Up to spec? Actually, I took this picture when I arrived in the Edmunds garage after a 31.1 mile commute from my home. I checked the sticker in the door jam and found that 35 psi is spec when it is cold, not hot. Rechecking after it cooled down I saw that the cold temperature of the tires was about 32 psi...
In other news, I hooked up the Scan Gauge to the Enclave's OBDII port to see what kind of fuel efficiency I could get. I know that Dan recently cut his fuel consumption dramatically by driving the speed limit on a trip from Southern Cal to Oregon and back. My own findings were that over a 31.1 mile commute I got 21.4 mpg in stop and go traffic. This used 1.45 gallons of gas.
The Scan Gauge has a nice feature where it also calculates the cost of gas. It said I had used $4.34 worth of gas @ about $3.00/gallon. At this rate, if this was my commuting vehicle, I would be spending $173 a month and $2,083 a year on gas -- much more than I would have thought.
With this information in hand, I wouldn't choose the Enclave as my daily driver even though I think it's a great SUV. It's too big and luxurious for a solo driver.
Philip Reed, Senior Consumer Advice Editor @ 9,497 miles
tjbeck says:
09:36 AM, 01/14/08
Still not sure what's wrong with the picture. Maybe the 140mph speedo?
ddelise says:
09:42 AM, 01/14/08
At what temperature are you supposed to take the baseline/cold reading?
My 2008 Malibu spec is 30 psi when cold. This is what the tires are set to. However, a couple weeks back we had a cold front, and when the temperature was in the 30's and 40's, the cold psi was down to 26/27.
The tires are filled with Nitro, so it was not easy for me to simply fill them.
Thoughts?
texases says:
09:49 AM, 01/14/08
ddelise-
The pressure spec is for cold, so if it's routinely 30-40 degrees in the morning, then set pressure to 30 psi. If that was a one-night fluke, ignore it, and set to 30 psi when cold on a 'normal' morning. As for nitrogen, it's a sham anyway, so don't worry about 'contaminating' it. This highlights another major problem with nitrogen - people not keeping their tires properly inflated out of concerns with 'contamination'. What a racket!
orangutan says:
11:11 AM, 01/14/08
21.4 in urban driving out of a vehicle like the Enclave is great.
cowbell says:
11:15 AM, 01/14/08
I would have guessed that the 900 rpm idle speed was what was wrong.
06scooby says:
12:40 PM, 01/14/08
why did you need a scan gauge? doesn't that thing have an onboard trip computer like most gm's?
daytona_500 says:
04:39 PM, 01/14/08
Well, I don't really know why any solo person without a family would choose any SUV as a daily driver, unless of course paying for fuel was no problem to them.
philip17 says:
09:22 AM, 01/15/08
I think that the tires should be set to a normal cold morning temperature -- not an abnormally cold morning. I'm not sure what to advise people who live in Minnesota where it is -10 overnight and then they drive to work and park in a heated garage.
There is an onboard fuel economy gauge. I hooked up the Scan Gauge to see how closely they matched -- they were within .3 mpg so the onboard system seems quite accurate.
Yes, 21 mpg is great for a SUV of this size and weight. This morning I drove to work on cruise control, the traffic was moving and I got 25 mpg. All I meant by this post was that monetizing gas useage can help you make a better decision about what to buy.
I see hundreds of solo drivers in SUVs and pickup trucks every morning and I know that they're commuters. All I can think of is how much money they're spending to feed their image.
texases says:
10:20 AM, 01/15/08
There are lots of smaller vehicles getting poorer milage. 21 mpg is great.
stovt001 says:
08:45 PM, 01/15/08
Its good to know that the GM computers are pretty accurate.