# Less Than Stellar MPG? Check This Out.



## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

Yesterday afternoon I was fiddling with my car, trying to figure out why my MPG was lower than expected (37 MPG on the highway at 65 MPH), a low speed hesitation issue, and also why my lights would dim on take off from a light. I explored my engine bay, and heard what I thought was hissing. It got louder with a rev, and I was certain I had a vacuum leak somewhere. No big deal, hopped in the girlfriend's Cruze to run to the auto parts store and get some materials. When we got there, I opened up her hood to get an eye for what size part I needed... lo and behold, I was met with the exact same noise that mine was making. The difference? Hers has no issue at all, and we're both tuned.

Well I believe I've found the answer, and it's a little disconcerting. I only had the issue in the morning, only if it was dark, and could never seem to get it to replicate when I really wanted or get it to show up when it needed to. Last night, I was driving my girlfriend's Cruze and happened to scroll through the DIC menus. My hatch has an Ultragauge in the way, so I'd never have noticed that there is a top consumers section. It's showing which accessories you are using and how much fuel it's costing you. That's when it hit me; every morning I go outside and start my car, I immediately turn on a couple things; my enhanced front defogger, my heated seat, and my fog lights. Granted, it sounded potentially far fetched, but this morning I did none of those things. I started my car like normal, let it warm up like normal, and checked my top consumers. Because I didn't use my heated seat, left the fan off and aimed at my feet, and thanked sweet baby jesus that it was warm enough to forego an extra warm tush, my gauge was showing zero extraneous fuel usage. 




If you couldn't see that; using the heated seats, front defogger, and high beams on my girlfriend's 2017 Cruze sedan, I was burning an extra .13 gallons of fuel an hour.

I drove off, and it was like the glorious beam of heavenly sunshine blessed my car. I averaged 45 MPG at 70 MPH on my way to work, had no issue of stumbling at lower revs (below 2k), and my lights were gloriously consistent.


The only reason I think it's disconcerting is because I'm really just using a common combination of accessories; heated seats, fog lights, defogger. 

tldr; for better mileage, use your combined foot/defogger setting, don't use your foglights unless absolutely necessary, and embrace the life of a cold buttocks.


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## MRO1791 (Sep 2, 2016)

It's interesting that they have a break down of accessories and what they use. Most people don't realize how much all these things eat up fuel. 

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

MRO1791 said:


> It's interesting that they have a break down of accessories and what they use. Most people don't realize how much all these things eat up fuel.
> 
> Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk


I certainly didn't. I've never had heated seats before, but it was really nice to see exactly what is demolishing my fuel economy. It's nice to see the breakdown.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I always try to cycle that kind of stuff on road trips - especially in the winter (where the front defrost will fire up the AC compressor), but my wife needs the car to be approximately equal in temperature to the surface of the sun.

In the Volt, it's a bit of the opposite - it's _more_ efficient to use the seat heaters and steering wheel heater (since they draw off the 12V battery, rather than the vehicle's battery pack) rather than the battery pack-powered climate control.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

The energy for every single electrical feature in a car has to come from somewhere. In all liquid fuel cars it ultimately comes from the fuel, which reduces overall fuel economy.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Dang! Another one of those das boot videos.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

This is my usual morning equipment in the Michigan winter.


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## BMcCruze89 (Jan 6, 2017)

Wait.. I didn't know this was available. Is this available for all 2016-2017 Chevy cruzes? If so how do you find that?

The dealer sold me on saying that I could run my a/c without spilling a drop of gas because of the 2nd battery that my Cruze had. It seemed like a good selling point but can't seem to replicate that.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

BMcCruze89 said:


> Wait.. I didn't know this was available. Is this available for all 2016-2017 Chevy cruzes? If so how do you find that?
> 
> The dealer sold me on saying that I could run my a/c without spilling a drop of gas because of the 2nd battery that my Cruze had. It seemed like a good selling point but can't seem to replicate that.


They definitely lied to you - the AC runs using the AC compressor that is driven by the engine. No way around that...


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## neile300c (Jul 8, 2014)

On the DIC, scroll to the right or left till you get to the fuel economy trends, it's one of 3 pages up or down on that set of pages.



BMcCruze89 said:


> Wait.. I didn't know this was available. Is this available for all 2016-2017 Chevy cruzes? If so how do you find that?
> 
> The dealer sold me on saying that I could run my a/c without spilling a drop of gas because of the 2nd battery that my Cruze had. It seemed like a good selling point but can't seem to replicate that.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

it's in the economy page of the base DIC, I'd have to get a premier in front of me to see how to find it in the enhanced DIC.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

I struggle to even get 30 at times in mixed driving, which is surprising now that it's warmed up. Bah.

I do run the heated seats/steering wheel/heat full out when it's cold though. The top consumers page is pretty cool.


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

I know it uses some fuel but hey being comfortable costs something. At least fuel is inexpensive right now. My ctd does so much better on a day like today when it's in the 60s. Speaking of fuel economy anyone here had any experience with a 2017 Malibu Hybrid? My driving later this year may shift to more city driving.


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## BMcCruze89 (Jan 6, 2017)

I live in Houston. The fourth largest city in the US and my city mpg ranges from 30-35. Maybe up to 37 depending on if I get some highway driving in it. The most I've seen from a road trip was maybe 44 or 45.

I didn't know about this DIC but will look for it now. 

My current 2 gen cruise does way better than my previous car, but seems like the tank is either smaller or I'm having too much fun with the turbo.

I'll experiment with mid grade and see if that'll be my seeet spot. I've already done the reg and the super/premium.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

I don't care about the fuel economy, I care about my car not stuttering at low RPMs.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Decent hour and a half highway trip at 65-75 today, and it did close to 40 with 87 in the tank. So guess everything's ok with mine. 

Seems city mileage struggles on any gas I put in it, but could just be my driving habits/patterns and cold. I really don't drive that aggressively often. Finally around 5000 miles on the clock, so hopefully it gets better as we warm up here.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

jblackburn said:


> Decent hour and a half highway trip at 65-75 today, and it did close to 40 with 87 in the tank. So guess everything's ok with mine.
> 
> Seems city mileage struggles on any gas I put in it, but could just be my driving habits/patterns and cold. I really don't drive that aggressively often. Finally around 5000 miles on the clock, so hopefully it gets better as we warm up here.


I'm close to your miles as well. I'll continue to report on my car, but I drove today and tried with and without all my gizmos on. They definitely impact my low RPM performance.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

So it's been a couple days; I haven't been using all my gizmos, and I've seen an increase of 5 MPG and no hesitation or anything weird. It would seem I have found my gremlin.


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## BMcCruze89 (Jan 6, 2017)

I have the 2016 LS Cruze 2nd Gen and I haven't seen anything similar to the Fuel economy trends as pictured on this thread.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

EricSmit said:


> So it's been a couple days; I haven't been using all my gizmos, and I've seen an increase of 5 MPG and no hesitation or anything weird. It would seem I have found my gremlin.


OK, so do you have one of these:










or one of these:


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

BMcCruze89 said:


> I have the 2016 LS Cruze 2nd Gen and I haven't seen anything similar to the Fuel economy trends as pictured on this thread.


You don't have any extra gizmos to suck your battery down.


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## EricSmit (Dec 21, 2016)

obermd said:


> OK, so do you have one of these:
> 
> https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.motortrend.com%2Ff%2Fclassic%2Fwallpaper%2F1008_1971_amc_gremlin_x_1973_chevrolet_vega_gt_1972_ford_pinto_wallpaper_gallery%2F34246776%2Bw1600%2Bh1200%2Bst0%2F1972-ford-pinto-front-three-quarters.jpg&f=1[MG]
> 
> ...


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