new member - Port Huron, MI

[drhollen]

Hello my name is Dale and I've been reading this forum for well over a year now, so figured it was about time that I registered.

 

[drhollen]

I don't own a Sonic yet, but am very interested in buying one.

 

[drhollen]

I am originally from Pennsylvania, but recently got married and moved to Port Huron, Michigan.

 

[drhollen]

I have a 1995 Impala SS and a 2002 GMC Sonoma SLS with ZQ8 suspension.

 

[drhollen]

My wife and I just purchased a 2014 Equinox LTZ and we love it.

 

[drhollen]

I have owned my Impala SS since 2001 and have driven it through 36 states so far and it has over 170K miles on it.

 

[drhollen]

One of my primary reasons for wanting a Sonic is for fuel economy. I anticipate a job change with 100 mile per day round trip, so a 40 MPG car would save me about $200 per month vs. my 20 MPG truck.

 

[drhollen]

I am a large guy, both tall and fat, and I feel that the Sonic is the most comfortable small car on the market that gets good gas mileage. At least that I have sat it. The fact that the console is low and doesn't have an integrated armrest is a GOOD thing for me.

 

[drhollen]

Even though I don't own a Sonic (yet), I have driven several of them. My wife and I like to travel and often when we travel, we rent a specific model of car so we can try them out.

 

[drhollen]

Yay, 10 posts.

 

[drhollen]

We rented a 2012 Sonic sedan (I think LT) 1.8L in MN two years ago and put 1500 miles on it. Really thought the car was good except for the suspension had something weird going on - it was so bad that I mentioned it to Hertz as I thought that something that made that much bumping was probably not a design flaw but an actual mechanical failure that should be repaired

 

[drhollen]

We rented a 2013 Sonic hatch 1.8L in Florida and liked it. It didn't seem to have the suspension problem that we had in Minnesota.

 

[drhollen]

We also rented a 2014 Equinox LTZ in Utah for 10 days and 2300 miles before we bought ours. Best "test drive" ever.

 

[drhollen]

I was VERY interested in the Sonic RS and anticipated that model even before it was released. I went to the Detroit Auto Show to see it, but sadly couldn't sit inside of it. I really like almost everything about it except the transmission shift ratios and hence the gas mileage. The shift points are much sooner and the final drive ratio is much lower so it revs much higher at highway speeds. So it only gets 34 MPG vs. 40 MPG on LTZ. I wish they offered option for RS appearance and regular transmission, but they don't.

 

[drhollen]

So my most likely purchase at this point is 2015 Sonic LTZ hatchback with 1.4 Turbo (which is now standard on 2015 LTZ) and new 2015 color "Blue Velvet Metallic".

 

[zippypcs]

LTZ is nicely equipped. Turbo helps too. I have put over 30,000 on mine and still like it very much. The tune makes it much more enjoyable.

 

[drhollen]

Did you tune for power or economy? Most of the time I'll simply be cruising at 70 MPH with cruise control on.

 

[zippypcs]

I did it for both . The extra power is nice and I gained 3-4 mpg at the same time.
I average 35.7 around town and driving 20 minutes on the freeway each day.
Straight line on the freeway couple hundred miles at a shot I average 41-44 mpg @ 70.
The power gains you get from a tune are really quite good. The mpg added was a bonus. I have had no issues from my tune other than the smiles it causes on occasion.

 

[drhollen]

Nice!

 

[Yosemite Sam]

Welcome to the forum drhollen!! :banana: