I know we've all tossed this around b4, but I have to tell you guys...I usually get crappy mileage..like 20..maybe 21mpg. My usual driving is local short trips (less than 20 minutes). I made a round trip from Vegas to San Diego. I filled up in Vegas and got back with a hair over 1/4 tank (I averaged about 85mph through the Mojave) . I've been still driving on the same tank and now have clocked 365 miles!(and the gas light still hasn't come on). I think its all in the way we drive. For those who are getting 18mpg...take a nice long road trip and be easy on the quick acceleration and see what happens.

 

Definitely... Your car burns a lot getting up to speed.. (accelerating).. .. Simply cuz that's how our universe works.. :-)

Once your going, the only thing your engine is burning, is the fuel it needs to counteract friction... (air resistance, tire/road friction, and all of that nice stuff rubbing together in your engine/tranny)

Try setting cruise at like 55 mph, and you'll get optimium gas milead at a practical speed... (although its a lot less fun to drive with cruise...!!!, and who drives 55 anyway??)

-Tom

 

Okay, here’s the price of driving a bit (AHEM!) Enthusiastically, which I can assume we all agree is "fun" to say the least.

So, let’s say we juice it when the mood strikes, accelerate a bit more quickly than the Buick next to us at the light, etc….

Mileage drops from 20 to 18. Seems like a big deal, but when you do the math, we’re looking at less than three bucks a tank.

(say 300 miles/tank divided by 20MPG = 15 gallons)
(Say 300 miles divided by 18= 16.6 gallons)
(I know the math is a little off, but for simplicity’s sake, it’s close enough.)

That’s a 1.6 gallon difference for 300 miles.
1.6 Gallons of premium should be less than $3, and I know that extra $3 a week is a HELL of a lot better than renting a movie at blockbuster to me.

Just sayin’… yeah we lose mileage but it’s so well worth the cost.

 

i get about 24 to 26 mpg...and that's city/freeway driving...if i'm driving just on freeways, i get about 29...
last time when i was coming back from the Grand Canyon, i got 30mpg...yup~~~~ :
i mean, my car is 5 speed...i don't know if you have an auto or 5 speed....

BTW....NYC2SD, are you showing up for the meet tomorrow in irvine? let me know!!!

-peace

 

I can't make on the short notice..going out of town for the holiday..but maybe next time around.

I think when we juice it (as in like hard acceleration)..we are averaging more like 5mpg. Have you ever put the pedal down in a car that has one of those instant MPG computers. The display says you get about 5MPG when you have the gas pegged and like 70MPG when you completely take your foot off the gas on the freeway

 

man~ you can't show....well, i've been trying to tell everyone that the meeting is going to be saturday...but anyway....
yeah, about the gas? it's always like that....

-peace

 

Ya.. but those computers are undoubtedly computing your instantaneous fuel economy... How many times have you "JUICED IT" for more than say 1 min??, under normal driving circumstanes??... Didn't think so.... (it's quite illegal in the US,... especially with a superfast car, like the Maxima.. + could easily end up in a mortuary somewhere)...

The hard accelerations WILL cut your average MPG... A LOT, but your still A FAR CRY FROM 5 mpg!!! I mash on my pedal frequently (often times to pass trucks really fast, or to merge, etc)... and I drive like 75mph.. (at least).. But my fuel economy is still around 300 miles per tank.. (with a fair amount of traffic/city time!!!!).. I hear it gets better as the car continues to break in!!!

If your concerned about gas :
#1 -> Take a trip over to Europe... and check out the prices per liter of the good stuff.... then consider how much the average worker makes... WHoa.. it's a wonder anyone drives over there...

#2 -> Walk, hitchike, steal a new car everyday, or buy a moped...

-Tom

 

>>I think when we juice it (as in like hard acceleration)..we are averaging more like 5mpg. Have you ever put the pedal down in a car that has one of those instant MPG computers. The display says you get about 5MPG when you have the gas pegged and like 70MPG when you completely take your foot off the <<

Driving style certainly makes a big difference. I used to road race a Fiat. 28mpg around town, 11mpg in a race. At a place like Watkins Glen you are foot to the floor about 80% of a lap. Id guess a Maxima would be closer to 8mpg under those conditions.

Dave

 

Normally I usually average around 23-25mpg. But earlier this week, I went to Lake Tahoe to snowboard with my brother and his friends. I packed 4 snowboards on top of my car (Yakama snowboard/ski rack), with full load of gear and luggage in truck and 3 people in the car including me. I drove about 70-85 mph logged 898.2 miles round-trip and used 43.395 gallons of premium gas (Chevron and 76 brand). That gave me about 20.70 mpg. I am quite impressed because at that speed I had a lot of wind buffer due to the snowboards on top and the weight from the people and stuff in my car. In comparision, we had a 1995 Toyota Corrola and 1998 Nissan Sentra in our caravan. Both those cars averaged 20 mpg also, but they didn't have any snowboards on top of their cars, only 4 people each and trunk of luggage.

 

My normal milage is ~20mpg, usually on the lower side. I am in the middle of spending Christmas in Sacramento. I live in Seattle now and I got an average of about 26mpg on the drive down. With an average speed of probably 75 mph. This included hills and some slower points <50mph due to fog. I also got my car up to 100 for the first time. Oh I have an auto btw.

 

If these were highway miles.. and you were going 70-85 mph, I would be willing to bet that the snowboards on top made a WHOLE lot more difference than just the added weight of the people+luggage...!!!