Good day Y'all

In a week I am driving out from Calgary AB Canada to Southern Utah and Arizona to do some hiking and camping with three of my friends. Needless to say my HHR will be loaded up with a lot of gear and 2 pretty big guys.

I'm wondering if anyone has any good suggestions on possibly getting some better gas mileage. I always use the highest octane gas available. I'm thinking about picking up some octane booster for the trip. What else can I do to spend a little less money at the pumps.

One of my buddies is trying to get part of the gas written off with the oil company he works for. He might be able to pull of some sort of deal which would be nice.

Thanks people,

Mike

 

Driving like a grandma helps.

 

Just drive easy and make sure your tires are properly inflated.

 

Here are some tips to increase your mileage:

a) clean or change your air filter

b) oil change to synthetic oil

c) pump up your tires to 45psi

d) install a "turbinator" in the intake hose

e) buy those clamp-on magnets that go on the fuel line and "rectify" the molecules

f) buy and install the "ebay power chip"

g) reset the DIC and take your foot off the gas if it ever drops below 45mpg

With all those "mods" you should be getting close to 4mpg.

Oh wait! The HHR gets nearly 30mpg highway already!

Scratch that. *(BTW: this post was a joke - don't do anything except #2!)

 

Well, actually, option A is a good one to do as well. If you're car can't "breathe" properly, it's going to struggle which could use up more gas. So a clean air filter is a good idea. Also, not sure how many miles you have on your HHR, but changing the fuel filter may be a good idea too.

 

And ditch the octane booster. Waste of good money that could have been spent on more gas if you needed it.

 

Arnold says,
you must buy the Turbonator,,, the turbonator is your friend for life.

 

I suck at the new math thing.. #2 is B? Right??

Seriously though, I drive between Michigan and Ohio. There's several miles per gallon additional in your tank if you go 60MPH verses 70MPH. (Somewhere between 4 and 7MPG, I'm not quite obsessive enough to spend the time neccessary to narrow it more than that.)

 

1.) Don't buy higher than 87 Octane. The manual says that there is no benefit, and it may actually harm your engine. The only HHRs that need at least Mid-Grade are the 2.4L's. Anything else is throwing your money away!

2.) Use cruise control if the traffic conditions allow. (i.e., DON'T use cruise control when driving on 395 in Northern VA in 5pm rush hour traffic.

3.) As mentioned, check your air filter and if it is dirty, replace it or at least use an air compressor and blow the dirt out of it.

4.) Again, check the tires. If they are underinflated you are losing MPG to the road, as well as increasing your chances of a blowout.

5.) And finally driving like Mario Andretti will not get you good MPG. A consistent 75MPH, will get you there just as quick as going back-and-forth between 65 and 85 looking for cops, as well as get you better fuel economy.

 

As mentioned above don't use a higher grade gas than your engine requires as per GM. Only use Mid - High if it's the 2.4. Using any grade of gas above what is required is nothing more than a waste of good $$$. The higher grade the gas is the slower the burn rate, if it's not designed to burn mid or high grade fuel it will not properly combust and just go out your tail pipe, or even worse collect in your catalitic converter making it prematurely fail.