High Mileage Sonics - the longevity thread

[JTee2017]

I have the "lowly" 1.8L (that some disdain) and automatic in my 2017 Sonic hatch. Lifetime MPG of mostly in town with some semi rural and highway driving is 31.2 MPG. On 2 interstate trips of+200 miles at 70MPH I've gotten 36 to 38 MPG calculated. The DIC is usually off maybe 1 MPG or so.
Glad I went with the 1.8L engine. And, don't know about others, but mine gets up and goes. Even kicking down into passing gear does the job. Get it in the sweet spot of 3,500 to 4,500 RPM for passing and I'm gone. And the manual shift button is a blast.
Anyway. . I chose the 1.8L engine. There are far fewer issues and parts needing routine replacement on the 1.8L. And the performance and MPG is still better than many small cars. A "Neon". . .? lol

 

[92dakota]

A "Neon". . .? lol

Yea ....... but the last 900.00 neon i had averaged twice the mpg of this 10k car.. and it was 13 years older...

well filled up the Sonic again today .. its pretty close to what dash says now...

21.38 us MPG is what this tank got .. 11L per 100km .. which is complete garbage , i know the temp is a little cooler now but damn, my van right now is getting on last fillup was little less then dash says but filled it yesterday and averaged 10.7L/100km or 21.98US MPG .. wife drives the car, and goes same route as me, but a bit further as her work is about 3blocks away but no stopping from my work to hers..

Don't know about longevity but if this keeps up i'm not going to have this car much longer to find out..

 

[JTee2017]

Well, I guess go find another "Belvidere Special".

Funny that Fuelly doesn't support your MPG claims. . except for the few obvious bogus ones.
2005 Dodge Neon MPG - Actual MPG from 114 2005 Dodge Neon owners
http://www.fuelly.com/car/dodge/neon

 

[92dakota]

thats the issue, when i first got it back after transmission rebuild it was great, now its gone to crap..

my 95-99's first gen neons was really good around town completely gutless and couldn't spin on ice, but it is what it is.. according to that site.. 27-31mpg average ..


anyway probably more venting/pissed off cause of everything thats happened, had to do to it recently, its a fun little car,and i doubt i will get rid of it, but man....

anyway wife is off for the next week so i got the car, going to see if it might be her driving getting bad again or something is actually wrong, and just not throwing a code..

 

[brainpause]

thats the issue, when i first got it back after transmission rebuild it was great, now its gone to crap..

my 95-99's first gen neons was really good around town completely gutless and couldn't spin on ice, but it is what it is.. according to that site.. 27-31mpg average ..


anyway probably more venting/pissed off cause of everything thats happened, had to do to it recently, its a fun little car,and i doubt i will get rid of it, but man....

anyway wife is off for the next week so i got the car, going to see if it might be her driving getting bad again or something is actually wrong, and just not throwing a code..

My air intake hose was torn and was wide open but didn't throw a code. Mileage sucked until I got it fixed.

Okay this is sort of my fault. Thread hijack is now turned off. Back to the original subject of high-mileage Sonics

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[92dakota]

My air intake hose was torn and was wide open but didn't throw a code. Mileage sucked until I got it fixed.

Okay this is sort of my fault. Thread hijack is now turned off. Back to the original subject of high-mileage Sonics

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

thread rejack.. on a Turbo? i know the 1.8's had that issue..


unjack.. back on course LOL ...

 

[ohio_grad_06]

As far as get up and go, I definitely prefer my ford focus to the sonic. The sonic is a nice little car for what it is, but my focus has the dual clutch automatic, which basically tries to act like a stick shift. It gets kind of fun when it shifts sometimes at 6000 rpms. Wouldn't mind driving a focus RS or even an ST, but I'd hate to spend that much on a commuter car to tear up.

 

[brainpause]

thread rejack.. on a Turbo? i know the 1.8's had that issue..


unjack.. back on course LOL ...

I have the 1.8

I also have an 8.1 in a Sierra.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[ib2loud]

As far as get up and go, I definitely prefer my ford focus to the sonic. The sonic is a nice little car for what it is, but my focus has the dual clutch automatic, which basically tries to act like a stick shift. It gets kind of fun when it shifts sometimes at 6000 rpms. Wouldn't mind driving a focus RS or even an ST, but I'd hate to spend that much on a commuter car to tear up.

Better keep an eye on that transmission. Nearly 100% of them fail prematurely.

 

[Stew]

Just rolled this odometer reading a few days ago, I had a passenger safely take the picture while I was driving and I just replaced the serpentine belt earlier today, still running good!

 

[imahog317]

If you look back thru this thread you will find that I swear by amsoil!!!! I have used it in the motor since it was new. I started out changing every 10K then amsoil said the oil was good for 25K. I tried going 20K and changing the filter every 10K. I had to replace the turbo at approx. 265K and did not like the looks on the inside of the turbo. Amsoil also backed off and now says turbo motors should change oil every 15K. Now I change oil and filter every 5K just to be safe. By the way I just this past week end put on the first new set of front rotors (350K+) Been changing pads at about 85K to 90K. First set of rear brakes was about a year ago at 290K. I am on my 3rd set of stabilizer links and will install new polyurethane stabilizer bushings this week end while I am under there removing and resealing the oil pan. Getting really messy and dripping in the driveway. Leaking about 3/4 of a quart every 5K. Need anything else I will try to get back on here after the week end!

 

[B1G-AL]

I have 166,668 miles on my 2012 Sonic 1.8 manual trans. The car is completely stock. Original engine/transmission, just oil changes, brake pads and one electric fan replacement since new.

 

[Marv]

I have a 2012 Sonic LT 1.4T 6MT with 182,000 miles on it. No major repairs, CAI and it had a trifecta tune from about 180,000-181,000 miles but I reverted to stock when it was maintenanced and haven't re-flashed since.
Edit: Just hit 185,000 and my bank 1 cat converter went out, but she still runs like a dog.

 

[sarrm]

Just hit 112,000km on my 2012 LS 1.8L auto. It will be 5 years in December since I've bought it and no major issues. Love this little car. Have undercoated it every year since I purchased in December 2014 and no signs of rusting anywhere. Bless my baby sonic [emoji7]

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[r4tb3lly01]

Just hit 112,000km on my 2012 LS 1.8L auto. It will be 5 years in December since I've bought it and no major issues. Love this little car. Have undercoated it every year since I purchased in December 2014 and no signs of rusting anywhere. Bless my baby sonic [emoji7]

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

Did you do all those weird adduction cleanout thing and all those “suggested” maintenance things?
I’m a little over 50k on my 2016 LS 1.8 and she still purrs like a kitten [emoji177]
Finally about to change my stock brakes, wonder if my rotors are done too?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LISonic]

2012 Sonic 97,500 miles

 

[Pitt83]

2012 Sonic LTZ 104900

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[simple2me]

I'm at 304K. Who has surpassed that already?

 

[Daisy81]

Did you do all those weird adduction cleanout thing and all those “suggested” maintenance things?
I’m a little over 50k on my 2016 LS 1.8 and she still purrs like a kitten [emoji177]
Finally about to change my stock brakes, wonder if my rotors are done too?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You’ll know when the rotors are done because they will have a horrible vibration. My 2012 Cruze had a horrible set of rotors for the first batch and I had to replace them but the second set lasted the rest of the time I had the car.

Don’t wait for them to be this bad. You can have them resurfaced if they have a lot of mileage and aren’t utterly warped already and get a little more use out of them.

 

[brainpause]

Could the moderators Please assign This Thread to somebody else? The original poster has not posted here since April 2018, which is over a year of course. It would be nice to have the very first post regularly updated.