95Max

I drove from NJ to the end of LI this weekend....I got 32mpg on the way out (left Sat early so min traffic)....Gotta say I'm impressed....No such luck on the trip home.....the LIE lived up to its rep...of being the worlds largest parking lot....feel for you LI guys that have to drive it every day......Oh and btw, I have just over 700 miles on the car.

SHIFT_NY

That 32 MPG reading was likely to largely be due to the fact that the car is new. Not that it gets better MPG when new, but that the MPG calculation had very little statistics to work with.

The more measurements of your fuel consumption and mileage (i.e ."samples") that are taken, the more accurate the reading will be.

I only have around 2K on my Max and am getting readings just under 23MPG. Depending on your driving habits, your results may vary...

JayMAX22

I have 2700K on mine and I get 22.4 mpg. Going to VA Beach this weekend and I'm going to see what's really going on under the hood if you know what I mean.

Cowboyup351

For what it's worth, I have over 21,000 miles on mine and with an even combo of city and highway (mainly city lately though) I am getting an average of 21.5 with my car.

Dwayne

CanadianMoFo

I've found the joy of getting better gas mileage! I used to get 18-20MPG. Now I'm getting about 24-26 in mixed city/hwy driving.

Three things to do:

1. Use only premium (93-94) gas.
2. Change your air filter. Mine was absolutely filthy after about 9 months.
3. Keep the engine under 2000RPM if possible. With my 6 speed transmission I always put it in 6th as often as possible.

All of this has resulted in better fuel economy for me!

CM.

kito2112

12,000 miles getting about 21 on the hiway. Don't let yourself believe you're getting 32!

SteVTEC

lol, if you're only getting 21 hwy then either you're driving the snot out of it or there's something wrong with your car. I can get 29 mpg hwy in my 99 5MT Max when it's rated at 27. Even our Highlander gets 23-24 mpg and it's only rated at 22.

95Max

I did the check the old fashion way. Miles driven / gas. I got 31.98 on the way out with any real traffic. The way home I hit some stop and go traffic on the LIE and still got 25.62 for the return trip. The computer on the trip out showed 31.2 and 25.1 on the return....so pretty close.

VTmaximaVT

I don't know if that's good idea...

wouldn't the engine might get too stressed?

andymax95

I have about 10000 miles and I average around 17mpg, but I also floor it every chance I have.

pecora55

12500 and get 22-22.5

CanadianMoFo

Well obviously if the engine is lugging (pressing the gas pedal down with no change in speed) then you shift to 5th, or 4th.

Most of the time at around 30mph its fine around town.

Bosjoe

I am averaging about 24.5 mpg mostly driving the highway and a little city. I am driving about 80mph on the highway. and thats staying with the traffic. I Know I would get better if I did 65-70, but everyone would pass me, I can't have that

Maxidriver

I took a long trip to AC this week and tried to stay around 65mph on the Parkway. Just to see how much I would get on milage. Can't believe it when I got home, it said 27.1mpg. That's GREAT!!!

walsh03

I have 3k on my 04 max se 6 spd and the last trip i went on i got 27.9 mpg. Traveling at about 85 mph on the highway. that is really great mileage. Generally i get 21 mpg for everyday driving which is typically back roads and so on throughout the week.

04maxsewhite

Just posting to throw my 16k miles mileage into the ring. Like everyone else, I do some fashion of combination driving. Mine is mostly rural highway with stop signs and getting from my garage to my work parking place and back. I keep my A/C off unless I need to defog the windshield. (The weather hasn't gotten hot in 16k miles!) When I used some cheap 10% Ethanol gas I was averaging 26.2-26.8 and thinking I was doing pretty good. I initially took measuments by the tank and by the trip computer but came to trust the trip computer as the deviation was plus or minus only a few tenths and that could have been only how close to the top I filled it each time.

I switched to just BP 91 octane and avg mpg crept up to 30.7 !!! I was afraid that the knock sensor had gotten to it and retarded the timing for the 26.4 averages so I ran 3 more tankfulls (≈16 gals) with the 91 to see if it held. It went up to 31.2 (I reset the average each tankfull) so I attributed it to cleaning out the gunk that the cheap gas left behind since my driving is rediculously consistant

I've tried a switch to regular (88) to see if the octane drop wipes out my mileage but it didn't. 31.7 and 31.5 for 2 tankfulls for May. It must be the energy in the 10% ethanol gas is lower...anyway that makes it more expensive than either 88 or 91 real gas.

Does anyone know where to get something to add to an 04 Max SE that shows Instantaneous MPG???

I used that on my '03 Max SE to teach my foot how to get the best mpg on that car...I'm sure that it's a little different on this one so I could be getting even better mileage if I could only see what I was doing.

I've been scouring the internet for maybe a commercial obd2 port device that could set on the dash and display engine parameters like inst-mpg ;-) based on standard monitoring data.

Any clues?

jc53

6k miles for me. Mostly highway driving for me (if you can call it driving at rushhour!). I like to cuise at 75-80 when possible, and usually get 23-24mpg using highest octane all the time. On extended trips tp Phila and Montreal I got close to 29mpg.

rabenoja

iTrader: (2)

maybe I'm doing something wrong. I have about 2300 miles on the car and I've only been averaging 19.0 mpg. I've been driving a mix of highways and city. I drive pretty easy and I don't usually push the car. I'm shifting at like probably 4k rpm's normally. I use premium gas, 93 usually and 94 if I can stop at a sunoco station. I do use my A/C about 60-70% of the time though. Tire pressure is good...

I don't know, I just want to see some of the averages that you guys get. I only get about 270 miles to a tank. How many miles are some of you guys getting out of a tank?

MARC1974

IT MUST BE THE CITY DRIVING, I JUST GOT BACK FROM SC AND I GOT 500 MILES ON A TANK OF GAS.......

rabenoja

iTrader: (2)

NICE...well I'll see. I'm taking a trip to West Hartford this weekend. I hope I can get that much out of my car.

Mike_TX

We've been through this in a previous thread, but I'm usually getting 22-23 around town and 28-29 on the highway. I have an '04 SE automatic, with about 20,000 miles on the clock, and I drive "briskly" .

For those using the computer for your mileage stats (I do, and mine is within a tenth or two of miles/gallons calcs), be sure you zero the reading with each tank so you don't get a "cumulative" reading that averages in your previous tanks of gas and misleads you. Some people are still looking at that reading without zeroing it, not realizing that every mile and every gallon of gas ever run through the car is being used in the calculation.

Mike

lobewiper

Rabenoja, don't feel too bad. I've got 5400 on my SL and my most recent mpg is 19.8, with 70/30 mix of highway and city. This is 0.2 mpg better than the immediately prior tankful. I would guess that the break-in period is not complete until around 10000 miles, so probably mileage will continue to improve somewhat. However, I don't ever see my car coming even close to 27-28 mpg under any driving conditions (I use premium only, but if this continues not to change much, I'm going to try several tankfuls of regular for comparison.) I top off my tank between fillings and try to gas up at about the same ambient temperatures, because heat will cause gas to expand somewhat.

Manitoba Max

I get a measured 29mpg on a 350 mile trip with no stops, turns and minimal changes in elevation, with the cruise control set at about 75mph, wife and kid and 200+ pounds of luggage, on a regular basis. 500 miles on a tank (usually 93 octane) is well within reach.

The computer comes up with 27mpg when zeroed out before the trip, not as accurate as some people seem to be seeing.

I do the calculation strictly based on mileage and gas used, so I know it's solid.

rabenoja

iTrader: (2)

lobewiper - To be honest I'm not too upset at the gas mileage that I am getting right now. I think that it is reasonable for a 6 cyclinder engine. But, some of these other guys/gals have been reporting great mileage and I was just getting jealous.

I actually took a trip down to West Hartford, CT the other day and I didn't do too bad on the mileage. My average went up to like 19.5 but, I didn't reset the MPG. I did a trip computer reset but not the MPG. Can anyone tell me how to do this? I was cruising at like 80 MPH for most of the trip.

Anyway, like I said I'm not too worried about it. I'll just let the engine break in some more and I'm pretty sure I'll get better mileage sooner or later.

AngryPotato

I've got about 2200 miles and I'm getting 20.6 mpg according to the display. I drive a mix of city/highway, but the highway is a lot of traffic and some stop and go. When I get out of work at about 9PM the traffic is much lighter and the Max cruises at 90+ I've been using 93 octane all along from the same station. Filled up the machine yesterday and my jaw dropped at the $32 fill up and it wasn't near empty. Darn those gas prices.

Mike_TX

Press the "Fuel Econ" button just like you were checking the mpg's, but hold it in for a second or two, and it will change the display to "**", which means it's zeroed.

Mike

rabenoja

iTrader: (2)

Paid $34 this morning and I had about 1/4 tank left!!! I feel your pain

MIKE_TX - Thanks for the info

ILMax

I'm averaging right around 24 mpg city/hwy and at $2.16 a gallon, as of 6/1/04, I don't cringe as much when I walk up to the pump. (Chevron premium)
Took a trip to Lubbock this past weekend and made it back on half a tank of gas....250 miles. Not bad, huh?