Like i said before,I drove from boston,ma to daytona florida and it cost me about $100 each way.Thats good enough gas mileage for me.

 

combined city/highway/freeway
20mpg actually with the 2.0 SXT autostick

 

Ok, I am the new owner of a Dodge Caliber SXT and am concerned about gas mileage. I have gone only 196 miles before I filled the tank just to see how things were going. My average agrees pretty much with everyone elses at this stage of ownership. I got 24mpg with a combo of Town and freeway driving. I'm sure I need to get a few more miles before I will notice any change.

As for why I bought the Caliber, I went to all the dealers especially Toyota looking for a 30mpg car. I owned a 1991 Mazda Miata before and only got 30mpg with continuous freeway driving with a stick. Normal around town driving was more like 24-25mpg.

I think for the money, room, features, the Caliber beats the lot. The Yaris interior was crap. I own a 96 Dodge 1500 truck and it is great. I think that Mercedes technology is rubbing off on Chrysler and we will see some nice stuff in the future.

Back again after more miles and service....
Regards
William Jibby

 

Hi Jib01...You should get top mileage from the get-go. My 2 liter SE Caliber w/CVTgave 33+MPG on a slow country drive on its first tank. However, the Caliber is stingy about giving good MPG especially with the CVT trannie. If you drive fast, the Caliber will take away quite a few MPG because the Caliber is heavy & has a bad drag coefficient. If you accelerate fast(or even moderately), the Caliber will take away lots of MPG. If you yo-yo your speed on the highway, the Caliber will take away MPG. In short, if you drive like most other people(keeping up with everyone else), you will see 30MPG seldom, specially in a cold winter or hot summer with the A/C on. Yes, the CVT computer is always seeking the gear that will give best MPG, but it will not tolerate non-economical driving.

 

It all depends on how you drive the car. In looking at the RPM gauge it looks like 2000rpm is the optimum to get good mileage from. I wish we could ge a hold of the Dodge Caliber graphs of RPM vs Gas Mileage and acceleration charts. I know they exist. I don't know why they are not available directly from Dodge. It would sure help us all.

Still the best value out there bar none.

Regards
Jib01/02

 

Hi Jib01...Agree with you about the 2000 RPM range being the most economical. Don't know anything about RPM vs. MPG charts tho. In the Dodge Caliber brochure(should be at the dealers), possibly the next best graphs are available for the 3 Caliber engine sizes. It is the HP & torque curves vs. RPMs. For the 2 liter w/CVT the torque rises till 2800RPMs. At that point the torque drops a bit. Not till the RPMs reach well into the 4000 RPM range does the torque once more reach & pass the 2800 RPM level.
If I interpret the chart right, accelerating at over 2800 RPM should not be economical. Keeping acceleration below 2800 RPMs should be your best bet for economy.

 

Ok I drove using the 2000rpm rule and got 25.075mpg combined. this next tank I will have my foot in it a lot more to see how it accelerates. I found it gets off the line better if you use low and then switch to drive later. Getting off the line with just drive is not as fast. Still testing every tank.

Regards
Jib01

 

Hi, thought I would weigh in on my experiance with mpg. First the specs; I bought my Caliber last spring with the auto trans and 2.0 motor. Idrove itto work a few times (to show it off) and some highway driving.I checked the mpg the few times I filled it up and was getting around 24 mpg. When I took it to Missouri (about a 650 mile trip) to see my first grandchild, it had 530 miles on it. I checked the mileage everytime I filled up on the way there. As the motor was getting broke in the mpg was going up. At the last fill up before I left, I averaged 30 mpg. This was both highway and city driving in Missouri with the A/C on. Driving all highway on the way back (at about 75 mph) with also the A/C on, I averaged 32 mpg.

 

I have a R/T AWD with about 6000 miles on it. I only get about 17 - 18 mpg. For a little 4 banger that (in my opinion) sucks. I actually bought that thing for my son, but I was going to drive it until he turns 16. I'm starting a job in Pheonix, AZ and I would be driving back and forth for the next year. I hope this "break in" period changes the mileage, but I doubt it.

 

1400 miles and still getting 25+ overall with Freeway and City driving. Seems to be pretty stable. I checked on one small tank after freeway driving and I got 27mpg. Still not 30mpg yet....

Regards
Jib01