Gave the Patriot 2.4L CVT a decent highway run yesterday. I was majorly disappointed.
In city driving alone or sometimes 1 other passenger I normally get about 10.3 - 11.4L/100kms (28-24MPG) Which I am reasonably happy with for a car of it's size.
Yesterday I loaded up the Patriot with Myself and 4 other passengers and went on a big drive. Before I say anything else, all my passangers were average weight for people in thier late teens, so car full of heavy people was not the problem.
The performance in the city was noticeably soo much worse. I pulled onto a main road up a hill and had to accelerate to over 4000RPM to get up to speed without someone running up the back of me. Felt like a lifetime to get to 4000rpm as well.
Finally got to the highway and had the cruise control set on about 110Km/h (70mph). Every time I came to a hill the car would drop to 90km/h (55mph) before it started to pick up speed by itself. In all other cars I have drove they would pick up speed straight away and only drop about 5kmh maybe 10 at the worst at the foot of a hill.
But dropping 20 in the patriot is just ridiculous. I think the CVT was pathetic as it took a long time to build up any RPM to keep it up the hill at a decent speed.
At the foot of each hill I had to disable Cruise control and plant my foot to the floor, when it revved up to over 4000rpm I would let the accelerator out slightly and the RPM would stay at about 4000 and the car would cruise up the hill at about 105-110km/h.
There was about 4 or 5 hills that I had to get up on the trip.
When I got to the end of the freeway, my average fuel consumption was about 10.3L per 100kms (28.5MPG)
On the flat I was cruising 100-110km/h. I was majorly disappointed with that consumption since it was exactly the same as my city consumption.
Are all Patriots this slow and thirsty on the Freeway?
Once I was off the Freeway I was in the busiest city in Australia during the afternoon peak hour. The Patriot was constantly changing between revving hard and then quickly dropping before having to rev really hard again. I was just going with the flow of traffic, I wasn't driving like a maniac.
So does everyone elses Patriot struggle with weight? Or is it just the CVT ones.
The back passengers were not too impressed with the rear leg room either. And they were less then 6 foot tall.
I got a 2500Km drive in February next year and Ill have all the Holiday luggage packed in the car. I really don't want to do it in the Patriot anymore. It struggled yesterday and it only had 5 people in it and NO luggage at all!
This car looks cool around town and is good on dirt tracks with my mountain bike in the back. But it's really gutless on at any speed above 70km/h
Does anyone else feel like me? Or am I just too used to 6 and 8 cylinder cars???
My Old 3.5L V6 sedan (with a kerb weight similar to the Patriots) loaded with luggage and 1 passenger got no worse then 7L/100kms (40mpg) on the highway.
In city driving alone or sometimes 1 other passenger I normally get about 10.3 - 11.4L/100kms (28-24MPG) Which I am reasonably happy with for a car of it's size.
Yesterday I loaded up the Patriot with Myself and 4 other passengers and went on a big drive. Before I say anything else, all my passangers were average weight for people in thier late teens, so car full of heavy people was not the problem.
The performance in the city was noticeably soo much worse. I pulled onto a main road up a hill and had to accelerate to over 4000RPM to get up to speed without someone running up the back of me. Felt like a lifetime to get to 4000rpm as well.
Finally got to the highway and had the cruise control set on about 110Km/h (70mph). Every time I came to a hill the car would drop to 90km/h (55mph) before it started to pick up speed by itself. In all other cars I have drove they would pick up speed straight away and only drop about 5kmh maybe 10 at the worst at the foot of a hill.
But dropping 20 in the patriot is just ridiculous. I think the CVT was pathetic as it took a long time to build up any RPM to keep it up the hill at a decent speed.
At the foot of each hill I had to disable Cruise control and plant my foot to the floor, when it revved up to over 4000rpm I would let the accelerator out slightly and the RPM would stay at about 4000 and the car would cruise up the hill at about 105-110km/h.
There was about 4 or 5 hills that I had to get up on the trip.
When I got to the end of the freeway, my average fuel consumption was about 10.3L per 100kms (28.5MPG)
On the flat I was cruising 100-110km/h. I was majorly disappointed with that consumption since it was exactly the same as my city consumption.
Are all Patriots this slow and thirsty on the Freeway?
Once I was off the Freeway I was in the busiest city in Australia during the afternoon peak hour. The Patriot was constantly changing between revving hard and then quickly dropping before having to rev really hard again. I was just going with the flow of traffic, I wasn't driving like a maniac.
So does everyone elses Patriot struggle with weight? Or is it just the CVT ones.
The back passengers were not too impressed with the rear leg room either. And they were less then 6 foot tall.
I got a 2500Km drive in February next year and Ill have all the Holiday luggage packed in the car. I really don't want to do it in the Patriot anymore. It struggled yesterday and it only had 5 people in it and NO luggage at all!
This car looks cool around town and is good on dirt tracks with my mountain bike in the back. But it's really gutless on at any speed above 70km/h
Does anyone else feel like me? Or am I just too used to 6 and 8 cylinder cars???
My Old 3.5L V6 sedan (with a kerb weight similar to the Patriots) loaded with luggage and 1 passenger got no worse then 7L/100kms (40mpg) on the highway.
A more aerodynamic shape and an engine that can keep the RPM near idle helps fuel economy in that situation.
