I am getting on a average of 23.8MPG w/ my 6spd. How about the rest of you guys?

I usually drive 20% on highways and 80% on local roads.

I like to know what you guys are getting so i can compare a little.

P.S. This is my regular driving, w/ maybe 15% racing in mind~(Aggresive Acceleration)

 

All city i get roughly 20mpg, that's in Houston traffic to give you an idea. Every chance i get i accelerate enthusiastically

On my last road trip consisting of 5800 miles of mostly highway driving i got 28.10mpg (roughly 520 miles/tank w/ a little left over).

2k2 Auto.

 

In the city and around town I never seem to dip below 21 MPG, I think occasionally I'd get like 19 MPG, but that's after putting the car through some abuse

On the highway I usually do about 28-30 MPG.

 

Went on a road trip today...averages about 27 mpg on the highway. Not too bad for doing 80 most of the way.

 

im getting about 20-22 mpg... mixed driving.. but what you read on the meter... is a couple mpg off.. so if you have around 25 mpg.. your actually going 22-23 mpg. sorta sux. thats what i have heard... for mine.. its usually 1.8-2 mpg off... so if it says 25 mpg. don't think your ACTUALLY going 25 mpg... your actually going lower than that...

 

Actually the way i calculate my MPG wasn't using the on board computer. I was using my calculator feature on my Nokia 8290 while I was at the gas station looking at the receipt.

Miles traveled / Gallons put in tank = MPG

I constantly calculate this way to keep tract of my average MPG.
I reset my "miles traveled" each time I fill up my gas at the station.

Does any of you do this?

 

whats wrong with my max, i took two 300 mile road trips and i got just under 20 mpgs. i mean yeah i was going about 85-90 avg with some high speed passes to 110-115, but it didnt even drop gears, just kept pulling, can that really be why i got such crappy mpgs?

 

im sorry nismotech, for my misundstoodness.. (hmm.. i don't think thats even a word lol) but yes, that is the accurate way to find out your mpg.. and that is a pretty good number... mine is usually 18-21 mpg.. using your method.. yes i do it once in awhile. hehe..

slickrick, to get the best mpg is usually going between 73-78 mph. o wait.. did you say you didn't even downshift?? hmm.. i guess you have a 6 speed.. im not sure how it works. but for auto its around that range to get the best mpg.

 

I would say when i drive aggressively (99% of the time) i get around the 21 mpg mark, when I take a long trip i can get around 27 or so...when I shoot it is a different story though..

 

my bad, i have an auto, but i mean when i took it from about 85 to 110 it wouldnt drop to 3rd, just pull from forth so youd think it would be using less gas when compared downshifting. and in my college town according my the dumb computer i get 14 mpg and 259 miles per tank. on the highway it says 360.

 

That's weird, I don't know what's going on there LOL. I know on my 300 mi trips that I drive about the same way you described, and I get the 28-30 MPG (based on the MPG computer). I do have an auto though, but it seems like that should tip the scales in your favor?

EDIT: Well looks like you have an auto too...hmmm

 

i do have an auto. o on my trip computer it says 27 mps, but when i go to the gas station and check the gallons with the mileage passed, its around 19.7 mpgs. ridiculas.

 

once you pass 78 mph, the engine's rpm is rising faster than your speedometer... i think when your going 78, its 2600 rpm. and when your going 90 its 3000 rpm? i forgot.. haven't gone that fast for a long time.. hehe... the mpg is gonna get worse especially at 100-110... try going 75-78 mph and see how much you can improve your gas mileage. and wow... 259 miles per tank.. you must be a very aggressive driver...

 

at 90 im at 3300 rpms. i believe 110 is 4000 or something like that. i was more focused on not hitting incoming traffic when doing these passes. well i dont drive my car long distances at college, so everyday i give it a 3/4 punch from about 20-45 just to make me appreciate my max more. but other than that, usually im crusing at 20 mph on campus, so i dunno why im getting ridiculously low #'s.

 

think of looking at a dyno graph... the HP is usually linear... HP increases when revved higher. on the other hand, TORQUE increases when revved higher UP TO A LIMIT, then decreases at a certain RPM... low rpm, low torque, midrange rpm, best torque. redline. reduce torque... same situation with mpg. you don't get good mileage when going slow... but get the best mpg going at a certain speed... and after that... your mpg reduces... try to keep the rpms down below 2500. becuz 3000 rpm is pretty fast start. (referring to all gears except 4th).

 

I do the same. Same phone, same technique

 

We are smart!

 

Well, you can't go by what the car's computer tries to tell you...it's waay too optimistic, by about 3-4mpg. So in actuality I'm usually getting around 22-23 mpg with about 2/3 highway, 1/3 city.

Ever since I put in my Injen CAI though, it has gone down because I'm flooring it all the time! According to the computer, it's down by about 3mpg, I haven't tried actually calculating it in real life.

I use Chevron 92 octane only btw.

 

Your MPG is a little lower than I suspected. Since you do more highway driving. Maybe like 25 would sound about right?? Do you cruse at high speed pretty often? like 80MPH constantly?

 

I get 19-20 MPH all the time. No matter whether it's on the interstate or on a local road. The reason... I live in Orlando, FL. In case you don't understand...

I get to drive from 0 to 10 to 20 to 30 to maybe 40 and if I'm lucky I might hit 50 MPH. So my average speed is around 28 MPH. And with a SE spoiler at 28 MPH, it's only hurting, not helping. (Read: Drag)

However, in the event that I leave Orlando (like I did on Saturday - I drove to Tampa), my car actually sees the upper half of the speedometer (60-100 MPH) for a bit of time, and I get around 26-28 MPH based upon speed.

So my numbers are much lower than most posted, but I blame it on all the old people here. Orlando, FL = Sunday-drivers 7-Days-a-week

 

MPG

 

Last Thrusday I had to go see a customer. This was the 1st trip taken in the car. It has just over 4k miles on it. I've been running synth in it since 1k. The comp said I was getting 28.8mpg. I would say this was 85% hwy driving because of some traffic on the hwy. I was driving between 65 and 85 mph with it over at or over 80 most of the trip, the few times I hit 90 the rpm's were still under 3k. I kept it in 6th as much as possible during the trip. I filled up before I left and just before I got home, Amoco 93. 387.6 miles 15.597 gallons = 24.8mpg. I figure the best mileage is in the 65 to 70 range.
What speeds were you doing soundmike to get your result?

 

I get pretty crappy MPG in my car. It seems to be getting a little worse lately too. I usualy get around 18-20 MPH. Driving on the highway does not seem to hewlp much eitherr because i usualy get into a race, lol..

I guess poor MPG is what you get if you run 13's though

 

maximaman777, it was a 100% highway trip going on an average of 70mph with occassional sprints to 90. That's from the straight level roads of Houston, TX to the mountains and hills of Chattanooga, TN and every other scenic roads of the NE region and back.

Ethan, i wouldn't be surprised with your fuel economy (or lack thereof) given all the mods you have

 

The computer is saying 20.0 mpg in mixed driving. I would venture to say 19. If I fill up on Sunday, I am at 1/2 tank on Wednesday.

 

I drive 97% town driving less than 1/4 mile to
work in my 02 Max GLE auto. I currently have 7325
miles. My mileage is terrible. I average between
13-16mpg. I only use 93 oct gas and never
drive agressively. How long does it take to break the engine in to the point where gas mileage goesup? I live in NY and winter is not even here
yet and my mileage is that terrible. I just had a front end alighment done last week and that makes no difference. What gives?

 

There's your answer. Chances are you're not even giving your cats and engine time to warm up if you're only travelling less than 1/4 mile each way.

I used to have terrible mileage when i had the same driving schedules.

 

Actually, I think underperforming gas mileage is par for the course on this car.

Here's my last nine fillups (all 93 unless indicated), actual/trip computer:
26.1/29.9 (on a trip-whole tank, no stops, pretty much all 80MPH)
21.6/25.4
19.9/24.0
24.6/28.8
21.8/25.5
21.5/25.9
19.5/23.8
20.1/24.9 (half-tank, filling up with 87 for a highway trip)
26.6/30.3 (half-tank, filling up in NJ 'cause it's cheap)

The EPA rating is 21/28 for this car (2k2 3.5M). I've never seen 28; not really even close, and my city numbers are only a little closer to 21. I've never before had a car that wouldn't beat the EPA numbers, usually pretty comfortably. And by the way, the EPA number is based on 87 octane. Oh, and yes, I've been driving like your grandmother since I've started really paying attention to this.

So I've got two gripes. Well, two that are relavent here!

First, the mileage does not appear to meet the advertised numbers for most people (soundmike, I wish I had your car). By the way, most of those numbers are provided by the manufacturers, with spot checking done by the EPA (http://www.epa.gov/otaq/testdata.htm). I am in the process of trying to find out specifics about the testing of the 2k2 6-speed Max.

Second, the trip computers seem to be uniformly overstating gas mileage. I understand that these things are not perfect, and can't be expected to be dead-on. But when the range of results is +2 to +4 MPG high in 90%+ of cars, rather than -1 to +1 or even 0 to +2, that points to the manufacturer intentionally setting the computer to read higher than actual mileage, which is at best misleading, at worst fraudulent.

So I'm still looking for anybody whose trip computer is accurate based on measurements at the pump.

 

Thats what I thought.
I am looking to get a winter rat and garage the Max for the winter
or walk to work. I hate to drive her in the snow.

 

my trip calc says 18.7! Then again, ALL my driving is local...

 

The trip calc is usually off by 4-5 mpg.
I guess I don't feel so bad since I am not the only one
with such terrible mileage.

 

You have to remember that the window sticker on the Maxima (or any car for that matter) will post "average" #'s in those big bold characters.

But if you'll look at the fine print it will usually say something to the effect of:

"This vehicles will average 17-23 MPG in the city and 22-30 in the highway."

Check it out, you'll be surprised.

 

yes, I did notice that.
My mileage is still not near even those figures.
I will say that last year my daily commute to work was 25 miles
and I averaged 22-24mpg. I guess it all depends on how you drive.

 

No, I'm much more compulsive than that.

I write the odometer reading down on the gas receipt. When I get home, I enter it into a spreadsheet that calculates the mileage.

My mileage figures match yours, pretty much (also a 2k2 6sp.)

 

Okay, I pulled my packet out, and on my sticker it says: "Actual Mileage will vary with options, driving conditions, driving habits and vehicle's conditions. Results reported to the EPA indicate that the majority of vehicles with these estimates will achieve between 17 and 25 mpg in the city and between 23 and 33 mpg on the highway."

Read this carefully; it says that the variables that will have an impact on mileage are "options, driving conditions, driving habits and vehicle's conditions," not sample variation. This statement does not mean that with two identical Maximas, driven exactly the same way, we shouldn't be surprised if one got 17 mpg and the other 25 mpg. Would Nissan's V6 engines be so highly and universally praised if there was this much variability in their performance?

Here is the testing procedure, found on the EPA site http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/info.shtml:

"There are two different fuel economy estimates for each vehicle in the Fuel Economy Guide, one for city driving and one for highway driving. To generate these two estimates, separate tests are used to represent typical everyday driving in a city and in a rural setting. Two kinds of engine starts are used: the cold start, which is similar to starting a car in the morning after it has been parked all night; and the hot start, similar to restarting a vehicle after it has been warmed up, driven, and stopped for a short time.

"The test used to determine the city fuel economy estimate simulates an 11-mile, stop-and-go trip with an average speed of 20 miles per hour (mph). The trip takes 31 minutes and has 23 stops. About 18 percent of the time is spent idling, as in waiting at traffic lights or in rush hour traffic. The maximum speed is 56 mph. The engine is initially started after being parked overnight. Vehicles are tested at 68 F to 86 F ambient temperature.

"The test to determine the highway fuel economy estimate represents a mixture of "non-city" driving. Segments corresponding to different kinds of rural roads and interstate highways are included. The test simulates a 10-mile trip and averages 48 mph. The maximum speed is 60 mph. The test is run with the engine warmed up and has little idling time and no stops (except at the end of the test).

"Note: To make the numbers in the Fuel Economy Guide more useful for consumers, EPA adjusts these laboratory test results to account for the difference between controlled laboratory conditions and actual driving on the road. The laboratory fuel economy results are adjusted downward to arrive at the estimates in the Fuel Economy Guide and on the labels seen on new cars, light trucks, and vans. The city estimate is lowered by 10% and the highway estimate by 22% from the laboratory test results. Experience has proven that these adjustments make the mileage estimates in the Fuel Economy Guide correspond more closely to the actual fuel economy realized by the average driver."

So according to the numbers and the last paragraph, the 6-speed Max they tested got about 23.3 MPG city and about 31.1 MPG highway. Is there anybody here with a 2k2 6-speed that could get 23 MPG on a cold-engine-start 11-mile trip with 23 stops? I don't think I could make that happen in my car, even if I lugged the hell out of the engine the whole time. Now, the highway test makes more sense, if you get it into sixth, but I question; how can you even drive the Max at 60 MPG in sixth? My car's tach shows 1900rpm in 6th at 60mph, 2450rpm in 5th.

I'm going to start a new thread with the stuff from the EPA website.

 

I usually do that much too, the best I ever had was 350 mpg and that was driving like a grandpa. I really dont know how you guys out there get over 400 on your maximas

 

I made a mistake. According to the numbers and the paragraph from EPA above, the 2002 6-speed Maxima used to set the EPA fuel economy estimate got about 23.3mpg city and about 35.9mpg highway.

 

on my 2k2 6 speed..the little trip computer on the dash varies from 17-19..i hope this is incorrect...

 

yes it is most likely incorrect.
It reads 4-5mpg to high.

 

I revised my earlier statement. It's probably more like 2/3 highway 1/3 city, NOT the 3/4 highway 1/4 city I posted previously. I usually cruise at 70 in 6th. But like i said, I floor it all the time city/highway since I got my intake!