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Hi. I just bought a new 17 spark lt1 last Wednesday Dec 27 and I have some questions. 

What oil is the engine filled up with at the factory? Fully synthetic or synthetic blend? Do I need to use one over the other or does it matter? Could I use just synthetic safely and would I be able to go up to a year between oil changes since I don't drive any more than 8000 miles in a year. 

Also, would this car be safe to drive at speeds around 75 mph with the engine rotating at 2500 rpm for about say 3 hours or about 300 miles or so? 

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12 hours ago, silverspark78 said:

Hi. I just bought a new 17 spark lt1 last Wednesday Dec 27 and I have some questions. 

What oil is the engine filled up with at the factory? Fully synthetic or synthetic blend? Do I need to use one over the other or does it matter? Could I use just synthetic safely and would I be able to go up to a year between oil changes since I don't drive any more than 8000 miles in a year. 

Also, would this car be safe to drive at speeds around 75 mph with the engine rotating at 2500 rpm for about say 3 hours or about 300 miles or so? 

I can tell you from personal experience, I drove my 17 Spark from Central Massachusetts to Birmingham Alabama all on the highway, going between 75-80 for over 8 hours

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This car will exceed any speed limit for an entire tank and just ask for another quick fill up. It's surprisingly stable at high speed. The low front air dam and well designed undercarriage really helps, I think. However, it takes a long time to accelerate above 60 so don't expect to be passing. Also your mileage suffers considerably. Sub 30mpg for sure. Maybe 250 mi per tank. If you're really road tripping in a hurry consider time lost for fuel stops. 

Edited by GammaRadiation
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Yea it does take a while to get the car up to speed but it's not too bad. 75 - 80 mph is usually as fast as I ever drive on the interstate. I took two trips to Chicago and both times I got about 34-35 mpg average so that's not too bad though there are since bigger compacts and mid size cars that can prob come close to or do better. I'll be taking a 2,000 mile round trip from Central Illinois (Peoria) to Panama city, Florida August 13 so I'll see how things go. 

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On 7/26/2018 at 6:42 AM, GammaRadiation said:

it takes a long time to accelerate above 60 so don't expect to be passing. 

 

Um, what? This little car is actually pretty zippy for it's tiny engine. It's very easy to pass on the highway at 60+.

Btw, I wanted to see how fast the car would go, fastest I went was 100 but slowed down immediately since this car is pretty scary at those speeds. The wind throws the car around since it's so light.

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It's not too bad. Hey is 5w20 Mobil 1 fully synthetic oil from Walmart recommended oil to use with our cars the 2017 version? Just curious because I used that oil and it's at the full line and getting a slight moan for 2 to 3 seconds then it goes away. Maybe I'm being paranoid. I don't want the synthetic blend oil at the dealership. BTW nice wheels. 

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I would use the recommended oil from the owner's manual...a synthetic blend. 

My guess is the full synthetic might have a slightly different viscosity than the blend. . That may be why you hear the slight groan for a couple of seconds, which is the time difference between the full synthetic versus the blend to reach all moving parts. 

 

Anecdotally, I have gotten 150,000 miles without any engine problems using regular 10-30w oil for decades. But it is true synthetic oil can go longer intervals than basic oil.

 

 

 

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On 7/29/2018 at 9:25 PM, Eric1984 said:

 

Um, what? This little car is actually pretty zippy for it's tiny engine. It's very easy to pass on the highway at 60+.

Btw, I wanted to see how fast the car would go, fastest I went was 100 but slowed down immediately since this car is pretty scary at those speeds. The wind throws the car around since it's so light.

These cars are gutless, particularly at high speed. Referencing motor trend figures: just under 11sec 0-60, 18sec quarter mile at 77mph. That's over 7 seconds to gain 17mph at highway speeds. A stock 90s civic is significantly faster. Both the Fiesta and Mazda 2 are significantly faster. If you've got a couple passengers or a few hundred pounds of cargo in the spark it's even worse. I wish Chevy had figured a way to cram the 150hp turbo in the spark, that would have been a hoot, but still not as fast as a Fiesta ST. 

 

Edit: Oh and the Honda fit is also faster. Basically the spark is one of if not the slowest compact hatches.

Edited by GammaRadiation
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The steering gets very quick and twitchy at anything over 80 mph.  Small moves on the steering wheel equal big moves in direction on such a short wheelbase car. The highway ride and noise level is surprisingly comfortable.  I rarely feel underpowered with the 5 speed. With adult passengers and the air on it is a bit doggy so I have to rev it a little higher going through the gears to get up to speed but that is to be expected in an economy car with less than 100 peak hp.  It turns 3000 rpm at 70 mph so it is geared a little lower than the CVT.

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Mobil 1 is good stuff. Its what most manufacturers recommend using in their high performance engines that are force fed with factory turbos and blowers to prevent premature wear and thermal breakdown. If you use that in your under-stressed, fuel-sipping Spark engine and change it once a year the rest of your car will wear out long before the engine.

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18 hours ago, silverspark78 said:

I have 5w20 Mobil 1 fully synthetic in there now. Should I empty it and put synthetic blend in or should I be OK? 

Keep full synthetic for recommended mileage interval.

Next oil change consider following owners manual, at least

until the power train warranty runs out. Who needs to argue

with the dealer's service writer?

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On 8/1/2018 at 8:29 PM, Fire Spark said:

The steering gets very quick and twitchy at anything over 80 mph.  Small moves on the steering wheel equal big moves in direction on such a short wheelbase car. The highway ride and noise level is surprisingly comfortable.  I rarely feel underpowered with the 5 speed. With adult passengers and the air on it is a bit doggy so I have to rev it a little higher going through the gears to get up to speed but that is to be expected in an economy car with less than 100 peak hp.  It turns 3000 rpm at 70 mph so it is geared a little lower than the CVT.

No car is meant to work great for all various conditions. Spark is basically a 

commuter car for city/suburbia. If you want fast acceleration going from 60 to 100mph,

there are plenty of models available. I would not put a corvette engine in a car whose suspension is not designed for it.

The other car I drive is a Chevy HHR 2011 with 56k miles. It rides at 80 mph so much more stable than the Spark. Even at 60 mph there is a huge difference in stability and smoothness of ride. But I love driving the Spark in town, because it handles more nimble, and parks in places the HHR would not fit.

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On 7/29/2018 at 9:25 PM, Eric1984 said:

 

Um, what? This little car is actually pretty zippy for it's tiny engine. It's very easy to pass on the highway at 60+.

Btw, I wanted to see how fast the car would go, fastest I went was 100 but slowed down immediately since this car is pretty scary at those speeds. The wind throws the car around since it's so light.

Unofficially since it was a public road, foot to the floor in the Nevada Desert I was able to get to just under the 110 mark on the speedo and the car was surprisingly stable.  However sustained driving, if I use cruise about 70-75 I can usually still average about 36 MPG, if I cut it down to 65-70 I can get it up to 38 MPG easily.

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Just last week (August 13-17) I took a mini vacation in Panama city beach Florida and drove about 1000 miles there and back to my hometown central Illinois (Peoria). Each time I filled up I constantly got around 38-39 mpg average when I calculated it on paper. And I did about 75 mph driving too. Now city on the other hand is still lower. Just filled up and got a figure of about 25.5 mpg. Still trying to figure that one. Just filled it with BP gas so I'll see what happens. 

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Our 2016 CVT gets around 30 average according to the computer, mostly city driving. I floor it everywhere, my wife drives it normally.

 

I CAN get 40-45 highway...but who wants to hang out among semi trucks in a 2300lb car? Practically racing between Tampa and Jacksonville I got upper 20s. Normal highway driving with the flow of traffic is mid 30s.

 

Check your tire pressures. There is a notable difference between 28-30 (just above where the TPMS alarms) and 35 cold (where the door sticker recommends). Lucky for us the spark has one of the best TPMS systems I've used as you can actually view your current pressure for each individual tire.

Edited by GammaRadiation
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Tires are at 38, air filter is good, using Mobil 1 5w20 synthetic oil up to full mark on dip stick. Using BP 87 octane gas. The last time I was in for a free oil change and tire rotation they did an update on the computer a recall for the cvt new programming instructions I forgot the recall number. Maybe that's what could be.  Since then and including now I'm getting 25-26 mpg. Yes I have been using the A/C off and on but still. It used to be where the 1st mark on the gas meter would go away at maybe 26/27 miles now its at 7/8 tank at maybe 18/19 miles. 

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I calculated MPG by keeping track of actual miles driven between fill-ups and exact amount of gas used. The number was slightly below 34. But the computer average shows slightly above 35. Which can only mean the computer numbers are slightly inflated, at least on my Spark 2017 with CVT. 

 

Note - my driving is similar to distant suburb model. 

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