Silverado 5.3L MPG

[hittman]

This 22 model I got last November only has 6500 miles on it now.

Last week I had a short 100 mile round trip. Half was 4 lane highway at 70 and the rest a rural curvy hilly 2 lane blacktops.

MPG on that trip was 20.5.

Can’t complain about that from a full size 4 door 4WD.

Best MPG trip I’ve had with it was in a 55 MPH zone ( 100+ miles ) and it got 24.9.

 

[Fox Mike]

Not bad for what you are driving. I, in the early '70s, drove a Chevy pickup that was my dad's from Edgewood MD to Ft Eustis Va. About 225 miles. I couldn't make it without stopping to top off. A V8 that seriously sucked gas.

 

[hittman]

This truck and its technology is nothing like the 03 I had with a 6.0L.
I put around 135k on that truck and when I traded it in, the “Ave Econ” combined was 9.6!!

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

Not bad at all. I have a 09 Pontiac Vibe. 2.4 l awd. I get 19 mpg ave in the summer. (AC) In the winter i get 24 ave. I have a 2002 Saturn. 5 speed FWD. It does great on gas. 35 MPG. But the speedometer dont work. Wipers don't work. Have to tare the dash out to change the wiper motor. It's my hunting car and back up car. 237k miles on it. The car don't owe me a dime. I should ditch the saturn and get a little eco car. But i don't want payments. I like to buy stuff out right.

 

[JPGLSG1234]

I'm consistently getting 22.9 to 24.3 at highway speeds and 17.8 to 18.4 around town with my GMC 5.3L. When I first picked up the truck we made a run to North Dakota to hike in Theodore Roosevelt NP and I ran the crap out of it, 79 to 85 mph for three days there and the three days back. Nor have I had in problems with the 8 speed trans or the 8 cylinder to 4 cylinder mod, it's been a good truck. But just incase I just purchase a dealer supply extended warranty program.

 

[Mobuck]

I'll admit this is 'old stuff' w/o all the new gadgetry and of course I'd like it to be better. 2004 x-tended cab 1500 w/5.3, tow package w/3.73 gears, 265/70x17 load range B tires, no bed cover, and hauling an extra 300# of 'might need this' crap in a bed mounted toolbox. The 3.73 gears knocks 10% off the gas mileage on flatland pavement but it's actually advantageous when driving the rough, hilly roads I often encounter.
Running on good hiway with cruise and AC, it gets around 18-19 absolute tops. Running 2 lanes and thumping along gravel 2 tracks cuts that to 16-17(this also includes shut off/restart 2-3-4 times per hour and crawling along looking for addresses).
My gas cost has risen to around 20 cents per mile but I'm still in the black on my mileage allowance.

 

[Kevin]

Hittman; that’s pretty good mileage. Is it pretty much the same city or highway?

I had a 2020 Ram with a 5.3 v8. It was very consistent at 16/17 no matter city or highway. I never saw anything better than 18 on an extended trip.

This summer I traded it off for a 2022 3 liter diesel RAM, now I’m getting 26 city and 28 highway. I’m very pleased with that.

Does your truck have the start/stop feature? I’ve read where that will increase your mileage by around 5%.

 

[contender]

I'll echo the good gas mileage on my Chevy Silverado. It has the 5.7 ltr, 4x4, full sized 4-door cab & a 6-1/2' bed.
Around these mountains & curvy roads,, I normally get around 19-20 mpg,, (If I keep my foot out of the accelerator,) but if I get on a 4-lane,, and set the cruise control, I've gotten over 24 mpg.

 

[hittman]

Around town I’m in the 13 -15 range.
Yes it’s got Stop/Start that I usually disable.
DFM was a factory DELETE on this one.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

With the start stop feature. I wonder how many starters would wear out over time.

 

[Kevin]

With the start stop feature. I wonder how many starters would wear out over time.

I too wonder about that. We have a little 4 cylinder car for around town. It’s got the start/stop. We’ve had cars with it in the past, like my wife’s old Jeep. That one was really rough and jerky.

This 4 cylinder car is very smooth. I’m fact, I have to look at the rpm gauge to see if it’s running or not. At a red light, the starter just flicks on and you might not even notice.

 

[hittman]

Startled me the other day. I was sitting at a stop light and noticed my oil pressure was ZERO! Yikes!

Oh yeah …. I had forgot to turn it off and sure enough the motor had shut off. I didn’t even notice it. As much as I don’t care for the feature, I must say that it’s butter smooth on my truck.

 

[Dan in MI]

Stop/stop on modern vehicles is very smooth. The computer knows EXACTLY where it cut out so no guessing which cylinder is headed to TDC (top dead center) so it lights up immediately.

Regarding starters and batteries. Both are beefed up in a SS application.

 

[The Happy Kaboomer]

That feature will never be active on anything I drive.......EVER!.

 

[Pat-inCO]

I run a 2017 Subaru Outback. Four thousand pounds, full time four wheel drive, A/C most
of the year (Phoenix basin), 26K miles on it. Around town I get 29 to 30 mpg (average) but
get 35 to 37 on the highway. - - - Cant haul a load of "stuff" but handles most other things.

My daughter has a 2017 Ford, 4x4 with long cab. She gets around 23 to 25 mpg. Her husband
gets 18 to 20 from the same vehicle.

P.S. I can get around 25 to 26 out of mine iffin I get a heavy foot.

 

[hittman]

Start/Stop seems to be a thorn in the side of GM. I think it’s chock full of problems. I had a 2019 High Country ( 6.2L & 10-speed trans ) and it quit working at about 7500 miles. Never once worked after that. They finally told me they had no clue how to fix it. An engineer from GM even came here in person. That POS in less than 3 years had 7 batteries, the computer flashed once, the computer REPLACED twice and I can’t even remember how many times they repaired or replaced the BCM, sensors, and other things. Then throw in their AFM and DFM issues and its a hot mess.

GM finally refunded my money on that lemon.

 

[Cholo]

↑ I've been meaning to ask you what became of that ordeal. Glad it worked out well, considering.

When y'all check your gas mileage are you going by the onboard computer or doing it the old fashioned way of miles divided by gallons used?

 

[turd]

When y'all check your gas mileage are you going by the onboard computer or doing it the old fashioned way of miles divided by gallons used?

My experience is that the computer is more accurate, as I would guess most people (me included) tend to round off mileage and gallon numbers before dividing. The computer doesn't round off anything.

 

[hittman]

↑ I've been meaning to ask you what became of that ordeal. Glad it worked out well, considering.

The pandemic was my friend on that deal. I bought the High Country in Nov 19. It was a “demo” with something like 5500 miles on it. I paid them $54k.

Fast forward to Nov 21 and prices are crazy high. Agreed between GM, my local dealer and myself, they gave me a new 2021 RST that stickered for $57,500. That included them moving my $1200 hard bed cover to the new one and a full tank of gas.

 

[Cholo]

They did do you right!

 

[turd]

My experience is that the computer is more accurate, as I would guess most people (me included) tend to round off mileage and gallon numbers before dividing. The computer doesn't round off anything.

Computers CAN be fooled. Put taller than stock tires on and the calculations change slightly....ask me how I know.

 

[langenc]

Not bad at all. I have a 09 Pontiac Vibe. 2.4 l awd. I get 19 mpg ave in the summer. (AC) In the winter i get 24 ave. I have a 2002 Saturn. 5 speed FWD. It does great on gas. 35 MPG. But the speedometer dont work. Wipers don't work. Have to tare the dash out to change the wiper motor. It's my hunting car and back up car. 237k miles on it. The car don't owe me a dime. I should ditch the saturn and get a little eco car. But i don't want payments. I like to buy stuff out right.

Get your order in for one of those neat gasless cars...
they run on coal.

 

[Dan in MI]

Computers CAN be fooled. Put taller than stock tires on and the calculations change slightly....ask me how I know.

Well of course, you change the input on a calculation and out put will change.

 

[Mobuck]

"Does your truck have the start/stop feature? I've read where that will increase your mileage by around 5%."
That feature is absolutely FLASE ECONOMY. The end result of this will cost far more than the presumed savings. Son's F-150 work vehicle has this and it is the most screwball idea ever conceived.

 

[turd]

Well of course, you change the input on a calculation and out put will change.

Yeah, you're not really fooling it, just changing the input. You're right.

 

[contender]

I like to double check my vehicle gas calculator with my own old fashioned math. It's usually pretty close.
And it can depend upon how much gas is put in the tank each time,, as well as the direct actual mileage.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

My new-to-me 2018 F-250 Crew Cab got 18 mpg the other day on a 200+ mile road trip, empty. Towing my 28' camper to the gulf coast it got 10.2 mpg. About as good as my 2004 diesel was doing and gas is $1.20 a gallon cheaper than diesel here, so I'm actually better off. Plus lower maintenance and repair costs, when needed. I don't tow enough to make the diesel a necessity, so we're going to thank it for it's service and send it down the road.

 

[GasGuzzler]

With the start stop feature. I wonder how many starters would wear out over time.

It does. Trust me. From the mid-2000's until a couple years ago, starters on GM trucks were not at all failure prone. Since the 2019's came out I have replaced a half dozen. Bad part is they fail at a stop light AND short (open up) the power feed lug in the UBEC requiring it be replaced too...and they fail AFTER the 3/36 goes out usually. At least GM put the defeat switch on the 2020+. Don't get me started on lifters...

BTW, there is no real difference in a stop/start (Auto Stop is what it's called) starter and previous models without the feature when talking about the 5.3L. Some engines that started off as Auto Stop from the beginning might have a "beefier" starter than if they had not been designed to shut off 500X more times. Not so with the 5.3L and variants.

 

[wolfsong]

I'm lucky to get 15 mpg on the highway in my 2013 Silverado. But I do average 40 mpg with my 2013 JettaTDI.

I'm also one who divides actual gallons by actual mileage to determine overall mileage.

Oops! Edited to correct the mathematical sequence: actual miles driven divided by actual gallons used...

 

[Cholo]

I, too, do it the old fashioned way and I don't round any of the numbers. My '16 Nissan's digitally calculated gas mileage indicator is always optimistic by 2-3 mpg. That lying a** car LOL