Been using USA Murphy gas and getting 33.2 mpg at 80-85 hwy. Switched to three tanks of Shell 87 and MPG dropped to 32.1. Now on 4th tank of Murphy and back up to 33.1. Drive 106 miles every day with 80 miles Hwy and rest two lane stop and go. I have a 2014 1.8 auto with 49000 miles on it. My MPG Gauge is right on. Always try to use same pump and add once after first click. Must be something in the Shell my Sonic doesn't like. Both are $1.78 here in Georgia.
Official: What are your real world MPG Numbers
- Thread starter Sonic-Mike
- Start date
nickalltogether
New member
My mpg varies pretty wildly:
E85- About 26mpg mostly around town in the current heat. 28mpg on the highway
93- 30-34mpg around town. 40ish on 55mph roads, 34-36 on 70-80mph roads.
E85- About 26mpg mostly around town in the current heat. 28mpg on the highway
93- 30-34mpg around town. 40ish on 55mph roads, 34-36 on 70-80mph roads.
Frizodanizzo
New member
About 38 highway 79 mph 1.4T automatic. Black hills, South Dakota. I've seen 42mpg at 68 mph during the Sturgis bike rally till I get angry at a bunch of bikers lol
ChicksHateMe
Member
I tried different types when I first got my car and thought I was doing best with Shell. Stuck with it for 1 1/2 years, but my numbers seemed low compared to what others were saying. I do drive it like a kart though.
I was getting between 24 and 28 on shell. I recently switched to BP and I saw an immediate jump. Now I am getting between 31 and 33. Same driving routine, and with AC use. So, I think you're right about Shell.
According to the dash I get worse mpg with shell also. I only pump 93. With shell I mostly get 31-33. With chevron 93 it stays from 36-38 driving to and from work. Mostly hwy sometimes at 80mph for about 20 miles till i get to the city. Then it's 55mph with maybe one or 2 stop lights before getting to work. Since I got the car I only pump 93. So I wouldn't have any clue what regular does
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Not all Shell gas is equal, remember even they tell you only their premium has Nitro+ additives. Do those additives equal better MPG? they claim so and since I only premium I've seen no difference at all between BP, Mobil or Shell gas over 15K in my sonic and 100K in my Cruze.
joe truck driver
New member
nope
you can claim what you like, but you didn't get 50 mpg at 70 mph. I know what I had to do to get the mileage I got. the best I ever got was during 95 degrees outside, windows up and ac off.....did have the fan running though. yes, it was hot but that's the neck of the woods you have to be in to get 50 plus...and that was at 60 mph(average speed read 48), no shift over 1500, no warm up(drive immediately after starting) and some drafting... I think 56.7 and over 600 on the tank. in winter you can't get 50mpg. something about the setup requires heat, lots of heat to get the best mileage. that car at 70 won't do it. too many rpm, too much wind resistance . you can see my trends on fuelly.
... on top of that you had some hills( ok ...small mountains) to cross. next you'll tell us how much you got for the Ambassador bridge that you sold.
you can claim what you like, but you didn't get 50 mpg at 70 mph. I know what I had to do to get the mileage I got. the best I ever got was during 95 degrees outside, windows up and ac off.....did have the fan running though. yes, it was hot but that's the neck of the woods you have to be in to get 50 plus...and that was at 60 mph(average speed read 48), no shift over 1500, no warm up(drive immediately after starting) and some drafting... I think 56.7 and over 600 on the tank. in winter you can't get 50mpg. something about the setup requires heat, lots of heat to get the best mileage. that car at 70 won't do it. too many rpm, too much wind resistance . you can see my trends on fuelly.
... on top of that you had some hills( ok ...small mountains) to cross. next you'll tell us how much you got for the Ambassador bridge that you sold.you can claim what you like, but you didn't get 50 mpg at 70 mph. I know what I had to do to get the mileage I got. the best I ever got was during 95 degrees outside, windows up and ac off.....did have the fan running though. yes, it was hot but that's the neck of the woods you have to be in to get 50 plus...and that was at 60 mph(average speed read 48), no shift over 1500, no warm up(drive immediately after starting) and some drafting... I think 56.7 and over 600 on the tank. in winter you can't get 50mpg. something about the setup requires heat, lots of heat to get the best mileage. that car at 70 won't do it. too many rpm, too much wind resistance . you can see my trends on fuelly.
I don't car it you believe me or not joe. So it looks like you claim some good MPG numbers as well. I wouldn't dispute them because I know the numbers this car can pull if driven purely for MPG.
ChicksHateMe
Member
Just wondering why you use premium?
I bought 87 today at $2.039. 93 was $2.699. I don't think paying 30% more gets you 30% more mileage, does it? Not trying to be a smart az, just wondering why?
I tried Premium when I first got the car, and I saw about the same MPG's whether I used 87 or 93. I also did a lot of research and heard these cars basically self adjust to get the most out of whatever they are burning. Most all the research I did said use what the manufacturer says to use. Some good articles and even YouTube videos explained why 93 wasn't worth it, and in some cases was worse for the car. They sort of convinced me to stick with the 87.
I'm going to try to stick with BP, and see how the numbers play out. I also tried Citco for a few tanks, and that seemed better than Shell as well. But, for all I know, they could all come from the same place and it's the batch that makes the difference as well as the tank to tank driving never really being the same.
I gave up trying to squeeze every last MPG out, but the difference in my MPG's on average was noticeably higher when I simply changed the brand of fuel I used.
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I was just trying to point out that Shell Claims their new Nitro+ additive improves MPG but its only offered in their premium grade. Why not try it? I use a grocery store fuel saver program and get most of not all of the cost difference of premium off when I buy shell gas.
Yes these engines to adjust to what fuel they are running, but there is no "getting the most out of 87 octane". On 87 octane the knock sensor will dial things back(retard timing) so you will get less power. it feels like it struggles to get to 75MPH by the end of a ramp, with 93 I need to let off. When you use the same ramp every day you will easily notice this.
For me, especially when above 80F outside its more about making the car run right and not having to deal with "flat spots" in the powerband and even slower take off from stop signs. On 87 engine seems to make more noise since it seems to spend even more time accelerating because its seemingly revving slower.(The slower RPM climb as the ECU monitors more closely for knock).
Driving 80-100% highway on most tanks with the cruise set at the same speed eliminates some of the variables most see in their daily driving(less thermal cycles, lights, traffic, etc). I picked up 3MPG with my 2012 cruze running premium over regular month after month. I needed about 15,000 miles on the sonic before the MPG matched/beat what I expected in my cruze but saw a similar MPG loss every time I tried to run 87 octane.
You probably wouldn't believe it but the Sonic LTZ 1.4T auto gets better than the EPA highway ratings with 80% or more highway driving with the cruise set at 45-70mph in summer weather when running premium fuel(no AC use). So far I've gotten up to 43MPG(pump calculated) on a night trip going slow(45-55mph due to lots of deer).
I should also add with as much time as I spend below or slightly above 2000RPM on the highway I found these engines have a tendency to carbon a up a bit. Some days I will run 6-15 hours and only ever go above 2000RPM when I accelerate to enter the highway. I don't even need to downshift for most hills, so the car never see's any higher RPM to clean things out. With my Cruze I ran a bottle of Techron Concentrate(GM fuel system cleaner) every 8000 miles to help with this.
Seen a few test that show all brands of gas premium grade fuel has 3-5X the detergents of regular gas. This was true even with brands that were not Top Tier they tested. Cleaner engine? Possibly and the way I drive the car its necessary insurance in my eyes.
Seen a few test that show all brands of gas premium grade fuel has 3-5X the detergents of regular gas. This was true even with brands that were not Top Tier they tested. Cleaner engine? Possibly and the way I drive the car its necessary insurance in my eyes.
The Champ
New member
spacedout
I guess Top Tier gas in MN, IA and WI rated at 87 octane must be the equivalent of 93 octane in whatever part of the country you live in.
My '14 Sonic doesn't feel "like it struggles to get to 75MPH by the end of a ramp" on 87 octane. I don't even have to get deep in the throttle to accelerate to 75MPH in that distance. It just does it like it was designed to do - on 87 octane.
I'm also not surprised that you can exceed EPA numbers when running 93 octane while not using the AC or 43MPG while running 93 octane and driving slow.
As I have previously posted, I have frequently pulled long uphill grades without downshifting on 87 also.
As far as your grocery store fuel saver discount getting you "most of not all of the cost difference of premium off when I buy shell gas", that same discount could have been applied to the purchase of Shell 87.
So you are paying a significant premium to buy 93 octane fuel.
If it truly makes your car run better, you should probably do it.
In my car, in my area, the higher octane makes no difference.
I guess Top Tier gas in MN, IA and WI rated at 87 octane must be the equivalent of 93 octane in whatever part of the country you live in.
My '14 Sonic doesn't feel "like it struggles to get to 75MPH by the end of a ramp" on 87 octane. I don't even have to get deep in the throttle to accelerate to 75MPH in that distance. It just does it like it was designed to do - on 87 octane.
I'm also not surprised that you can exceed EPA numbers when running 93 octane while not using the AC or 43MPG while running 93 octane and driving slow.
As I have previously posted, I have frequently pulled long uphill grades without downshifting on 87 also.
As far as your grocery store fuel saver discount getting you "most of not all of the cost difference of premium off when I buy shell gas", that same discount could have been applied to the purchase of Shell 87.
So you are paying a significant premium to buy 93 octane fuel.
If it truly makes your car run better, you should probably do it.
In my car, in my area, the higher octane makes no difference.
Is this the same reasoning as to why race cars use 100+++ octane? If 93 really does not make a difference, and they are both the same, then why have them as choices? They are different in a way and so the higher octane should and will make a difference.
Now, because you don't feel the difference using 93 doesn't mean that someone else won't feel it different.
And as for all of those articles on why 93 is a waste, I guess they have their own studies on a small sample size with a certain car. And those studies are really small sample sizes as compared to anyone using their car everyday.
Like the mythbusters episode on using the car ac. They just ran circles and in 2 cars and determined that the one using ac was the same or better than the one without. But they were just going in circles. In real life city driving, you'd be out of gas quick.
So I guess if you feel the same performance and mpgs with regular 87 as with 93 then go for it. But make no mistake that the same car using premium will run better.
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The Champ
New member
NASCAR race cars have 12 to 1 compression ratios and are designed to run on higher octane gas and will not run properly on lower octane.
You need to run the octane level that your car was designed for.
The Chevy Sonic is designed to run on REGULAR unleaded (both engines).
The Chevy Camaro has three engine options, two of which are designed to run on PREMIUM unleaded.
Here is what the FTC has to say:
From TrueCar:
I'd spend extra money to buy Top Tier fuel (but I don't have to).
Spending extra money for higher octane is not worth the very costly expense based all all the info available to me.
brainpause
Member
First one is this year, All City driving.
Second one as last year when I was on the road.
Third one is miles per gallon all time. Each dot on the graph represents a fill-up. You can tell I had a lot of very close fillups last year on the road, often having multiple fill ups in a day.
1.8 liter automatic stock
Second one as last year when I was on the road.
Third one is miles per gallon all time. Each dot on the graph represents a fill-up. You can tell I had a lot of very close fillups last year on the road, often having multiple fill ups in a day.
1.8 liter automatic stock
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Suprnova74
New member
2012 chevy sonic LT 1.4t Manual. mostly highway driving and don't think i've gotten past 32mpg with average 30-31mpg. I was doing some tests trying to max out the mileage (neutral down hill, coasting up hill as far as possible, low rpm, etc) and it seems that doing so just fools the in-dash calculator as the fill-up at the pump came out the same typical MPG. still better than my old 2002 mercury sable
