Phoenix to Laughlin

RjKizashi · Tue Feb 01, 2011 4:50 am

Took the wifes Kizzy on a short road trip from Phx Az to Laughlin Nv ... Same trip, same route, same mountains. Cruise was set the same as on my 2007 Saturn ION-3 when we went last month. Both cars have 2.4L engine, both cars have an automatic transmission. Happy to report the Kizzy felt real good in the mountains. Can't say it felt as strong as the SATURN but it did better then I thought it would. The big difference was the gas mileage. While the KIZZY did 26.7 the SATURN ION did 32.9 mpg on the same trip. Thats a lot of gas over the life of the car. The KIZZY was a pleasure to drive although it took forever to get the seat set in a spot I liked. I'm still leaning toward keeping my Saturn.

Tue Feb 01, 2011 3:22 pm

Nice to see a comparison, thanks....my only question is what's the vehicle weight difference between the two? I'm certain the Kiz's dry weight is much heavier, contributing to the difference in mpg. Mountains are hard enough on I4 mpg, add a heavier vehicle to the equation and......

RjKizashi · Wed Feb 02, 2011 3:05 am

Weight to hp is part of the deal

Advertized weights

2007 Saturn ION-3 2.4L auto
2866lbs

2010 Kizashi SLS AWD 2.4L cvt
3241lbs

Kizzy is 375lbs more.

Wed Feb 02, 2011 2:48 pm

375 lbs. more and @7mpg less....hmmm, not a good trade off. Interesting. I guess the only other factor thats would have a significant effect would be temperature & humidity differences between the 2 trips. Thanks for sharing your experience.

RjKizashi · Thu Feb 03, 2011 4:34 am

Temp were about the same ...... had shorts on for both runs. It's desert and humidity stays much the same when the monsoon season is over. The Kizzy is AWD, that played a larger part the then the weather. CVT does not feel like the most efficient trans in the world. Yet the car was nice to drive, and I'd take it on a road trip again.