Real Life MPG 5.3 / 6.2

olyelr said:

Yea, rarely perfectly accurate, and usually sway to the better side of mpg’s…but they are usually within the “ballpark”. I did a year long side by side calculation test on one of my rams…the computer was notoriously off about a mile per gallon (on the better side) vs the actual mileage/gallonage calculation, which is what the year long average off was. They are only so accurate. Close, but not perfect.

Click to expand...

The old dream meter......makes people who are lazy about old fashioned math feel better about their purchase.

Steveo123 said:

These new gens are terrible compared to last. I have a Tahoe Z71 6.2 and it gets about 10-11 city driving and that is driving very conservative. My 6.2 18 Denali XL 4wd got a consistent 17mpg around town. I’m not sure what they did to make the mpg worse then last gen, only thing I can figure is they are way heavier.

Click to expand...

I agree completely. Seems as though GM went way too conservative on the fuel trim. Cold temps=high fuel usage. High temps=high fuel usage. Cold engine=high fuel usage.

Only time I get reasonable mpg is at comfortable temps. I am surprised they don’t burn out the cats on these things quickly.

One other point to consider is ethanol vs non-ethanol. I try to run non-ethanol as I usually get 10% better and can go a little farther on a trip between fill ups. My truck seems to like 87-88 non-ethanol best. It is a 5.3. Most the time I can only find non-ethanol premium, or 91octane where I live, so I run it.

Like others, I can get between 13-16 mpg around town and up to 22mpg (on a good day at less than 70mph) on the highway. Stop and go makes a huge difference.