Dodge Caliber MPG claims - are they true? | Ask Honest John

Dodge Caliber MPG claims - are they true?

As a member of the Dodge Caliber Owners Forum I am finding some extraordinary claims being made. In normal motoring, would you expect a heavy 2.0-litre CVT car to achieve 42mpg as one member showed in a photo of his fuel computer display?

Another member claims 36,000 miles for his tyres, still above the legal limit. And even the moderator claims 42,000 miles for tyres on a pick up truck? My experience of having owned 42 cars and driven a million miles is that in normal everyday motoring these figures are just not credible. My 2.0 litre CVT Caliber gets 23/26 mpg, but then these days I never travel more than a 15 mile round trip from Edgware to Garston North Watford to play bowls.

Asked on 31 January 2009 by

Answered by Honest John

Your mpg is what VCA classifies as 'urban'. And five miles of a 15-mile run from a cold start will be on the engine's cold running cycle where it overfuels. If you drove longer distances at 50 - 60mph on the motorway you would do much better. I averaged 57 over 600 miles on Saturday in a Focus ECOnetic 110. About 2mpg worse than its combined figure, but still pretty good for the conditions.

Tags: fuel economy real mpg wheels and tyres

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