2011 Equinox poor mpg hwy!

[sbs2025]

I have owned a 2011 Equinox (4cyl AWD LT2) for about 5 months. I have 4,500 miles on it. It is our second car so we only drive it in town and short 30-40 mile hwy triups. I am barely getting 20mpg! (20.6) I also have a 2008 Tahoe and I average 22mpg with that! I just brought the Equinox in to my dealer and they checked it over and said there isn't anything they can do. I am exremely disappointed with this and I want to take it further. I agree that this is flat out deception by GM to advertise 32mpg and no one can even come close!

[rockray]

Yes, I do agree with you 100%...complete fabrication. Based on my experience with my 2011 Equinox thus far, these vehicles are complete junk!

[bscottd]

Yup same here. I narrowed down my search fro this certain vehicle because of the gas mileage. I went with the 2011 AWD 4cyl model that claims 29 hwy. I am lucky if I even get 24, most of the time it is around 22. Had I known I would have not bought this car. Kind of a let down. I was really excited about getting rid of my gas guzzler and getting something a bit more economical. Turns out I am only getting about 3 more miles per gallon than my 02 3.7l V6 Jeep liberty that was getting around 18. -Scott

[jamesslcx]

Wow, peoples mileage is all over the map here some are getting nearly 30 and others are getting less than 20. Just to make a statement G.M. is not the only manufacturer to claim better m.p.g. than you actually get. I would like to have an Equinox, they are very nice vehicles for the price but to get that much comfort, utilities, options and room something has to be sacrificed like economy and power. Plus how you drive a vehicle effects it's mileage more than anything.

[Tech II]

Check this out:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.d...rue&details=on

They show 32 highway/22 city, with a combined mileage of 26.....

They show examples of 14 vehicles....only 3 of them exceed the 26 mph average....and of those 3, they show that 80-90% of the driving is highway......

Even though one person "claims " 30mpg, I tend to throw out the high and the low from a small sample.....so we are talking a range of approx 22-28 mpg......how you drive is important(leadfoot, tailgater, speeder, etc.)......the terrain is important, hilly vs flat..... time of year, a lot of people let their vehicles(especially those with remote starts) warm up in the winter.......most important, highway vs city(stop and go)....

So basically, anyone expecting 30 or more MPG with this vehicle, is deluding himself......the average is 26, driving under ideal conditions....if driving mainly on the highway, maybe 26-28......city driving, 22-26.....

Compare this to a Honda CR-V, which weighs 400# less, it has a rating of 28/21, with 24mph combined....has the same size engine......

[kaczara13]

hello this is Deb, the woman who wrote last year about my Equinox. I went thru GM, had it checked. .. ran my own tests of zeroing it out ..et.c. got 30 on FLAT hwy going 60 mph.! ( but not including getting to 60,. Otherwise got 23-26 mpg. I drive predominantly hwy with some 40-50 mph roads too. I finally got fed up filed a complaint with the BBB and Attny General in MI! got little response. but.... I sold it! at 10,000 with a $3000 loss, back in April. I'M SO HAPPY! I went back to Subaru outback, same price..... and LOVE that car! it gives me 28-29 mpg and I'M driving More at 80 mph! I teach so up early. I don't have to baby it.. same gas ( Costco) same driver, same distance same me! so they are TOTALLY lying. sell the car and get rid of it. If you want a class action suit against GM> Im in! tho Im trying to move on. Had this Subaru ( with AWD and gettign better mpg!) for 8 months. Sorry cant buy American if they don't make what we wan.t I tried. I had a 2004 outback before but got tired to getting flack for not driving Am! Its made in Indiana. ok so I paid some autoworkers. I'M more concerned with the average public worker than the owner! Good luck to you
Deb

[Tech II]

Deb, I'm glad you are a happy camper, again.....just think......getting better gas mileage, will save you money, that you can use to pay for your speeding tickets, doing 80mph.....

[kaczara13]

haha~ yes well IM careful and only do it where "everyone" near Detroit are doing it for about 10 mil.es The E-nox only did it for 3 miles! On way home I go back to 65-70. The hassle with Subaru is they are notorious for blowing head gaskets! I know. my 04' did.. But they have improved the antifreeze.. its a 100k miles change now. But its still an aluminum engine. Hmm maybe my 80 mph over heats it? The handleing is better, no blind spot (E-nox is REALLY bad on rear, small window.) I love my car again! Lets hope it lasts past 150k with no head gasket problem! Thanks

[balber]

We have owned an 2010 Equinox for 20 months now and for the most part are satisfied with the mpg's.My expectations for the car when we bought it were in the 25-27 range combined and we are consistently in that range.We,like others live in the country,so we have more hwy miles but have taken some longer trips including one of 2200 miles.I have achieved close to 32 mpgs a few times on hwy trips.Overall,we have had a good and problem free experience with our Equinox and would recommend it to others with the expectation of the more realistic mpgs.We owned a 2006 Equinox and feel this version is much improved in fit and finish,ride,mpgs,and value for the money. Our 2006 averaged around 19 but it was an AWD.

[prplt]

I have a 2012 Equinox and am having similar issues with mileage. I typically get 24-26 with an occasional 28 mpg average... Has anyone filed a class action suit against GM for the false advertising? I've had no help from the dealership...

[aleekat]

The MPG is what the manufacturers reports to the government. Has nothing to do with consumers except to entice them to buy their product.

[mark44004]

This MPG is absolute garbage! We've gotten only 27 mpg on a good day with our 2011 equinox. My wife drives lots of miles for her job and out of 3000 driven in a month routinely, 86% is freeway. We bought this car with the 32 mpg as advertised. we bought it over the Ford Escape. I've contacted Chevy early when it had less than 1000 on it. We were told about the breakin period yada-yada-yada. Ok but still no better than 26 mpg. Less than a year old and with 28000 miles on it (told you she drove alot) still no better than 26-27. Ecoboost on as was told to do by the dealership.
I recently emailed Chevy and made my complaint and something must be happening legally to Chevy because I've received emails and phone calls from them and have an appointment with the dealership to go over it with a fine tooth comb. Somethings afoot I tell ya.
We went back to chevy after we paid off our 06 cobalt. It was advertised as 32 mpg and we were getting actually 34. Same driving habits as the equinox. Certainly a bigger ride but hey, they advertised it with the 32 mpg, I didn't.
I'll keep you all posted on their findings which I'm sure will be nothing. I said in my email to them that if they had the 6 month not happy with chevy return progam they're now advertising, it would have definately gone back. class action baby...

Well kids, here's the info found by the dealership. They checked it over and couldn't find anything wrong visually or computer-wise. They reset the MPG and took it for a 30 mile round trip test drive through some city and mostly highway. The service manager who drove it took a snapshot on his smartphone of the MPG he was getting, it shown 34.8. I asked for the snapshot and he sent it to my phone, sure enough there it was. He drove, varying speeds which to me is the normal driving habit. I asked for a step by step of what he did before and during driving the car so I can try to duplicate it. Our MPG only ever got to 27.1...but I did not reset the MPG when I drove it. They said to reset the MPG everytime I fill up the car, and that's what I'll do so see how it goes for me. Perhaps the life of the vehicle with 29000 on the car and me only resetting the MPG once during that time could have given me a false reading on what I was truely getting. I'll give it a shot for a month resetting it every fillup (which is like every 3 days, lots of miles we drive i tell ya...) and monitor the deal.
Obviously GM will do nothing but at least they seemed to care about my plight. That's all folks....

[Joe W]

There are usually different types of driving that apply to MPG. The milage of highway vs. city, type of terrain, and personal driving preference. As your wife experienced acceptable mileage before it is unlikely that her driving habits have changed much, unless there is a heavy pedal afoot I will assume (hate that word) that you have not moved so the terrain is not an issue. This said I believe there may have been a different view from the government as to testing parameters that would skew the test results from year to year.

[commander100]

I have a 2010 that I bought in '09 that currently has 79,000 miles. I keep track of every tank of gas, and when new I would average 20-21 mpg. After about 10,000 miles I am averaging 21.5-22 mpg. Now I drive mostly highway miles at 75+ mph, so I know I could do better. I have seen it as low as 16 when pulling a trailer.
Now I will tell you that it is a V6 AWD LTZ. I am actually getting better than the 20 I thought I would get.
Is there a possibility the toe-in on these vehicles are off? Only thing else I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is if the transmission is not going into overdrive. Sometimes mine will go for a few miles without shifting into overdrive unless I go faster then let off the gas.

[maxwedge]

If the toe in was off tire wear would be evident, these transmissions will not shift to o/d if the trans fluid is cold, otherwise have the delayed upshift checked on a full scan with a trans scanner this may show some fault.