Recently I went on a 1200-mile trip. At every fill-up I calculated my gas mileage. Here are the stats:

Car: '03 Max SE with automatic
Miles: Almost 80K on the odometer
Speed (cruise controled): ~78-79 mph
Fuel: 92-93 octane
Mileage: ~25-26 mpg

To me the mileage seems low. I was expecting something around 30 mpg.

Thanks.

 

Expecting around 30 is a little much from the 3.5...its a big engine id say 25-26 is good/average for highway.

 

Seems about average. This is a full 100% highway trip, correct? If so, then yes, that's a good average.

Any particular reason you're expecting more? Sure, it 'seems' low compared to a hybrid... But what are comparing it to?

The 4AT is poorly geared, not only for performance, but also for MPG.

 

That's about what I get. Slow down to 60-65mph and you should be able to pull 28-30mpg... but then again, what fun is that?

 

need the 6 speed for that awesome highway mileage

 

600 miles there, 600 back. While I was there I drove a hundred miles or so around town, on the rural highways and such. That was in Illinois. The interstate speed limit is only 65, so I drove a little slower there.

I gased up in Paducah, KY, drove to my destination (a small town between Springfield and St. Louis), drove around, and gased up in Paducah on my way back. For that segment, I got 27.6 mpg.

I was only including the segments where I did strictly highway driving at 78-79 mph for my 25-26 mpg calculation.

I used to have a '88 Mustang GT (5-speed) and I frequently calculated its mileage as well. I got 25 or better in it on the highway. And that was with a 3.73 rear axle ratio. But it did have intake and exhaust mods.

Great.

 

At Must For Automatic Highway Mileage Is About 25mpg

 

I have a 2003 Max Se w/ 6 speed and the computer figures it out at 26.8 mpg at average speed between of around 75mph over a 116 mile commute with 95% highway. I would say with an automatic your mileage is pretty good, afterall the car is 255HP

 

Yay. Another fuel economy Thread!

I've only really gotten more than 25-26(which is the EPA stickered Milage BTW) when I ran Shell V-Power and kept my car at right around 70. 75+ will knock the true economy potential from the car. You'll notice the RPMs will climb over 2600, plus you're dealing with ALOT more friction from the wind. Add a few psi to the tires and slow down a bit. I got almost 32mpg from Toledo to Cincinnati a few times doing that with V-power in the tank.

 

I get about 30-31 MPG highway with my '02 GLE to and fro San Antonio driving about 70-75MPH. In the city I get about 19-21 MPG, but my average speed is about 20MPH (Houston). It is about the gas (maybe), but it's also about having a balanced car with balanced tire pressures.

 

That's irrelevant.

 

I got over it and continue to mod with that handicap in mind, I like challenges.


Do you remember the exact miles you had and miles you put in? This is the first time I've heard of such mileage on a 4AT doing 70-75.

 

I have a 6MT, I just went to the casino last week, I drove 84 the whole way (slowing down for K/Ka bands ) and my trip computer said 29.6 mpg, and on the way back the next day (really hung over) I went 78 the whole way and got 31.3 mpg. That was with mobil premium. We dont have any shell v-power around here....


Quick question, has anyone faked out their trip computer? I once got stuck behind a guy doing 35 in a 45, I reset my mpg computer, and stuck it in 6th, and went that way for about 5 miles. Know how many mpg I was getting? 99.7 lol. I dont think it was real, I was just faking the computer out, but it was funny. I'll post a pic of that from my phone tomorrow....

 

*cough*ahem*

I just said I was getting 32mpg! :P seriously though, if you can stand the possibility of falling asleep at the wheel, and the slight pinch from the extra change disappearing from your wallet, V-power, add pressure to tires, and keep it like. . .no more than 75mph. If you can stay out of it for more than 6 hours on a road trip, you should be able to see over 400mi/tankful.

 

what the hell are you guys doing that Im not?!?

I never have pure highway driving..its always mixed: highway and city. I get 20mpg. But even on long trips going 60-65 in 6th gear, it takes forever for the digits to increase on the MPG meter.

Im so jealous of all of you guys

 

Sure have coasting down a hill as well as other obvious ways.

There are other ways to manipulate it that most wont ever do/see.

Such as different Injectors, piggybacks etc. They make it real

 

It'll take longer for the digits to change unless you reset the computer every so often. The computer calculates the mpg on more than just fuel level, speed, temperature at any given moment. It also averages those calculations from the last time you reset the trip computer. Example, if you reset the trip computer right now, go for a drive, rip through gears, you'll see a crappy mpg rating. Then, start driving like a grandma, keep the rpms as low as you can, you'll see your mpg rating go up. You could, also never reset the mpg computer for a year, and your mpg rating would reflect your average mpg through one year of driving.

 

Actually it uses MAF v, o2 sensor v, & speed.

 

Sorry, I meant to say air temp, which would imply the MAF, but my fault for omitting that. But as for the o2 sensor, I dont know. I just know that in theory, the answer about the changes to the mpg display is correct.

Everyone is so worried about semantics........

 

Are you getting these results from your trip computer? It's been known for a long time that the trip computers on 5.5 gens are not at all accurate. I have also gotten 30 mpg's according to my trip computer but when calculated at fill-up it was actually 27 mpg.

 

When my car was new, i managed to get +/-31mpg on my auto as well, calculated the traditional way. That was all highway at 70mph.

 

What do you mean you were only including highway segments? Did you fuel up right before getting on the highway and then fuel up immediately after you got off? If not, how do you know how much fuel was burned strictly on the highway?

 

I commute to work 37 miles each way 5 times a week & travel 6 miles both ways to daughters school 3 times a week never exceeding 40MPH. The best I get is 312 miles to the tank when I say tank I mean from full to gas light coming on which is usally me filling up & getting 14.5 Gallons. Tire pressure on all 4 at 36psi on 245/45/17s cruise control set to 75MPH one way no cruise control the other way aprox the same speed at 75 MPH & always fill up with Vpower. Prior to my commute all city driving I was getting around 215 per tank. The best I get per tank is around 21/22 MPG

 

i think thats pretty good. i have a 01 maxima, manual tranmission and i only get like 20mpg on mostly highway mileage and like 16 highway/city combined.

 

Seriously, I do like 90% highway driving, maybe more. I average close to 100mi/day for the year. My 03 has 128K on it. Driving on the highways in michigan kills my fuel economy, but i still get about 340mi on a tank, and I'm usually putting 15.4-16.2gallons in. I'm usually disappointed until i come here and someone has started a Fuel Milage thread.


EDIT: everyone else, IGNORE your trip computer's milage reading. it's only telling your average since the last time you unhooked your battery, which could be over 100 tanks of fuel. the only TRUE way to check your milage is to blank out your trip meter, drive your car til it's empty. . .and I don't mean until your gas light comes on, I mean switch the computer over to the distance to empty (dte) reading, and when you see three dashes ( --- ) blinking, pull it in, fill it up, then divide your meter reading by how much gas you put in. it should be less than .25mpg off from actual if you fill your tank in a consistent manner.

 

I've driven 20 mins past the blinking dashes and still had 2.5 gallons in the tank. Kinda hard to run out of gas if you obey the "miles left" indicator.

 

whats sad is that my old 2nd gen got the same mileage as my newer 5th gen. on average it got better mileage than my 5th gen, and that is under the same conditions. Actually I go slower and am more concious of how much I press the accelerator on the 5th gen and still get at best 20 MPG(driving conservatively). My personal best with the 2nd gen was 28mpg driving as conservatively as I do with my 5th gen.
I usually get my gas MPG by dividing the miles driven by the amount of gas I put in the tank at every fill up. Have done that with both cars.

 

I tried my best to shift at 2k rpm on local, stayed at 65mph (2.2krpm) on highway and I average out only around 21mpg....
I rarely rev pass 3.5k rpm only when I enter highway.

 

Expecting 30mpg while doing 80mph with a car of this size is not realistic. Tune it back to 60mph-65mph and you can hit 30mpg all day.

 

I have a 6 speed. I flew to Florida last week, but had my brother drive my car to and from the airport both leaving and coming back, which is all highway. Considering I flew out of White Plains, NY and live in CT, it was about a 100 mile trip each way, all highway. He drove 75 mostly. I got 26 mpg. I was pretty excited about that actually... since I usually get 22 mpg at best (city). Maximas were not made to get 30 mpg, period. If you're getting 30 mpg, you're not enjoying your car enough to have it, buy a civic.

To hear someone complaining about getting the same mileage in an automatic as I do in a 6 speed makes me wanna

 

Reread my posts.

 

I'm a new max owner and I'm very impressed with my highway MPG and my overall tank MPG when I'm not getting into the throttle too often. I get around 350 miles to a tank and right now my MPG computer says I'm at 31.3 MPG but that's a lot of highway miles.

I know it's not fun, but with gas prices so high, I never go above 3k RPMS unless I have to pull out in front of traffic. Keep it around 2-2.5k on the highway. When taking off I ease into the throttle to keep low mph mpg consumption down.

 

IBTL

I am getting about 28mpg highway and about 22-25mpg around town. I cannot keep it to 2500 rpm, I would have bought a Yugo if wanted to go slow.

 

Those are very good driving habits, but I wouldn't trust the mileage comp. The gallons you put in to fill it up and the total miles driven are insanely more accurate than the mileage comp can be.

 

I've noticed that I can get just shy of 30 on the highway and anywhere between 24 and 26 on the two-lane roads I take to work. I have noticed that the MPG reading (reset at refill and read and refill) is not accurate. It generally reads about 2-4 MPG high.

 

True, I did a little experiment on a recent trip. I drove the exact speed limit for a tank of gas (between 60-65 mph) and ended up with over 500 miles on that tank and close to 33 mpg. On the way back I did 10-15 mph over and hit just a hair over 30 mpg, but mine is a six speed. The thing you've got to remember with this car is that city driving kills the mileage. Even if I only do `10% city driving per tank, my economy will drop to 25 - 26 mpg.

 

The OP was just on a recent highway trip he took. For city driving, forget it. I routinely get 23mpg - 25mpg taking as many backroads as I can.

 

I did. And doesn't answer my question, which is why I asked it.

Say your trip from Paducah to MO was 200 mi. If you started with a full tank at Paducah, drove to MO, drove around town for 35 mi, and then went back to Paducah and filled up with 14.5 gal, then your mileage would have been 435 mi/14.5 gal = 30 mpg.

However, if you only counted the miles you spent on the highway and left out the 35 miles you spent in town, your total mileage is now 400 mi/14.5 gal = 27.6 mpg.

The only way to calculate your true highway mileage would have been to start with a full tank at Paducah (preferably at a station right next to the highway, so you don't have to drive around town to get to the highway), drive straight to MO, then fuel up again right away as soon as you got off the highway. Otherwise, you won't know how much fuel you burned on the highway as opposed to the city. Since you didn't say you did that, the mileage you're getting is not pure highway driving, its mixed driving.

 

How many rpms does the auto spin at 78-79 mph? If I remember correctly, my car's doing about 2600 rpms at 80 mph.

 

Well I get about 25.5 mpg in mixed city/highway driving (65% city at about 25mph jammed in traffic, 35% highway at 65 mph) Total distance each day is about 36 miles. If I do highway only it gets up to 29-30 mpg . (these are real mpg calculated on 6 month average, not the trip computer) Btw this isa 6 spd 03 max. MPG drops to about 22 during winter, it has been increasing steadily since the end of march. BTW when I say winter , I mean Montreal, Quebec winter with really cold weather during january/february.

I'm really happy with my gas consumption as I don't drive too smoothly, but don't rev high for long period. I like the get go of the car