To all you Malibu Maxx lovers:

I am one also. Great family car with teenage kids and their adult sized
legs.

However, I am disappointed with the gas mileage for my Malibu Maxx LT
(3500 V6 engine). I had been told that it takes a while for a car to
break in and that I should expect less efficiency for the first several
thousand miles. But I've been in the car almost a year and I've driven
it over 10,000 miles at this point. And now I want some answers -- or
at least some thoughts from this group.

I read that people are seeing 22/23 mpg overall. I try to drive
conservatively and I rarely get better than 18 mpg on my 10 mile
city-street commute -- even if I warm up the car. My wife, on the other
hand, accelerates toward stop signs and she typically gets 15 mpg. She
is up on the interstate more than I am so I expected better despite her
lead-foot.

I want to rule out a couple of things.

(1) I haven't properly measured gas mileage on a couple of full tanks
of gas. I've been relying on the computer's real-time fuel efficiency
read-out. Do you folks find the computer accurate? (Hopefully it's not
and I'm making something out of nothing.)

(2) Are my expectations out of whack? This car has a lot of power for
its size? Am I wrong that others are getting 22/23 overall mpg?

(3) Third, am I right that the 3.5L V6 is the only engine available in
this car? Or do I have a suped-up version of the Maxx?

So otherwise, can anybody recommend anything that I can check out?
Maybe something's wrong with the computer-controled systems? Anybody
else experience this type of fuel efficiency?

Thanks for your comments!

-David

first test the actual mileage by the old fashioned way, second, have
the dealer look at it, third, if you want advice from some current
owners, head over to www.malibuclub.ca, there are atleast one owner
there of the new bu's and plenty of old bu's, the new bu owner says he
gets atleast 29 in the city and 35 on the highway. Also, try
www.unitedmalibus.com

I have a 2005 Malibu LSV6, and I get 22-23 in the city. I've gotten
32-34 on the highway.

Justin
ace wrote:

You should stick with things that the DOT actually verified as working
to
reduce smog and increase gas mileage.

Even the Florida EPA verifies increased gas mileage using this stuff.
8 to 27% increase depending on the cars they tested.

You can use this: http://www.rxp-gas-kicker.com


davidb1835 (AT) gmail (DOT) com wrote:

David,

I have a 2004 Malibu Maxx LT and since the day I purchased it, 25,543
miles ago, I've got about 34 Highway, 22 City. Though I was disapointed
that I had to change the brake pads and rotars at 25,000 miles - but
this is because I have a heavy breaking foot.

WhiteFox

davidb1835 (AT) gmail (DOT) com wrote:

WhiteFox wrote:
incorrect overall results. I almost always fill the tank when adding
fuel and get my mileage by the number of miles traveled for the amount
of gas I put in. I mean, my 89 Camaro gets 17 or better around town,
and it's heavier, older and has a bigger engine. In my humble opinion
(OK so maybe it's not so humble) the only true measure of actual fuel
mileage is to divide the miles driven driven on the tank by the amount
of fuel added in gallons. Anything else is smoke and mirrors. Now, a
computer could do that, but as far as I know, that is not how they
actually do it. Look at the IRC and Nascar cars, their computers are
supposed to calculate how much fuel is left and they get it wrong all
the time because they are not really tracking all the variables. I
believe that most computers just track current mileage rate at the
moment and then average them. That might be right sometimes, but mostly
they are going to be "sort of right" rather than actually accurate.

--
Cy Welch
89 Camaro RS 5.0 TBI
98 Passport
03 Malibu