I Have The Auto Trans. I Am Terribly Disappointed With The Mileage. My Driving Is 75% Highway And 25% City. I Cant Even Get 'chevy's City Average' Of 24mpg. Usually, I Get Around 22 Mpg. I Dont Drive It 'hard' . I Am Conservative On Takeoffs. I Can Get It Up To About 24/25 Mpg On A 15 Mile Ride On The Highway. Once I Get Off The Highway, , It Drops The Average Down To Around 20/21mpg, After Driving For Less Than 5 Minutes Around Town. I Had A 2002 Grand Prix 3.8l 6cyl. Prior To The Hhr. It Was Loaded With Power And The Mileage Was Pretty Much The Same. I Didn't Mind Sacrificing A Little Power By Getting The Hhr, If I Was Going To Get Great Mileage. A 1 Or 2 Mile A Gallon Difference Just Doesn't Seem Worth It. How Are The Rest Of You Faring?

I get over 30 on the road and 24 in town. It usually runs high 25's because most of my driving is in town. 2.4 no real mods.

I drive mostly in the city and get around 22.9-24.0.
But on the Highway (with only 20 in the city) I got 31.9, and on the way back with 150+ miles in the city I got 30.9.
Now I am back in town and I had about 268 miles on the highway at 31.0 with 35 miles in the city now reads 26, It counts even if you are at a stop light, that is on a thread here somewhere.

I have an auto 2.2 and get about 26 City and 30 Highway with the air going...thank goodness,because it's summer in Lower Alabama again.:smile: Yesterday it was 97 with 35% relative humidity...whew!:eek:

I do about the same road mix as you and get around 20-21 overall. But I did have mine tuned for HP.

We have only gone thru 1 tank of gas so far about 1/3 of driving in city, averaged 28.5 mpg. Pretty good for a new car, not broke in yet!

Well, how many miles do you have on your car? That matters. When I first got mine, the average wasn't good. But the more miles we put on the car, the better mileage we got. Now with all our mods, we get 24-25 city and 30-31 highway. Not bad since i'm tuned with bigger injectors. But when we step on it, man she drinks gas.:D

I drove a v6 Malibu before my HHR, and also expected alot better gas milage. However, driving almost all city miles, I too am disapointed. I get maybe 19 city, when I do drive distance it does very well though. I have mods, but not much..lowered, muffler, and 20'' wheels. I do not see that making that much of a difference. But, I love it so much that I don't care now, LOL.Todd (Uma)

Hey uma, nice ride. Like the twenty's and color.:D

My 2.2 gets about 27-29 city and 35+ highway. Its a 5spd with a real Cold Air Intake, GM Extrude Honed Manifold, SS/SC Downpipe and mangled exhaust (2.5" in some places 2.25" in others) to dual "fart can" mufflers. I can drive over a week on one tank. When we cruise around at 35 and I can stay in 5th for long periods of time I have seen 48-54 mpgs!!!! Not sure how accurate that is on the DIC but hey! Its kewl to see!

Mine is all city driving and I'm at about 24mpg. Drive to work is 10 miles each way and I can go two weeks at least on a tank of gas. Will report highway mileage when I make my trip to Kansas City next weekend. ;)

I drive a 28 mile round trip to work about 30% city. I am getting a consistent 28 mpg my only mod is a K&N replacement filter and I rerouted my intake hose. I have almost 11k miles on my 2LT.

Mainly back and forth to work about 8 miles each way all suburban driving - no highway. Getting consistent 20-21 mpg on 2LT with auto.

Below average mpg and excessive oil consumption can be the result of babying it too much during break-in period. If you have been easy on the throttle from day one it may have contributed to your situation. Early on in the mileage of a new car you need to engage in strong robust acceleration to ensure optimum ring seating.

I have driven mine normally since I've gotten it. "It" is a 2007 LS 2.2L w/auto and now has 3000kms. According to the DIC my average mileage is 7.7L/100km which translates into just over 30mpg. Kind of a mix between highway and city... I was averaging 7.4L/100km before a couple of speed burns on the highway though!

Below average mpg and excessive oil consumption can be the result of babying it too much during break-in period. If you have been easy on the throttle from day one it may have contributed to your situation. Early on in the mileage of a new car you need to engage in strong robust acceleration to ensure optimum ring seating.

You're not supposed to drive the piss out of it during break-in.

From the manual:

"Notice: Your vehicle does not need an elaborate
break-in. But it will perform better in the long run if
you follow these guidelines:
• Do not drive at any one constant speed, fast or
slow, for the first 500 miles (805 km). Do not
make full-throttle starts. Avoid downshifting to
brake, or slow, the vehicle.
• Avoid making hard stops for the first 200 miles
(322 km) or so. During this time your new brake
linings are not yet broken in. Hard stops with new
linings can mean premature wear and earlier
replacement. Follow this breaking-in guideline
every time you get new brake linings.
• Do not tow a trailer during break-in. See Towing
a Trailer (Manual Transaxle) on page 4-39 or
Towing a Trailer (Automatic Transaxle) on
page 4-39 for the trailer towing capabilities of
your vehicle and more information."

Someone else here reported a similar problem and it was suggested a reflash might help. If I recall they took it to the dealer, had that done and mileage improved significantly.

I am averaging 24 in town. ;) Haven't been on a long road trip to check highway mileage. :sad: Hope to in August. Trying to make plans for the run to Wisconsin Dells.:nuts:

I didn't say full throttle and hard braking, I mentioned strong acceleration. More specifically you should accelerate hard but let off before hitting 75% of redline rpm which is around 4875 rpm keeping in mind the dash tach may be off by a couple hundred so let's say keep it below 4500 to be safe. Once 1000 miles are up, all bets are off and redline (6500) is fair game if you're so inclined. You want maximum cylinder pressure during break-in to seat the rings.

This can be accomplished by leaving stoplights or stop signs briskly, staying below 4500rpm as above and letting off once you're at or near the posted speed limit or 4500rpm whichever comes first.

This practice should only be engaged in when the oil temp is @ 180 or above.

I know this doesn't help, but I get about 11.5-12L/100km. Not bad at all.

Based on how GM "breaks in" their test vehicles (at least before I retired from the Proving Ground), Lone Ranger is more correct than most of the posts on here regarding "break in". They did what was termed "whip schedule" for 500 miles. I use it for EVERY one of my cars in the past 30+ years. NEVER had an oil consumption problem (even using GM's acceptable oil consumption table...which I THINK is unacceptable and excessive).

On a recent G2G with the AZ group to Tucson and up Mt. Lemmon and back to Phoenix I averaged 27.4 MPG with an average speed of 44MPH. Not bad for all the mountain climbing.

I basically beat the piss outta my engine when I first got the HHR. Well, beat it to SOME standards. I never hit the rev limiter but got really close to the 6000 mark. 5spds are fun! Never had a problem with oil, gas or anything else. Other than a broken shift fork. That was different! Sucker broke clean in half. But maybe my MPGs are a little better since I have the smaller engine!

Snoopy, thanks for the endorsement :bow:

Based on how GM "breaks in" their test vehicles (at least before I retired from the Proving Ground), Lone Ranger is more correct than most of the posts on here regarding "break in". They did what was termed "whip schedule" for 500 miles. I use it for EVERY one of my cars in the past 30+ years. NEVER had an oil consumption problem (even using GM's acceptable oil consumption table...which I THINK is unacceptable and excessive).

On a recent G2G with the AZ group to Tucson and up Mt. Lemmon and back to Phoenix I averaged 27.4 MPG with an average speed of 44MPH. Not bad for all the mountain climbing.

You're not supposed to drive the piss out of it during break-in.

From the manual:

"Notice: Your vehicle does not need an elaborate
break-in. But it will perform better in the long run if
you follow these guidelines:
• Do not drive at any one constant speed, fast or
slow, for the first 500 miles (805 km). Do not
make full-throttle starts. Avoid downshifting to
brake, or slow, the vehicle.
• Avoid making hard stops for the first 200 miles
(322 km) or so. During this time your new brake
linings are not yet broken in. Hard stops with new
linings can mean premature wear and earlier
replacement. Follow this breaking-in guideline
every time you get new brake linings.
• Do not tow a trailer during break-in. See Towing
a Trailer (Manual Transaxle) on page 4-39 or
Towing a Trailer (Automatic Transaxle) on
page 4-39 for the trailer towing capabilities of
your vehicle and more information."

Someone else here reported a similar problem and it was suggested a reflash might help. If I recall they took it to the dealer, had that done and mileage improved significantly.
PARDON ME - WHAT IS A REFLASH?

Well, how many miles do you have on your car? That matters. When I first got mine, the average wasn't good. But the more miles we put on the car, the better mileage we got. Now with all our mods, we get 24-25 city and 30-31 highway. Not bad since i'm tuned with bigger injectors. But when we step on it, man she drinks gas.:D
I AM STILL UNDER 3000 MILES. IS THERE A CHANCE IT MAY IMPROVE?

PARDON ME - WHAT IS A REFLASH?

Basically a reprogramming of the computer module which controls the engine functions.

I know this doesn't help, but I get about 11.5-12L/100km. Not bad at all.

You realize that converts to only 19 to 20 MPG (US)? I generally get between 8.1 and 9.5L/100km or 25 to 29 MPG (US) combined city/highway.

All in town driving and about 4 miles each way to work for my Wife. She gets just over 22 mpg. 2.2 w/ auto. trans. Which is just what the window sticker says for city driving. I thought it might do better with a K&N Air Filter, and a turbo muffler, but I guess not!

thank you, familywagon, Uma would thank you, but she is in bed waiting for a cruise tomarrow, although it will be a mixed affair..meaning HHrs and Ptlosers. I am looking forward to it. Hopefully she will impress! Thanks for the props. Todd(Uma)

I know this doesn't help, but I get about 11.5-12L/100km. Not bad at all.

:eek: I think I might want to have that checked out, unless you are doing 100% City driving.... or taking it to the track at Luskville every night!

As mentioned, I'm down around 7.5-7.7L/100km

:eek: I think I might want to have that checked out, unless you are doing 100% City driving.... or taking it to the track at Luskville every night!

As mentioned, I'm down around 7.5-7.7L/100km

A lot of people are confused by the metric way of measuring fuel economy. A higher number of liters per 100Km is a bad thing as it represents the amount of fuel consumed to drive the 100Km. So the lower the number, like yours, the better, as that means less fuel was used.

Chizzer is driving a relatively new HHR. Mileage will always be worse then and improves as the engine breaks in and continues to improve, generally, for the first few months of driving. But mine was never as bad as his. I think the worst I got was 10.06L/100Km. But again, I drive a combination of city/highway and have a manual tranny which does not seem to make lot of difference in the HHR mileage, it seems, from those with an auto tranny.

hey hilwayb, do you feel car doesn"t roll like it should on the highway, I have a 2lt with the auto and was also dissiponited with the mpg, my HHR has about 23,000 miles on it and it rolls a little better now, but i am getting about 28-29 mpg mixed on 87 octane.

Wheelie has a 2.4 liter engine, it has been 12 months that he has lived with me, I reset his MPG and now, Wheelie is giving me 25.7 MPG city....Ill check what he gives me in Highway, most likely, alot more:D

hey hilwayb, do you feel car doesn"t roll like it should on the highway, I have a 2lt with the auto and was also dissiponited with the mpg, my HHR has about 23,000 miles on it and it rolls a little better now, but i am getting about 28-29 mpg mixed on 87 octane.
YES I DO FEEL LIKE IT DOESN'T ROLL LIKE IT SHOULD.
RIGHT NOW, I HAVE UNDER 3000 MILES ON IT. I HOPE IT IS GOING TO GET BETTER. I AM GOING TO TAKE IT TO THE DEALER IN THE NEXT WEEK OR TWO. THANKS!

yes I Do Feel Like It Doesn't Roll Like It Should.
Right Now, I Have Under 3000 Miles On It. I Hope It Is Going To Get Better. I Am Going To Take It To The Dealer In The Next Week Or Two. Thanks!
Also, I Would Be Estatic With 28-29 Mpg With Mixed Driving!
I Am Only Getting 22-24 Mpg With 70 Percent Highway Driving!

YES I DO FEEL LIKE IT DOESN'T ROLL LIKE IT SHOULD.
RIGHT NOW, I HAVE UNDER 3000 MILES ON IT. I HOPE IT IS GOING TO GET BETTER. I AM GOING TO TAKE IT TO THE DEALER IN THE NEXT WEEK OR TWO. THANKS!

I have a 06' 2.4 with Auto. With 21376 miles on her. At 75-80 with A/C on cruise engaged, listening to XM radio am getting between 28.9 to 30.3 MPG. Depending on the wind conditions. Not to shabby for a puffer. I have seen 99.5 MPG on my dic going down hill !!
I would suggest that you check your tire pressures. Recommended pressure is 44 PSI. I am running mine at 50 PSI. Not that much difference in the ride.
Also be sure to keep your car clean. The boundry layer on the little HHR's will add a tremendous amount of drag. Drag = less fuel mileage. Drive her hard the first 2000 Miles. Then drive it like you stold it. You , the engine and tranny will be happy campers.

When I came back from church today, Wheelie gave me a reading and 27.5 MPG, that is 4 MPG higher then when i did not reset my MPG!!:-D

When I came back from church today, Wheelie gave me a reading and 27.5 MPG, that is 4 MPG higher then when i did not reset my MPG!!:-D

Remember that the DIC is averaging mileage. So what you are showing now is over a much shorter period and with less variety of conditions. The longer you leave the DIC before setting, the more accurate the fuel economy will be.

For short duration, your best bet to get at the true fuel economy is to calculate it yourself.

My gas mileage is only 17 mpg that is in the city. Has 17000 on it mobil 1 oil and cgs intake red light to red light kills it. When it hit's the highway 23 mpg.

Strange to see such a wide range of numbers... I wonder if it is indicative of problems with certain cars, or if it is just the usual variance when mass producing cars...

Do we have a stats major or mechanical engineer here?;)

Strange to see such a wide range of numbers... I wonder if it is indicative of problems with certain cars, or if it is just the usual variance when mass producing cars...

Do we have a stats major or mechanical engineer here?;)

Driving style has a massive amount of impact. It is not necessarily any sort of problem that yields variety in fuel economy.

Driving style has a massive amount of impact. It is not necessarily any sort of problem that yields variety in fuel economy.

also wheather windy, many hills, very hot,very cold etc... many factors could
false you mpg

I Have The Auto Trans. I Am Terribly Disappointed With The Mileage. My Driving Is 75% Highway And 25% City. I Cant Even Get 'chevy's City Average' Of 24mpg. Usually, I Get Around 22 Mpg. I Dont Drive It 'hard' . I Am Conservative On Takeoffs. I Can Get It Up To About 24/25 Mpg On A 15 Mile Ride On The Highway. Once I Get Off The Highway, , It Drops The Average Down To Around 20/21mpg, After Driving For Less Than 5 Minutes Around Town. I Had A 2002 Grand Prix 3.8l 6cyl. Prior To The Hhr. It Was Loaded With Power And The Mileage Was Pretty Much The Same. I Didn't Mind Sacrificing A Little Power By Getting The Hhr, If I Was Going To Get Great Mileage. A 1 Or 2 Mile A Gallon Difference Just Doesn't Seem Worth It. How Are The Rest Of You Faring?

I did a trip this weekend up to the Santa Cruz ,CA area...
I average on the open road... 35 MPG.. :thumb:

Do A True Milage Test. Fill It Up Drive 60 Miles On Hwy. Refill Divide Milage To Fuel Used 60 Miles 2 Gal Used = 30 Mph. Try It.

MAN!!, I had 27.5 MPG, On Wheelie's DIC, and my mother used him suddenly and killed my gas Milage, Now it''s down to 22.7 MPG!, UGH!!!, now I have to get it back up again!..oh well...:thumb:

MAN!!, I had 27.5 MPG, On Wheelie's DIC, and my mother used him suddenly and killed my gas Milage, Now it''s down to 22.7 MPG!, UGH!!!, now I have to get it back up again!..oh well...:thumb:

You have to make sure whoever is allowed to drive your ride is properly briefed and respects it. Sure, we can't be stingy old scrooges and selfishly refuse any other family members from the privilege of driving whatever prized vehicle is at hand, BUT they owe us some respect for the vehicle since they know we're gah-gah about it. :nuts:

I Do Calculate It Myself At Each Fill Up. I Also Reset The Dic At Each Fill Up. They Are Always Very Close And Not Good!

My Window Sticker Says 24 City - 30 Highway (2007)
I DRIVE MOSTLY HIGHWAY AND STILL DON'T EVEN GET THE ESTIMATED CITY MPG

Almost sounds like its running a little rich.

I wonder if you've got a borderline defective oxygen sensor that is flakey but not enough to illuminate a CEL (Check Engine Light)? Would be very unusual for a new vehicle, unless somehow some silicone based fluid or other substance harmful to O2 sensors got into your fuel. How is the engine running? Is it smooth and powerful? The main sensor the ECM relies on to set air/fuel mixture is the oxygen sensor. There are two plugged into the exhaust-- one in front of the catalytic converter and one behind it. The one in front is the one that the ECM relies on for feedback on the air/fuel mixture. The one behind the catalytic converter monitors emissions (sort of).

If the dealer can't find any other cause of the low mpg, ask them if they will, as a courtesy, change out the front (in front of the catalytic onverter) oxygen sensor.

On the other hand, it could be a flakey coolant temp sensor. If the coolant temp sensor isn't telling the ECM that the coolant is as hot as it really is, the ECM will continue to command a richer mixture thinking the engine is still warming up and not up to temp yet. On your DIC, does the coolant temp show 190 - 196 range most of the time after the car has been driven long enough? Coolant at full engine operating temperature should read in the 190 - 196 range. It will rise above this at stoplights etc, but come back down when cruising.

You have to make sure whoever is allowed to drive your ride is properly briefed and respects it. Sure, we can't be stingy old scrooges and selfishly refuse any other family members from the privilege of driving whatever prized vehicle is at hand, BUT they owe us some respect for the vehicle since they know we're gah-gah about it. :nuts:
I agree wholeheartedly LR!, My mother loves my ride, and she usually gives me an excuse to drive my beloved Wheelie, in this case, my mom accidently locked her keys into her car at a gas station, she got a ride from a nice person to where I was at, (WALMART) she told me she needed to drive Wheelie at the gas station to pick up her car, she got her spare key before she picked me up...while I was observing her drive, the MPG started going down dramaticly, as she has a tendency to accelerate hard when she is nervous..I just looked at Wheelie'e display and said ..OH NOOOO!! LOL

on my trips to L.A. from bullhead city, az and back I average 31.5 every time and there are some good hills too pull out of Needles on the I40. I went cruising the beaches in so cal last weekend and got 32.8 just cruising Beach bl, PCH and the local fwys. I am also looking for more mpg so will work on exhaust and intake mods.

We are running our AC all the time and our average driving in town and out is 25mpg........ makes my Outlaw smile, says it is still cheaper than the bullets we shoot :guns:

Sweet ride Mama, great choice of color! Wish I got your MPG though, nowhere close for me however. Enjoy that sweet ride, and all the looks you get going down the road. Todd (Uma)

Just drove my Premier Edition HHR from Philly to Maryland..Averaged 24 to 25 mpg. Very happy with the end result!:lol:

I have the 2.4L with auto transmission. I took it into the dealership for a 3,000 mile oil change (it still had 70% oil life left according to computer but I wanted to get that first oil out). I reset the mpg's for the 20 mile highway drive home and got 35.6 mpg's.... Normal combined mileage is 22 though.

I have the 2.4L with auto transmission. I took it into the dealership for a 3,000 mile oil change (it still had 70% oil life left according to computer but I wanted to get that first oil out). I reset the mpg's for the 20 mile highway drive home and got 35.6 mpg's.... Normal combined mileage is 22 though.

A 20 mile reading is meaningless.

I am getting about 36 mpg on the highway and 24 city. I have the 2.4 with a modified exhaust and air intake. Not a bad increase for $200 in parts and labor!!

Currently have 580 miles. I do about 22 mpg with the average speed of 21 mph. I'm sure to get better fuel economy as my average speed increases. Going to Vegas this weekend. I'll find out for sure what my HHR can really get on the highway.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f137/TomsHHR/2008HHR/08HHRDoc1.jpg


This is what Chevy is putting on their 2008's. I think this is a more accurate MPG Sticker. I have been getting 29-30 mpg/highway. I would really love to test some of your HHR's that are getting mid 30's.

All 2008 vehicles will have more accurate mpg's. Need fed regulation.

Currently have 580 miles. I do about 22 mpg with the average speed of 21 mph. I'm sure to get better fuel economy as my average speed increases. Going to Vegas this weekend. I'll find out for sure what my HHR can really get on the highway.

What does the average speed on the DIC have to do with mileage? Mileage is affected by so very many variables and at such low mileage your car is not even "broken in". With time the MPG may change but average speed has no correlation. Now the speed you drive at does.....

I have a 3 day old 07 Special Edition 2.4L HHR Automatic.
I have put 600 miles on it so far and I am getting 24 MPG in the city of Atlanta.

Keith

I have a 3 day old 07 Special Edition 2.4L HHR Automatic.
I have put 600 miles on it so far and I am getting 24 MPG in the city of Atlanta.

Keith

Welcome to the Club!

:welcome: to the forum hope you'll enjoy your :hhr:

I have a 3 day old 07 Special Edition 2.4L HHR Automatic.

Keith

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o132/pats50fan/smilies/welcome4.gif to the site!!!

I average 25 city and 30+ on trips. I think it could be better but the way GM has it geared its not to bad and I also have a heavy right foot. :D

Driving back from Peoria IL today I averaged 27+ on the highway. This was with the cruise on 75 and all the windows open.

I was using 89 octane. Not bad considering I had mine retuned for max HP sacrificing MPGs.

I used to spend a lot more time over at the forums at www.saturnfans.com. The observation that gas mileage increases with use is very common there too. The three thousand miles reported by the original poster is not nearly enough from my readings.

I have 125 miles on my 2.2 automatic and I edging up to 22mpg from a starting point of 9.

Thanks Loneranger for the 4500 rpm hints.

Thanks Loneranger for the 4500 rpm hints.

Yeah man, just be sure the engine is up to full operating temp before doing the ring seating routine. Since the HHR has no display for oil temp, I made sure coolant temp stayed above 190 for about ten minutes before I would do any of the accel runs.

I made one very simular to this at home.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SAVE-GAS-16-HP-Chevy-HHR-Express-Equinox-31-MPG_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42604QQihZ014QQitem Z330149496023QQrdZ1
Put it in and actually am not only getting >22 MPG when before consistantly getting 23 to 24 MPG.

What does the average speed on the DIC have to do with mileage? Mileage is affected by so very many variables and at such low mileage your car is not even "broken in". With time the MPG may change but average speed has no correlation. Now the speed you drive at does.....
Average speed plays a role in fuel economy because driving in lower speeds require driving in lower gears, and driving in lower gears result in lower fuel economy. Average speed won't tell you the whole story, but it gives you an idea of what's going on.

At 580 miles, my car was "broken in" according to the owner's manual as well as GM's "break-in procedure" for their crate engines.

I have a 2007 HHR Panel LT1 2.4L with a 5-speed manual.

Drove from Garden Grove, CA to Las Vegas, NV and back this weekend. Me and a friend with about 100 lbs of cargo.

553 miles - round trip
55 MPH - average speed
29 MPG
Air condition on the WHOLE time.
Outside temperature 87 - 115 degrees.
I now have just over 1100 miles.

Drive from Orange County to Las Vegas - 10:45 AM - 2:45PM
Made only a 15 minute stop to use the restroom. And stretch my legs.
I was getting 31 MPG and average speed was 69 MPH by the time I exit on to Las Vegas Blvd. By the way, Las Vegas has a higher elevation than Orange County, CA.

Of the 553 miles drive, about 15 of it was driven around town in Vegas. About 6 miles of it was driven around town in Orange County because I had to drop off a passenger.

If it wasn't for the traffic encounters on the way back home from Vegas, I would have easily achieved 33 to 35 mpg with the average speed of 69 MPH.

With my everyday round trip driving from home to work, I am on the freeway for 6 miles and on the city road for 2 mile. I hit 5 to 7 red lights every time. My average speed is 22 MPH and get 21 MPG.

Average speed plays a role in fuel economy because driving in lower speeds require driving in lower gears, and driving in lower gears result in lower fuel economy. Average speed won't tell you the whole story, but it gives you an idea of what's going on.

Gears =>> engine revs. If I mope along in first I will burn no more than flying in 5th, engine revs being equal.

Average speed on the DIC is just that..an average over a period of time. Has no bearing on or equation to mpg.

Gears =>> engine revs. If I mope along in first I will burn no more than flying in 5th, engine revs being equal.
.

Perhaps the same amount of fuel in 5th and 1st gear, but you will travel a lot further in 5th hanece more miles as in miles per gallon.

Perhaps the same amount of fuel in 5th and 1st gear, but you will travel a lot further in 5th hanece more miles as in miles per gallon.

That's true!

Average speed will give you an idea of what's going on, not a definition. Let's be real. We don't go moping around in 5th gear at 20 mph all the time. The average speed tells me that you are doing stop-and-go driving with the lower gears. We all know that stop-and-go driving has a great affect on fuel economy.

Also, if you are doing 50mph in 5th vs. 110mph in 5th, you will get lower fuel economy from wind resistance.

Average Speed Matters.

Perhaps the same amount of fuel in 5th and 1st gear, but you will travel a lot further in 5th hanece more miles as in miles per gallon.

And hence the gear predominently driven in is another variable in mpg. Average speed still means nothing with respect to MPG. I could have an average speed of 60 in 5th and same average speed driven in 4th and burn more in 4th because the engine is working harder and reving higher.

Average speed still means nothing with respect to MPG.

I think we can all agree that average MPH is not part of the equation for MPG. No one is arguing this.

I thought this thread was to talk about how everyone else was doing with the fuel economy of their HHR. Do we need to go back to the very first post? I think my point of observing average MPH will give you a clue on why one person would get 15 MPG while someone else getting 20 MPG with CITY driving. Better yet, why are we not getting the MPG of CITY that is on our window sticker?

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b354/chingchonger/ChevyHHR/EPADetailTest.gif

It seems like some one at EPA has an interest with Average Speed.

Thanks!

I am getting great MPG in my 2.4. I consistently make a 45 mile trip each way (most of it is highway) and according to the DIC (I reset it before the start) I am getting 40-43 MPG. I only use premium gas (93 octane), try to accelerate easy, and keep it within 5 MPH of the posted speed limit. The only modifications I have made to my HHR are I removed the stock air filter and installed a cone filter directly to the intake of the air box, and I have a 4" canister muffler on the tail end. I also get about 28 MPG average (city and highway).

Not sure if this is the right place, but I'll post it anyhow. My DIC Econ was showing it's usual 22 or 23 in town when I pull into McDonalds for my morning breakfast and juice. As soon as I pulled out of the drive thru window, my Econ shot up to 68 and then started back down. Now that was really weird. I wish now that I had taken a picture with my phone. It's back to its normal setting now but I found that to be very strange.

Well for the 610 miles to the Dells and back, my average at 70 mph was 31.1 mpg, my work drive that is 75% highway/25% city averages 27.9 mpg really regular over the last 2 years...

Not sure if this is the right place, but I'll post it anyhow. My DIC Econ was showing it's usual 22 or 23 in town when I pull into McDonalds for my morning breakfast and juice. As soon as I pulled out of the drive thru window, my Econ shot up to 68 and then started back down. Now that was really weird. I wish now that I had taken a picture with my phone. It's back to its normal setting now but I found that to be very strange.

That is the great boost McD's gives. Musta stuffed a McGriddle into the tank? :D

Sorry could not resist. Not trying to trivialize your question.

That is the great boost McD's gives. Musta stuffed a McGriddle into the tank? :D

:laughabov :laughabov :laughabov :laughabov :laughabov :laughabov :laughabov

2.4 auto I have a thirty mile ride to work, if I take the highway at about 70 mph, I avg. 24 If I take the back roads at 45 mph I avg. 31

Is there a breaking period for getting the advertised mileage? I have had mine with the 2.4L about 2 weeks and around town I am getting only about 18mpg and on the road about 28 or 29 which is a bit of a disappointment because my Ford Expedition with a 3.6L v8 gets about 16 to 17 around town and, when not pulling our travel trailer, gets about 24 on the highway. Any hints on improving. I am a pretty conservative driver

Is there a breaking period for getting the advertised mileage? I have had mine with the 2.4L about 2 weeks and around town I am getting only about 18mpg and on the road about 28 or 29 which is a bit of a disappointment because my Ford Expedition with a 3.6L v8 gets about 16 to 17 around town and, when not pulling our travel trailer, gets about 24 on the highway. Any hints on improving. I am a pretty conservative driver

First let me welcome you to the site, Wes!

I assume you meant break-in? It is in your manual (which for some unknown reason no one seems to bother to read). It is not clear in your first post if you bought new or used and whether it was 2006, 2007 or 2008.

We have online manuals for 06 and 07 at:

http://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3074

From 2006 manual:

New Vehicle Break-In
Notice: Your vehicle does not need an elaborate
break-in. But it will perform better in the long run if
you follow these guidelines:
• Do not drive at any one constant speed, fast or
slow, for the first 500 miles (805 km). Do not
make full-throttle starts. Avoid downshifting to
brake, or slow, the vehicle.
• Avoid making hard stops for the first 200 miles
(322 km) or so. During this time your new brake
linings are not yet broken in. Hard stops with new
linings can mean premature wear and earlier
replacement. Follow this breaking-in guideline
every time you get new brake linings.
• Do not tow a trailer during break-in. See Towing
a Trailer (Manual Transaxle) on page 4-39 or
Towing a Trailer (Automatic Transaxle) on
page 4-39 for the trailer towing capabilities of
your vehicle and more information.
Following break-in, engine speed and load can be
gradually increased.

From 2007 manual:

New Vehicle Break-In
Notice: Your vehicle does not need an
elaborate break-in. But it will perform better in
the long run if you follow these guidelines:
• Do not drive at any one constant speed, fast
or slow, for the first 500 miles (805 km). Do
not make full-throttle starts. Avoid
downshifting to brake, or slow, the vehicle.
• Avoid making hard stops for the first
200 miles (322 km) or so. During this time
your new brake linings are not yet broken
in. Hard stops with new linings can mean
premature wear and earlier replacement.
Follow this breaking-in guideline every time
you get new brake linings.
• Do not tow a trailer during break-in. See
Towing a Trailer (Manual Transaxle) on
page 276 or Towing a Trailer (Automatic
Transaxle) on page 277 for the trailer towing
capabilities of your vehicle and more
information.
Following break-in, engine speed and load can
be gradually increased.

A lot of things affect mileage as I am sure you are aware. If yours does not improve and you drive as you say you do, discuss it with your dealer. It may need a simple tune.

I have been delighted with the mileage of my HHR-- my work commute is 5 miles each way through the city of Springfield, MA ( stop and go, never breaking 40 mph) Ihave clocked between 25.3 and 26.8 mpg (DIC, but math verified). On a 260 mile round trip to Vermont, i clocked 33.4 All with a stock 2.2 auto. using Shell 87 octane My previous car, a lincoln conti 4.6 DOHC V8 got 16.5-17.7 city and 23.6 on these same routes on Shell 93 oct.

I too have been disappointed by the milage on myine but I never really tried to get good numbers I have the 2.4 with the manual and no mods. I really have averaged aroud 26 MPG. It is better then the 20 I got with my SHO and ranger but not impressive. I am currently trying to see what I can get if I really try and 200 mi into it I have managed better then 30 MPG in mixed city hiway driving. Probably 60 city and 40 long 4-5 mi trips going 45mph. I have been turning the car off at stop lights and shifting at 2000 RPM. I have also found that speed faster then 60mph really hurt the milage I can keep the +30 MPG but 70 drops to less then 29 MPG. I don't know if others have found this to be true but it is what has worked for me.

I too have been disappointed by the milage on myine but I never really tried to get good numbers I have the 2.4 with the manual and no mods. I really have averaged aroud 26 MPG. It is better then the 20 I got with my SHO and ranger but not impressive. I am currently trying to see what I can get if I really try and 200 mi into it I have managed better then 30 MPG in mixed city hiway driving. Probably 60 city and 40 long 4-5 mi trips going 45mph. I have been turning the car off at stop lights and shifting at 2000 RPM. I have also found that speed faster then 60mph really hurt the milage I can keep the +30 MPG but 70 drops to less then 29 MPG. I don't know if others have found this to be true but it is what has worked for me.

First welcome to the site.

26 average is not bad at all. And you shut the car off at stop lights? :eek: I'm sorry but how much do you really think that is saving you? It probably takes more fuel to restart the engine than it would burn just sitting there idling. And that is not to mention the additional wear and tear on the starter and other components.

I really think people (in general) are getting a little over the top when it comes to fuel economy concerns. :roll: There are so many variables. If it were truly rotten, sometimes a tune or some other adjustment might solve the problem.

Drive your HHR and enjoy it. Don't get too hung up on mileage. You are in the right ballpark!

Agreed....^^^^^^^^:thumb:

I get 24 to 27 in town. Forgot to reset the DIC and didn't get to check my milage on my roadtrip, but I went 200 some miles on 1/8th tank of gas at 80 in the rain. :D Not to bad in my opinion. It is also is better then my old truck at 18 on the highway.

Really I have saved quite a bit of gas turning the car off at the stop lights. It is a solid 4 mpg better. This was only an experiment to see how much I could improve the MPG. I doubt I will continue this past this tank of gas, I love to much driving briskly now and then. You really do burn more gas stopped at a light then stopping and restarting the car, especially after it is warmed up. I am also concerend about the possible wear and tear on the starter but for this test it is minimal at best.

Really I have saved quite a bit of gas turning the car off at the stop lights. It is a solid 4 mpg better. This was only an experiment to see how much I could improve the MPG. I doubt I will continue this past this tank of gas, I love to much driving briskly now and then. You really do burn more gas stopped at a light then stopping and restarting the car, especially after it is warmed up. I am also concerend about the possible wear and tear on the starter but for this test it is minimal at best.

I'll call this a YMMV thing. I am not saying your assertion is untrue, but I highly doubt that any increase in fuel economy is due solely or even in part, to turning the engine off at stop lights. There are way too many variables in play, some in your control, and some not, for anyone to definitively say an increase is due to one thing and one thing only.

Fuel economy is something best judged over time after a variety of driving conditions. Even tank to tank economy may vary even if nothing would appear to be different. The gas itself (brand, octane, time of year, batch, refinery etc.) can affect mileage.

I hope you enjoy your HHR. And remember, even your worst fuel economy as reported is still very good and in the range most members get.

I Appreciate Everyone's Comments. First Of All, When You Are Posting Your Mileage, I Wish Everyone Would Remember To State If They Have The Auto Or Manual Trans, What Year The Hhr Is, And How Many Miles They Have On It. However, Please Note - I Know All About Driving Conditions, Hills And Flat Roads, Jackrabbit Starts, Tire Pressure, Toping Off The Gas Tank, Etc. I Manually Calculate The Mpg Each Time I Fill Up. The Dic Is Always Very Close To My Manual Calculation. I Still Think The Mileage Stinks For The Amount Of Highway Driving I Do. Before I Got The 2007 Hhr (auto Trans), I Had A 6 Cyl Pontiac Grand Prix 3.8ltr. 200hp. I Got About The Same Mileage On Her, Give Or Take A Half Gallon And She Had Twice The Power Of The Hhr. I Dont Even Attempt To Pass Anyone Anymore. The First Week I Drove It I Knew The Hhr Just Cant Do It. It Cant Even Get Out Of Its Own Way. Getting An Extra Half Mile Per Gallon, While Driving On The Highway And Driving Gently, Just Isnt Worth The Investment I Made. I Brought It To The Dealer And After Leaving It There All Day, I Went To Pick It Up And The Idiot Service Mgr Says To Me 'there Is Nothing We Can Do About The Mileage!' Then Why The Hell Didnt He Tell Me That When I Made My Appt? I Dont Understand Why I Should Be Happy With 21.5 Mpg When The Majority Of Owners Are Doing Much Better. This Will Be My Last Gm Car. No Wonder They Are In Trouble. For Anyone Looking - Stay Away From Schumacher Chevrolet In Little Falls, Nj. They Were Great Until I Paid Cash For My Car. Once I Drove It Out Of The Showroom, They Forgot My Name.

After 24K miles on my '06 with a 2.4 auto HHR LT I'm averaging 30.1 mpg. I've taken several road trips 2-3000 miles since owning the car. Around town only, I'm getting 25 mpg, but there are lots of highways down in Florida. I have notice lower mileage with 3 passengers riding along. I use cruise control on the highway. Taking backroads and keeping to 55 mph, the DIC says I'm getting 34 mpg.

2.4 LT 13,000+ miles. 10% Freeway/90% 'round town - Town avg - 18 mpg+/- and Freeway avg 29 mpg+/-.

I Appreciate Everyone's Comments. First Of All, When You Are Posting Your Mileage, I Wish Everyone Would Remember To State If They Have The Auto Or Manual Trans, What Year The Hhr Is, And How Many Miles They Have On It. However, Please Note - I Know All About Driving Conditions, Hills And Flat Roads, Jackrabbit Starts, Tire Pressure, Toping Off The Gas Tank, Etc. I Manually Calculate The Mpg Each Time I Fill Up. The Dic Is Always Very Close To My Manual Calculation. I Still Think The Mileage Stinks For The Amount Of Highway Driving I Do. Before I Got The 2007 Hhr (auto Trans), I Had A 6 Cyl Pontiac Grand Prix 3.8ltr. 200hp. I Got About The Same Mileage On Her, Give Or Take A Half Gallon And She Had Twice The Power Of The Hhr. I Dont Even Attempt To Pass Anyone Anymore. The First Week I Drove It I Knew The Hhr Just Cant Do It. It Cant Even Get Out Of Its Own Way. Getting An Extra Half Mile Per Gallon, While Driving On The Highway And Driving Gently, Just Isnt Worth The Investment I Made. I Brought It To The Dealer And After Leaving It There All Day, I Went To Pick It Up And The Idiot Service Mgr Says To Me 'there Is Nothing We Can Do About The Mileage!' Then Why The Hell Didnt He Tell Me That When I Made My Appt? I Dont Understand Why I Should Be Happy With 21.5 Mpg When The Majority Of Owners Are Doing Much Better. This Will Be My Last Gm Car. No Wonder They Are In Trouble. For Anyone Looking - Stay Away From Schumacher Chevrolet In Little Falls, Nj. They Were Great Until I Paid Cash For My Car. Once I Drove It Out Of The Showroom, They Forgot My Name.


Sorry, but why would I or anyone else put creditability on a post from someone who had no apparent understanding of the English language, grammer or punctuation, let alone the fact that every word is capitalized? :confused:

I Dont Understand Why I Should Be Happy With 21.5 Mpg When The Majority Of Owners Are Doing Much Better.

As it's been pointed out before, the MAJORITY of HHR owners are not part of any HHR web site. The 4300 or so members here (only a fraction of them post at all)(not all of them HHR owners) would on be a small percent of total HHR owners.:roll:

2.4 LT 13,000+ miles. 10% Freeway/90% 'round town - Town avg - 18 mpg+/- and Freeway avg 29 mpg+/-.

Sounds like I could post the same, but w/ 23K.

We drove from Western New York to Florida last week and the computor said our trip did 29.7 miles per gallon.( 75 to 80 miles per hour )
Our HHR went thru the Mountains of West Virginia and Virginia with no problem and we were hauling alot weight (4 Boston Terrier's,2 Dog cages and alot of Luggage.
The best we ever did on Highway mileage was 31.9 mpg with just the Wife and I driving on the interstate and Country roads in New York.
Hope this mileage information helps.:thumb: :hhr:

Mine has 13XXX, 80% town, 20% highway (55-60 MPH), and I average 21.9... But I am a spirited driver :red:...... I take off quicker than others at stoplights, accelerate quicker, pass a lot of people, and don't really keep a steady speed a lot of times... It may sound bad, but it's not like speed-demon type driving, just spirited.. :lol:

Not to thread-jack, but I used to live in WV for about 8 years... Didn't like it, but it's a nice place to visit..

2.4 w/ 5-speed 18K miles. I get 25-27 mpg combined. Saw as high as 31 one time with straight highway miles. Low was 19 mpg going across Nebraska.

Here in PA I'm getting 21.5 - 22 regularly on all suburban Phila. driving. I have a 2.4L Auto. with !0,200 miles.

My new Panel LT has the 2.4 and a five speed trans. From the very first tank I have been getting 28.5 mpg average and the only real trip (highway only) trip so far I got 31. :smile: :thumb: no complaints here!

Sorry, but why would I or anyone else put creditability on a post from someone who had no apparent understanding of the English language, grammer or punctuation, let alone the fact that every word is capitalized? :confused:

IF YOU CANT SAY ANYTHING NICE - DONT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW INTELLIGENT I AM. I TYPE IN CAPS BECAUSE IT
IS EASIER AND THIS IS AN INFORMAL SITE. I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOU TO
REVIEW MY GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION OR LANGUAGE. WE WERE TALKING ABOUT GAS MILEAGE. BY YOUR IDIOTIC RESPONSE, I KNOW MY IQ IS
DEFINITELY HIGHER THAN YOURS. GO BACK TO SLEEP OLD MAN.

[QUOTE=nfboy;193718]I'll call this a YMMV thing. I am not saying your assertion is untrue, but I highly doubt that any increase in fuel economy is due solely or even in part, to turning the engine off at stop lights. ]

This does work and GM offers a Silverado that uses this type of technology as an option. It's like driving a golf cart. The engine shuts down at stop lights and starts when you press the gas peddle. It offers a 15-20% MPG increase over a standard 5.3 ltr V8 pick-up.

[quote=nfboy;193718]I'll call this a YMMV thing. I am not saying your assertion is untrue, but I highly doubt that any increase in fuel economy is due solely or even in part, to turning the engine off at stop lights. ]

This does work and GM offers a Silverado that uses this type of technology as an option. It's like driving a golf cart. The engine shuts down at stop lights and starts when you press the gas peddle. It offers a 15-20% MPG increase over a standard 5.3 ltr V8 pick-up.

I'm doing this by memory, and I'm an old guy;), but when I witnessed some of the tests GM conducted regarding this, they discovered there was no(or not much) benefit to turning the vehicle off unless it was going to idle for more than 2 minutes. That may have changed.

So, do you know if there is some type of timer device in the option that you speak of?

I imagine there is something in the computer that shuts the engine down at a complete stop. Throttle position sets it for start-up.

The vehicle was first shown at the National Lawn and Garden show in Louisville and at that time there was a ride and drive set up for all who wanted to try it. 2 years ago it was also shown at the Fed-Fleet show in Los Angeles. I have only seen it in 1500 Silverado p-ups. Not sure if it was also offered on any other model.

There is also some reduction on rated emissions since the truck will not just sit and idle. This feature is also becoming required by California on I believe 2010 commercial trucks to reduce emissions. Problems are anticipated because some trucks work at idle.

Thanks...:thumb:

hello people, I am a new member. as far as mileage goes I get around 25 with about 50/50 highway/city. with a/c on I get 23.5 I love my ride

I took my hhr with 2.4 to Birmingham, Al from Pensacola, Fl this past weekend. I was impressed with how well my little car did. Handled very well, accelaration was great going around trucks, etc....much better than I had been led to believe. I have been getting 31mpg consistently when just driveing the interstate around here But this weekend, inluding the weekend in Birmingham, stops for bathroom and then the long stretch between Pensacola and the interstate...I got 28.5 overall. I am quite happy with that. I used the dash dic and also kept track of mileage and how much gas I used...very similar numbers either way. Very happy with my hhr overall! A few minor complaints...don't like the upholstery feel...so getting some seatcovers, cant stand the armrests so just don't use them. By the way I have the automatic transmission and only about 1500 miles on it...I just bought a few weeks ago. I will also mention that I saw quite a few hhrs on I65 and they all looked to be keeping up with traffic which was going, for the most part, 75 to 80 mph.

I Appreciate Everyone's Comments. First Of All, When You Are Posting Your Mileage, I Wish Everyone Would Remember To State If They Have The Auto Or Manual Trans, What Year The Hhr Is, And How Many Miles They Have On It. However, Please Note - I Know All About Driving Conditions, Hills And Flat Roads, Jackrabbit Starts, Tire Pressure, Toping Off The Gas Tank, Etc. I Manually Calculate The Mpg Each Time I Fill Up. The Dic Is Always Very Close To My Manual Calculation. I Still Think The Mileage Stinks For The Amount Of Highway Driving I Do. Before I Got The 2007 Hhr (auto Trans), I Had A 6 Cyl Pontiac Grand Prix 3.8ltr. 200hp. I Got About The Same Mileage On Her, Give Or Take A Half Gallon And She Had Twice The Power Of The Hhr. I Dont Even Attempt To Pass Anyone Anymore. The First Week I Drove It I Knew The Hhr Just Cant Do It. It Cant Even Get Out Of Its Own Way. Getting An Extra Half Mile Per Gallon, While Driving On The Highway And Driving Gently, Just Isnt Worth The Investment I Made. I Brought It To The Dealer And After Leaving It There All Day, I Went To Pick It Up And The Idiot Service Mgr Says To Me 'there Is Nothing We Can Do About The Mileage!' Then Why The Hell Didnt He Tell Me That When I Made My Appt? I Dont Understand Why I Should Be Happy With 21.5 Mpg When The Majority Of Owners Are Doing Much Better. This Will Be My Last Gm Car. No Wonder They Are In Trouble. For Anyone Looking - Stay Away From Schumacher Chevrolet In Little Falls, Nj. They Were Great Until I Paid Cash For My Car. Once I Drove It Out Of The Showroom, They Forgot My Name.

I didn't even bother to read this post above. Learn to type the correct way if you want people to want to read it.

Ok, so we're all agreed?? NO!! YES!! Our HHR's deliver somewhere between 20 to 32 MPG depending on engine, transmission, driving conditions, A/C and mileage. Hmmm, Chevrolet & the EPA estimate 23-30mpg. Pretty close and they are on the high side, no?. So what really gives?

I'm an owner of an "06 HHR LT 2.4L auto, CGS Intake, 9000 miles. I bought the car new with 1600 miles on it so break-in may be a contributing factor, but in the last 5 months, my gas mileage has gone DOWN!!! I now get 19-21mpg average 70/30 (City/Highway) and max of 27 on the highway (75-80mph). Now I live in Houston and we use the A/C 300 days a year:cool:, so I understand that is an issue. When I run without A/C my milage picks up 5MPG!! I also have one of the A/C units that whines like crazy!!! Sounds like a "tuner" exhaust!!! Yuk!!!!! (I'm working the dealer to get it replaced)

I've heard that reflashing the ECM can help. What I'm looking to do is have someone re-flash the ECM and TCM (for A/T vehicle). Our automatics are NOT well tuned for mileage or performance. I have asked Hahn Racecraft about it.:thumb:

And our "fly-by-wire" throttle needs serious work. I drove a '07 2.2L and the throttle response blew me away! There has to be some kind of adjustment that can be made. It's got to be just a "pot" (potentiometer). Anyone out there have any other ideas?

Our HHR's are just too cool to be gas guzzling slugs!!!:one:

Popi.....

Your highway mileage of 27 is probably about right at the indicated 75-80 mph you drive. The MPG curve will drop substantially and proportionately, after about 2500 RPM......you are probably running in the 3000+ range.

If you are recognizing a reduction of 5mpg when using the a/c, you probably have something wrong. GM tests have supported generally a 1-1.5 mpg reduction.

For example, on a recent 7000 mile vacation trip, I used the a/c exclusively (sometimes with the sun roof open, sometimes just adjusting the temp control). I averaged about 31 mpg for the entire trip, traveling at whatever the posted speed indicated....55,60,65,70,75. Also used the cruise control exclusively except for some heavier mountain grades....I manually shifted to "I" drive.

2 years ago it was also shown at the Fed-Fleet show in Los Angeles.

Off topic,

You were at FedFleet in 2006 in LA? Me too. :smile:

I found out on a trip to DC that Premium fuel makes a dramatic difference in Fuel economy. on regular unleaded 28mpg by paper and gauge. 34.5 on premium 32.7 paper a significant difference. IMHO Now I have to figure out if price of gas here is worth it to me.

Off topic,

You were at FedFleet in 2006 in LA? Me too. :smile:

Yep, I was there in the GM booth.

I found out on a trip to DC that Premium fuel makes a dramatic difference in Fuel economy. on regular unleaded 28mpg by paper and gauge. 34.5 on premium 32.7 paper a significant difference. IMHO Now I have to figure out if price of gas here is worth it to me.

I have not tried premium yet, but I took a 100+ mile trip from So.Cal. to Bakersfield over the grapevine (moutain range) with the cruise set at 70mph I got 33.6 mpg on the DIC going there and 31.4 on the return. Hit a lot of traffic due to the truck crash that closed the 5 fwy.

Not sure that premium fuel here would make that much of a difference as we have oxygenated fuel all year round and we loose MPG with it.

I just bought my 2007 Chevy HHR IN July and in august i went on a 1,000 mile trip and i was getting 32.4 mpg at 75-80 mph. Putting around town i have been getting around 26mpg

Well congrats to all of you LOL, I do 90% street driving, and get a little less than 19 mpg. I don't really mind too much because a little quirk about my work is that I get a $100 gas card a month and that pays for all my gas. However I will be making my first road trip...going from So Cal to MO. so I will finally get to see my MPG on a long trip, will fill you all in when I get back, Todd (Uma)

2 weeks ago ran from Canada to Daytona Beach for my vacations (still there) :D and got a 35-36 mpg with 2.2 5 speed with ac on. Very proud of my HHR :thumb:

2 weeks ago ran from Canada to Daytona Beach for my vacations (still there) :D and got a 35-36 mpg with 2.2 5 speed with ac on. Very proud of my HHR :thumb:

Canada to Florida. That's down hill! :lol:

I just drove my 2.2 automatic from North Georgia to cental Illinois and back.
70-75 mostly with a/c. Didn't do as well as you, did average 31.8. I was happy with that.

Canada to Florida. That's down hill! :lol:

I just drove my 2.2 automatic from North Georgia to cental Illinois and back.
70-75 mostly with a/c. Didn't do as well as you, did average 31.8. I was happy with that.

I was running 65 mph lower rpm means better economy .

this is sad,i thought i was giving up a gas guzzer for something better on fuel,i have a dodge magnum with a hemi right now and i get 22 to 25 in the city and 26 to 36 on the highway just depends if i have the air and cruise on.i ordered a 2.4 with the automatic and the wait is killing me

I have the 2006 2.2 ltr auto trans. I average almost 27 mpg. I drive 23 miles one way, mostly highway - few back roads are 45 mph speed limit. Main road is 55 to 65 mph. I usually do over the limit.
Best mpg was 30mpg all highway.

I Appreciate Everyone's Comments. First Of All, When You Are Posting Your Mileage, I Wish Everyone Would Remember To State If They Have The Auto Or Manual Trans, What Year The Hhr Is, And How Many Miles They Have On It. However, Please Note - I Know All About Driving Conditions, Hills And Flat Roads, Jackrabbit Starts, Tire Pressure, Toping Off The Gas Tank, Etc. I Manually Calculate The Mpg ... I Dont Even Attempt To Pass Anyone Anymore. The First Week I Drove It I Knew The Hhr Just Cant Do It. It Cant Even Get Out Of Its Own Way. ....They Were Great Until I Paid Cash For My Car. Once I Drove It Out Of The Showroom, They Forgot My Name.

I agree with the other commenter, this kind of posting is difficult to read, with each word capitalized. If you really want cooperation, make it as easy as possible.

I have on '06 2.4 5-speed, and get about 25 combined. 80-20 city-hwy.

Mostly hiway miles for me, but it's boston area driving so ~40 mile commute = 1.5 hrs on the road!! Even so, I pull ~24 mpg. An 07 2.4L with 4K+ and mostly driving sensibily.
Hilway, take a breath, take note and post so others are comfortable reading it. All caps and you're yelling. All words cap'd = unreadable. Either way you're gonna take flack. No matter the informal nature of a BB, there is suitable protocol and then there's yours. Just trying to help.

this is sad,i thought i was giving up a gas guzzer for something better on fuel,i have a dodge magnum with a hemi right now and i get 22 to 25 in the city and 26 to 36 on the highway just depends if i have the air and cruise on.i ordered a 2.4 with the automatic and the wait is killing me

Oh com on I'm calling BS on that. My parents have an 07 V6 Chrysler 300 and they get 28 tops on the highway and maybe 20mpg in town. My wife and I had a V6 Charger rental on vacation a year ago and it got 21-22 at best during the week we had it in 50/50 mixed driving. I could believe 25 even 26 on the highway with a Hemi even with DOD but, 30+ is NOT going to happen. In town with a Hemi I could believe 18-20 at best but 22-25, come on, thats on par with 4 cylinder imports that weigh about half of what the Magnum weighs.

In our 07 LT2 HHR (2.4 auto) we get about 23 city and 30 highway which I believe is on par with imports of this size.

this is sad,i thought i was giving up a gas guzzer for something better on fuel,i have a dodge magnum with a hemi right now and i get 22 to 25 in the city and 26 to 36 on the highway just depends if i have the air and cruise on.i ordered a 2.4 with the automatic and the wait is killing me

What your been smokin? :lol:

You need to share. :nuts:

He's in Canada maybe he computed wrong;)

But, I'll third the comments, as standing, I think it's total BS. AND if not, GM Corporation would like to BUY your hemi. It obviously has some secrets even DMC knows nothing of.:D

Up here in the great white north our MPG rating is different because we use Imperial gallons for the calculations instead of US gallons. Doing a gallon to gallon comparison is useless unless we're talking the same kind of gallon.

It could be a mis-calculation because there are imperial gallons and metric gallons, its time we all unite and use the much more logical metric system altogether.

When I switched from my Impala (3.8L V6) to the 2.4L HHR I noticed that the mileage gain was insignificant and even that the HHR had lower mileage than my Impala on some trips.

22.5 miles per gallon (US) = 43.5 km/gallon (metric) = 36.2 km/gallon (US)

1 gallon (US) = 3.785 litres
1 gallon (metric) = 4.54 litres
1 gallon (metric) = 1.2 gallons (US)

So, based on your calculations, Calgary, I may have been correct. I notice he failed to mention miles, km, gal, ltrs, etc. Just SOME numbers with no reference.:confused:

36.2km/gallon (US)

I would guess that in that post the 36 is 36mpg (metric) which is actually 30.1 mpg (US) which is 7.8L/100km.

These numbers make sense to me and seem pretty reasonable.

Just got back from Vegas. At 9000 miles on the meter, with 4 people + luggage, cruise control set to 75, both ways the econ display varied between 28 and 30 MPG. I think the main reasoning behind the variance was having to hill climb (Cajon pass etc..). I am very happy with the Toy's fuel economy. I did notice my mpg was worse if I kept it off cruise control.

Ok guys, tell me what is wrong with my car, maybe changing the wheels and tires, maybe changing the muffler. I have 20'' rims, and a chrome muffler(can't tell you the name). Last month I drove from so cal to Mo. My econ. said I got no better than 25 mpg. Could it be off? I do not think the mods would make that much of a difference. I have a 2.4 auto, any thoughts? Todd(Uma)

Todd (Uma) if you went from a factory 16 or 17" wheel to a 20" after market wheel, yes your gas mileage will differ because it now has to carry the extra weight of the wheel. Also did you check your tire pressure like your supposed to before going on long trips :confused:. Your supposed to check this every month or so...

Your wheels are heavier than stock, and the increased size throws off the speedometer. This changes shift points, and probably other things, and will affect fuel economy.

Todd (Uma) if you went from a factory 16 or 17" wheel to a 20" after market wheel, yes your gas mileage will differ because it now has to carry the extra weight of the wheel. Also did you check your tire pressure like your supposed to before going on long trips :confused:. Your supposed to check this every month or so...
Actually, I did check the pressure, 35lbs as suggested, But what I did not mention, come to think of it, I averaged 74 mph. Todd(Uma)

I have found that the economy meter in my DIC is always 3 to 4 MPG less than actual. What I like to do is reset my trip meter when filling up, then when I fill up with gas the next time divide the gallons put back in into the miles on my trip meter. These are the only numbers I go by on my cars, I usually get between 28 and 31 MPG on my HHR with this method and 15 to 22 MPG on my explorer.

I have found that the economy meter in my DIC is always 3 to 4 MPG less than actual. What I like to do is reset my trip meter when filling up, then when I fill up with gas the next time divide the gallons put back in into the miles on my trip meter. These are the only numbers I go by on my cars, I usually get between 28 and 31 MPG on my HHR with this method and 15 to 22 MPG on my explorer.

Thats true, but our DIC was only off by 1-2 MPG but I use it when I quote fuel mileage. I need to check it again, it's been a while.

Ok guys, tell me what is wrong with my car, maybe changing the wheels and tires, maybe changing the muffler. I have 20'' rims, and a chrome muffler(can't tell you the name). Last month I drove from so cal to Mo. My econ. said I got no better than 25 mpg. Could it be off? I do not think the mods would make that much of a difference. I have a 2.4 auto, any thoughts? Todd(Uma)

If you've gone to 20's your probably also running a stiffer, low profile tire and maybe it's wider than stock as well which not only adds weight (tire and wheel) but will likely add rolling resistance (more friction between the road and tire) which will have a negative effect on your fuel economy.

If I might add to this ... I've found that my gas mileage has been dropping despite the same loading and driving conditions in the last few weeks. I've gone down from 31mpg average to just over 29mpg average, and I think it might be due to the winter mix gasolines: the drop started right at the time the local gas stations switched to winter blends.

Thanks all for the feedback, I guess I did not want to believe the lack of fuel mileage was due to my mods, but it sounds very likely. Thanks all, Todd(Uma)

I am getting about 36 mpg on the highway and 24 city. I have the 2.4 with a modified exhaust and air intake. Not a bad increase for $200 in parts and labor!!

OK... what on earth did you do for $200 that bumped your mpg's up to 36?!?!? :confused: My wife is about sick of her ride ('07 2.4/auto), ready to trade it off 'cause the best mileage she's ever gotten was about 29 mpg (one tank) - mostly it hovers around 22-25 mpg, and that's 80-90% highway mileage.

OK... what on earth did you do for $200 that bumped your mpg's up to 36?!?!? :confused: My wife is about sick of her ride ('07 2.4/auto), ready to trade it off 'cause the best mileage she's ever gotten was about 29 mpg (one tank) - mostly it hovers around 22-25 mpg, and that's 80-90% highway mileage.

What speed do you run on the freeway? The Ecotec's maximum fuel efficiency, I've found, hits right around 65mph. Any slower or faster and economy suffers. With the HHR if you have no lowering suspension, it also helps to have some weight in the back end, weighing it down enough to cut down on drag.

Highway speed is mostly 70 - some 65... and there is typically not much in the rear. Since KY recently up'ed their interstate speed limit to 70, you risk being run over at 65 - you get passed left and right at 70 as most on the road run 75-80. :eek:

I have only one mod to the car - and that is one of the in-the-tube vortex thingys just above the throttle body. I've half a mind to remove it as I think it's useless.

I'm not sure if people consider this, but in the winter your car idles more. (i.e. while you're clearing ice/snow, just letting it warm up, etc)

Your vehicle is using fuel but no miles are being added. Also, in cold conditions more fuel is required to start a car and keep it running until the engine gets up to temperature.

I believe this is what causes most cases of 'mysterious' mpg decrease.

So... can y'all help validate the following:


Increase tire pressure - 50 psi or so (a no-brainer).
Premium fuel - does this matter from an MPG perspective? We typically run regular. If you're not pinging, does the octane really matter?
Fuel additives? I own a Duramax diesel and I know that fuel additives make a real difference in diesels; does that carry over in any way in the 2.4?
Reflash the ECM - I've read that dealer reflashes can help if you're getting poor mileage. Myth or reality?
Does anyone make a throttle-body spacer for the 2.4? Some of the guys on the Ford Expedition forums swear that the throttle body spacers (which supposedly create a vortex in the intake mixture).
CAI - From what I've read out here, the stock turtle is pretty efficient. Is there any net benefit to replacing it? I've no interest in making the under-side of the hood "cool" or exciting. Just better mpg's.
Exhaust - Not really interested in more interior noise, though I don't really care if it's louder outside. I've read that some rather radical exhaust mods require additional ECM mods to make things work right.


If anyone has specific recommendations, thoughts, etc. on the above, I'd really like to hear them. Links within this or other online resources would really be appreciated. If I can't get the mpg's up on this car, it'll get traded... and I'd just as soon not have that happen. Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Increasing tire pressure that much isn't a good idea. You might gain some mpg, but you will spend the money you save on new tires.

I drive pretty aggresively, but I still get around 28-29. Most of my driving is split between country roads and city.

I drive about the same, 75% highway and 25% city in a 2007 2LT and average about 22 mpg or less. I don't drive it hard either. I was VERY disappointed as I was counting on 25 mpg minimum. Makes a difference at $3plus per gallon of gas.

http://www.chevyhhr.net/images/sigs/white.jpg (http://chevyhhr.net)

I am usually running around 23 - 27 depending on how I drive and how long it gets to warm up now that it is cold out. I still look at it better then my old Dodge got. 16 at best. No matter how I drive or what I do, the HHR will get better then that and probably most of the cars out there. Sure I was hoping for more mpg too, but still with the weather and all things considered, I'm not to dissapointed.

I find that if I ride alone, I get great mileage. If I bring my wife, the mpg drops and I develop a constant ringing in my ears....:lol:

Same thing happens with mine :lol:

Ok guys, tell me what is wrong with my car, maybe changing the wheels and tires, maybe changing the muffler. I have 20'' rims, and a chrome muffler(can't tell you the name). Last month I drove from so cal to Mo. My econ. said I got no better than 25 mpg. Could it be off? I do not think the mods would make that much of a difference. I have a 2.4 auto, any thoughts? Todd(Uma)

If you have 20 inch rims you are probably running a larger overall diameter tire. thus tricking your odometer that you are traveling less than you really are. Have you thought about measuring your tire height and then possibly reprogramming your cars computer to recognize the new tire size?

excellent post. Plus the fact that Plus fitment wheel/tire applications tend to be quite a bit heavier than the stock wheel/tire package. adding weight to the drive axle increases un-sprung weight and rolling resistance.

try running a marathon in hiking boots.

I just bought my HHR 3 days ago. when i was initally checking it out, the dash said 22.5 avg mpg. I filled to 3/4 tank with 87 octane the first night, and that tank netted me avg 31.4 at the pump today when I filled up. I had gone a distance of 269 miles on 1/2 tank. This time I used 89 octane(mid grade)...I will have to let you know what kind of mileage I see on this tank.

I drive up to 130 miles a day...65-70% freeway speeds and backroads with 2500 rpm cruising speed. avg MPH tonight was 54.

I bought my car for 3 reasons.
to save money on fuel
to begin a new life with a new(to me) vehicle
to retire my 174k mile Lincoln Mark VIII.

Yeah Smokey, I am going to do the same tests. But keep in mind with a new engine thats not totally broken in your mileage will probably be a little lower.. I only have 800 miles on mine and the first tank I avg. 26.1 and the second tank was 26.4. I do 60% city driving and do sit in traffic a lot. After this next tank I will see how premium affects performance and mileage.

What really irritates me is how some gas stations charge 30 cents more for premium. thats ridiculous.

Yeah Smokey, I am going to do the same tests. But keep in mind with a new engine thats not totally broken in your mileage will probably be a little lower.. I only have 800 miles on mine and the first tank I avg. 26.1 and the second tank was 26.4. I do 60% city driving and do sit in traffic a lot. After this next tank I will see how premium affects performance and mileage.

What really irritates me is how some gas stations charge 30 cents more for premium. thats ridiculous.


What irritates me is how some gas stations charge more for using a credit card-like we all carry around tons of cash for gas these days.

Also-what irritates me is how some of you 'country' folks that consider your little 'villages' as city driving and complain about getting only 20 mpg. Us REAL city folk have to deal with REAL city driving. Try bumper to bumper traffic for 2 hours and you will cry when you calculate your actual milage to be 12 miles per gallon from a 4 cylinder engine. :nuts:

Forget the DIC-for real gas milage, check your odometer reading, then next time you get gas, subtract that from your new milage. Divide the number of gallons into that number and you will get your true gas milage.

I just noticed the red angry face, and hope that nobody took offense at my attempt at humor. It kills me when I check my milage and find these near-single digit readings. But when you are stuck in traffic and not moving for 45 minutes with the air conditioning on, you are burning gas and getting 0 mpg. Even if you drive on the highway and get a 30 mpg trip, it still averages out to just 15 mpg in the end.

What irritates me is how some gas stations charge more for using a credit card-like we all carry around tons of cash for gas these days.

You guys get charged more for using plastic in the city? :eek: I can't think of anywhere around here that does that. Is it an additional set fee of like $1 or $2 or do they charge you more per gallon? :confused:

You guys get charged more for using plastic in the city? :eek: I can't think of anywhere around here that does that. Is it like an additional set fee like $1 or $2 or do they charge you more per gallon? :confused:

They used to do that around here as well, and to the best of my knowledge it has stopped. Except now if seems to be reversed. It was always something like 3.00 cash and 3.10 for credit. Now they have the interest rates so high that it is cheaper here to use credit, if you pay the balance off after each month. Gas station up the street charges right now 3.15 for 87 and 2.90 for 87 with their credit card. They charge like 25.99% interest every month though :eek:

You guys get charged more for using plastic in the city? :eek: I can't think of anywhere around here that does that. Is it an additional set fee of like $1 or $2 or do they charge you more per gallon? :confused:

More per gallon. But the station near my house that used to do that has stopped-probably noticed that he had fewer customers. Funny thing is he charges the same for full service that the station across the street charges for self serve, so I prefered to go there until he added for the credit card. Now I am back:smile:

More per gallon. But the station near my house that used to do that has stopped-probably noticed that he had fewer customers. Funny thing is he charges the same for full service that the station across the street charges for self serve, so I prefered to go there until he added for the credit card. Now I am back:smile:

Are there still Full Service stations out there?

Are there still Full Service stations out there?

New Jersey Turnpike.

Potomac, Maryland.

Bethesda, Maryland.

And in Potomac and Bethesda, you pay MORE for full service. They post it at the pumps and they have a sign. The people that live in those areas can afford it. I have never seen so many Bentleys in one place than Potomac, Maryland. The two door sports Bentley. Very sweet. But folks that live in Potomac, Maryland, start their winter fires by rolling up a $100 bill, lighting it on fire and throwing it in the fireplace. Sick man, very sick...

I did an unofficial gas milage study today with my 2.4L automatic HHR.

I drove over to central Florida on a flat stretch of road with a 55 mph speed limit. I set the cruise for 55, and over a 40 mile stretch I was getting (DIC Meter) 38 mpg. Coming back on the same road with cruise set at 60 mph the DIC said I was getting 33 mpg.

I'm not sure why the 5 mpg drop in gas milage with only a 5 mph increase in speed, but that is what DIC said.:lol:

That's what happens when you listen to a DIC!!

I check tire pressure frequently, I use fuel injector cleaners periodically, I installed a K&N air filter, I use premium gas, and I run red light’s to avoid burning gas while stopped. I get about 19mpg hardly any Highway miles. I know it sux but oh well ill figure out how to raise that number sooner than later. Also just for a unreal happy moment I love to reset the MPG DIC while in the middle of going 40-55 mph. I like to see it read 30+ MPG even if it only last until the next stop.

I got only 21MPG on my recent highway trip :( .....





But I was towing my motorcycle, had the A/C on the whole way, terrible headwind on the way down and was driving through the smoky mountains for a good bit of the trip too :D Not bad IMO. Oh and when towing, it drove much better with premium gas. I don't notice much of a difference normally between the grades but it really did seem to help when towing.

I didn't say full throttle and hard braking, I mentioned strong acceleration. More specifically you should accelerate hard but let off before hitting 75% of redline rpm which is around 4875 rpm keeping in mind the dash tach may be off by a couple hundred so let's say keep it below 4500 to be safe. Once 1000 miles are up, all bets are off and redline (6500) is fair game if you're so inclined. You want maximum cylinder pressure during break-in to seat the rings.

This can be accomplished by leaving stoplights or stop signs briskly, staying below 4500rpm as above and letting off once you're at or near the posted speed limit or 4500rpm whichever comes first.

This practice should only be engaged in when the oil temp is @ 180 or above.

Our 06' (HHRUMPH) was taken off the show room floor with 14 miles on her. Drove her home (70 miles) at 70 MPH with the spped control set. Have been driving her at 70 to 80 MPH on hiway, and get between 24 to 35 MPG, with A/C on, speed control set, kicked back listening to XM.
For the last three weeks the wind has blown so hard that I was getting 43 MPG down wind, 24 MPG up wind @ 65 MPH. Now have over 40K. . Not broke in yet !! Still runs strong :bow:

This week sometime, I will be picking up 08 HHR 2.4 auto, I will use this thread to post my MPG as they rack up. From what I have been reading, I will use the DIC and also check by hand, and post any variances.

What speed do you run on the freeway? The Ecotec's maximum fuel efficiency, I've found, hits right around 65mph. Any slower or faster and economy suffers. With the HHR if you have no lowering suspension, it also helps to have some weight in the back end, weighing it down enough to cut down on drag.

Try 59-62. I'm getting 36mpg on the highway in the flats. 28+ in the city.

This week sometime, I will be picking up 08 HHR 2.4 auto, I will use this thread to post my MPG as they rack up. From what I have been reading, I will use the DIC and also check by hand, and post any variances.

You won't see any significant difference. 5432 miles so far and it has mever been more than 3% off.

Our 06' (HHRUMPH) was taken off the show room floor with 14 miles on her. Drove her home (70 miles) at 70 MPH with the spped control set. Have been driving her at 70 to 80 MPH on hiway, and get between 24 to 35 MPG, with A/C on, speed control set, kicked back listening to XM.
For the last three weeks the wind has blown so hard that I was getting 43 MPG down wind, 24 MPG up wind @ 65 MPH. Now have over 40K. . Not broke in yet !! Still runs strong :bow:

Strange, mine broke in at 500 miles.

What irritates me is how some gas stations charge more for using a credit card-like we all carry around tons of cash for gas these days.

Also-what irritates me is how some of you 'country' folks that consider your little 'villages' as city driving and complain about getting only 20 mpg. Us REAL city folk have to deal with REAL city driving. Try bumper to bumper traffic for 2 hours and you will cry when you calculate your actual milage to be 12 miles per gallon from a 4 cylinder engine. :nuts:

Forget the DIC-for real gas milage, check your odometer reading, then next time you get gas, subtract that from your new milage. Divide the number of gallons into that number and you will get your true gas milage.

You don't trust a computer. Used a calculator lately? Its a computer too...lol

I did an unofficial gas milage study today with my 2.4L automatic HHR.

I drove over to central Florida on a flat stretch of road with a 55 mph speed limit. I set the cruise for 55, and over a 40 mile stretch I was getting (DIC Meter) 38 mpg. Coming back on the same road with cruise set at 60 mph the DIC said I was getting 33 mpg.

I'm not sure why the 5 mpg drop in gas milage with only a 5 mph increase in speed, but that is what DIC said.:lol:

Because the computer is trying to teach you something. 55 great, 60 good, 62 ok, 65 so-so, 65+ not so good, 70+ bad, 75+ you don't really care about mileage

Filled my gas tank today at lunch time.The gift tank of gas(I'm presuming regular grade) from the dealer netted me 23.59 m.p.g. by calculation,not the DIC.This was for 313 miles of mixed use driving(odo read 11 miles when I picked it up)I filled it with regular this time.This Saturday my daughter and I will be taking a 3 1/2 hour trip(each way) to northern lower Michigan and I'm gonna try mixing some 89 or 91 octane during the trip just to see if I notice a difference in performance and/or mileage.
Tony
2LT,2.4 engine,5 speed trans.
I love my manny tranny!Clutches RULE!

Filled my gas tank today at lunch time.The gift tank of gas(I'm presuming regular grade) from the dealer netted me 23.59 m.p.g. by calculation,not the DIC.This was for 313 miles of mixed use driving(odo read 11 miles when I picked it up)I filled it with regular this time.This Saturday my daughter and I will be taking a 3 1/2 hour trip(each way) to northern lower Michigan and I'm gonna try mixing some 89 or 91 octane during the trip just to see if I notice a difference in performance and/or mileage.
Tony
2LT,2.4 engine,5 speed trans.
I love my manny tranny!Clutches RULE!

Clutches do RULE. I'll save you 5-10% on your next fuel-up. Use 87. Reset trip b odo, avg mpg, and avg speed. Keep it UNDER 69mph. Youll get 30+. DONE. That was simple.

Sad thing is that I used to get 31 m.p.g. on the highway with a 93 Cavalier 3.1 v-6 automatic wagon with the cruise set on 72 m.p.h.

this last tank of gas I averaged 31.2 mpg and thats all town driving. i was getting 26-27 but Ive starting slowing down since gas is over 4 bucks.

this last tank of gas I averaged 31.2 mpg and thats all town driving. i was getting 26-27 but Ive starting slowing down since gas is over 4 bucks.

Does your car have an engine? Did you push it around? Are you bad at math?
By town driving do mean city streets with plenty of stop signs and stop lights?

yeah plenty of stop and go slow take offs i have babied this last tank and i did forget to mention its the 2.2

I wonder why they only post 24.4 MPG? I have a 2006 2.4 LT and get 32-34 on the highway and about 26-28 in the city. This is great vehicle and GM needs to beef up their advertiements. The look, style and driveability of this vehicle is phenominal. A+

Sad thing is that I used to get 31 m.p.g. on the highway with a 93 Cavalier 3.1 v-6 automatic wagon with the cruise set on 72 m.p.h.

Tha car under todays fuel economy tests (2008) the 93 cavalier 3.1 3 speed auto woud rate 18-26mpg, in 1993 your sticker said 20-28mpg. So although I want to believe you. I THINK YOU ARE MISTAKEN. Realize that the extensive and precise test performed to establish these rates are far beyond what you could hope to duplicate. So please, I respectfully disagree...along with science, General Motors and the EPA.

BTW, all HHR's wil get better gas mileage assuming the same conditions, fuel, driver etc than any unmodified 93 cavalier ever could dream. At worst 21-29mpg, so if I do "take your word for it" then we all should be at 34mpg on the highway at 72.

I boast/brag/beat my chest over my mileage, and

I CANT GET 34MPG AT 72mph ON CRUISE FOR ANY SIGNIFICANT LENGTH.

Sometimes I'm way too serious though, maybe I missed your sarcasm.

Tha car under todays fuel economy tests (2008) the 93 cavalier 3.1 3 speed auto woud rate 18-26mpg, in 1993 your sticker said 20-28mpg. So although I want to believe you. I THINK YOU ARE MISTAKEN. Realize that the extensive and precise test performed to establish these rates are far beyond what you could hope to duplicate. So please, I respectfully disagree...along with science, General Motors and the EPA.

BTW, all HHR's wil get better gas mileage assuming the same conditions, fuel, driver etc than any unmodified 93 cavalier ever could dream. At worst 21-29mpg, so if I do "take your word for it" then we all should be at 34mpg on the highway at 72.

I boast/brag/beat my chest over my mileage, and

I CANT GET 34MPG AT 72mph ON CRUISE FOR ANY SIGNIFICANT LENGTH.

Sometimes I'm way too serious though, maybe I missed your sarcasm.

I on the other hand I believe him not a problem. My dad is driving a 1990 Pontiac Grand Am and gets 32 mpg on every tank. Thats 97% in town 3% highway, so I have no problem believing that.

I on the other hand I believe him not a problem. My dad is driving a 1990 Pontiac Grand Am and gets 32 mpg on every tank. Thats 97% in town 3% highway, so I have no problem believing that.

I am not at all saying that it is impossible......just very unlikely that trained coporate professionals with everything to gain by "claiming" super high mileage would miss such a STAGGERING difference in fuel economy IN THEIR FAVOR!!!

What I believe is what I have seen before. People believe they get better mileage than they actually do. It's even more difficult to believe on the highway since these guys are claiming a 3-SPEED auto. If the car was abnormally aerodynamic (it is most certainly not) I might give what you say some benifit of the doubt. The weight difference is a non factor since we are talking about the highway.

Ill say it again. If your getting 32mpg from a car at 72mph that scientifically proven to deliver a minimum 26mpg at 55-60mph, you are mistaken.

I submit that you would be lucky to return 24-25mpg in a 93 cavalier 3 speed auto at 72mph on cruise.

I will be a better HHR forum member and begin some tests. Youtube video, scan guage data, other people driving my beloved SS (yikes) to show the difference the driver makes, maybe even me driving a rental HHR 2.4 and 2.2 on my regular routes just to prove some of my theories. This type of thing is why I became a Chemical Engineer in the first place.

Can the moderator or whoever is in "charge" of this forum tell me how I would go about that. This is the first forum I have ever contributed to and I do not know the rules of posting, bandwidth, server speed and all that mumbo jumbo if it applies. We could all benifit from this MORE THAN data-less sarcastic remarks about the 77mpg My 197X, 198X, 199X, could get at 90mph back in the day!

I used to go to Hershey,Pa. for the big swap meet/car show.Back in 1999(the onl year for which I still have the gas log)I got 31.62 m.p.g.($1.30/gallon,btw) going there to the gas/lunch/potty break that I took about 125 miles from Hershey.The return trip(with higher alcohol content Pennsylvania gas) with the cruise set at 72 got me 30.43 m.p.g at the fill up in Toledo,Ohio,420 miles later.

I used to go to Hershey,Pa. for the big swap meet/car show.Back in 1999(the onl year for which I still have the gas log)I got 31.62 m.p.g.($1.30/gallon,btw) going there to the gas/lunch/potty break that I took about 125 miles from Hershey.The return trip(with higher alcohol content Pennsylvania gas) with the cruise set at 72 got me 30.43 m.p.g at the fill up in Toledo,Ohio,420 miles later.

It was YOUR car, so I cannot tell YOU what gas mileage YOU got in YOUR car. If you did keep a gas log, then that is the proof. You may have had one lean-running 3.1, your speedo may have been off by +10mph, or the conditions on that specific day/route/terrain may have benifited you. Either way,you should have kept that car....lol.

I would have kept it but like most J bodies(especially the later ones-the body dies were worn out and tolerances went away)it had water leak issues at the cowl/windshield area.The water eventually wasted the (in)convenience center on the '93 and made for some interesting electrical tricks.We had an '88 Cavalier wagon prior to the '93.That one had a severe windshield leak that was only cured by a woman who turned left in front of us and totalled the car out(3 months after it was paid off!).

I just got my HHR last week. I usually judge MPG by several tanks averaged to get a good idea what I am getting, but after filling her up to the top for the first time still had 1/4th tank left, it shows to be getting right at 27mpg. This is 2/3rds city and 1/3rd city-hwy driving. It also included about 45 minutes of parking with the engine running. It is a 2008 HHR Shadow Special Edition with the 2.2 engine and has about 400 miles on it now. I would expect this will improve as it breaks in after a few thousand miles, as other chevy's I have owned/own did. Note that this is driving in summer temps of 90+ degrees with the AC running on max/recycled air. While I drive very hard, I am taking it easy most of the time on the takeoff just to get a picture of what it does with a normal driver and not my lead foot...LOL

I would have kept it but like most J bodies(especially the later ones-the body dies were worn out and tolerances went away)it had water leak issues at the cowl/windshield area.The water eventually wasted the (in)convenience center on the '93 and made for some interesting electrical tricks.We had an '88 Cavalier wagon prior to the '93.That one had a severe windshield leak that was only cured by a woman who turned left in front of us and totalled the car out(3 months after it was paid off!).

Sorry about to hear about the car dude.
I forgot to specify that the HHR is less of a "brick" than the 93 cavalier...... .354 HHR beats the .40 cavalier, so at all speeds....even higher than 70mph the HHR should get better mileage. So maybe I should stop over at Lordstown tomorrow and let those guys know that they need to bring the 3.1 back?

We got great highway mileage with our 2002 Grand Prix with the 3.1L; city mileage sucked though. That car got 17 or so in town and 30-31 hwy vs the HHR at 20 in town/ 28-30 hwy. Overall for the driving we do the HHR does better than the grand prix. Plus the 3.1L has more mechanical issues(intake manifold gasket for one) in general. The ecotec is a much better motor.

We got great highway mileage with our 2002 Grand Prix with the 3.1L; city mileage sucked though. That car got 17 or so in town and 30-31 hwy vs the HHR at 20 in town/ 28-30 hwy. Overall for the driving we do the HHR does better than the grand prix. Plus the 3.1L has more mechanical issues(intake manifold gasket for one) in general. The ecotec is a much better motor.


Yeah..... I (and most of the world) knows that the ecotec is better in all aspects than the 3.1. for mileage, emmisions, power, durability,so on an so forth. In addition the cd is higher in those older cavaliers so the hhr suffers from less (head on) drag. This is why I can't quite put my finger on why (now 2 people) are getting better mileage on the highway than the hhr with old 3.1 cavy/grandprix. I would even say gearing or weight, but those will affect city mileage more than highway, and no one has yet to say the 3.1 is better in the city (quite the opposite) than the ecotec.

I'm stumped.

I guess I'll put a 3.1 on my HHRSS...no wait lol, I have 100 more hp and I reset my DIC at the last fuel up, ran down to stow and back to cleveland. 34.3mpg and I tried to annoy this S6 Audi on the way back home. Ill keep the ecotec

Gearing has a lot to do with highway mileage.The '93 Cavalier had a 2.53 final drive ratio with a 1:1 3rd gear.My '88 2.8 Cavalier had a 2.73 final drive with a 1:1 3rd gear.The HHR has a 4.17 final drive along with a 5th gear ratio of about .70 which would make the ratio a 2.92-more revs for a give road speed.
BTW,the average mileage for my '93 Cavalier was always 22-24 m.p.g.

Gearing has a lot to do with highway mileage.The '93 Cavalier had a 2.53 final drive ratio with a 1:1 3rd gear.My '88 2.8 Cavalier had a 2.73 final drive with a 1:1 3rd gear.The HHR has a 4.17 final drive along with a 5th gear ratio of about .70 which would make the ratio a 2.92-more revs for a give road speed.
BTW,the average mileage for my '93 Cavalier was always 22-24 m.p.g.

Very true. I had no idea that the older j bodies had such high gearing. That combine with specific driving situations and possible lean a/f ratios from the factory could offer a resonable explanation for the much better than sticker mileage. Too bad (yeah I hear the HP lovers cringing) we did'nt have a higher gear ratio...or 6th speed (see im not so bad after all).

The new cavy gets 36 on the highway, so if I drove that and had 20% better mileage than the sticker like I get in the hhr, 43mpg highway should be possible?????

It was done because of the lack of an overdrive automatic trans that would fit in the car.When the J car was revised for 1995 room was made for the 4 speed automatic.Only the early (1982)manual trans cars were 4 speeds.Five speeds came in during the 1983 model year.

Just some notes i have over the last 10k miles...

2008 LT2 Panel
2.4L Auto
70-80% hwy 75mph or less.

The trans seems to stay locked when getting out of the throttle, so i've found that bumping it to neutral helps...about 1mpg. This was an annoyance to me, so that's my fix for now. Anyone know if the TCI transmission computers works on the auto? I'm looking into reprogramming the shift points and TC lockup to keep it from not upshifting and unlocking when it should be.

Mileage:
Winter: 24.5mpg.... a few minutes of warm-up each morning.
Spring: 28.5mpg on the last tank.
Summer: looking for 29+ when it gets hot out....i don't run the A/C much.

Speed: this is definitely a biggie.
45mph~40+mpg
55mph~35 mpg
65mph~33 mpg
70-75mph~28-29 mpg
75-80mph~23-25 mpg
...all from the DIC on level ground.

As for high mileage in the city with lots of stop and go... i find it hard to believe that any non-hybrid/unmodified vehicle with similar power and weight will get much better than 20mpg under those conditions...just about any vehicle with a DIC will show that when taking off from a stop around 4-10mpg no matter how fast you accel. The laws of physics still apply here on earth...someone let me know if i'm wrong here.

And for anyone that is thinking about a HHO generator to improve mileage....they do work! 10-20% improvement from what i've seen. You just have to be careful on the other modifications that are needed to make sure you don't use more gas or have a meltdown. Also, be very leery of some of the poorly built units as they have design flaws that could cause serious damage. Do your homework on these...which is what i'm doing now. Oh and the HHO isn't helping like you may think, it's really helping the combustion efficiency of the gas that is already in the chamber.

Just some notes i have over the last 10k miles...

2008 LT2 Panel
2.4L Auto
70-80% hwy 75mph or less.

The trans seems to stay locked when getting out of the throttle, so i've found that bumping it to neutral helps...about 1mpg. This was an annoyance to me, so that's my fix for now. Anyone know if the TCI transmission computers works on the auto? I'm looking into reprogramming the shift points and TC lockup to keep it from not upshifting and unlocking when it should be.

Mileage:
Winter: 24.5mpg.... a few minutes of warm-up each morning.
Spring: 28.5mpg on the last tank.
Summer: looking for 29+ when it gets hot out....i don't run the A/C much.

Speed: this is definitely a biggie.
45mph~40+mpg
55mph~35 mpg
65mph~33 mpg
70-75mph~28-29 mpg
75-80mph~23-25 mpg
...all from the DIC on level ground.

As for high mileage in the city with lots of stop and go... i find it hard to believe that any non-hybrid/unmodified vehicle with similar power and weight will get much better than 20mpg under those conditions...just about any vehicle with a DIC will show that when taking off from a stop around 4-10mpg no matter how fast you accel. The laws of physics still apply here on earth...someone let me know if i'm wrong here.

And for anyone that is thinking about a HHO generator to improve mileage....they do work! 10-20% improvement from what i've seen. You just have to be careful on the other modifications that are needed to make sure you don't use more gas or have a meltdown. Also, be very leery of some of the poorly built units as they have design flaws that could cause serious damage. Do your homework on these...which is what i'm doing now. Oh and the HHO isn't helping like you may think, it's really helping the combustion efficiency of the gas that is already in the chamber.

I respectfully disagree with the HHO. All I can say is that everything in my Chemical Engineering degree cries foul when people bring this subject up. I don't want to write a thousand pages here. So let me simplifiy.

Its crap.

No offense to anyone who has this system, or wants, or believes. No matter how you cut it, they don't help. I can't say if they hurt. But please don't waste too much money here. If you can get it to work on my vehicle and I see 39-43mpg on the highway (10-20% improvement over my current flat ground warm weather, no wind average mpg over extended trips) Ill pay you 5 times what you paid for the system. No questions asked.

People lie to you. I started a thread about this.

Again I repeat, by all means do what you want with YOUR hhr, i am not telling you what to do.....just what WILL and WON'T work.

The whole problem is one of PEBSAGP (Problem Exists Between Seat And Gas Pedal). Yes there are some other issues out of our control like wind, gas quality, MTBE additives, traffic and some in our control like tire inflation, weight in the vehicle, extra attachments on top of the vehicle and use of the cruise control. But the biggest way to get the best gas mileage is to drive consciously. So many people put their mind on cruise control when they drive they are not aware what they do to kill good gas mileage.

I drive a 2LT with 2.4 and 5 speed manual. My commute is about 35 mile round trip, with about 20 miles on the highway. Over the last four tanks I have gotten 27 – 28 MPG. I use the cruise control, coast and keep my foot out of the pedal as much as possible. I shift at 3000 rpms and do not start hard from the light.

So my best and really only advice is to Drive Consciously.

The whole problem is one of PEBSAGP (Problem Exists Between Seat And Gas Pedal). Yes there are some other issues out of our control like wind, gas quality, MTBE additives, traffic and some in our control like tire inflation, weight in the vehicle, extra attachments on top of the vehicle and use of the cruise control. But the biggest way to get the best gas mileage is to drive consciously. So many people put their mind on cruise control when they drive they are not aware what they do to kill good gas mileage.

I drive a 2LT with 2.4 and 5 speed manual. My commute is about 35 mile round trip, with about 20 miles on the highway. Over the last four tanks I have gotten 27 – 28 MPG. I use the cruise control, coast and keep my foot out of the pedal as much as possible. I shift at 3000 rpms and do not start hard from the light.

So my best and really only advice is to Drive Consciously.

True...True. As for the stop and go, if your car is warmed up, and the road is relatively flat, and you are not in NYC-DC-SFBAY etc parking lots called interstates just push and glide. The 4-10mpg during the push will be balanced out with the 99+mpg during the glide. Youll be suprised how far this car will glide with just a small blip of the pedal. I do routinely get 25+ mpg in the concrete jungle.

I have found that 17,000 miles was the break in point for my HHR.

Up until that I would travel to St. Louis (about 300 miles) between 65 and 70 and the most I got was 29.9 mpg.

Now the car has 18,000 miles on it and the mileage has started to go up. This last trip to St. Louis it I was looking at 33.2 mpg. Would have been better if the wife hadn't had to make 3 different pit stops :) :thumb:

Cruise control still sucks with it. The slighest inclines the car thinks it has to grab a gear to get up up it and sometimes it thinks it needs to grab two gears and tach 4200 up the hill.

I have learned to anticipate the hills and tap the break to turn cruise off up the hill and turn it back on at the top of the hill.

I have found that 17,000 miles was the break in point for my HHR.

Up until that I would travel to St. Louis (about 300 miles) between 65 and 70 and the most I got was 29.9 mpg.

Now the car has 18,000 miles on it and the mileage has started to go up. This last trip to St. Louis it I was looking at 33.2 mpg. Would have been better if the wife hadn't had to make 3 different pit stops :) :thumb:

Cruise control still sucks with it. The slighest inclines the car thinks it has to grab a gear to get up up it and sometimes it thinks it needs to grab two gears and tach 4200 up the hill.

I have learned to anticipate the hills and tap the break to turn cruise off up the hill and turn it back on at the top of the hill.

I forgot, thats also with 89 octane.

Have a 2007 2LT - consistently get 30-31 on hiway. Use the cruise control which is a must with any car to get best fuel economy. If you have a lot of hills which cause downshift, you will see a drop in mpg. One of the advantages of a lrger engine is less downshift and better economy. My G6 consistenly gets 31-33 highway with the 3.5l engine. The 2.4l in the HHR gets lsightly less.

Have a 2007 2LT - consistently get 30-31 on hiway. Use the cruise control which is a must with any car to get best fuel economy. If you have a lot of hills which cause downshift, you will see a drop in mpg. One of the advantages of a lrger engine is less downshift and better economy. My G6 consistenly gets 31-33 highway with the 3.5l engine. The 2.4l in the HHR gets lsightly less.

You can easily beat cruise mpg on the highway if there are hills of even slight grades. However this will require more attention than most (including myself) are willing to give. The difference in 18-28mpg g6 4dr 3.5l v6 and 21-28mpg hhr 2.4l 4cyl, both autos, will be minimal if any because of the similar cd, and weight. The bigger engine almost always loses in the city, and the extra torque and probably better gearing (or simply being able to hold a higher gear at a given uphill grade) will help the g6 out on the highway. Do you live in a hilly area??

i'm surprised at the low mileage people.
i've had this thing for about two months, and the lowest the DIC ever went was 23mpg 100% city driving(2.4LT manual with 87 octane). it has 57, 000 miles on it, 17 inch tires(higher rolling resistance), and i'm not afraid to punch it once in a while(although i've been accelerating more slowly cause i love watching the MPG go higher and higher).
i drove behind a big rig(not draughting, really, he was two seconds ahead) for the last hour of a long trip, and reset the DIC. i picked this particular truck, because he had a heavy load. so, when he went up a hill, he would slow from 60 down to 55 or 50. if i drove like that with no big truck in front of me as an excuse, everyone would be honking at me and gettin' all aggressive and angry, so that's why i stayed behind him. driving in this style, the MPG climbed and climbed all the way up to FORTY THREE MILES PER GALLON!!! i couldn't believe it. there were two adults, two teenagers, and a 5 yr. old with all our luggage stacked as high as the headrests.

if i drive at 70-75 MPH, i get around 32 MPG, 34-36 MPG at 60- 65 MPH. driving conservative(keep her in fifth gear as much as possible), i can get 26 in the city.

this thing rocks. i only joined the forum to tell the world(of disappointed hhr owners...*boggle!*...who posted sad economy numbers) how amazing it is.

although i'm canadian, this is an american vehicle(perhaps from a police auction or something). i'm old enough to remember what a mile is, and i love the miles per hour and miles per gallon thing. adds to the retro feel, eh!?

cheers, y'all.

Right on -i like!-....Many of us are surprised at low mileage.

I Can't complain Bought my 08 Last weekend and went to IN for the 4th. HHR has 180 miles on it when i left. I avg 26.1mpg doing 80mph 50% of the time i was on the Express way.

I noticed a vast improvement in mileage after 6,000 miles, another increase after 8,000 miles. I get lower mileage with the Alcohol (10%) then regular gas. I have the 2.4 H2 auto. I get 24 arround town and 30+ on the highway. If you use the auto start the mileage is lower. I also have the factory 17" wheeles. :nuts: :one:

vast differance in mileage between 89 and 92 octane gas,3 to 4 mpg

89 octane
70% freeway
20%around town
10% bumper-to-bumper traffic/idling
06 2LT

current avg MPG is 29.9

I've hit 30.5

I have not reset my DIC fuel AVG meter in 80+ days.
I drive it 5 days a week as a commuter, + weekends.

if my car got any less than 26, I'd sell it. That's the whole reason I parked my 4000 lb V8 25.8 mpg Lincoln Mark VIII...was for better fuel mileage. If my 2.4 liter 2LT couldnt beat a 14+ yr old domestic V8 in fuel efficiency, it wouldnt be in my driveway.

vast differance in mileage between 89 and 92 octane gas,3 to 4 mpg

I've noticed none. Cruise at 60mph, flat road, warm day, little wind, 35+psi tires, no a/c.....36mpg.....for hundreds of miles, 87 octane and the exact same on 94 in a TURBO SS.....

I've never seen any mpg difference with 93 octane vs 87 octane except my wallet get lighter using 93 octane.

Bumped up to 89 octane from 87 and saw a slight mileage increase(which may or may not be attributable to racking up miles on the car-just a bit over 1750 as of today)but haven't detected any performance improvement.Will be trying some 93 soon to see if there's any mileage/performance improvement.

The main difference in using higher octane is that the computer bumps up the timing a little so you get better performance. (Or does it retard the timing a little if you use lower octane to avoid engine knock?)

The main difference in using higher octane is that the computer bumps up the timing a little so you get better performance. (Or does it retard the timing a little if you use lower octane to avoid engine knock?)

Doesn't matter according to my experience. You will see no difference. If there was, you would notice in an SS faster than any 2.2, or 2.4. So If I am experiencing NO DIFFERENCE, you are experiencing LESS THAN NO DIFFERENCE

So far I haven't noticed any difference in performance between 87 and 89 gas.Slightly better gas mileage but not much(on the order of 1 m.p.g.)I'll try 91 soon and see if that does anything.

So far I haven't noticed any difference in performance between 87 and 89 gas.Slightly better gas mileage but not much(on the order of 1 m.p.g.)I'll try 91 soon and see if that does anything.

I COULDNT TELL BETWEEN 87 AND 94OCTANE. How could you possibly tell between 87 and 89 or 91?? I could not determine any difference over thousands of miles on each.. I dont think I have use any grade other than 94 and 87. 89...91...93 I don't bother. Gimme the go-go juice...or keep it cheap.

Have the 2LT with 2.4L automatic mostly highway driving - consistently get 28-30 mpg. Notice that the trans kicks down on hills which drives mpg down. As someone pointed out, if you approach a hill, cut the cruise off!!! Have about 12K miles and have not noticed any appreciable change - use 90 octane 10% gasahol consistently.

I've got almost 7000 miles on my 2.4 and gas mileage has been decreasing.
From when I got it in February through June I was getting mileage around 28 in mixed driving.
Then it started to slowly decrease and now is at 26. The only change is a different oil filter and colder AC setting. I was using AC from when I got the car (Florida), now it's just at a colder setting. I've been running a mixture of 89 and 92 gas or 10% gas since I got it.
Could having the AC temp lower effect my mileage? Could the oil filter?

Just a thought. What kind of gas are you guys using? I'm getting 30mpg highway but I only use over 91 octane. The manual says to never use less than 91 (NEVER 87). It also says, if you use 87 and start to hear knocking, get to the shop.

Just a thought. What kind of gas are you guys using? I'm getting 30mpg highway but I only use over 91 octane. The manual says to never use less than 91 (NEVER 87). It also says, if you use 87 and start to hear knocking, get to the shop.

lol, have you read thelast 20 or so pages of this ongoing thread??

If you dont have an SS, and don't race in the heat. 87 is all you need. Anything higher is just money out of your pocket.

The last tank mileage was just under 29 m.p.g. on 89 octane gas.That tankful had about 1/3 highway,2/3 mixed type driving on it.The mileage is improving with the engine breaking in(just under 2200 miles as of today).

Just a thought. What kind of gas are you guys using? I'm getting 30mpg highway but I only use over 91 octane. The manual says to never use less than 91 (NEVER 87). It also says, if you use 87 and start to hear knocking, get to the shop.

Do you have an SS? In the non-SS manuals, If you re-read the manual, it states that 91 (or 93 I forget which) is RECOMMENDED but not necessary.

Just a thought. What kind of gas are you guys using? I'm getting 30mpg highway but I only use over 91 octane. The manual says to never use less than 91 (NEVER 87). It also says, if you use 87 and start to hear knocking, get to the shop.

The manual says never to use Below 87 octane. 87 octane is acceptable, but may reduce performance.

Went on the mother of road trips Michigan to Houston, TX from there to Mrytle Beach, SC and then back to Michigan. With side trips over 4,000 miles. HHR drove great and got between 29.8 and 32.4 depending on weather and Hills. Not bad at all. My sitbones are hurting.

Do you have an SS? In the non-SS manuals, If you re-read the manual, it states that 91 (or 93 I forget which) is RECOMMENDED but not necessary.

I'm sure it's 91 because some states don't have anything over. Even the SS with the tune can run on 91.

I people are intent on wasting money. To each their own.

Went on the mother of road trips Michigan to Houston, TX from there to Mrytle Beach, SC and then back to Michigan. With side trips over 4,000 miles. HHR drove great and got between 29.8 and 32.4 depending on weather and Hills. Not bad at all. My sitbones are hurting.

LOL, my sit bones hurt after 250 miless, let alone 4000

Im very disappointed in my fuel mileage with my new 2008 2LT HHR. It has allmost 3k on it now,I changed the oil over to Mobile 1 @ about 950 miles, have a light foot and my DIC says im getting combined 20 mpg.

Sucks, Im going to take her back into the dealership and have her checked out. Other than my Mileage, I LOVE this baby.

Sure turns ALOT of heads;)

took my '07 on it's first road trip, a weeks worth of around town prior and DIC indicated 27.9 while math came out to 29.55 mpg. Return trip with 3 days around town DIC at 28.0 and calculated fill up at 30.15 mpg, at 72 mph with A/C on :thumb:

Im very disappointed in my fuel mileage with my new 2008 2LT HHR. It has allmost 3k on it now,I changed the oil over to Mobile 1 @ about 950 miles, have a light foot and my DIC says im getting combined 20 mpg.

Sucks, Im going to take her back into the dealership and have her checked out. Other than my Mileage, I LOVE this baby.

Sure turns ALOT of heads;)

You might want to take a hard look at your commute....
Check out this thread..http://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16818
While doing this, I kinda confirmed there is a sweet spot for mileage. 40-45mph when the torque converter locks up, the rpms drop to about 1500. If you can keep it there, you'll get probably your best mileage. Good Luck - the dealer probably "won't find anything wrong"

You might want to take a hard look at your commute....
Check out this thread..http://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16818
While doing this, I kinda confirmed there is a sweet spot for mileage. 40-45mph when the torque converter locks up, the rpms drop to about 1500. If you can keep it there, you'll get probably your best mileage. Good Luck - the dealer probably "won't find anything wrong"

Tell us more about the length of your trips each, octane, city vs highway, mileage on longer trips, speeds, auto/manual. Elevation etc. 20mpg is ABSURDLY low. As I told another person with the exact same complaint. Either you hhr is broke, or you driving is. No offense, you may just take really short trips, and always startup cold (the reason for the other members poor mileage). Log a week or so of each trip you make.

I'm pissed right now that my overal mileage has dropped to 34.4mpg 70/30 hhy/city.

Let me know.

I just went outside to check the DIC.

It said average MPG was 21.5 and my average speed was 25 mph. This is for the last 950 miles that we have driven since we re-set the trip OD.

I understand about the sweet spot for optimal milage, but im NOT going to drive 50 mph on a 70 mph Highway. Thats just NOT going to happen.

Octane is 89
Auto trans
2.4 engine
Reside in Michigan

my last tank was almost all freeway and I went 512 miles and put in 15.17 gallons thats 33.75 mpg and about 80-85% freeway with some stop and go with some hypermilling i try to drive 60-65 and i set the cruse control as often as possible. I do have a pretty good hill climbing to and from each morning I drivr over the Altamont pass here in the bay area my milage drops every day climbing it then if traffic allows I drop in to neutral and coast the down hill to get it back up (down hill is like free mileage to me) and I also take some back roads less stop and go except a few stop signs but I can set the CC at 55-60.This is with 87 Octain. My DIC said 32MPG it is usually about 1 to 1.5 mpg under which is fine with me better under then over

I just went outside to check the DIC.

It said average MPG was 21.5 and my average speed was 25 mph. This is for the last 950 miles that we have driven since we re-set the trip OD.

I understand about the sweet spot for optimal milage, but im NOT going to drive 50 mph on a 70 mph Highway. Thats just NOT going to happen.

Octane is 89
Auto trans
2.4 engine
Reside in Michigan

How are you getting a 25mph average driving 70 mph? Seems like you are doing alot of around town driving and 21.5 isnt bad for your average speed.
got me a little confused:confused: :confused: :confused:

Yesterday I drove across Florida and back 233 miles and filled up once I got home, 6.6 gallons... 35 mpg, DIC said 31? Granted most of the drive was ~55 except a 60 mile stretch on I-4 where I was the slow one at 70-75 mph.

Tell us more about the length of your trips each, octane, city vs highway, mileage on longer trips, speeds, auto/manual. Elevation etc. 20mpg is ABSURDLY low. As I told another person with the exact same complaint. Either you hhr is broke, or you driving is. No offense, you may just take really short trips, and always startup cold (the reason for the other members poor mileage). Log a week or so of each trip you make.



I'm pissed right now that my overal mileage has dropped to 34.4mpg 70/30 hhy/city.

Let me know.


I thought mine was broke. I get CRAP mileage but found out why. My commute is 2 miles to work and back so this plus after work errands work out to be about 10 miles a day M-F. It's all hills, I rarely get above 30-35 MPH so Im running around in 3rd gear most of the time. My new record LOW miles per tank was 186 and 13.73 MPG. This particular low was 2 days of driving like a fuggin madman.When I change my route and avoid the damn hills, when I can I make sure to get the TC locked up and back down to speed limit and the mileage goes up significantly. The best Ive gotten was 20MPG and this was 95% city driving, all below 40 MPH with a couple of 40 mile trips on the freeway. No cold start driving, I live in Cali and 2 minutes after start, the temp goes up. No need to warm up.

When I get on the freeway, I go 60-65 MPH and the DIC says 28-30MPG so I know its not broke. What I would really like to do is lower the speed that the TC locks up in. Ive looked into this and it seems that at least for now, nothing is available to modify the factory calibration of a 2.4 auto. I also noticed a black tailpipe but failed to disclose that I was using Lucas fuel treatment waaaay too often. I have since stopped this.

As mentioned in this thread, when you can drive in lock up mode, you get killer city mileage. Even the folks that have bumper to bumper commutes will get good mileage because they're RPMs' are still low. Its the running in 3rd/2500-3000 RPM's that will kill the mileage. I use 87 octane. Ive had it in the dealer twice and they find nothing wrong. No codes found, its my driving that's the cause.

I just went outside to check the DIC.

It said average MPG was 21.5 and my average speed was 25 mph. This is for the last 950 miles that we have driven since we re-set the trip OD.

I understand about the sweet spot for optimal milage, but im NOT going to drive 50 mph on a 70 mph Highway. Thats just NOT going to happen.

Octane is 89
Auto trans
2.4 engine
Reside in Michigan

Your average speed is very low. Mine is 37mph on this tank. Realize i drive slower than anyone not PARKED. So you must be doing 75%+ city driving. That is the only way to get such a low avg speed. The sweet spot is 40-41mpg, this is obtained at 55ish mph. Trust me, few here get 40-41mpg, and if they do, they are doing it at 55ish mpg on a flat highway , after sufficent warm up, with little interference (wind, rain, extreme temps..etc). In michigan the speeds are 5-10mph higher then in Cleveland. So you should shoot for 36mpg at 60mph. Or 34mpg at 65. At 70mphif you can manage anything over 30 your doing okay.

IMPORTANT.

These are numbers that you should see over thousands of miles. Not some TOOL quoting a one-time-trip.

I do 55ish on the highway, and the limit in the city. At 75% highway or less, I am averaging 37mph.

Your problem is your avg speed.
You should log a day or two of your typical drives and reset your odo-b,avg spd, avg mpg and see what happens.

Yesterday I drove across Florida and back 233 miles and filled up once I got home, 6.6 gallons... 35 mpg, DIC said 31? Granted most of the drive was ~55 except a 60 mile stretch on I-4 where I was the slow one at 70-75 mph.

You must not have reset your dic avg mpg at the time of the fill up. There is NO WAY it is off by that much. I have never seen it of by more than 0.25mpg in my hhr ss. I track my mileage like a fanatic, and you DIC is DEAD ON.

I thought mine was broke. I get CRAP mileage but found out why. My commute is 2 miles to work and back so this plus after work errands work out to be about 10 miles a day M-F. It's all hills, I rarely get above 30-35 MPH so Im running around in 3rd gear most of the time. My new record LOW miles per tank was 186 and 13.73 MPG. This particular low was 2 days of driving like a fuggin madman.When I change my route and avoid the damn hills, when I can I make sure to get the TC locked up and back down to speed limit and the mileage goes up significantly. The best Ive gotten was 20MPG and this was 95% city driving, all below 40 MPH with a couple of 40 mile trips on the freeway. No cold start driving, I live in Cali and 2 minutes after start, the temp goes up. No need to warm up.

When I get on the freeway, I go 60-65 MPH and the DIC says 28-30MPG so I know its not broke. What I would really like to do is lower the speed that the TC locks up in. Ive looked into this and it seems that at least for now, nothing is available to modify the factory calibration of a 2.4 auto. I also noticed a black tailpipe but failed to disclose that I was using Lucas fuel treatment waaaay too often. I have since stopped this.

As mentioned in this thread, when you can drive in lock up mode, you get killer city mileage. Even the folks that have bumper to bumper commutes will get good mileage because they're RPMs' are still low. Its the running in 3rd/2500-3000 RPM's that will kill the mileage. I use 87 octane. Ive had it in the dealer twice and they find nothing wrong. No codes found, its my driving that's the cause.


Yeah in my "Absurd Mileage" thread (sorry for being lazy an not updating) i do take a few trips on purpose to the drive thru, house shopping, and in a monsoon like rain (Browns pre season opener), just to show what these things can do to mileage. It rained so hard last Thursday that I LOOKED FOR MOSES!!!!!

I also lost my hypermiling cool and put the SMACK DOWN on a late 90's turbo eclispe (pristine condition). You know the one, women loved it's cutesy curves, the dudes all wanted the awd turbo version. Anyway, I had to represent the LNF. He began driving recklessly to keep up with me in heavy traffic. So i slowed back down to 55 and let him pass me after leaving him in the dust 3 seperate times at 90+.

The point is that my mpg for that specific trip with only 5 miles of 12.4 miles driving like Fast n Furious dropped to 28.2, I have never seen mileage below 35 all the other times i drove it. So 90% of the mileage problems here are between the steering wheel and the seat.

later

You must not have reset your dic avg mpg at the time of the fill up. There is NO WAY it is off by that much. I have never seen it of by more than 0.25mpg in my hhr ss. I track my mileage like a fanatic, and you DIC is DEAD ON.

Nope I reset it every time. I'm anal about tracking gas milage since owning cars with faulty gas guages and running out of gas a few times. I have an EXCEL spread sheet tracking the mileage of the HHR since new. The running average mileage is 30.4 mpg for nearly 36K miles. The tank to tank varies from a low of 25 to a high of 36.

Does anyone have information on how the DIC calculates the milage figure?

Im coming off of a 2003 Saturn Ion 3 and my mileage at 80mph on the Expressway was about 31 mph with the 2.3 Ecotec engine in it.

I certainly wont travel that fast in my 2008 HHR, but at 73 MPH with the cruise control set, I sure would expect to get 27-28 MPG.

Its just not happening. I think when I take a quick trip to Detriot this Wednesday, I'll go up to a tank of 91 Octane and see what happens.

Bill

I recently made a 500 mile trip from IL to MI - nice weather all the way. I have the 2.4 automatic and was using 93 octane fuel. The first several hours I had the cruise set at 60 and the DIC showed the average mileage had worked its way up to 34.0 mpg. The last few hours I bumped the speed to 70 and the average mpg shown on the DIC dropped 2.5+ mpg.

Now I know the DIC numbers are not necessarily accurate, but they are useful to show trends. My HHR seems to show "significant" decreases in mileage above 60, more than I would have anticipated.

You guys are certainly correct, most of my driving is definately around town commutes.

I recently made a 500 mile trip from IL to MI - nice weather all the way. I have the 2.4 automatic and was using 93 octane fuel. The first several hours I had the cruise set at 60 and the DIC showed the average mileage had worked its way up to 34.0 mpg. The last few hours I bumped the speed to 70 and the average mpg shown on the DIC dropped 2.5+ mpg.

Now I know the DIC numbers are not necessarily accurate, but they are useful to show trends. My HHR seems to show "significant" decreases in mileage above 60, more than I would have anticipated.

Yeah, I've tried all of this. The best FE trends I can determine goe like this

55mph =37mpg
60mph=35mpg
65mph=32.5mpg
70mph=29.5mpg
75mph=25mpg
80..well i never drive that fast long enough to know.

This is what I believe youll see if you use cruise. I dont use cruise so my number will be 2-3mpg higher across the range.

Drag is everything. Speed=fuel consumption.

Nope I reset it every time. I'm anal about tracking gas milage since owning cars with faulty gas guages and running out of gas a few times. I have an EXCEL spread sheet tracking the mileage of the HHR since new. The running average mileage is 30.4 mpg for nearly 36K miles. The tank to tank varies from a low of 25 to a high of 36.

Does anyone have information on how the DIC calculates the milage figure?

Well the proof is in the pudding, if you got 36 and the Dic said 31, then the DIC is wrong. I don't know by what mechanism it calculates it, I just know that it is nearly PERFECT everytime in my HHR. Is you DIC normally off by a lot?

Hey Cleveland....

As I mentioned in a previous post, I just completed my 4000+ mile vacation.

This is the summary of the results on gas mileage. But first a few parameters....

My intent, on this trip, was to determine if an appreciable increase in MPG would be recognized in using Premium Unleaded vs. Regular Unleaded. No extenuating driving methods were employed to gain additional MPG's.....just normal driving.

2.4 lte, 2lt, auto trans, with GMPP intake. I also have roof rails and the engineers tell me they account for a half to 1 mpg decrease.....depending on speed. Cruise Control was used exclusively for almost the entire trip and was set at whatever the legal maximum speed limit was for that section of Interstate (65, 70, 75 MPH). A/C was used on the entire trip, no exceptions. Windows were always up, unless lowering was necessitated for some action....toll booths, etc. Tire pressure was checked AND adjusted each morning, to 37 PSI, cold. Packed weight, including me, the spouse and a 20 pound dog, was 692# (weighed the luggage and boxes plus our weight).

The route from Mesa, AZ....State 87, 260, 277, 377 while climbing from an elevation of 1600ft to Interstate 40 at about 5000 ft. Although I passed through areas of 7500 ft).

I-40 to I-44 in OKC to I-70 in St. Louis to I-69 in Indianapolis to Ft. Wayne. The exact same route was used in the opposite direction (return) except, obviously, the other side of the road;) .

Top Tier, Premium Unleaded, of the highest octane at the station pump, was used in the west to east journey. On return, east to west, I used Top-Tier Regular Unleaded of at least 87 (had to use 88 at one location because of the non recommended 86).

Departed home with 19260 on the odom and a full tank of Chevron 91 Octane.

Albuquerque.....12.68 gal....91 Chevron...417 miles......32.9 mpg
El Reno, OK.......15.88 gal....91 Shell.........514 miles......32.3 mpg
Cuba, MO..........14.32 gal....93 Mobil.........452 miles......31.5 mpg
Mryland Hts, MO 2.67 gal....91 76 ............ 87 miles......32.5 mpg
Huntertwn, IN...11.92 gal....87 Sun...........391 miles......32.8 mpg.

On the return.....

Departed Huntertown, IN with 21425 on the odom. and a full tank of Sunoco 87.

Mryland Hts, MO 12.91 gal....87 Shell.........396 miles......30.6 mpg
Springfield, MO.... 6.82 gal....87 QT .........215 miles......29.1 mpg
OKC....................10.17 gal....87 Shell.........291 miles......29.7 mpg
Santa Rosa, NM..13.19 gal....88 Conoco.....420 miles......31.4 mpg
Payson, AZ..........only pumped enough 87 of Brand X into the tank to get home. I do not use "no name" or non top-tier gas in my cars. And I have not used the car or topped the tank yet.

Considerations.......on the filled tank from OKC to Santa Rosa I was stopped in a line of traffic about 4 miles long. A fatal accident occurred just inside of the NM/Tex State line. I idled the car, with A/C running, for about 1 hour. Remarkably that was the best regular unleaded MPG I recognized.

Cost of Premium Unleaded was .15 to .25 cents more than the 87 Regular Unleaded. So the 6-8% gain in mileage is probably a "wash" for most people.

Personal thoughts.....I would probably use Premium Unleaded for the trip again, IF the cost remains consistant with the difference noted above. I also will probably drive the same route at 5 mph UNDER the posted max...just to see what the difference, overall, would be.

Oh, forgot to say...the DIC was within .2 mpg of my manual calculations. But I did take my time and stuff the tank.

Hey Cleveland....

As I mentioned in a previous post, I just completed my 4000+ mile vacation.

This is the summary of the results on gas mileage. But first a few parameters....

My intent, on this trip, was to determine if an appreciable increase in MPG would be recognized in using Premium Unleaded vs. Regular Unleaded. No extenuating driving methods were employed to gain additional MPG's.....just normal driving.

2.4 lte, 2lt, auto trans, with GMPP intake. I also have roof rails and the engineers tell me they account for a half to 1 mpg.....depending on speed. Cruise Control was used exclusively for almost the entire trip and was set at whatever the legal maximum speed limit was for that section of Interstate (65, 70, 75 MPH). A/C was used on the entire trip, no exceptions. Windows were always up, unless lowering was necessitated for some action....toll booths, etc. Tire pressure was checked AND adjusted each morning, to 37 PSI, cold. Packed weight, including me, the spouse and a 20 pound dog, was 692# (weighed the luggage and boxes plus our weight).

The route from Mesa, AZ....State 87, 260, 277, 377 while climbing from an elevation of 1600ft to Interstate 40 at about 5000 ft. Although I passed through areas of 7500 ft).

I-40 to I-44 in OKC to I-70 in St. Louis to I-69 in Indianapolis to Ft. Wayne. The exact same route was used in the opposite direction (return) except, obviously, the other side of the road;) .

Top Tier, Premium Unleaded, of the highest octane at the station pump, was used in the west to east journey. On return, east to west, I used Top-Tier Regular Unleaded of at least 87 (had to use 88 at one location because of the non recommended 86).

Departed home with 19260 on the odom and a full tank of Chevron 91 Octane.

Albuquerque.....12.68 gal....91 Chevron...417 miles......32.9 mpg
El Reno, OK.......15.88 gal....91 Shell.........514 miles......32.3 mpg
Cuba, MO..........14.32 gal....93 Mobil.........452 miles......31.5 mpg
Mryland Hts, MO 2.67 gal....91 76 ............ 87 miles......32.5 mpg
Huntertwn, IN...11.92 gal....87 Sun...........391 miles......32.8 mpg.

On the return.....

Departed Huntertown, IN with 21425 on the odom. and a full tank of Sunoco 87.

Mryland Hts, MO 12.91 gal....87 Shell.........396 miles......30.6 mpg
Springfield, MO.... 6.82 gal....87 QT .........215 miles......29.1 mpg
OKC....................10.17 gal....87 Shell.........291 miles......29.7 mpg
Santa Rosa, NM..13.19 gal....88 Conoco.....420 miles......31.4 mpg
Payson, AZ..........only pumped enough 87 of Brand X into the tank to get home. I do not use "no name" or non top-tier gas in my cars. And I have not used the car or topped the tank yet.

Considerations.......on the filled tank from OKC to Santa Rosa I was stopped in a line of traffic about 4 miles long. A fatal accident occurred just inside of the NM/Tex State line. I idled the car, with A/C running, for about 1 hour. Remarkably that was the best regular unleaded MPG I recognized.

Cost of Premium Unleaded was .15 to .25 cents more than the 87 Regular Unleaded. So the 6-8% gain in mileage is probably a "wash" for most people.

Personal thoughts.....I would probably use Premium Unleaded for the trip again, IF the cost remains consistant with the difference noted above. I also will probably drive the same route at 5 mph UNDER the posted max...just to see what the difference, overall, would be.

Oh, forgot to say...the DIC was within .2 mpg of my manual calculations. But I did take my time and stuff the tank.

So maybe there IS a gain 0f 7% in mpg from 87-91. This is interesting. If this is a good test, then in a 2.4l at $4.00 per gallon, if the price of 91 over 87 is less then $0.28, then the premium is worth it. However I did notice that your first and last legs of the trip (420 miles) only differed by less than 5% $0.20 per gallon. Still, it's great information, maybe someone else with the 2.4l can check a tank or two using 87 vs 91 on their normal daily routes in the city. I would be interested if the amount of city vs highway can determine the best fuel octane-cost benifit.



I'm at 34.4mpg at an average of 11.7 miles per cold-start trip to stop&park. Average speed 37mph, on 87 octane. Ill update my absurd mileage thread tomorrow.
Later

Yeah Cleveland, as I mentioned in another thread, MY best mileage is generally in the stretch of road between Holbrook AZ and Amarillo, TX. That part of I-40 tends to be RELATIVELY FLAT with slight rolling hills. I think the largest grades are entering and exiting the Rio Grande Valley.

My belief is the elevation difference has very little effect on mileage, especially when we have a computer, maf, map, etc. to measure and adjust for those various conditions. It's not like the old mechanical carb days.....when, I believe, lose of approx. 8% efficiency for every 1000 feet (you're the engineer, correct me if I'm wrong), is accepted.

snoppy's serious about data. nice.

i did a straight drive there and back, 390 miles at around 70 mph, and got 31.5 mpg. 87 octane, 2.4 litre LT, odometer 59,000 miles.

i think that's awesome for a hot rod hauler.

anyone here tried the "fuel saver 7000-MPG"? the concept is good.
the tests were done on a 2.4 litre HHR, according to the site.

here's a link (i'm not selling these things, but i would consider buying one, and if it works, THEN maybe selling them)

"fuelconcepts" (http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/iclk?sa=l&ai=BMxAOu8WhSLHAKIfqmQaHvpWlCu7o3lrEpqTsAcCNtwGw2w YQAxgDINC6pQMoBDgAUJmIyNv9_____wFg_aiNgegDsgEQd3d3 LmNoZXZ5aGhyLm5ldLoBCTcyOHg5MF9hc8gBAdoBPGh0dHA6Ly 93d3cuY2hldnloaHIubmV0L2ZvcnVtcy9zaG93dGhyZWFkLnBo cD90PTg5NjEmcGFnZT0yNYACAagDAcgDB-gD2QPoA7oG6AOtBegD4QL1AwQBAACIBAGQBAGYBAA&num=3&adurl=http://www.fuelconcepts.com&client=ca-pub-6437279303489238&nm=28)

I just filled up last night.With this tank of mixed driving(about 60/40 non highway/highway)I got 29.33 m.p.g.using mid grade(89) gas.I am VERY pleased.

I've got about 2500 miles on mine and I've been averaging about 17 mpg for daily driving. I do get on it a bit from time to time, but even when I am conscience about it and stay off the throttle I still don't get much better. I ran a full tank without gettin on the gas at all and still didn't crack 18 mpg. I bought an CGS intake and it didn't change much after that.

Who care's about caps,your an a$$.

Im coming off of a 2003 Saturn Ion 3 and my mileage at 80mph on the Expressway was about 31 mph with the 2.3 Ecotec engine in it.

I certainly wont travel that fast in my 2008 HHR, but at 73 MPH with the cruise control set, I sure would expect to get 27-28 MPG.

Its just not happening. I think when I take a quick trip to Detriot this Wednesday, I'll go up to a tank of 91 Octane and see what happens.

Bill

I usually get around 27-28 traveling at 72 or so MPH, so I would think that's do-able. But reset the avg mileage before you leave on the trip, or you won;t really know what mileage you're getting on that trip.