PHATMAN5050

I'm pretty sure that the stickers for the maxima says 22mpg road 27mpg highway. How can that be? The tank is 16.8 gallons right? That means that i should be getting 369.6 miles per fillup and i get around 270-280 miles per fillup! I was told that driving with O/D on will drastically increase the amount of gas consumption and also flooring it will use gas really quickly and air conditioning. How true are these? And is it enough to lower the mileage so much?

SkyDaver

Use your odometer, and receipts from your gasoline purchases.

How far did you go on the fill up? Divide that by the number of gallons you put into the tank.

That is your gas mileage.

Driving with overdrive (if that is what you mean by O/D) will increase your mileage (decrease consumption) because your autotragic will shift to higher gears. Lower RPM on the engine equals lower gasoline consumption. It's just like shifting into 6th gear in a manual (oops, 5th gear for 2001 and earlier)

Of course heavy acceleration and high speeds will result in increased gas consumption. Where do you think the power to go fast comes from? The other gas in your car?

Air conditioning will increase your gas consumption, but not a great deal. The power to run the compressor must come from somewhere, right? The current conventional wisdom is that when on the highway, running the A/C uses less gas than driving at the same speeds but with the windows down.

Geez. Don't these kids know ANYTHING?

PHATMAN5050

Sky, I'm 16 years old and have had my license for a little over a month. These are normal questions to ask for a new driver. I didn't ask you HOW to find the mileage, which would be a rather ignorant question, but instead i asked how to improve gas mileage and what consumes gas quickly. Just be grateful you've driven long enough to figure these things out, rather than just flaming someone who is just trying to learn more about his car.

NYC2SD

Oh yeah, and the tank is 18.5 Gallons

2k2kev

he might be a little frustrated because this topic has been BEATEN TO DEATH in other threads. Look around and you'll find them fairly easily.

or, if you're too lazy, here's my take... I get about 420-430 miles per tank when I'm doing normal commuting (highway, 20 miles one way). I get about 380 when driving normally around town. I get about 330 if I floor it off the line and "race" (I don't really race, more like accelerate hard).

Using my crude math, I'll guess I floor it about 20 times per tank when I'm feeling randy. Since that loses me 100 miles per tank, you can sort-of assume every time you go WOT from 0-60, you just burned 5 miles worth of gas.

silverkorn

iTrader: (3)

this is actually stated in the manual. the amount of drag created from having the windows down will use more power then if you were to use the a/c unit.

as for me i have a nice little screen that tells me my average gas mileage, i dont know how accurate it is but it reads 28.5 mpg
i do half highway and half city driving, and whenever i have the chance i keep it in 6th

Virus

iTrader: (1)

For you to get the gas mileage that the sticker says you have to drive like a grandpa. Slowly get up to speed, etc. My last trip I went 445 miles before filling up and got almost 31mpg with my 2k2 auto. However, under normal driving I'm only getting around 19 to 20mpg. I don't always check and haven't checked for a while. Your computer will be about 2-3mpg off your actual mileage.

SkyDaver

By the time I got my driver's license, I knew these things.

And if you think this is flaming, you'd better buy some asbestos underwear.

SkyDaver

I'll have to disagree with that, too.

On the highway only, cruise set at 80, I'll get about 28 calculated, 31 indicated on the computer.

Around town, with few WOT accelerations, but not staying back with the minivans, I'll get 21.

If I am the quickest away from every light, I'll drop into the 19s.

I enter my gas consumption into a spreadsheet, and can see how I'm doing with each tank full.

Teser

iTrader: (2)

The best gas mileage you will get driving alone in the car on the highway at 60-65mph with O/D on.

ssp34

From what I've read, gas milage numbers on the stickers are calculated for highway at no more than 55MPH. I'm not sure how they figure it out for city... that's damn damn near impossible. I have layed off the accelerator lately.. I've gotten over how quickly my car can get to 60, and by now, other people know it too (although a ******* (male) in a VW Cabriolet (strictly female vehicle) pulled up next to me at a light and floored it when it turned green... his tires spun... I sat and laughed for a about a minute before I showed him my taillights.. I don't consider that a kill.. he was already dead before I put my foot on the accelerator). Rule of thumb.. use it when you need it.. I mean gas is EXPENSIVE.. Enjoy the car..

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

dont trust the computer. it said i had 43 miles left until empty. and my gas gauge was at the next marker below 1/4 tank. when i went to fillup it only took 13.2 gallons. and it says i get 250 miles per tank, but this is strictly city driving with a need for speed at least once a day. on the highway i get about 350 miles per tank.

lmac

I've had my 2003 GLE for 2 months now. After 4 full tanks of gas, the average is 16 mpg after doing the calculations with the odometer and the amount I gas I pumped. It's about 75% city driving and no A/C on his last full tank. I drove up to San Luis Obispo (200mi.) this past weekend and barely averaged 19 mpg. I don't race the car or speed off redlights and I fill her up with premium unleaded. Is this mpg normal on a new car because its way below what the sticker states.

SkyDaver

Geez, that seems terribly low.

Is there a switch to turn off the overdrive on the automatics? Has that been bumped off by accident?

2001SE

wait a few more weeks....as the car gets more mileage...the better Gas mileage you'll get

bert

I get 400 highway miles, regularly.

The tank IS 18.5 gal (incl hoses, pump...) I have put 18.1 gal in it.

Beating her will get you 350 miles.