All that really matters is how you feel. It's probably a $2-$3 difference, probably worth it to you...enjoy.

 

My first tank got 12 MPG avg and the second one isnthe same !!!! I live in NYC and drive 75 % city and 25% highway but believe it should be better than this.

Can somebody reset his MPG and drive in the city for half an hour andnlet us know the MPG ?

 

Thanks, the_tags. I have owned nothing but Maximas since Oct 1984, and always run them on premium the first 18 months. That gives me ample time to measure MPG under various conditions. Then I always switch to midgrade for the remainder of the time I own the car, and, like you, I find I get exactly the same MPG on midgrade I did on premium. Just as scientists have told us for years that we would.

And thanks to danielevans83 for confirming my postulation that emotion about our baby can be involved when we put premium in the tank.

 

NYStar - Here is an excerpt from a post above that I made in this thread Sunday afternoon:

************************************************** **************************
*'City' MPG is virtually meaningless. In 'city' driving, my MPG can be anything from 2 MPG
*to 22 MPG, depending on the endless thousands of variances involved. When the motor is
*running, fuel is being consumed. But in city driving, the car is often standing still or going
*virtually nowhere.
************************************************** *************************

To expand on that somewhat:

My personal experience in driving in downtown Atlanta traffic is that I get around 16 to 18 MPG when traffic is moving (stop and go with speeds reaching 30 MPH), around 12 to 14 when traffic is very heavy (stop and go with speeds up to 20 MPH), and around 8 to 10 when rush hour hits (stop and go with long waits and speeds seldom exceeding 10 MPH).

If I was into brisk takeoffs from lights, I could subtract another 2 MPG from those numbers. Getting this 3600 pound car moving from standstill takes some fuel. Using a 290 HP engine sucks a little gas also.

I think you will be pleased with the MPG you will get on interstate trips. This 7th gen Maxima is a really fine road car.

 

best way to improve gas mileage is to 1. dont modify to a short ram intake 2. get block off plates, pulley and ypipe 3. dont modify exhaust 4. Get light rims TRUST me

 

hows the CAI you built affecting mileage? better? same? i thought it was lead foot at first but i think you're right that my short ram lowered my mileage by 1-2 mpg

 

Thank you vey much for the valuable information, I finished my first tank and the second one is halfway and the car Odo is 300 miles only !

Will fill it tomorrow and reset the trip commuter and calculate the MPG manually this time. Tried driving at 60 to 70 MPH and that's after resetting the mpg and the max I got is 16 MPG ! I was pushing the brakes every 3 to 5 minutes to slow down the car to 40 or 50 then go back to 60 or 70.

When I reached the city and searched for parking for 25 mins it went down to 12 MPG.

Thanks again for sharing the info

 

put an egg under uerr gas pedal dumb dumb, youre not going to magically get more MPGs out of your car unless you drop a four banger in there. 9 times outta ten its the driver/driving conditions not the car. am i right?

 

I have a 09 SV with sport pkg with 12 k milage, all stock and I just got off a 275 mile highway trip doing mostly 65 and a lot of that on cruise control and I got 29.3 after fill up calculations. If I'm getting that good of milage then I don't really worry about what I'm getting in the city as I know the car is working correctly I'm getting the best it can do city driving.

 

in most cases you're probably right. comparing to others who get 25 mpg + and finding out they drive almost 90% highway helps to know. im stuck in traffic most of the time and average 16-19 mpg, but still have hit 29 on long trips so i know everything is working fine.

and yeah lead foot can def kill it too, ive seen a nice MPG average get wrecked from just one instance of lead foot. gotta realize that when you're really pushing the pedal down it goes down to somewhere around 1-2 MPG until the car really gets going which makes sense cause we drive a 3600 lb car..

i got over complaining about gas and just enjoy the ride now.

 

I think nothing wrong with my Car as I reset the trip computer and took a 20 minutes ride at 65 to 80 MPH and my MPG was around 29 so that means the car is ok. in NYC it's different as I get max 8 MPG if I drive locally ! Like 10 to 30 MPH with a lot of stops and brakes and I circle around for parking almost everyday and sometimes it takes me half an hour to find a park. This way it will stay between 6 -8 MPG until I drive it in the highway!

 

I took my car to the dealer, they checked it and told me that nothing is wrong !!! I am getting from 8 to 12 MPG in NYC and if I cross the bridge to NJ where I can drive 60 MPH it averages 14 to 15 MPG !!!

So my combined is 15 MPG and my City is anywhere from 8 to 12 MPG max if I drive it in NYC only!

Anyone from NYC to share his City MPG ?

 

heres a little food for thought...i went from 18mph highway to 25-32 with just the block off plate install....which is not in production im the only one with them and it also depends on roads and whatnot but im talking about maintaining 65mph here

 

I just picked up my 7th gen Friday so i'm not really sure what mods people are commonly doing. i'm assuming you mean an egr blank off plate, correct?

 

I think what confuses everyone is the range of gas mileage this thing gets. I took a highway trip averaging 70 MPG and got 29 MPG. Normally though in my rush hour commute I get 14-19 depending on how heavy the traffic is. Such a heavy car to move..

 

Park it or trade it for a Prius.

 

 

The idea is I want to make sure that my Car is ok as my MPG is far less than the EPA for Nissan Maxima ( City = 19 MPG). I tried resetting the trip computer on highway and got 26 to 28 at 70 MPH so the EPA estimation is good here but the City does not match as they state 19 !!
My old Camry matched the EPA for both City and Highway, so It can't be like EPA didn't measure the city MPG correctly or chose a city which is almost like highway to do the numbers.

 

I just purchased my 11 Maxima and i have like 1700 miles on it. I have already gotten 500miles per tank and its already better than my accord. I noticed my gas mileage got better once i started doing the speed limit.
Of course this was all highway coming back from Georgia where i purchased the vehicle. lol

 

I was looking over the service records the dealer gave me for the "work" they did and found $22 for 6 quarts of oil... wtf. I thought an oil change was 4 quarts w/filter and I'm pretty sure Infiniti doesn't get ester oil for that cheap. Anyway, I'm gonna either put redline or nissans ester oil in there and see if that helps

 

So where do we get BOP for 7th Gens??

 

I have 09 maxima sv with 47k miles, I'm the second owner and bought it with 45K miles, and i get 16 mpg in city and 20 in highway, my tire pressure are at 40 psi, and i cruise all the time, and i only put 93 oct premium gas, i checked with nissan and they told me everything is fine, i drive to work every day and i get 16 mpg and i dont stop and go and it is not heavy traffic and travel 45-55 mph, any recommendation??

 

Every driver is different, but your MPG does sound low. I drive an '09 Maxima, and get 15 MPG in city driving, but expect that, because this is a 3600 pound car with 290 HP, and I drive briskly. I get around 22 to 23 in suburban driving, around 24 to 25 in non-interstate highway driving with some traffic lights and traffic, 26 to 27 in open highway driving and 27-29 in level, open freeway driving. I sometimes get 30 on level rural interstates, but usually less.

You gas mileage will be the same with 93, 91 and 89 octane, but could drop with 27 (regular) because that is too far from the 91 octane Nissan recommends. Make sure your air filter is clean.

40 psi in your tires will wear out the center of the tire tread before the shoulders unless you do a lot of turning or usually carry a full load of people. The recommended psi of 33 is too low for my style of driving. I carry 37 front and 36 or 35 rear and get fairly even tire wear. 40 psi can also put wear on your suspension, which is not designed for the firmness of 40 psi.

If possible, you should take a trip of several hundred miles on an open, fairly level interstate. Fill the tank before you start, and record your starting mileage. Then refill the tank at the end of the trip and record your mileage. If you drive smoothly between 60 and 70 MPH, and get less than 26 MPG, something may not be quite right with your car.

 

Thanks i will try to do all that this weekend and might get KN air filter too

 

I average about 21 mpg, mixed driving. Get up to 25 on highway trips. 93 octane only. Dont know if it helps fuel economy. But I generally just do what manufacturer recommends. I have noticed that computer is always 1 or 2 mpg higher than actual fuel economy. Why lie, Im filling up the car, you arent fooling me computer.

 

I achieve the same results, except i run regular 87. i have a 65 mile trip that i take regularly, half highway, half mountainy. average about 23 or 24 on those trips, based off actual milage/fuel used. Just bought my car, and only filled it twice yet, so idk how accurate my MPG is on my readings.

But as for the OP, this was one of the first things i was absoultely perplexed by when i bought my beautiful car. After about 2 weeks of testing, (every moment while i was in the car), ive come to a nice conclusion (thought i need another few months of testing and fillups)

I can average 26+ going 55 mph on flat, and it drops to very low 20s as i approach 85 (with slight hills). Ive spent a great deal of time just staring at the realtime MPG under my odometer to figure out where my sweet spots are. For mpg, it really seems 50-65 is prime, and for those extra few dollars, i'll be watching my meter until i know it like the curve of my girlfriends butt.

As everyone knows, this car with any amount of accelerator push, EATS gas lol. If youre just in stop and go traffic, if you keep pushing the accelerator to go that extra 50 feet, youre just wasting gas. roll it in. coast to red lights from half a mile away. make use of hills to maybe at least catch a few mph in you know the cops arent around. In my few driving years, ive learned to drive passively, always looking ahead, see where ill need to be in 15-20 seconds, know whats behind me, etc, and never try to be in a huge hurry... even though ill push 85 when i know i can. I rarely rarely use my brakes in highway driving, and keep it minimized in the slower, to stop and go traffic. Key to saving gas in the Max is dont push the gas. Dont be in a hurry to pass a car, dont be in a hurry to go from a stoplight, dont be in a hurry to get to the next red light.

Calm, safe driving, can still be accomplished at high speeds, and save a buttload of gas, while easily getting 22-24+ on most highway speeds (imo, over 70, u start losing). If you dont manage to at least make it thru every other red light in city travel, i cant see this car breaking 20 easily, too much time with the foot on the gas. Traffic? goodbye 20s.

first week, i averaged 19.5,
this week, i averaging 24.
AND this car advertised 2mpg less than my previous (2006 Malibu LTZ), yet gets 2mpg average more.

But i will mention, I've NEVER bought premium gas in my life... I'll read up and see what i can expect if i feel that extra 10% is gonna be worth it...


Youre in NYC? all i ever see in the news/movies is gridlocked traffic. this car is huge, powerful, having to stop. stop. stop. go. stop. go. is gonna eat the gas, and youre never actually going any speed for more than a redlight, right? NYC is the extreme low end of "city mileage" and probably not factored into "normal EPA ratings." i think. never been there. only 150miles away.

 

You are among the very few here running regular in your 7th gen Maxima. Several here tried to run regular in this car and had pinging or knocking or even intermittent engine missing, and some reported a reduction in MPG (because 87 octane is just a little too far from the 91 octane Nissan intended be used in this car). A few, like you, seem to have a fair amount of success with regular.

Nissan specifically states in the owner's manual that, if using regular fuel in this car, you should do NO quick acceleration or aggressive driving.

From 17 years of owning nothing but Maximas, and having carefully measured my fuel mileage in every generation since October 1984, I have found that all my Maximas got the same MPG, and ran the same, using either premium (91 or 93 octane) or midgrade (89 octane). I personally would never use regular in this car, as I do sometimes accelerate briskly and climb steep hills.

I would urge you to consider moving up to midgrade. That would cost only half as much more as moving to premium, increase the amount of engine cleaning ingredients, and put your octane in a range that is easily handled by you engine.

I would advise against changing to such gimmicks as running regular for two fillups, with every third fillup being premium. That requires your fuel system to be constantly readjusting to the ever changing octane mixture in your tank. I think just sticking with midgrade all the way would be ideal in your situation. I know it is for me.

 

I run regular most of the time and see 25.8 MPG average for all types of driving. No I don't floor it and have yet to hear the first knock. The dealerships put in regular too. Using regular does not cause any issue with the Nissan warranty.

 

Even though some dealers do put regular in Maximas, we have to accept that they are there to make as much money as possible, and regular is the cheapest gas available.

You could be fine, just as long as you avoid driving this car like it was a Maxima. The owner's manual is very specific about that.