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Does anyone out there have a lot of miles on your Spark. I was on pace to have about 30000 miles on my Spark by now, but my driving habits have changed and I only have about 20000 after 20 months. I'm curious as to anyone who has a significant amount of miles on their car. I've had mine almost two years and the only thing I am needing to have done is have the dealer check the air conditioning per the letter send out by GM...

I figured by now that there is somebody out there who is a road warrior...How many miles??? What type of driving conditions (hills, mountains, flat areas, hot vs. cold weather etc...)

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Almost 30k miles in 15 months. I lived through a hot Texas summer before the a/c fix, and moved this year back to the w coast. I found out the Spark is good in snow and ice up in the mountains. The Spark isn't very good at climbing passes though, and requires downshifts to keep it around interstate speeds. My mpgs climbed to over 40mpgs, numbers I never saw until I moved to lower speed limits.

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Almost 30k miles in 15 months. I lived through a hot Texas summer before the a/c fix, and moved this year back to the w coast. I found out the Spark is good in snow and ice up in the mountains. The Spark isn't very good at climbing passes though, and requires downshifts to keep it around interstate speeds. My mpgs climbed to over 40mpgs, numbers I never saw until I moved to lower speed limits.

Any issues besides A/C? I am still considering a Spark, but have decided if I get one it will be the base LS manual model. Spending several thousand more to get the LT auto just doesn't make sense with a car like this. A lot more money, but the quality is the same. And I do not want the CVT. I have heard nothing but bad things about them, and the CVT on my Honda Silverwing scooter has been nothing but trouble. A Sonic LT auto costs twice as much as a base Spark. I average about 25K a year, most of it highway. However, I almost never drive above 65 mph, no matter what the speed limit is, and often even slower.

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Almost 30k miles in 15 months. I lived through a hot Texas summer before the a/c fix, and moved this year back to the w coast. I found out the Spark is good in snow and ice up in the mountains. The Spark isn't very good at climbing passes though, and requires downshifts to keep it around interstate speeds. My mpgs climbed to over 40mpgs, numbers I never saw until I moved to lower speed limits.

What kind of oil are you using and what is your oil change frequency?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I use Mobil one full synthetic 5w20 Dexos approved oil. I keep a close eye for any sludge and also check oil level frequently. I have noticed a small amount of oil usage ( about 4-8 oz over 4k miles). I change my oil at least 7500 miles. But rely on the oil life monitor and change it around 20-30%. Which tends to be around 5-6k miles. I was told a new tab is out that they should not go 7500 miles between changes regardless of oil monitor. I've seen no sludge or any signs of it. But if I do I'll be using some sea foam or B12 chemtool. I do prefer sea foam for its safer usage.

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Mine has been getting filthy around the valve cover, but I thought ti was from people spilling oil when they did a change. Last thing that happened is they wiped the entire valve cover to try and see if there was a leak. So far no leaks on my car so the oil is going into the engine.

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My spark just surpassed 10K miles this past Sunday. I kinda doubt I'll ever see 100K.

Any reason why? I was hoping for at least 150,000 (mostly highway at around 60-65 mph, 3000 mile oil changes) I really don't see the Spark being capable of 75-80 mph. On the auto version I rented, that was full throttle, and climbing any grade at all, it would drop below that, and the engine rpms would go way up. I put nearly 70,000 miles on an '88 Suzuki Samurai, with a 1.3L engine, that had over 100,000 poorly maintained miles when I got it. I kept freeway speed to 55 mph.

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I do 80-85 in mine with out any issues although I stay around 60 for mpgs however when traffic requires it 75-80 is frequent and with a mass of cars mpgs don't suffer much. Over 65 mph in the auto it will downshift when climbing a hill, but that's because it hits it's peak power at near redline. Its powerband is in the 6500 rpm range.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We have two 2013 Sparks. I have 20,000+ miles on mine, my wife 30,000+ miles. No engine oil usage, no A/C problems since purchasing both in August 2012 (and no, we are not taking them to be checked). I would love to have a CVT transmission though. :)

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It runs right where my privious KIA ran on the highway at around 3200rpm, the only thing that makes it a city car is the very short body. I think my old metro hatch was running right around 3500 on the highway to, and it had even less power.

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Father's Spark has 45K. No issues other than initial A/C. He's had that since August of '12 I think, he was an early adopter.

Fiance's Spark has 12K. 5spd. She has a 38 mile mostly highway one way work commute.. we've had the car since January.

We live in metro Providence/Boston area.. Spark is fine in that mid traffic rush, but I subscribe to the 'loud pipes save lives' theory.. The intake is definitely noticeable on the highway.

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Well, just went over the 22000 mile mark and had the air conditioning fixed. I didn't think I had a problem, but it cools faster. I had a 1990 Ford Festiva with absolutely no extras, and when I sold it in 1997 it had 99,500 miles on it. My Spark is head over heals better than that car, and as of right now I don't see why I couldn't drive it for the next 10 years.

I'm also seeing more of them on the road...They are fun to drive, and you cannot beat the price point.

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Well, just went over the 22000 mile mark and had the air conditioning fixed. I didn't think I had a problem, but it cools faster. I had a 1990 Ford Festiva with absolutely no extras, and when I sold it in 1997 it had 99,500 miles on it. My Spark is head over heals better than that car, and as of right now I don't see why I couldn't drive it for the next 10 years.

I'm also seeing more of them on the road...They are fun to drive, and you cannot beat the price point.

Great to hear some good news occasionally, keep on driving, and enjoying!

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Any reason why? I was hoping for at least 150,000 (mostly highway at around 60-65 mph, 3000 mile oil changes) I really don't see the Spark being capable of 75-80 mph. On the auto version I rented, that was full throttle, and climbing any grade at all, it would drop below that, and the engine rpms would go way up. I put nearly 70,000 miles on an '88 Suzuki Samurai, with a 1.3L engine, that had over 100,000 poorly maintained miles when I got it. I kept freeway speed to 55 mph.

I only do about 10K a year, so after 10 years of michigan winters, it'll probably be a total rust bucket. My manual transmission Spark is definitely capable of +90 MPH. You must have driven the CVT version, which I can definitely believe would make the spark highly underpowered.

Edited by Trancer07
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I only do about 10K a year, so after 10 years of michigan winters, it'll probably be a total rust bucket. My manual transmission Spark is definitely capable of +90 MPH. You must have driven the CVT version, which I can definitely believe would make the spark highly underpowered.

I have the 2014 with a CVT and so far have been very impressed with it driving in the mountains. Last week with 3 people in the car we drove a 390 mile trip through the mountains and on the interstate at speeds of up to 70mph. Driving up Jellico Mountain on I-75 at 70 I had no problem maintain speed and we were even passing some other so called economy cars that couldn't maintain speed. Our overall mileage for the trip was 40.5mpg. The only time I feel it is underpowered is when you have the ac on pulling away from a stop. Even then once you get going its very easy to keep up with traffic. I noticed too on flat ground at 70mph it is doing right around 2,300 RPM.

Edited by Angrybird12
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WOW, that's a low RPM compared to the manual shift. You should be able to break 50mpg easy on relatively flat highway. My car is right around 3400 to 3500 rpm at 70mph, just for a comparison factor.

Unfortunately there's is no such thing as a long flat highway around here......just wondering really how accurate the Tach is on these things.

I do like how the CVT searches for the optimum RPM. Even on the steepest inclines at 65-70 I have never seen it get over 5,000 rpm. I wonder if the final drive ratio is different in the CVT cars. By the way I always use the cruise control and it is very good about holding speed.

I had a automatic in a 2001 Chevy tracker and it couldn't maintain speed very well on cruises control.the Spark is much better.

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I decided to recheck the RPMs at 70mph just in case I was remembering it wrong. As you can see from this blurry picture the RPMs are well below 3,000. I did take notice that it seems to vary between 2,200 and 2,600rpm I guess due to the road not being completely flat. So it averaged out to around 2,400 rpm at 70mph. I also checked it at 65 and it was fairly steady at 2,000rpm along the same stretch of roadway.

post-1528-0-74610000-1406996608_thumb.jp

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  • 4 years later...

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