I have been driving a 04 SE for 2 weeks now while my 01 gets repaired from a recent wreck. What have you guys been getting for gas mileage on a full tank? Please note how much highway vs city driving. Seriously considering trading

 

I'm getting about 22.5 mpg on my 04 SL 50/50. My 00 GLE on the same roads, same driver (me) got about 20.

 

I got my best gas mileage ever on the interstate the other day 21.7!?!? really sux AND i DROVE 75 FOR 5 HOURS TOO. As for in town I usually average above 18 or so, I think I'll be tradin around christmas for a trucK. Reason being that's why I got the car was because of SUPPOSIVELY good gas milage.

 

I've been getting 25 mpg driving 100% highways. When I first got the car I was getting ~ 18 mpg. However, I think it's important to mention grade of gasoline and number of miles currently on the car as I do believe this makes a difference. I use 92 octane exclusively and currently have 7,000 on the car.

 

On average I'm getting about 22 driving both in town and interstate.

Karen

 

interesting..The Accord v6 gets 30 on highway and about 22-23 city...With regular gas... I sell them ,but still drive a Maxima . However, I drove a 02 Max with the 3.5 engine and was awesome...Maybe if would be standard one,Id go for it...Haven t tried the 04 yet, but I bet that is great.

 

I managed to get 25.5 goin from Seattle to Pullman for a football game with my SE 6-speed, not too bad considering I was averaging 80 the whole drive with 3 passengers, a full trunk and had to put a IS300 in its place goin up the pass, I dont know how much better mileage I could get considering the conditions, but I am not gonna complain.

 

with my 6-speed SE, I'm averaging 22-25 mpg depending on my driving style. 70-80% of those miles are highway.
To test out the fuel economy of the max, I drove 60-65mph in 6th gear for one 50 mile trip and was able to get 30.0 mpg!!! If one I could keep that up.

 

I drive a 6-Speed and have made many long drives since I aquired it in April. I'm at around 16k miles now. After my trip over the holiday (DC to Atlanta and back again) I managed to get 28 mpg with spending several hours in traffic. I was actually over 31.5 mpg when I was driving around 60-65 in 6th gear, but I just can't go that slow for long and the traffic really hurt.

My normal average these days is about 24.5 mpg since I do hit stop and go traffic on occasion around DC

 

With my 3.5 SE auto get about 15 maybe with 80/20 in Honolulu. Its on 1750 mi. and I never broke in the engine correctly. I use premium fuel too.

 

I’m somewhat disappointed with the highway mileage I’ve been getting on my Maxima SE with 6-speed. In one posting on this thread, it is noted that: “The Accord V-6 gets 30 on highway and about 22-23 city...With regular gas... I sell them, but still drive a Maxima.” Well, I expected my Maxima to get about 30 mpg on the highway, but – for me – it hasn’t happened. I do get about 22 to 24 in the city. IMO one reason the mileage is not better is the Maxima’s performance gearing, which results in higher RPM at 80 MPH than many cars that are geared for mileage. Below I will list some of the details of my mileage results.

I believe it’s important to keep track of more than just the mileage (mpg) you get when you fill your tank. Also keep track of the average MPH (computer calculated) that occurred with that tank of gasoline. I also believe the computer mileage (mpg) shown on your screen is more accurate than what you can calculate from the gallons pumped into the tank -- because of the difficulty filling the ‘04 Maxima tank to the same point each time you fill-up.

In the last few months I took the same long highway trip twice (and will make it again around Christmas). I sent the “complaint” below about the differences in mileage between the two trips to two friends of mine. Their opinion was: “there was likely a big difference in wind speed and direction between the two trips.” On all trips I like to cruise at 8 to 9 mph over the speed limit, but no faster than 80 mph. I use cruise control when weather and traffic conditions allow.

I keep fairly meticulous records of my gasoline purchases, so I’m confident what I report for two essentially similar trips to Chicago and back is accurate. (I’ve eliminated all Illinois gasoline purchases because they were not at the same gas station and included different amounts of street driving for each trip.) I would expect to get better highway gasoline mileage when the weather is cooler in the fall, with more miles on the car, and with synthetic motor oil in the engine (10w30); than when the weather is hotter, there are fewer miles on the car and with conventional motor oil (5w30). That seems to NOT be the case, as seen below (all trips with 2 passengers, luggage, etc as described):

Summer trip (July out 1,800 miles on car and Aug back 7,000 miles on car)

___Segment Cities____Distance__Avg Speed__Computer__Calculated
1) C Spring to N Platte_323 miles__63 mph____28.0 mpg___29.0 mpg
2) N Platte to Omaha___253______71_________26.5_______26.4
3) Omaha to Des M____159______60_________28.1_______27.4
__Average of 2 & 3____412______66.75______27.1_______26.8___A
4) Des M to Davpt_____162______69_________26.4_______29.0
Total Colorado Springs to Davenport = 897.1 miles using 32.136 gallons = 27.92 mpg
Calculating gallons used from computer readings shows 32.882 gals = 27.28 mpg
Temperatures in high 80s to low 90s. Car completely loaded with furniture, etc (heaviest of all 4 trips).

5) Des M to Omaha____148 miles__66 mph____26.9mpg___32.6 mpg
6) Omaha to N Platte___256_______70________26.0_______23.5
__Average of 5 & 6____404_______68.5_______26.3______26.2___B
7) N Platte to Julsbg_____84_______73________26.1______32.9___C
8) Julsbg to C Springs___234_______66________26.9______27.3___D
Total Des Moines to CO Springs = 721.3 miles using 26.530 gallons = 27.19 mpg
Calculating the gallons from computer readings shows 27.239 gals = 26.48 mpg
Temperatures in high 90s to low 100s. Car trunk full, back seat partly full with "stuff"

Combining 2 summer trips results in 1,618.4 miles using 58.666 gallons = 27.59 mpg
Computer reading combined results used 60.121 gallons = 26.92 mpg

Fall trip (Oct out 8,300 miles on car and Nov back 10,700 miles on car)
(The first segment is off, due to driving in town before departure.)

___Segment Cities____Distance__Avg Speed__Computer__Calculated
1) C Spring to N Platte__380 miles__49 mph___26.9 mpg___27.0 mpg
2) N. Platte to Des M___402_______65_______26.7_______26.1___A
3) Des M to Davpt_____169_______65_______27.4_______25.8
Total to Davenport = 951.1 miles using 36.035 gallons = 26.39 mpg (5.8% worse)
Calculating the gallons from computer readings shows 35.354 gals = 26.90 (1.4% worse)
Temperatures in high 60s to mid 70s. Car trunk full, back seat partly full with "stuff"

4) Des M to N Platte___402_______72________24.2_______22.7___B
5) N Platte to Julsbg____83_______74________24.1_______24.6___C
6) Julsbg to C Spring__234_______67________26.2_______ 25.2___D
From Des Moines = 719.1 miles using 30.368 gallons = 23.680 mpg (14.8 % worse)
Calculating gallons from computer readings = 28.990 gals = 24.805 mpg (6.8% worse)
Temperatures in low 30s (East) to mid 60s (West). Car trunk full, back seat partly full.

Combining 2 fall trips = 1,670.2 miles using 66.403 gallons = 25.15 mpg (9.7% worse)
Computer reading combined results used 64.344 gals = 25.96 mpg (3.7% worse)

I expected to get better mileage with cooler temps and ended up with worse mileage. I also expected to get close to 30 mpg cruising at highway speeds, and might get that if I drove at 55 mph. The fall return trip average of 23.68 mpg or even 24.8 mpg is particularly disappointing. Also, the fall trip mileages that are the most disappointing are labeled with Capital Letters at the end of each line.

A. North Platte to Des Moines: Driving slightly faster in the summer and still got almost a half mile per gallon better mileage. In the summer the engine was not completely broken in with only 2,546 on the odometer in Des Moines.
B. Returning Des Moines to N Platte: Here the speed in the fall was over 3 mph faster, however the mileage in the fall was over 2 mpg worse. In the summer we drove this segment with temperatures over 98 degrees and at times over 100. I guess it’s conceivable that the higher speed cut mileage that much.
C. N Platte to Julesburg: (Julesburg is the last place to get 87 octane coming into CO.) On this segment everything is essentially the same for the two trips, and yet the fall mileage is 2 mpg less. Higher average speed will not explain this one.
D. Julesburg to Colorado Springs: Again everything is essentially the same for the two trips, and yet the fall mileage is 0.7 mpg less. This is closer than for the C segment, but you would expect better mileage in the cooler fall weather.

My Maxima’s mileage seems to be getting worse when I’d expect it to be getting better. In addition to head winds or tail winds, all I can think of that could cause this is the air filter may be partially clogged and restricting air into the engine.

 

NikeMike,

I live in downtown Chicago were I find myself driving my max a lot. Its so fun to drive. In the city, traffic is pretty bad (40 minutes to go 12 miles), I find my max is getting about 18.7 mpg. Other city driving with less traffic I am getting around 22.1 mpg. Most speeds do not exceed 60 mph.

I just got back from a 2500 mile trip, Chicago to Denver roundtrip. I have an 04 SE with the 5 spd and I got about 25.6 mpg on the way out to Denver and 29.9 on the way back. On the way out, I had a full trunk, 2 people, 79 mph avg, and about a 15 mph head/cross wind. The way back, I had 3 people and an even more full trunk with a slight tail wind averaging about 78 mph.

As for distance out of my max on a tank, going out it was about 400 miles and I was looking to have to stop myself. Coming back, I had to stop more than the car. But I only stopped in Lincoln, Nebraska and then on the outshirts of Chicago for fuel.

By the way, even though it costs more, I only use 93 octane. When I was in Denver, I could only to get 91 or 92.

Hope this helps in your decision making.

 

I can't say why you aren't getting better mileage, but I certainly seem to do well with my 6-Speed. I averaged 68 mph according to the computer from Atlanta to DC (over 640 miles). I have as stated earlier achieved above 31 mpg before. I noticed that if you keep the car between 65-75 it will average between 29-30. Once you go 76+ it starts to get worse. I achieved 30+ going from 60-65 mph.

Like you I am pretty meticulous about my car's history. I keep a diary of everything done to it from gassing up or checking tire pressure to major maintenance. I must say the mileage has improved after the engine was broken in. I'm sure each one will be slightly different though.

-Ed

 

I have about 14,000 miles on my SE and I drive about 75-80% on the highways. I average 24-25 mpg and use 87 octane

 

I have over 17,000 miles on my SE 5-spd auto and my highway/city ratio is 90/10 and according to my mileage avg. readings is pretty much locked at 26.1 MPG. I use 91 octane.

 

Here's my data:

Maxima mileage
2.3%
date grade gallons distance mpg (rep) mph total miles mpg (calc) mpg error
11 June 03 H 414
17 June 03 H 17.151 446.9 26.5 860.9 26.1 1.7%
28 June 03 H 17.305 417.9 23.7 34.2 1278.8 24.1 -1.9%
5 July 03 H 16.853 389.1 23.1 41.2 1667.9 23.1 0.1% mpg (rep) is unknown - value inserted to simply data operations
12 July 03 H 18.869 463 25.6 41.4 2130.9 24.5 4.1%
23 July 03 H 17.184 444 25.4 39.2 2574.9 25.8 -1.7%
29 July 03 H 18.134 451 25.4 40.6 3025.9 24.9 2.1%
9 August 03 H 18.71 512 27.2 47.5 3537.9 27.4 -0.6%
16 August 03 H 18.79 419 23.7 37.5 3956.9 22.3 5.9%
23 August 03 M 18.01 487.8 27 42.9 4444.7 27.1 -0.3%
3 September 03 M 18.428 454.1 26.3 43.2 4898.8 24.6 6.3%
13 September 03 M 17.564 468 26.8 44.6 5366.8 26.6 0.6%
25 September 03 H 19.17 476.3 26.3 38.1 5843.1 24.8 5.5%
4 October 03 M 19.021 486.1 26.1 43 6329.2 25.6 2.1%
13 October 03 M 18.342 473.2 26.8 42.6 6802.4 25.8 3.7%
30 October 03 M 17.952 481.9 26.8 43.5 7284.3 26.8 -0.2%
15 November 03 M 17.509 416.3 24.7 36.6 7700.6 23.8 3.7%
25 November 03 M 19.758 451.7 24.7 428 8152.3 22.9 7.4%
6 December 03 H 17.926 436.1 25.6 41.1 8588.4 24.3 5.0%
17 December 03 m 17.157 441 26.1 44.1 9029.4 25.7 1.5%

Note that the on-board estimator is 2.3% high (over-estimate) on average.