The first time my mom drove her 2002 Nissan Maxima she accendently drove it for 100 miles in 3rd gear. Since then it seems she only gets 17 mpg. Does it get low mileage because of what she did, or is that the mileage a Maxima usually gets?

 

i have a 6-speed and thats the mileage i've been getting. it is NOT supposed to be like that but i cant figure out what's going on. it should be getting 20 or 21 in city driving.

 

I'd say something is wrong with a)your car, or b)your driving.

 

i wouldnt totally doubt that it could be my driving. this is the first stick shift car i have ever had. but i would like to know what i'm doing wrong

 

I meant she drove the car in D3, she has an automatic. She didnt realize that she had it in the wrong gear till about 100 miles later.

 

I also get horrible mpg. I don't even drive my car hard or anything except maybe once or twice per tank. and still I get only about 17-20 mpg driving mostly city with a few highway miles.

 

there's nothing to worry about really. it didnt cause any major harm to the car by doing that.

 

I drive a 6-speed and I'm getting 21.5 and I do a lot of stop and go driving.

 

I just finished my 1st fillup. Computer recorded 22.9 mpg and I calculated 20.0 mpg. Considering this is a new car and the economy will only get better after time, I am very happy with the results. My 2k GXE got 20 to 21 consistantly. I have also noticed that most people that are getting bad gas mileage also drive automatics. My 2k GXE was an auto and my 2k2 is a 6 speed.

 

6 sp.........

27MPG Avg.

33 Hwy

 

Were you looking at the trip computer #'s? If so, that's off by at least a couple mpg's. (As much as 5 in my case).

 

Yeah, my car is very new also and I'm very happy so far w/my gas mileage. Manual trans. drivers have so much fun and good gas economy on top of that!

 

It's an extra bonus for driving the 6speed.

 

I know some will disagree, but I have found that way too many people stay in low gears at higher speeds. If you are driving around town over about 30mph, put it in 4th and over 40mph, put it in 5th gear. You can always downshift a gear or two if you need better passing power. That doesn't mean you have to shift at those points...just if you are cruising at a steady city speed, don't glance down at the tach and see like 3500rpm...you are wasting gas for no good reason. As for 6th gear, highway cruising over 60mph.

If you are cruising along and take your foot off the gas quickly, the car should NOT dive forward and decellerate quickly. If so, you are in too low of a gear. At the other extreme, if you stomp on the gas, the car should NOT choke and bog down. If so, you are in too high of a gear.

Once you get comfortable with it, you will know what feels and sounds right.

 

I check my mileage with almost every tank (using the actual math method). With over 14,000 miles now my Max's mileage seems to just be getting better and better. When I first got it, I averaged about 23 in combined city/hwy driving with the city driving being a LOT of stop and go traffic. The mileage lately has been 26 average with the same roads and same traffic conditions. My best offical average was a road trip from Portland to Seattle and back...mileage 33.4mpg.