I hate to bring the topic back up but I'm a little confused here. I have almost 10k miles on my car now. It has always had 92+ octane in it from good gas stations. I drive about 50/50 highway/in town. I almost never get more than 20mpg. I live in seattle and have an auto. The only mods I have are a FSTB and a cone intake (JWT pop charger). Is this normal gas milage?

 

for the first 10 mins of driving, you get 13-15mpg.. all new V6 cars run that rich while emissions warm up. Your exhaust(cat conv.) warming up will take longer than the engine, so the temp needle kinda fools you. If you only drive 15 mins to work (or 3-5 mins in my case) you will see terrible mileage.

letting your car warm up longer before driving wont really help that much (others have experimented with this, not me)

 

I drive 30-40 minutes to work. If you average 15 minutes at 15ish mpg and 15 minutes at 25ish then you get 20mpg. Makes sense. I don't do a lot of long highway miles either. Well... I guess I didn't buy a toyota echo

 

Hey Punkdork I've had the similar problem before, where freeway and local drive are 50/50, with premium gas, and I only get 20-21 mpg on average. It was really bothering me.

But fuel consumption is getting better after about 13K miles (after my 3rd oil change), now at 18k, i average over 24 mpg with mixed freeway/local driving (that's w/o A/C, i rarely use them). If my situation is normal, U should start seeing some improvement soon.

Like TimW said, I did noticed the car eats lots of gas during the first few minutes after startup. So I usually let the engine warm up a bit and go easy on the pedal the first few minutes on the road.

 

I get around 21 or 22 mpg tops. In fact the last time I got 19. As the weather gets colder, you will get worse gas mileage. I think they reformulate the gas in the winter

 

K.. Even tho I'm no physics major, here are as many factors as I can possibly think of that would affect Gas mileage

#1. Size/design of Engine + weight of car (both are things that are constants in this forum, and over which we have no control) [except for mods that would change the design part, and of course assuming that you have a well-tuned car]

#2. Accelerations (the faster you accelerate the more gas you burn.. It's actually quite complicated because if you think about it, your position is determined by your velocity (speed), which is controlled by your acceleration (how fast you are speeding up), which is controlled by how fast you depress the accelerator (not sure what to call this, but I believe "jerk" MAY be the official physical quantity) Since power (watts or HP) is work done [joules] divided by time [seconds] (it's a definiton thing), naturally, the faster you accelerate the more power you require (which translates to more gas).. Correct me if my reasoning is wrong here.. (again I'm NOT a physics major)

#3 Brake Usage.. The more you brake, the more you burn.. period...

#4. Terrain.. If you drive in the city.. stand in traffic, hit many lights, or drive uphill to work (both ways :-) then your gonna burn gas...

#5. The FASTER you drive the more gas you burn. While there may be an element of engine efficiency at certain speeds, most of it is caused by friction (between your car and air). As long as you remain well below terminal velocity (the maxima is fast, but not THAT fast), its rougly the shape of an exponential function (not certain of the details here), but basically the FASTER you GO, the MORE Gas you burn (BIG TIME)..

Don't believe me?? Try it out.. go out onto the highway, in the right hand lane, and let go of the accelerator @ 30 mph.. Now without crashing into anything, look at your speed decrease..

Now, merge over to the left lane, accelerate to 140 mph (consult the thread "2k Maxima top speed???"), and let go.. Big Difference ehh..??

I hear optimal speed is about 55 for the average car.. looking at my maxima, I guess 60 or 65 doesn't cost you much..




To summarize.. If you drive it like you stole it.. you pay $$$ for gas.. (especially as someone mentioned, within the first 15 minutes)

But then, if you WANTED to drive 55mph in the right hand lane, and go 32 mpg, you shoulda bought a (pisa ****) kia or hyundai...

 

It seems to me ppl with SE sticks get better mileage than ppl with GLE auto. As for gettin around 20 mpg its perfectly noraml, I've been gettin tat from my GLE ever since I got the car and now I have bout 10k miles. But for those who r gettin 23-25 mpg, do u guys have the SE stick, cuz I don't see how with the u can have such a big difference in mpg with the same car ?

 

between published MPG and actual. obviously driving it like you rented it, will yield lower mileage. I think most people are not aware of the emissions thing. the published numbers dont take that into effect.. but Consumer Reports does in their City rating. In consumer reports, the A6 got like 13 mpg. I think the max got 14.something. Honda v6 was like 16.

 

i filled my gas tank up yesterday, i always use 92 or 93 , sunoco or exxon.
Anyway i have driven 42 miles and im half empty. So that means that i am only getting 100+ miles with a full tank of gas.
Anyway i have noticed this problem but never said anything bout it. Could i take it to the service dept and say check it out? Its crazy im paying like 24 dollars twice a week to keep my car full.
What exactly could they do?
Roger
email me
radpp16@juno.com

 

Have you been driving @ 900 mph again ? :-)


Ya.. 34 miles only kills about 1/8th on my 2k SE auto.. (round trip to school and back = 34 miles). Avg speed, approx 75mph..

Seriously... there is something REALLY wrong with your car.. (is your tank leaking)?

 

Wow! Your problem sounds a little serious. Unless you have the pedal to the metal the whole 42 miles there is no way in hell you loose half a tank of gas!!! I live in San Jose and drive to San Francisco often and it is about 60 miles there. I go usually between 70 to 80 MPH and I barely use a quarter tank of gas. You should get it checked out.

 

my needle will move more torward the end... I think its proportional or something. With the last 1/4 I can practically watch it fall...

 

is what I get. 100 miles... something must be wrong or you must drive to 140, slam on the brakes, drive to 140, slam on the brakes.. etc.

 

Lol yeah Nissan made the gauge very deceptive. I was amazed when i first got the car and when the needle has at half I had gotten bout 200 miles, then i started to notice that the next half to E, i only got 100+ miles.

 

I've noticed the guage symmetry too... but differently (huh?)..


what i get, is that it moves a lot faster in the middle than towards the edges (until I looked carefully at how the lines are spaced out (if you notice, the first quarter and last quarter are MUCH smaller regions)...


When you got 42 miles/half tank, were you by any chance

#1. Driving in reverse?
#2. Driving in the lowest gear?
#3. Driving in reverse up an abnormally large hill, with your windows open, and the pedal floored?
#4. Towing a house?
#5. Driving with the handbrake applied?
????

Seriously, i would get that checked out... (remember, don't floor it within the first 15 or so min.. cuz you WILL pay the price for gas... I find that if I drive 55 for at LEAST the first 5-10 min, I increase my gas mileage significantly...)

 

Right around 21 mpg .....I usually fill up at 1/4 tank and have anywhere from 235-270 on the odometer.

 

anyone could ever get over 350+ miles without filling up (that with 1/4 of a tank left)! This car does seem to drink gasoline like water, compared to my pops 8-banger. I think DOHC engines in general are less efficient than the pushrods or SOHC engines.

But 42 miles with 1/2 tank left??? Wow, i'll never complain about gas mileage on my ride again.

 

In 13k miles I have never gotten less than 23mpg with my stick se. Normal commute mpg runs around 25, trip mpg runs 29.5 - 30.5 (80mpg cruise with AC on). The only non-stock parts are lighter (by 11lb ea) 16" wheels and synthetic engine and gear oil. I have found the gas gauge to be amazingly accurate - around town it is exactly 100 miles per quarter tank all the way to empty. I have had some trouble getting it truly full - the auto shut offs turn off the pump way too early so the gauge never really gets to F.

Dave

 

Nonsense! I'm getting 25mpg on a 15mi (18 min) commute. Your logic would have me getting 35 or more mpg for the last 8 minutes - no way.

Dave

 

While i don't have any hard numbers, I would tend to agree with TimW..

When I drive one way, I get right on the highway... (and therefore have no choice but to drive a healthy 65 on a RELATIVELY cold engine)...

On my way back, however, the car gets a nice warmup through a 10 min slow ride through light city traffic) I burn way less gas on the way back... (just by observing the gauge positions for some time now)

 

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I agree with u and Tim too.. at least in my experience. My commute is about 6 minutes. On weeks where I just drive to work and don't do much driving outside of that, I get really bad gas mileage on that tank.

 

I am overly ****, and have tracked the gas mileage I have gotten on every car I have ever owned - initially in a logbook, now on an Excel spreadsheet.

My Maxima SE gets 20 - 22 mpg in my normal driving. This is basically on suburban streets, with maybe 30 miles of rush hour highway traffic per week. (I can opt for a short highway commute, or cover the same distance over surface streets, and try to listen to the radio (or guess) the least congested option each day.)

On my one trip with the Maxima I averaged 26 mpg, although part of this included being stuck in extremely slow traffic in and around Toronto.

 

I actually am doing ok with the milage.

And I've experimented.

When I first got the car, I got 22mpg. After first oil change, switch to Mobil 1 5w-30 and Purolator Pure One filter, milage jumped to 24mpg. Then one time I drove about 160 miles straight at around 65mph the whole way, I got 30mpg.

But on the average, I now get 24-25 mostly highway more like 80/20. But then I try to drive at 65mph, with an occasional fun time... if you know what I mean. What's funny is I (probably shouldn't do this too much) use 89 once in a while...

I also warm up the engine for a couple of minutes, like 5 sometimes, sometimes 1min.

The worst I got is around 22, when I first got the car and drove with 3 bikes on a Yakima rack on the roof.

OH, and mine has 9000miles now since August.

 

There is so many varables that go into gas milage

Besides, driving habits and terrain...

for example if you have wider tires, the more rubber on the road causes more friction, more gass you burn!simply changing lanes decreases gas mileage by inducing more friction.

Also the altitide at which you drive will cause the car to get more or less air, affecting gas milage.

Thats how nissan got 500 miles on a tank of gas on a long straight road about sea level!

If you look closely at the sticker when it says 19 city is actially says somthing like 13-20 under it!!

Hey if you wanted gas milage buy a metro! I just can't keep my foot off the gas!! (but if your only getting 50 miles for half a tank i'd get it looked at)

 

Agree withe everything, but I have to correct you on one thing.. Wider tires do not produce more friction... I know it seems counter-intuitive, but I assure you it's true..

PS.. I never thought about altitude, but you are absolutely right... It would have a bearing on gas mileage, but I'm just not sure to what extent.. (ie.. how high up would you have to go before it became noticeable).. Similarly one can argue that there is more atmospheric pressure, and a greater force of gravity at sea level.. But nobody even thinks of mentioning things like that, cuz they are plain silly.. You can obtain theoretical numbers for how much gas atmospheric pressure or higher gravity causes, but forget about measuring these little things in the real world..

 

Wider tires are do not cause more friction? Can you explain that one to me? I thought if you wheels spin when your floor it you bought wider tires to produce more friction and keep your wheels from spinning?

As for the altitude I lived in colorado at 7,000 feet and the cars have a high altitide package (on my ford). I think the dealer does something in the computer chip I think. If I ever moved back there I would get a S/C or Turbo to make up for the difference in pressure. My friend has a buick grand national and it ate up everything he saw.

Gravity is greater at sea level but your right these things are way to small to make any real differences! Just me engineer brain working overtime, need to spend it making a ram air setup!

 

I get about 220-240 miles on a full tank of gas.
Iam usually stuck in traffic for about an hour when i get home from work.Live in NYC, damn city roads.
On a highway without any traffic driving at 60 mph, i noticed the car gets about 16-17 mpg.

Does anyone with a manual tanrsmission get over 500 miles per tank like Nissan bragged in their TV commercial?

 

if you had actually read my post, this wasnt some observation that I pulled out of my @ss. its Consumer Reports that gave this explanation and the MPG that I quoted. You are welcome to look it up (summer 2000 V6 comparison). You can tell them that they are full of crap if you wish... I never professed to have engineered the 2k engine/drivetrain myself...

 

I don't have to really explain the wider tire thing, cuz every first year physics book seems to do a good job at it.. As it turns out, the surface area has nothing to do with the amount of friction.. (it's the force between the two objects, and the coefficient of friction that influence the AMOUNT of friction.)

With car tires, there is definitely a reason for wider tires, but I am just not sure of the exact reasoning yet. If I were to conjecture a wild guess, I would asume that it may have something to do with heat dissapation, or possibly distribution of weight... I just don't know.., but it's definitely not the AMOUNT of friction.. -sorry

 

I got 360 Miles with a quater tank left, but I do alot of freeway driving.....(not at 25mph either) On the way to work I ussually cruise at 80 mph and still get the same gas milage. It averages out to be about 26-28 mpg. Also are you kidding about your pops V8 those things are tankers...also I bet your pops doesn't hit hundred everyday.

2000 GXE Super (dirty) Black
FSTB Stillen
RSTB Stillen
Stillen intake
all kinds of other ****

 

It is possible. I drove from Hartford, CT to Paukipsee, NY (wrong spelling) about 160 miles round trip going around 60-65 average on 5 gallons. That averages to 30 mpg, so if you actually drove that slow on cruise the whole tank, you can easily get 30-32 mpg. But whoe will and who does?

Speed, terrain, weight in car, and how much you mash the pedals, will determine gas milage. Too many variables.
I Usually get 370 miles to the low fuel light, which is 3 gallons left. So 370 miles on 15 gals. It's not bad, but then I drive 34 miles to work one way and cruise at 65 the whole way, no traffic jams.

 

By changing the original instake your car delays when it picks up, but it gives you and extra power in the end. This makes your engine works harder and sucks too much air causing more gas to burn. You should have gotten 27 per highways and 21 per city. i have a stick 2kmax and i get almost the same specified readings. READ the previous subject that i wrote about the LEXUS...hope you understand why you burning more gas and no this is not normal...

 

i get usually about 18-19 mpg . i drive in teh city a lot, and got a heavy foot sometimes...question...does anyone know how many gallons there is left in the tank when the E indicator goes on?