Have 03 6 speed, built 11/02.
I am getting over 30 mpg according to counter.
It reached 35 mpg several times and the DTE + miles covered since refill was 530+. (no overfill). Mostly freeway drive at 70 mph and a bit of suburban. I dont push it above 2500 rpm.
Think my MAX VQ 35 working great!
This is a stock Se.

 

On-board computer is not reliable. Try calculating your milage by the goold old method of dividing miles driven by gallons used You will come up with something in low 20s....

 

^what he said

 

I don't doubt his numbers, i got +/-530 miles to a tank - all highway, on an auto.

 

If you're lucky.

 

I would check the gas mileage by hand. The computer MPG and DTE is inaccurate.

 

I bet that if you actually calculated that out manually, you'd be getting about 25 MPG.

Just about everyone seems to read about 15% too high on the computer MPG. Usally about 4-5 MPG higher than actual.

I just calcualted mine last tank. Manually, I calculated 23.4. My trip computer says 27.8.

To get the best MPG, stay under 70. Anything over 70 I've seen MPG start to go down. Others have mentioned the same results.

 

35mpg is pretty accurate seeing that if you take his mileage of 530+ and divided it by around 16 gallons. You come up with 33.125 mpg which is super impressive. My only question is you said that you kept your car under 2500 rpm's at all times, how is that possible, unless you drive like a slug. I can understand you keeping it at under 2500 rpms on the highway, but not when accelerating through the gears. Anyway, amazing gas mileage.

 

i am happy if i get 19 mpg. all that lead in my foot..

 

AgisAbatzoglou :

Whoever says they get >26 on highways and >22 in city with their Y2000+ max's are smoking pot!!!! I just cannot believe it -- look @ the superefficient V6 Acura/Honda's which give close to 19-22 in city and 25-28 on highways.

I cannot believe any car manufacture beat the above numbers with V6's. PERIOD!!!!

 

I get similar results (from the computer) with similar driving habits. All together the computer says I get 32.3mpg with 80% highway driving. I tripped it once on the highway to see what I was getting (based on the compuuter) at 60mph it said I was getting 37.6mpg and at 70mph it said I was getting 34.1mpg. I am well aware that the computer reads high.
"look @ the superefficient V6 Acura/Honda's which give close to 19-22 in city and 25-28 on highways" Just becuase Honda's torqueless wonder V6 gives that mileage means that the award winning VQ couldnt? Please... honda is nothing more than rice hype. A 5.7L V8 LS1 in a 3500lb TA with a manual can hit those highway mpg numbers.

 

I shift quickly 1st through 4th keeping RPM under 2500 RPM. I get pretty good torque and can move fairly quickly to 40-50 MPH on street.
On the freeway I put on 6th by 55-60 MPH and hold steady around 70. I aint no slug!.
By the way I have done some independent gas consumption verifications and came up by gage is about 3-4 MPG optimistic. Still I am sure I can over 30 MPG on freeway.

 

when you have a stick, you can do this and get good MPGs. You can go straight from 4th to 6th, and not let an auto go through 5th and then 6th. you can shift at low rpms quickly, not loose speed and use higher gears that require less gas.

 

Wow, that great MPG subject sure got my attention all for nothing though.

 

I have 2k SE manual and I get 27+ mpg on highway consistently. I usually cruise at 85mph, 100+ on occasions. This is with front bank 1 O2 shot.

 

I 185 miles per day at 85 mph and I average about 25mpg. 2003 VQ30 5 speed.

 

I get 23MPG on a good tank like 300 to 340 a tank
DAMN Wish I was getting 530 Miles off a tank !!!

 

Dude VQ3.5

 

like dba1999us said, i'm lucky to break 19 mpg. I normally get around 16-18 mpg. I rarely do any highway driving though, and i do have a lead foot...

 

What are you driving, a Corolla? How many gallons did you use in +/- 530 miles?

 

WhenI used to drive a 5sp, for best mpg results...I shifted the gear from 1st to 3rd then 5th. I am sure you can do that w/the Max since the VQ's motor is very torquey at lower RMPs!

Btw, my best mpg average to date is 33.5 mpg. This was done on hwy driving. And yes, I calculated it the manually (mileage/# gallons filled).

 

this guy I work with swears he gets 28 mpg in his 2001 Vette (not a Z06)

I'm like...yeah! sure ya do!

-vq

 

That's what is listed on the window sticker for a 2003 Vette. 21/28 with a V8 engine to boot. He might be telling the truth.

 

Actually that's true. With the tall 6th gear and tons of low-end torque 30 MPG in that car is very possible. Other than very tall gearing, I don't know why some V8s get better mileage on the highway than V6s with less horsepower and torque.

 

i don't really understand how this is true, i mean when you think about it, if you are in 2nd gear, going 20 mph at 2000rpms, you should get worse gas milage then if your in 6th gear going 60-70mph at 2000 rmps.

speed is a factor, but to a certian point. it is always better to be going faster, and in a lower rmp then to be going slower and in a higher rmp.

just my thoughts..

-CHris

 

that's standard practice for me...generally 1st, 2nd(wanna feel a little torque), 4th, 6th...ocassionally 1st,3rd,5th,6th....Unless I am trying to roll hard I see no reason to touch all the gears everytime...I'm lazy I guess...

 

No actually hes right, 3.0l is used outside of the country for gas mileage purposes. Look at his location

 

I just got my 2K SE 5 spd less than one month ago and I've been driving it roughly 130 miles a day to work and back. Of the 2 times I've filled up, the first time the gas light came on (it kind of suicides after a 1/4 tank left), the 2nd was just under a quarter tank. I did the manual calculation, miles/gallon, and came up with 24 and 25 respectively. Granted, I just got the car, and she's a lot of fun to drive, so I can probably do better on gas (about 350+ miles/tank each time so far). i was just wondering if my mileage will possibly get better after I drive it a while. Can sitting on the lot be a factor in gas mileage? Sorry if that was a dumb Q.

 

Gas mileage has a lot of factors. The reason why going over 70 drops your mileage is becuase of wind resistance. If there were no wind resistance then a higher speed would give more miles taht will be divided by the gallons used. At steady state, barring all other factors, 2000rpm in 2nd gear will consume the same amount of gas as 2000rpm in 6th gear. Now factor in wind resistance rolling resistance ect then 2000rpm in 6th gear will consume more gas than 2000rpm in 2nd. Now factor in speed and 2000rpm in 6th gear will have a much greater fuel efficiency. Around 70mph seems to be the magic number for speed vs mileage. Anything higher and you are trading much more for speed.

The reason the LS1 fbodies get great gas mileage with the 5.7L V8 is becuase you really cant shift into 6th gear until 65mph. At 70mph you are sitting at 1500rpms or less. The gear ratio is 0.5. They also have a skip shift thingy that makes you skip gears by blocking out the other half much like how you cant put it in first while at high speed. That gives the decent city mileage.

 

As folks have pointed out, the trip computer is particularly bad ad math. That said, I've gotten upwards to 31.15 mpg by skip shifting (1->2->4->6) and babying the throttle on long highway trips. I've also noticed that above about 68 mph (cruise setting) your milage starts to really drop off.

I started a thread trying to get data from folks on indicated milage (trip computer) versus actual. You can find it here:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....03#post2913403

If you have stuff you can submit, it'd be helpful.

3Pedals

 

I've been averaging 24-26 combined mileage. I usually shift around 3- 3.5k and cruise on the highway @ 75-80. This puts my Maxima mid pack of my three cars mileage wise, with my Accord being the worst at 22 and My Z the best at between 33-35. Don't know if it helps, but I use cruise control alot.