If I remove the rear seat in my 2007 HHR LT, will it improve my gas milage? I tried to compare the MPG between a HHR LT and a panel HHR (panels don’t have rear seats) but that got me no where. Thanks!
I can’t imagine that the seat weighs more than, say, 60 lbs. That would hardly matter to your overall gas mileage. In fact, having your windows up or down would make more difference in your mileage than the presence or absence of rear seat. If the question is purely academic, it’s curiously ho-hum. If you’re really trying to eek out the last few yards from a gallon of gas, I feel your pain. Four and change for a gallon out there, that’s rough on all of us. Good luck.
Not hardly unless that means that there won’t be overweight people sitting in it. What does a seat weigh, less than a tank of gas?
A single needless acceleration will more than wipe out any concievable gains that this minor reduction of weight brings about.
If a red light forces you to use your brakes, a needless acceleration was done. Downshifting counts as using your brakes.
ARG! I think I should try and take the seat out for a month and record my results.
The curb weight is about 3200 pounds. Add weight for gas and you and you’re looking at about 3500 pounds. If it were a simple weight ratio, then you could save 10% on gas if you decreased the weight by 10%, or 350 pounds. I don’t think the seat weights anything close to that. And I don’t think it is just weight. That is, your savings will be less than 10% by removing 10% of the weight. So, I don’t think it makes much difference. But the car will look ugly without the back seat.
Since you claim in another post that you are already getting 43.4 mpg from your HHR, I fully expect that the removal of the back seat will boost your gas mileage all the way to 44 mpg.