low mileage on new spark

It seems to be nice that more people are coming with expriences like me and now it is also clear that the new fancy cars of multinational company looks more good only in ads with big stars and tv aids and on ground situation is quite different,one more thing i wish to share is that besides poor mileage the chevy dealer gave me 1gm gold coin on 30 august 09 purchase and those who purchase on 1st sept has got 2.5gm gold coin,moreover when i enquire about logistic charges levied the dealer replied that your free mating,mudflaps,keychain,tissue box has included in logistic charges while at purchase time it was told complimentary and when i sent e mails to gm motors they fail to reply and take any proper action till date,so you can understand how these people are making us fool in all possible ways but very few people like me share these things and most people go with old Indian idea sab chalta hey,

P.K thanks for sharing your experience, many in your shoes would consider by gone's to be bygones and sweep the issues under the mat(pun intended).

Haggle the dealer with your issues, once the warranty dries out you might find 'them' diagnosing more problems and asking you to pay for the repairs!

HI All,

I think i found out the reason why my SPARK is giving very less fuel efficiency.

I think its because of my driving style. I am running my car on half clutch while starting and during parking and some time in traffic. That might be consuming lot of petrol. Yesterday i found out a car driving video where i figured out this. Also i was told to use clutch very mimimal.

Will running car on half clutch reduce the mileage? please let me know.My car is giving 10kmpl in city with out AC.

Balabharat, it will give you less mileage with half clutch. Change your habits with conscious efforts, and some help from Carwale tips and advice, in addition to other sources for good driving practices.

Not only bad FE, you will wear off the clutch plates prematurely, and will have to replace clutch plates before they are due for replacement, which is a rare event in a car's life.

What I was trying earlier in the thread to get these two guys' (PK and Ghatak) attention to these practices, and they could have zeroed upon the root cause of low FE pretty soon and corrected it. But it turned out, that they were only interested in complaining and venting out their frustration, so I just let them do that.

Krishna,Dont you feel still keeping aside the driving technique,10kmpl for a 1100 cc engine is way too less...

I am sure driving pratices in smaller engines dont play a vitol role in deciding the fuel economy!!!

Am i right ?

No. Keep driving in first gear. Check FE.

The example is extreme, but driving practices are still a factor however small the engine is. In fact, it is massive engines (6L V block etc, those on pickup trucks in the US or so) that give the same FE irrespective (almost) of driving style, but unfortunately that FE is usually craptastic!

I see the driver's contribution to FE as a percentage of 'standard' FE the vehicle offers. If it is crap, the driver's contribution will scale that crap up or down. If it is gold, the driver's contribution will scale that gold up or down.

Not to an extent that we all presume all owners of Spark drive in first gear and that all are poor drivers...!!!

I mean it has to be the engine here...That has to be the weaker link in this case...!!!

I dont expect all drivers to be so poor in driving that most of us what we have come across complaining here in this forum and the ones i have come across are poor drivers so much so that except for very few owners rest all complain about the mileage...!!!

I have not seen More sx4 owners complaining about it either partly because they know that their engine is way more powerful and driving skills [you just dont feel like ignoring the pedal] indeed plays major role there when manhandling a beast like that...

just in case i wondered, spark is suppose to be lighter than SX4 by huge numbers!!!

There has to be some technical snag or lack of tuning efforts that goes in the spark engine...[or probably thats the maximum they could ever achieve]

Perhaps thats the only conclusion i can draw unless you impress me with good figures from national meet i.e:-

After you drive in normal way

And the other in a more standard golden way...,No PnG there please...LOLs

Dear friends,I am trying best by using all your suggestions by less use of clutch,,maintain car speed at 40-50kmph,using proper gears etc etc  to improve my car mileage but it has only slightly improved my mileage i also want to know one thing that since spark has a good quality that its engine even in  third or fourth gear works nice in stopping traffic conditions so should i carry one with third gear at 20kmph speed or should i change gear to second which will improve mileage,keep on sending your suggestions

Hi PK, Nice to see you are taking steps to improve FE. I am with you all the way!

Please refer to your Spark Owner's Manual - It will specify what gear to use at what speeds. Our tendency as Middle Class Indians, we always tend to think of saving petrol, and go at the highest possible gear with lowest possible RPM.

While unnecessary revving is not good for FE, going too low on RPM too is not good for FE, and it is bad for driving comfort and safety as well (one can never overtake easily when going at moderate speeds in the top gear)

Following the owner's manual religiously for the shift points gives you so much of additional power, that you won't know what to do with it!  Also this allows the engine to 'breath easily, and gives you better FE.

Please post the shift points for Spark on this thread for other's benefit.

Does your Spark have a Tachometer? Tachometer lets you translate shift points to a range of RPM, and makes decisions of gear changes easy. Please go through this post for more details.

More later, after your post.

Pk

For Spark - 20 Kmph in gear 3 is not OK in Stop & Go traffic situation.  As you may not feel the slight jerk when you slow down around 20Kmph in Gear 3 or 4,  you would try to accelerate in that gear when traffic ahead of you starts clearing.  At that time, there would be an involuntary tendency to ride half clutch. The same happens while driving fast on 4th gear while approaching a bridge. As the car approaches the top of the bridge, drivers tend to coax the car on the same gear by driving half clutch and flooring the accelerator pedal.  Good driving / FE procedure should be to gradually change to suitable lower gear.  

2nd Gear is apt for 20 Kmph. And while slowly reducing speed (eg., approaching a breaker), say from 40 to 20 - you may coast from 40 to 20 on 4th gear and at 20 Kmph you directly shift to 2nd  as you smoothly cross the breaker.  More use of clutch - less mileage and premature cluth plates replacement expenses.