GM is doing a lot of preaching about their work toward making more fuel efficient or alternative fuel vehicles. And between E85 (hey, it's an effort at least) and future products like the Volt, they seem to be heading in the right direction, at least on paper.

GM's mid sized cars and full sized trucks are all also pretty close to if not completely on par with the competition.

But in my opinion the most key area to be efficient in is in cars that people primarily buy for efficiency... the small, light weight, lower power, low cost cars.

Like the Cobalt and Aveo. And yet... they aren't anywhere near as efficient as the Civic, Corolla, Fit, and Yaris.

I hope GM is really working their engineers here for the next generation of these products and not just saying "good enough... we'll worry more about electric vehicles that will cost twice as much as these cars".

 

Malibu 2.4L/A6 = 22/32
Accord 4cyl = 21/31

Civic 1.8L/M5 = 26/34
Cobalt XFE 2.2L/M5 = 25/36

Honda Pilot 2WD = 16/22
GMC Acadia 2WD = 16/24
Chevy Traverse 2WD = xx/26

Your right about the Aveo though, for its size it should be getting like 5mpg more.

edit: M4 changed to M5

 

Well, they have finally gotten around to tweaking / retuning the 2.2L in the Cobalt, and they have given it an "XFE" badge ("Xtra Fuel Economy" ).

I think it gained 3 mpg or so, making it at least in the hunt.

I agree, though, that the economy cars ought to do a little better. I was excited that the Astra is getting the 1.8L instead of the 2.2L (since it offers similar power output), but the fuel economy numbers for the Astra are no better than the 2.2L (and are worse, actually, with the revisions to the 2.2L).



EDIT: Damn it, Z28x beat me to it. Though I think the M4 gearboxes have gone the way of the dodo bird there, bud.

 

The corolla is 27/35

I completely agree with the Aveo... why is it not getting 40+++?

My fiances parents bought her corolla new in 99 and got the 3 speed OD version. They suck. It only gets 31 mpg highway, I've checked it on a few different trips. But it does seem to be averaging 26-27 which is nice, but I wish it was the 4 speed.

 

The XFE is a nice touch on the Cobalt (though the regular 2.2 is not bad in the real world - I get 32 MPG with a 4 speed auto).

The Aveo is the real problem, IMO. While it's 34 highway is OK, not great, but OK when compared to Fit and Versa its 24 MPG city is just way, way too low. It gets the same mileage as Cobalt! Less than the new Cobalt XFE.

Cobalt is supposed to be getting a new Turbo 1.4 to help with mileage even further. Hope Aveo gets a new engine, too.

 

The Fit gets 34 and the Yaris gets 36. The Aveo needs to do better, but 40+ is probably optimistic. That's Geo Metro territory and those cars weighed much less and had half the horsepower of a Fit or Yaris.

 

I didn't realize a new version of the Cobalt had recently come out... I guess that fixes my qualm with the way the Cobalt lines up with the Civic and Corolla.

Now about that Aveo...

 

Didn't realize those were that low?

 

Can you get an A6 with the 4-cyl? I haven't seen that anywhere.

Looks like the 4-cyl 4-speed auto Malibu is 22/30

As mentioned... I hadn't ever seen teh XFE Cobalt before. Looks like GM did well there.

Maybe it was unintentional but you happened to pick the comparison that makes the Cobalt look best.
The Civic gets 25/36 with an auto
The Cobalt drops to 22/31

And people buy a lot more autos than manuals... even in these small cars, these days.

The traverse isn't even for sale yet.

 

Aren't Aveo drivers actual mileage results exceeding the 2008 rating quite readily? I've heard like 35mpg city and over 40 highway.

 

The LTZ now offers the 6spd with 4cyl standard and I believe the 6spd is optional on the LT with the 4cyl.

It was a change mentioned just recently to the manual transmission Cobalts starting mid '08. The VVT which I believe is supposed to come next year should boost the automatic and manual some more.

 

The thing that gets me is GM has already said they plan to put the euro 1.4L turbo Ecotec in the Cobalt to improve mpg, yet there are no plans to place it in the Aveo. Is that because the Aveo is built in asia, or simply because they don't want it to outperform the Cobalt?

 

Yaris = 29/35
Fit = 27/34
Aveo = 23/32

All the automatic version. Aveo does have an dog engine, but the rest are not great either when you consider the automatic Civic gets 25/36 and is a bigger car with a bigger engine. Manual Aveo does a little better. Just shows how much more gears helps. Aveo still needs a new engine ASAP.

 

They just announced the Malibu 4cyl/6speed combo the other day...
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/23/c...linder-engine/

 

The 2.4L Ecotec/A6 combination is only available on LTZ as the "Four-Cylinder Spring Package" for no additional cost. There aren't any configured as such on any of my local lots so I believe if you want it you'd have to order it that way.

I'm seriously tempted.