William652

I recently purchased a 2010 HHR 2LT 2.4l from the local dealer that had been a rental car from out of state. The vehicle had 8800 miles on it when I purchased it and now has 10225+ miles. My city fuel mileage has been running approximately 22 mpg which I consider acceptable but in the last two weeks I have been able to make several “highway” trips of about 150 miles each for a total of 300 highway miles and the best mileage I’ve gotten was 26 mpg. I have been checking what others in this forum have claimed to be getting for mileage and feel something isn’t quite right with my setup. I driven for 50+ years and know how to get the best mileage and the figures I just stated were from actual calculations (not DIC Numbers) using 89 octane fuel from two different sources and observing highway speeds of no more than 70 MPH.
I have just returned from the one and only Chevrolet dealership here in Yuma, AZ after taking the vehicle in to have the computer settings verified to see why the highway mileage is so puny. I should add that my request was in written form as well as a previous phone call to the salesman who got credit for the purchase of the vehicle.
Instead of checking the computer settings as I requested they changed the oil and filter instead! When I asked the service manager why the actual testing I had requested wasn’t performed he told me it had been done and “everything checked out OK”. When I requested that in writing he said they don’t normally put that on the paperwork copy I had gotten. When I pushed the matter by going to the Sales Manager he issued me another invoice with this statement added:

***********************************************
D** CUSTOMER STATES VEHICLE SEEMS TO BE GETTING 26MPG, CHECK FACTORY SETTING AND ADVISE.
6000 ENG DIAG.
88 CQLT
10228 CHECKED DTC’S SETTING, ALL TO FACTORY SPECS, CHECK WITH TECH 2 AND READINGS ARE ALL TO FACTORY SPEC’S
***********************************************
Does anyone have an idea as to what I can do next? Is there anything like a District Customer Relations Manager I could write to or anyone even higher than that if I have to? Anyway, suggestions would be appreciated and thanks to all in advance.
William652

nacademus

Maybe it was abused heavily upon break-in... another reason why I'd never buy a rental. :/

843de

First, welcome to the forum! I guess the first thing that springs to mind is whether the mileage you've computed is from pure highway driving or an aggregate of city/highway miles? An aggregate mpg of 26 is what I'd expect from mixed city/highway driving and that's not too far off from the 27.5 that I average. 22 mpg for city driving is maybe a bit on the low side but not alarming, 26 mpg during pure highway driving is a bit lower than what I'd expect. Have you done just a calculation on pure highway use, just filled up and hit the interstate for an extended period, then checked the mileage? I'm not trying to fault your methods, just trying to understand how you've arrived at your figures. As an aside, I have noticed that the 2.4 does get about 2-3% lower mileage than the 2.2 under the same conditions, at least on my vehicles.

PhoS

26 sounds about right to me.. Maybe slightly higher over a long trip. I noticed youre running mid grade? (89) Most people including myself are seeing better mileage on premium.

Greybeard999

The MPG "sweet spot" for my 2.4L is just above 55 mph, (I will get 30-31 MPG using 93 octane during the summer) over that speed and it will start to drop off some. A combined average of a small amount of city and 70 mph highway with midgrade, sounds like 26 MPG or so is about right.....

bilko

My 06 with 110,000 and the 2.4 gets right around 25mpg around the hills in NW arkansas.
On the highway at 70-75mph I can only get 29, but the wife gets 33 on the same strech doing the posted speed.

HHorange

Chevy recommends High test fuel in the 2.4 if you run mid grade or regular the gas mileage may be lower than it would for a higher octane fuel. the computer backs of some of the settings like timing if it detects pinging. Try a tank or 2 of premium fuel and see if you get better milage. Also I have found gas mileage is best between 55-60 above 60 it starts to drop a little.

Just my $0.02

SmootHHR

Now are you gents strictly using the DIC calculations or are you also hand figgerin? I've noticed about 1.5-2mpg difference in the two. DIC is ALWAYS lower.

urbexHHR

Yeah, I've noticed the DIC tends to be a little lower.

Greybeard999

Ditto on the low readings from the DIC