belletire]

Automatic here and I'm @ 20 - 21 mpg. (2k miles)

 

[brentil]

Automatic here and I'm @ 20 - 21 mpg. (2k miles)

Sounds liek your right foot is as heavy as mine. :cheers:

 

[gayager]

Automatic here and I'm @ 20 - 21 mpg. (2k miles)

1.6 K miles and (on the freeway) 22.4 mpg.

Started at 19.4 mpg off the lot with the DIC reset after I got over the "show it off - heavy foot" syndrom.

 

[RedSky07]

RPM makes a difference

In normal driving in town, I try to keep the rpm under 2000 if possible and I'm getting 24.8. The more 'foot' you put into it the less the mpg you'll get. Simple. I also find myself looking for a 'front door' when driving into work. (follow a van or large truck) The route takes me over the St. Johns river in Florida and bugs seem to mass near the bridges. This keeps many of the bugs off and my speed down.

 

[nscrbug]

I checked my MPG today and was surprised to see it at 17.4... That seems a bit low to me. My Sky is an automatic, and we have < 300 miles on it (just got it 2 weeks ago). Will I see an improvement in gas mileage once it's past the break-in period? Neither me or my hubby has a heavy foot...if anything we've been 'babying' the car. So what gives with the poor mileage?

 

[tyler07]

I've kept track of all miles/gas receipts/etc so far as I've had my car and been tracking my mpg along with a few other things since I got it. I have it in excel and i'm just gonna try to paste it here and see what happens first.

Vehicle 2007 Saturn Sky

Date Odometer Reading Miles Traveled Gallons Price Total Cost Type (Octane) Driving Condition% Stop & Go Highway Top % Down MPG DIC Avg Speed
5/20/06 278 278 12.267 3.159 38.75 93 80 20 80 22.7 23
5/31/06 547 269 12.667 3.089 39.13 93 80 20 80 21.2 25
6/17/06 758 211 10.658 2.839 30.26 93 80 20 100 19.8 26
6/30/06 1079 321 12.507 2.919 36.51 93 70 30 100 25.7 29
7/3/06 1409 330 11.795 3.179 37.50 93 20 80 100 28.0 45
7/4/06 1713 304 11.458 3.099 35.51 93 40 60 50 26.5 49
7/8/06 1917 204 7.720 3.109 24.00 93 20 80 100 26.4 39
7/14/06 2133 216 9.233 3.249 30.00 93 50 50 100 23.4 46


Well, I can't seem to figure out the spacing but you can kinda see what's happening. Since the labels are all wrong they go as follows:

Date I filled up, Total Miles on Car, Miles on THIS last tank, Gallons Put into tank, Cost of Gas, Total Cost, Octane, Highway or Stop-Go/Hard Running, Top up/down %, Calculated MPG, and then DIC Average Speed.

So it seems I get about 23-25 or so running around town, and up to close to 30 when i'm on the highway alot. on the 7/3 fill up, I ran about 80% of those miles on the highway and reset the dic mpg and it came out as 33.9 mpg when i was on the highway.

 

[tyler07]

Hmm, none of the spaces held up, let me keep editing a bit...

 

[GMguy]

I'm guessing it has more to do with your driving. In older cars you could see a big increase after break-in but todays cars are built with such close tolerances that break-in doesn't make a large difference. Some difference but I don't think it would increase from 17 to almost 25. But I'm no expert, just guessing.

Tolerances have nothing to do with the need for rings to seat. That will
happen unless the cylinders are honed with torque blocks to ensure a straight
and round cylinder. Engines gain power and mileage after break-in, but I
can't believe the difference would be this large. I always assume that the owner really didn't measure his fuel mileage accurately enough - that's almost always the reason for weird high or low readings. People are really sloppy - they never fill the tank up to the same level two times in a row and don't make long enough runs to factor out the inevitable errors in measuring - they might not even have the car on a level surface during the two fill ups. Or fail to allow the gas to bbble down, or fill up when the gas in the tank is at a different temperature than last time (gas expands quite a bit as it heats up).
When dealing with a small tank and short (less than 500 mile) runs, the errors can be enormous. I don't believe anyone when they tell me what gas
mileage they get. Be skeptical of anyone's claims.

 

[Rick Tinley Park]

Tolerances have nothing to do with the need for rings to seat. That will
happen unless the cylinders are honed with torque blocks to ensure a straight
and round cylinder. Engines gain power and mileage after break-in, but I
can't believe the difference would be this large. I always assume that the owner really didn't measure his fuel mileage accurately enough - that's almost always the reason for weird high or low readings. People are really sloppy - they never fill the tank up to the same level two times in a row and don't make long enough runs to factor out the inevitable errors in measuring - they might not even have the car on a level surface during the two fill ups. Or fail to allow the gas to bbble down, or fill up when the gas in the tank is at a different temperature than last time (gas expands quite a bit as it heats up).
When dealing with a small tank and short (less than 500 mile) runs, the errors can be enormous. I don't believe anyone when they tell me what gas
mileage they get. Be skeptical of anyone's claims.

Well these are from the DIC ... not my head -- however I think the gains in mileage may have more to do with my shifting than break in. Perhaps both together. But the number don't lie..