Hi all, new to the forum. Have had our Cappicinio HHR (2.4 auto +/-15000 miles) since last fall & really like it but am a little disappointed in the mpg's. I have seen others doing much worse so don't get me wrong, but around town I'm getting 21-22 mpg & the VERY best I've done on highway was 28 (usually 26). I had a Pontiac Vibe & was getting 28-30 consistently until I totalled it on a deer, hence why I got the HHR.

What minor mods have you guys done to up the mpg? I already know the obvious like slow down, tire pressure, etc. I guess I'm asking more like "I changed to this air intake & got X mpg better". What kind of mpg results are you getting from swapping intakes, pcm tunes, exhaust, synthetic oil, etc?

Like I said, I'm not stupid but am looking for some tested & true ways to help mpgs without spending a whole lot of $$. Thanks all, I appreciate the help!

 

No "official" gains can be claimed, but lots here claim extra hp and mpg w/ the CGS intake.

 

Hey Cappy, Welcome the the World according to HHR

If you are getting that kind of mileage in town, thats really good! As far as the mods go, an intake wont really help at least from my experience. I tried the k&N drop in filter and went to a CGS. I get 15-17 in town and although the highway mileage is ok, I know that 65 MPH drastically helps. In town about 40 mph locks up the converter and the MPG is good. Ive tried the synthoil and everything else and mine still sucks. Short trips are what's killing mine.

 

Surprisingly, (or not) tire inflation has a big impact on the gas mileage. Keeping the pressure to recommended or slightly above helps alot.

 

I was getting between 19.3 to 19.7 consistantly around town, switched to synthetic oil, didn't see anything immediately, but 2 weeks later, I'm getting 22.8 mpg. The oil had some effect, but as gas goes higher, less cars on the road, also school is out, so I'm not stuck behind any buses now.

 

I wish I could keep mine at the right number, seems like they all leak down a little over a few days.

 

We were getting around 24 daily driving, made a mistake putting 10-30 oil in it at last oil change. After that MPG went to 20 surely oil can't make that much difference.....then check engine light came on and took it to shop.....new injectors installed. Now since then still 20, but I think the ethanol mixture in the gas is the cause because really all this started about the time they started adding it to the gas. Anybody else notice a drop cause of ethanol.

 

That's the same car that I have, built date 4/9/07. A little over 10,000 miles. I've been keeping track since August 07. I have a Garmin iQue M5 GPS that is also a pocket PC. I have a spreadsheet in it that I use to keep track of my MPG. 30 some fill ups, my over all average is 27.95. Highest that I ever got was 34.3, but that only took 2.4 gallons. I change oil and I wanted to start with a full tank of gas. Lowest I got was 24.2. I got a bunch of 24 in the colder months. Warmer weather it does better. My tire pressure from the dealer was 26 pounds of pressure, and on the door it read 35. AHole dealer! I usually do about 65 % highway driving, 35% city. I live between Youngstown and Akron Ohio.
Thats really amazing. Same car, same motor, and some people get good gas mileage, and some people not so good.

 

Yeah i'm not sure what the descrepancy is over mielage between each HHR owner. I really really really really feel that the DRIVER is 99.99999999999% responsible for the mileage. I have NO MODS, just a black SS. If I saw anything like 22mpg over any distance, I would head to dealer PISSED-OFF. I believe that people do not understand how to drive to get good mileage. Some take super-duper short trips uphill both ways, speed to red lights and slam on the brakes, idle at mcdonalds and chirp the tires. Some drive a lot faster than they believe like 74 on the highway (which actually means 82). Some talk on the cell phone, eat food, scan through the radio channels, and do everything but watch the road. I see these people everywhere I drive.

Sometimes when I'm driving I feel as if other drivers look at my SS as an obstacle to be overcome. I can FEEEEL them trying to get around me, so they can hurry up and WAIT at the red light. Then i glide up getting 99mpg+ to the same light turning green...and pull away at 1700rpm in third getting 24mpg.....as they pull away in 1st at 2-6mpg, in addition to getting 10mpg while passing me for NOTHING. Just this behavior alone cost the other car 3-4mpg on average.

The killer thing about all of this...is when i do get to an entrance ramp and decide to merge I'll use the gas then. and when i reach 100 or so, those same drivers see an obstacle that THEY CAN"T CATCH!


If they put an big inst mpg gauge in all cars that you coud not turn off, we'd probably save more fuel than all the hybrids on the road save right now.

 

Interesting hypothesis. And I concur.

But, to the original poster...... If you are asking about mods, add-ons, etc. to increase gas mileage, I would suggest having the ECM REPROGRAMMED for BEST GAS MILEAGE, would be the best bang for the buck (note that performance would probably suffer however).

Maybe JoeR...if he sees this, can confirm or rebuke this. I would consider him the resident "expert" on reprogramming.