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....

 

Same thing happens with mine

 

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.

 

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.

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.

 

You guys get charged more for using plastic in the city? 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?

 

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

 

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