Five Months With My '08 Pontiac G5 Se Sedan Aka The Butterfly Edition

[Britsmart 0]

I got my '08 Pontiac G5 Sedan back in April, went from an '06 smart to a '97 Land Rover to my current vehicle and needless to say I am actually quite happy with it. Debated for a long time on getting one of these vehicles (mostly because of it being a GM car and was concerned about quality) and then I came across this one in a rather different metallic colour.I didn't end up getting the GT version so mine has the 2.2 Litre Ecotec engine, all power options (seats, windows), A/C, factory remote start w/keyless entry, upgraded rims, sunroof, Pioneer sound system, AUX port, XM, On-Star, tire pressure monitoring, steering mounted controls and traction control (that was an option for some reason). It also has an extended warranty for an additional five years and the grand total came to $15,300 for a vehicle with 37,984km when I bought it.In terms of quality the car isn't bad for what it is, the layout is simple and easy to use (I love the steering mounted controls, makes life easy switching channels on XM). Not a fan of the shiny hard plastic dash but hey I can compromise for the added features of the vehicle, it's surprisingly comfortable in the front and the back isn't too bad....tall passengers will suffer from the lack of space. One thing I dislike is the fabric of the seats, I don't know what the fabric is but for some reason I tend to get hot really fast in them (the smart car's were so airy and breathable).The car has great power, one thing I find is a plus with now living in Petawawa, over taking is a breeze on the two lane highways full of tractor trailers and farm equipment on the roads. It's a comfortable ride with a decently quiet interior and the engine sometimes sounds like it's off it's so silent. The drive is not as fun as my smart or Rover's was, this one is quite the opposite it's a very neutral drive and really boring in comparison but I knew that buying it.The fuel economy of the G5 was another thought with a bigger engine how much regular gas is this going to use (a whole lot less then my Rover did that's for sure), this is where I became really impressed with my vehicle. I track my fuel out of habit now and glad I do because my car is very good on gas, this is what my Fuelly is telling me from the tracking of receipts;Going to do both MPG and L/100KM (so whichever is easiest for everyone I have it listed )MPG:Average to date - 55.5Best to date - 71.3L/100KM:Average to date - 4.2LBest to date - 3.3LGranted I do almost 87% highway driving with speeds of 80 km/h or higher, still the fuel economy even when I lived in Toronto was almost on par with what it's reading. That is what is the most shocking about the vehicle is the lack of fuel the car is consuming even with the A/C running it was averaging about 4.6L /100KM (50.8MPG). I'm going to put in a K&N air filter and see if that decreases the fuel consumption by even more, the gentleman at the GM dealer said that the my G5 is getting fantastic fuel economy because this vehicle typically gets 9.0L / 100KM (26 MPG).I do miss the uniqueness and excitement that both my previous vehicles had and my smart (aka Marty car) is a vehicle I will miss non stop, will I get another smart down the road? Who knows, I will always love them, perhaps if they bring the diesel's back I just may get one for a second vehicle Edited August 13, 2012 by Britsmart

[g_rant 0]

I have seen a few of those over the years at my shop (likely 700-1000. lol) I do work for a local GM dealer and noticed they have a few common issues with the front end clunking. If I remember correctly there is something in the steering rack that looses grease and they repack it with grease to stop the clunking?? Either way they will all do it at one time or any other unless the person changing the oil makes it part of their routine, the reason I tell you this is because they have seen alot of shadey shops use this as a great way to replace a pile of stuff that didn't need to be. Also the seat material in those cars are HORRIBLE, they stain when water gets on them, making entering and exiting while its raining a PITA, from my experience the only true way around it is seat covers, scotch garding doesn't seem to help. That or get used to having them shampooed regularly!other than that I hope it brings you years of happy motoring

[MikeT 744]

L/100KM:Average to date - 4.2LBest to date - 3.3L

That's miraculously good, are you sure you got your sums right? Most diesel smarts in Canada use more fuel than that. and certainly the VW TDIs are gas guzzlers compared to those figures.

[Britsmart 0]

That's miraculously good, are you sure you got your sums right? Most diesel smarts in Canada use more fuel than that. and certainly the VW TDIs are gas guzzlers compared to those figures.

I thought I was, so I got it checked by two other people and the dealership and those are the numbers everyone is getting off of my gas receipts. What the car is reading usually at cruising speed is it's using typically between 1-3 L /100KM.The car is running in tip top shape, because I thought maybe there could be something wrong, it's baffling however as long as I keep getting those readings or even better after I drop in a K&N air filter

[Huronlad 186]

I have a hard time believing those number to be accurate when comparing to owner's on ecomodders, with lighter, more aerodynamic, smaller displacement cars that are not getting that type of FE.

[Britsmart 0]

I have a hard time believing those number to be accurate when comparing to owner's on ecomodders, with lighter, more aerodynamic, smaller displacement cars that are not getting that type of FE.

I'm going to keep monitoring the fuel receipts and see with more city driving if it brings it back down to where it should be, I don't know if the previous owner did anything to the car to increase the efficiency. Be interesting to see over the course of ownership if it changes to reflect what the ratings are typically, it could be my driving techniques, where I live and the lack of city driving.

[MikeT 744]

I am certain that your figures are wrong, 1 to 3 L/100 km at cruising speed is impossible in a car like that.

[MikeT 744]

Your fuelly records.

I suspect that you are entering km as miles and/or doing a faulty conversion of litres to US Gallons. Even a km to miles error would probably not fully explain the astronomically high MPG you say you're getting with this car.

[Britsmart 0]

Your fuelly records.I suspect that you are entering km as miles and/or doing a faulty conversion of litres to US Gallons. Even a km to miles error would probably not fully explain the astronomically high MPG you say you're getting with this car.

I had to convert over, receipts being in litres I had to convert to gallons and the price per as well and using a conversion site helped transfer over the figures to enter in on Fuelly. Still have the original receipts so I may do it over, another check couldn't hurt doing it manually to see. Even the car's computer is reading different then the receipts themselves it's averaging about 7.1L /100KM - thats about 85% - 90% correct, which is still a lot better then it should be.May pick up one of those Scan Gauges to see an actual reading other then the receipts and car's information centre.

[Britsmart 0]

What I did was changed my odometer to miles instead of km on Fuelly and a more sensible reading came up now:Average MPG is 34.5Best MPG is 44.4Average L/100Km is 6.8Best L/100Km is 5.3That small fail I had may make more sense now that I corrected that, still pretty darn good for a G5

[Huronlad 186]

Fuelly will accept metric units so there is no need to do any sort of conversion. Under the Fuelly banner there is the unit choices, on the add a fuel-up screen.

[MikeT 744]

OK that is making sense now. 6.8 is very good for that car.

[g_rant 0]

I understand what you did Brit, you pressed the E/M button the dash flipping it to miles for US markets. I have seen many customers come in with the same thing stating they had way less K's on there car then what they actually did. I'm not exactually sure why GM makes that option so easy to do, it confuses a lot of people and make things misleading when selling/buying. Either way 6.8L isn't bad for a couple year old car that was designed before the mega fuel consumption crunch

[smartzuuk 167]

5.3 best and 6.8 average is realistic for that car.What was the error factor? 1.609?You should see if you can get the 6.8 down a bit....