All respondents please copy the following questionnaire into your reply, following each question with your answer;
(all questions apply to the most recent tank of gas only please)

What MPG did your vehicle get on the most recent tank of gas?

What percentage city/highway driving did you drive on your last tank of gas please?

What is the year, make, & model of your vehicle?

Do you have the 3.0 or the 3.5 liter engine?

What type of gasoline did you use, if you know what octane you used, please specify, or if you do not know, please specify regular, mid grade, or super.

How many miles are on your vehicle?

Do you have an automatic or a manual transmission?

Is your vehicle modified for the purpose of improving performance or for the purpose of improving MPG?

Does your vehicle have any mechanical problems, please briefly explain if so?

Do you rely on exclusively on your trip computer for your MPG information?

Do you use the following method to calculate your MPG;?

1. Reset (one of) your trip odometers to zero at the same time you fill your tank completely full.
2. At the next fill-up, fill your tank completely full again and then divide the number of miles by the number of gallons.

Please rate your driving style;
A. Extremely conservative
B. Conservative
C. Neither conservative nor aggressive,
D. Aggressive
E. Very aggressive.

 

hope this helps your info quest

 

The problem is city driving for someone in a small town with few lights is going to be different from someone is a large city that continually drives stop light to stop light even if they use the same exact throttle pressure every time they accelerate.

Also, you will have people claiming 34-36 mpg which is a complete pile of BS in either a 3.0 or a 3.5 unless the entire route was downhill. Just like people BS about how fast their car is, they BS about mileage too.

 

The quality of the data reflects the quality of the source.

All people are not egocentric liars

 

I think i'm pretty similar to intrepid's response. Maybe you could also add about the terrain or part of the country the car is located. I'm in the mountains of NC, but when i stayed in miami for 4 months, my mpg went up by about 1.

 

So, what is this information supposed to prove to a 10 year old frame?

 

Those 2 questions are redundant. Have fun with your thread, Tony.

 

Damn u beat me to it.

 

answered

 

What MPG did your vehicle get on the most recent tank of gas? 26.3 mpg

What percentage city/highway driving did you drive on your last tank of gas please? 70% highway, 30% city

What is the year, make, & model of your vehicle? 02 I35

Do you have the 3.0 or the 3.5 liter engine? 3.5

What type of gasoline did you use, if you know what octane you used, please specify, or if you do not know, please specify regular, mid grade, or super. Super

How many miles are on your vehicle? 77,777 as of last night.

Do you have an automatic or a manual transmission? Auto

Is your vehicle modified for the purpose of improving performance or for the purpose of improving MPG? Neither

Does your vehicle have any mechanical problems, please briefly explain if so?
No issues at all.
Do you rely on exclusively on your trip computer for your MPG information? Never

Do you use the following method to calculate your MPG;? Yes

1. Reset (one of) your trip odometers to zero at the same time you fill your tank completely full.
2. At the next fill-up, fill your tank completely full again and then divide the number of miles by the number of gallons.

Please rate your driving style;

C. Neither conservative nor aggressive,


I track mpg out of habit for both my moto and the car. There are things you can tell about how your car is running on this info, plus I think it's interesting to see how much you actually spend on gas in a year.

Check the fuelly link in my sig for more info.

 

 

Actually its not BS. I have achieved 34mpg on a long highway trip. Granted, I have a host of new parts on the car (OEM and performance) but its not out of this world to achieve those numbers on a cruising highway trip.

Combined I average around 25mpg. But on long trips its entirely possible.

 

I can do you one better. Here is information on the fuel economy since June. Always 93 octane.

And my rolling averages since June:

Suck it, hatas. I have a gross EVAP leak from the EVAP canister's purge valve, entirely stock save tires one inch wider than standard SEs. Oh, it's a 6MT. Like my vehicle information under my "Senior Member" title states.

My driving style is totally irrelevant to my fuel economy, but I would claim A and E like 'Chester. I can shred tires 30x in a tank and get 19 MPG, or cruise at 55 in a 70 MPH zone in 6th gear and get 22. Something is not right with my poor car as I can't even come close to other's fuel economy, but I'm not really sure what.

It's usually a 40/60 city/highway split. Typical cruising speeds range between 70 - 80. Traffic is usually on the light side of moderate. I can't access my trip computer, need to ground that wire from the aftermarket HU. Ugh.

 

I think a better gauge of whether you vehicle is/is not capable of getting optimal MPG would be for everyone to reset the onboard mpg computer when they are locked in on cruise control at 70mph on a level freeway. Drive for 5 miles, tell us what the mpg is.

With mine the onboard readout would be 34mpg under those circumstances, which in reality is 29mpg.

 

You'd have to seriously bend the laws of physics to get a true (doing the math, not the trip computer) 34 mpg on a long road trip. Coming down out of El Paso, my trip computer was showing 34 mpg, which might have had me touching 30 mpg for that 70 or so miles but once the road flattened out and the speed limit went to 80 mph (legally), when I filled up after 300 or so miles, my trip computer was showing 29.8 and I actually got 26.1 mpg. The best I have ever been able to get is 27.3 mpg while averaging around 72 mph for the 350 miles I drove on that tank, very flat terrain too. Considering my car is rated at 26 mpg freeway, I'll take it. My 90 Accord had a header, AEM cold air intake, exhaust, pulleys and bumped timing. Rated 29 mpg freeway, best tank touched 31 mpg. Point is, mods or not, it is really hard to get much more than 1.5-2 mpg more than the car is EPA rated for.

 

All I'd have to do is use imperial Gallons.

Two tanks ago I got 8.4 L/100km commuting, (calculated, not trip computer) mixed driving. I'm sure I could do better if it was all steady highway.

28 MPG US.
33.4 MPG CDN.

 

Isn't your car Auto? The 6spd can definately be more efficient especially when it has unrestricted breathing such as mine. Quite clearly your car cannot achieve 34 mpg, that doesn't mean other examples setup quite differently cannot.

You also seem too average quite a higher speed. The trip I got 34 mpg on was simple 2 lane roads where I likely averaged 60-65 mph.

I'm on fresh suspension, brand new tires, new maf, coils, plugs, filter, blah blah blah. Before all my mods and tune I got 27 mpg on that same trip.

 

5.5 gen 6 speed cars are rated at 28 mpg freeway, my Dad's '04 V6 Accord is rated 29 mpg and I was able to get a worst of 28.7 to a best of 31.4 going to Kentucky and back so I would guess driving the same route at the same speeds (75 or so) a 6 speed 5.5 gen would get about 1 mpg worse so 30 mpg is believable. When I go slower, like 60-65, the computer is showing around 31-32 so I'm probably around 28 mpg if I did the math. Zero chance I'm going 60-65 when the speed limits out here are 70 (most of Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky) to 80 (west Texas) and 75 through most of New Mexico and Arizona. I did have one tank where I averaged 79 mph for 412 miles and got an actual 26.9 mpg...btw, that was going pretty much the legal speeds, much of that was at a legal 80 mph.

 

its not BS imo either. i got 34+mpg once driving from NC to Florida. Iirc the total mileage according to my trip reading was 530ish or so, and i squeezed like 15-16 gallons in. unless youre suggesting that my trip doesnt count miles properly. i didnt stop for gas until i got somewhere in georgia tho, which is pretty common for my NC>FL trips.

 

I have always been VERY, VERY analytical about my MPG.

Most, but not all of the reports and info I have read tell me that I should get 24-26 MPG out of my 2003 Maxima with my conservative driving style and my mix of about 75/25 city/highway driving.

I love the car and I would REALLY love to get the 24-26 MPG.

I have only filled-up twice and I got 20.4 and 20.9 MPG.

So, maybe I should just ask 'what is wrong with my car if anything'.

I have caught some flames here, no problem.

Some of the flamers have very valid points.

My redundant question about make, model, year and 3.0 vs. 3.5 engine, admittedly, comes from some level of ignorance regarding which Infiniti models have the 3.5.

I understand that some of the 2002 Infiniti models have the 3.5 liter engine, while the Maxima did not get the 3.5 till 2003?

Also, other MPG threads that I have seen just ask 'what is your MPG'. This seems to mix everyone who owns a 5th gen together. I read these and wonder.

My apoligizes for any redundancy or any other shortcomings or imperfections demonstrated in or exposed by my posts.

I am here to learn, and will willingly reteach anything I learn to the best of my abilities.

At this point, I am leaning towards starting a new threat with the title 'I am only getting 20.4 to 20.9 MPG, what is wrong, and how to I improve the MPG.

Thanks to all who have contributed, and I will definitely keep my eyes open for any further posts to this thread.

BTW, I started another thread a while back about oil consumption / oil burning. I have about 750 miles on my oil and no noticeable consumption yet. (Castrol 5-30 dino, and Mobil-1 filter).


I really want to know this cars quirks, particulars, Etc INSIDE & OUT, and will be hanging out here lots in order to accomplish that.

 

People will be quick to take offense at that perceived slight to Nissan and claim that your car getting 20.5 MPG means it's horribly broken, but I'm not so sure, TonyICW.

The government says we should expect 17ci/24hw/20co and 19/26/21 for the automatic and 6-speed, respectively. Sites like TrueDelta and the aforementioned FuelEconomy.gov list averages for actual Maxima owners right in line with those EPA estimates.

Orgers forget what their fuel economy was before throwing on a SRI with headers and an aggressive tune.


So, I suppose you could say that what is "wrong" with your car is that it has a 3498cc V6 with dual-overhead camshafts that isn't very refined--its programming could use some serious tweaking to optimize for efficiency--aaaaaaaand a lousy, four-speed automatic slushbox. Add two or three more gears, adjust the engine's efficiency as best you can, and THEN you can feel good about getting 30 on the highway. But, until you perform some major modifications, I don't think expecting your car to pull more than 20 combined is realistic.

 

Here is some data you can use to get an idea (not following your format):

1 L = 0.264172052 US GAL
1 kilometer = 0.621371192 miles

Model: 2001 5-speed, 3.0L
Range: 550km (341.7 miles)
Consumption: 62 L (16.38 GAL)
30/70 city/hwy driving
Driving Style: neither conservative or agressive

Therefore I get 11.27 L / 100km (20.86 MPG) ... thats actually pretty bad
I live downtown Toronto however, where there is a good bit of crawling stop/go city driving to go through before I can make it to any highway.

 

An interesting list of questions. You reminded me that I should be using option 2 above to calculate the accuracy of the computer. Hope this helps.

 

lol....cripes.
What is your highway MPG when you do the math, and drive @ 60-65?

 

2002 GLE with 3.5L engine, auto tranny.

I get around 18-19mpg during my commute which is all surface streets.

I just got back from a longer trip on the highway where I averaged about 25mpg.

I get my figures by reading my trip computer and then deducting a couple mpg (since it's overly optimistic). Not very scientific but there you go.

Finally - anyone who buys a Maxima for stellar MPG is missing the mark. The Volkswagen TDI is what you get when MPG is your main concern.

 

With respect to our model Nissan as shared with Infiniti:
Note that the Infiniti has one extra model year than the Nissan.

 

Fill up tank untill it clicks..
Reset the trip gauge..
drive until you need to fill up again..
pump until it clicks..

take the mileage of the trip gauge.. ie 310 miles
take amount of fuel pumped.. ie 15.xx gallons and divide.

20.6 mpg.. Isnt this the most true reading you can get on what mpg's your car is getting? What the computer gives and mpg is very misleading..

 

Bingo.

Previous three...
729 km (452 miles)
62.6 litres (16.5 USG, $77.45CDN)
27.4mpg.

737 km (457 miles)
64.01 litre (16.9USG, $72.78CDN)
27 mpg

662 km (411 miles)
62.9 litres (16.6 USG, $71.62CDN)
24.75 mpg....admittedly, I hammered it more than usual on this tank.

 

02 GLE Auto

I just calculated again yesterday and got 330 miles out of the tank which came out to be 20.x MPG

I drive about 70% highway but have lots of stops when I'm in the city. I drive pretty conservative. I use 91 octane ethanol free from Shell.

 

For a car with a Curb Weight of 3224 LB;pretty good MPG's.

 

I've always thought so, too. For a full-sized, sport-sedan to only weight 3224 has always impressed me.

The 5.5 gen hits the sweet-spot in so many ways.

 

Since regular grade gas has the most energy per gallon, wouldn't using the lowest octane possible result in the highest efficiency - MPGs?

 

That is very good mileage. What kind of driving are you doing hwy/city ?

 

Yes, if the engine management is optimized for it.
Ours isn't.

 

Drone to work and back, ~80-100 km/h.
Mostly 6th gear, sub-2K rpm stuff.

 

Ah, that is ideal conditions for acheiving optimal gas mileage. I guess I shouldn't feel as bad then.

 

Yeah, pretty much the only way to improve it would be to keep going.....and do it on a road with no traffic lights at all, rather than the minimal ones I have to deal with.

 

Ok I usually get anywhere between 420 to 440miles on a tank of gas, never really bothered me to calculate the MPG. Mostly highway and some severe city with a lot of stop and go... on a 91 gas..
I have the vq30 with a 5 speed, cold air intake and a warpspeed y pipe... and a SES light for the rear or post-cat o2 sensor...
All i can say is that the MPG for a car that is rated 0-60 in about 6 to 7 seconds is pretty amazing and for those of you getting the 34+ mpg please share the secret with us.... oh wait there is no secret because it is not true... and please don't give the "my trip computer gave that number" because those things are not accurate... close but not accurate

 

70 mph or under in a 6 spd on a level hwy (without significant headwind) I can do low 30s all day. Waaaaah, you don't have another gear, quit crying.
That's the trick.

 

why the freak would i lie about something so stupid. and i dont have one of those cool trip things like the newer cars, mine is analog. i have to do math when i calculate mpg.

either way, that was a few years back when i was n/a, id be lucky to break 25 now, my last trip was 22 mpg all highway.