I have a 2000 Maxima SE automatic which is used for transportation,i.e., I'm not into racing etc. I've found that with local driving I average only around 17 mpg. But last weekend I took a 260 mile round trip on Intersate 80 and got 23 mpg which surprised me since out of a total of seven and a half hours of driving, two and a half were spent in horrendous stop and go traffic jams.

I've brought the car back to the dealer complaining about the 17 mpg. They ran their tests and told me everything's within spec, there's nothing wrong.

Two questions: what kind of mpg should I expect? and would there be any difference in mpg using premium (93 aki) vs. regular (87 aki)gasoline?

Thanks,
grandpa

 

Without the supercharger, I get about 23 mpg with frequent sprints (mostly freeway with a good amount of city).

 

I get just under 21 with weekday highway driving with occasional sprints, going 80mph+ at times, and with the AC on...

 

I'm convinced something is wrong with my car, I rarely top 19mpg. On a road trip however I was averageing 75mph and got 25-27mpg so go figure.

 

Why would you buy an SE and not race it?

I get about 22-25mpg. But you're supposed to use 91 or above octane gas in this engine.

If you take your car to the dealer, half of it could be missing and they'd still say it's "in spec" so they don't have to fix it.

 

I can get about 24 mpg with a mix of city and highway driving (I have a 100 mile round trip commute each day) and you can bet there are more than a handful of full blasts from a red light and an occassional 80+ mph run on an open stretch.

 

Thanks to all for your replies. I guess I'm not doing too badly. I'll know more about how I'm doing after I take a few long expressway rides without traffic.

By the way, VeggieH8R, I'm a little too old to be involved in racing. I got the SE because it was the only car on the dealer's lot with all the goodies I wanted, including color. I didn't want to wait for a factory order, but given a choice I probably would have got a GLE. Re the recommended octane, there are some posts on the General Maxima Discussion Forum that indicate that you can't harm the engine with lower octane, because the Maxima automatically retards the timing to prevent pinging. Some performance will be lost, but if you're not racing, that's not too noticeable.

grandpa

 

I've got a 2k SE 5spd and I've always.. (well almost) gotten over 20 mpg.. or around there.. I've got 39k miles on it so far.. there was one trip that I drove to the beach on all back roads driving around 55-65 traffic permitting.. and I got 28.3 mpg... so that was actually better than advertised ...

By the way, how old is too old.. as long as your walker doesn't get in the way of the gas pedal you can still leave red lights quickly

 

I have the 200o Maxima SE as well, but in a 5speed. I have no clue the tank size but by mileage I get anywhere from 380-409(my personal best!!). That is with a mix of driving highway & city.

 

Tank size=15 Gallons plus a tenth or so...

And GRANDPA Your never too old to win the "Stoplight Nationals"

 

our tanks actually hold 18.5 gallons. the gas light goes on when there's about 3.5 gallons left.


that's a good deal of driving before u gotta worry bout filling up when the light turns on.

 

I'm with you punkdork, mine is nearly identical to yours.

 

O.K., guys, you convinced me, I'm submitting my entry form for the "Stoplight Nationals" And where I live there are plenty of stoplights!

cfs630, the capacity as listed in the manual is 18.5 gallons. So, if you drove till you ran out of gas, you'd be getting about 20 to 22 mpg. But, I'm sure you fill up before you're dry, so you're getting better than that. If you quit when the light comes on, you're getting about 25 to 27 mpg.

The other thing is, I've only got about 7000 miles on the car; will my mpg improve as I put more miles on?

grandpa

 

According to my dealer, they say anywhere between 7000 and 10,000 is the "break-in" period for the motor, so thats when all the seals are set and everything is... well, broken in.

 

looking at my fuel economy for 3 months...here's what I got:

Average of 25.78 MPG
Standard deviation of 1.25

If I apply 3 sigma to my fuel economy, then it would mean that I will at least get 22.02 MPG and at most get 29.54 MPG

This is about 80% highway driving and 20% city

Green

 

i get about 13mpg. i hate this motherfvcking car now. I really want a chevy trailblazer *drools*

 

I'm with both of you. To hit 20 mpg is a good tank. That's cool though, I was getting 16 with my MPV before the Max so anything's a bonus.

 

Okay, a few questions for everybody. Firstly, what kind of mileage is on your car and how did the break-in period go. If you did not properly break in your car you will never get good gas mileage. Secondly, where are you located. Areas that have special blend gasolines (California, parts of Texas and the NE) do not get as good gas mileage as 'regular' gasolines. Thirdly, what transmissions do you all have, and if you have a manual, where do you shift? A little something to think about.

 

I also drive real fast, so that expains some of the bad mileage. Basically, 0-60, 60-0 stoplight to stoplight. Damn state route roads.

 

funny

 

Yup. There's just something about waiting at a stoplight that makes you want to step on the gas.

 

by using low octane gas, you will not get the best fuel efficiency. The amount of money you save on using 87 octane is nullified by the fact that you use up more of it. Stick with 92 or 93.

 

O.K., guys, you convinced me, I'm submitting my entry form for the "Stoplight Nationals" And where I live there are plenty of stoplights!

cfs630, the capacity as listed in the manual is 18.5 gallons. So, if you drove till you ran out of gas, you'd be getting about 20 to 22 mpg. But, I'm sure you fill up before you're dry, so you're getting better than that. If you quit when the light comes on, you're getting about 25 to 27 mpg.

The other thing is, I've only got about 7000 miles on the car; will my mpg improve as I put more miles on?


Thanks! I figured I would eventually check out the tank size. I go to the light goes on and alittle further then "fill er up". At leasts the car is consistent.

 

This is interesting stuff! During the week while going back and forth to work, and playing around a little on the weekends, I find the maximum that I get to a tank is right around 325 miles. Not too good.

I scuba dive a lot, and just took the new maxima on its first trip to Table Rock Lake. I bring 3 dive tanks ( 2 80 cubic foot and 1 40 cubic foot), a TON of dive gear, and I had a small bag of clothes. I am not sure of the total weight, but I left after work with all that stuff and a full talk of gas... it was HOT out and I had the air on full. About 30 minutes of the start of the trip was stop and go driving, but I got 37 miles out of the first quarter tank!!!! It leveled off and once I drove on the highway a bit without stopping I still wound up with about 330 miles to the tank. On the way home I had the air off most of the way since it was in the evening... I ended up getting almost 400 miles out of the tank. The new record!! Oh yea... I always use 93 octane... no exceptions. My baby has to eat good to!

 

I just past 6k on my car and the gas milage is getting better. She was a demo car and had 5k on her when i got her. She has an auto . I seem to be improving on gas milage with every fill up(93 only). Is the milage increasing because of the computer adjusting to my driving, or the engine being broken in? Also, any chance of getting her broke in good with her being a demo car and with 5k miles on her?

 

Gas mileage is improving becasue the car itself is breaking in more - not because of any computer "mapping".

You never know when you buy a demo if the engine was broken in properly. If a dealership guy drove it for awhile he could have beat the living crap out of it or he could have babied it. If it was a "test drive beater" it could still go either way. Some dealerships let the engine warmup for a few minutes before the test drive to protect then engine while it's still green, but other ones just fire it up and say let 'er rip.

But then I guess all of that uncertainty is why demo cars are cheaper

You can losely figure out how well the car was taken care of by the mileage/performance you get at around 10,000 miles. After that the car/engine is pretty well broken in and your mileage and performance should peak.

 

could there also be a difference between cali spec and fed spec maximas on gas milage?

 

could be.... but I doubt there is a significant difference.

 

I just updated my gas logs. (Yeah, I'm **** about such things...)

Total miles: 6800
Avg MPG: 23.5
Best MPG: 28.9
Worst MPG: 18.8
Best Price/gal: $1.57 (Last week!)
Worst Price/gal: $2.29 (week of 5/17/01)

The first 1900 miles (mostly city) (mpg): 20.2
Road Trip (4125 miles): 26.3
Last 800 miles: about 21. (so far, lack of significant data)

Looks like the road trip improved my mpg by about 1mpg. Improvement probably came with engine break in. (I really did baby the motor for the first 1000 miles.)

Notes:
My city driving is with federally mandated gasohol. I suspect I lose maybe 2mpg using these mandated (oxygenated) fuels. (ususally 93 octane)

All gasoline (so far) has been summer blend gasoline.

I am not gentle with my gas pedal. (But I'm not a stoplight racer, either.)


The only way to truly know your gas mileage, it to top off the tank when taking your data points. Filling it up to the same mark on the gas gauge isn't close to accurate. You'll need to do this several times, and take the average. Use most of the tank before filling up again, otherwise you'll incur the weight penalty of the unused gas.

I keep a spiral bound notepad under the armrest. (What else is that space good for? ) I track the date, whether or not the tank was completely filled, cost/gal, odo reading, location, and number of gallons bought.

I track my fill-ups for a few reasons. One, if my mileage goes significantly down, I know I have a problem with the car. Second, it helps me keep track of where I've been and when. Third, I can track the cost of the vehicle. (I keep detailed service and insurance records, too.)

I've noticed in my last three cars (all 4 valves/cyl high rev engines) that gas mileage is remarkably good if you keep out of the revs. Keep the engine at 5000-6000 rpm, though, and you can watch your fuel gauge move...

 

Grandpa;

Don’t let these kids intimidate you. They get poor gas milage because of their youthful driving habits. I’m a proud 64 and average almost 25 mpg. And I gave up racing years ago when I saw my first dead body on the street after a racing accident.

 

...in my automatique with two passengers and 94 octane, resulted in 438 miles out of the tank...with the low fuel light not yet on. I figure i could have squeezed it to 460? 475?