2008 Pathfinder... getting 9 miles per gallon?

[Raele]

I just traded in my Infiniti FX for a 2008 4x2 V6 Pathfinder LE (I wanted something bigger). At the time of purchase the MSRP sticker estimated that my city driving gas mileage would be between 15-18.

My dashboard video/navigation/diagnostic screen tells me the gas mileage is roughly 9-10 miles per gallon (so far I have had the car a month and have filled the tank at least 5 times). I brought the car to the dealer (I was offended once I heard that Winnebagos also get 9 miles to the gallon) and their explanation was that the readout is an average and that the mileage is in fact between 15-18 miles per gallon even though the display says something very different.

Does anyone else have these bizarrely low estimates? My best guess is either my onboard computer is faulty or my mileage is in fact ridiculously low.

Their explanation of an "average" does not make sense to me.

Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[fueler]

Not at all surprising.. Give me a V8 full size SUV with three rows of seats and i could get way worse than 9mpg all day long.... depends 100% on driving style.

You're always going to get the best gas mileage when driving like a grandma... have you had any SUV's before?

Some people (like my girlfriend) make a huge mistake of driving a large SUV in the same manner which they drive their compact cars. For example when you see that the light just turned red far in front of you, let off the gas and coast all the way there while the others in small cars press the gas all the way to the end and then slam the brakes (very popular in so cal). Driving style in your Pathfinder can make the difference between 6mpg and 15mpg

Do you do city or freeway driving? Do you pay attention to your driving style?

[timmack]

try recording the mpg using the old fashoned fail safe method-fill up, reset the trip odometer to zero, drive it til nearly empty, fill up again and record the miles on the trip odometer and the gallons it took to fill up and see where that comes out to be. miles on trip odo/gallons it took to fill up=mpg

[fueler]

i dont think he liked my answer.

[Buzzman]

Fueler,

You scared him away, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT.

[MagicM]

I just traded in my Infiniti FX for a 2008 4x2 V6 Pathfinder LE (I wanted something bigger). At the time of purchase the MSRP sticker estimated that my city driving gas mileage would be between 15-18.

My dashboard video/navigation/diagnostic screen tells me the gas mileage is roughly 9-10 miles per gallon (so far I have had the car a month and have filled the tank at least 5 times). I brought the car to the dealer (I was offended once I heard that Winnebagos also get 9 miles to the gallon) and their explanation was that the readout is an average and that the mileage is in fact between 15-18 miles per gallon even though the display says something very different.

Does anyone else have these bizarrely low estimates? My best guess is either my onboard computer is faulty or my mileage is in fact ridiculously low.

Their explanation of an "average" does not make sense to me.

Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Fueler is right, heavy Suv with a thirsty 5.6 Liter V8 9mpg is going to be your true rate. just because the sticker says 15-18 doesn't mean you;ll get 15-18, in real world driving it will almost always be much lower than posted. Better than a Hummer h2, people usually have to fill up 100 liters every 2-3 days in those.

[Metallica98]

id get rid of that V8, get a pathfinder from the late 90's

[bmlawless]

Look over your right shoulder. Are you being closely followed by a very large boat?

Folks, in his initial post, he stated that he had a V6.

Raele - in all seriousness, use the old-fashioned method of recording your mileage and dividing the miles traveled by the number of gallons used. It's quite likely that your computer is off.

I don't know how the Pathfinder calculates the mileage, but some use a realtime fuel flow and average it out. if you drive in town, this skews the reading because when you accelerate, you can be at 5mpg and then taper back to 20. I'd rather see them use the consumption/distance method.

Side note: I used to have a big boat with a big motor and a fuel flow meter. At my most efficient cruising speed, I used 10.5 gallons per hour at 35mph (yep, 3mpg). When I really nailed it, I would pour up to 28gph into the carb!

[hsckris]

Welcome to Nico.

+1 on using the old fashioned way.

FYI -- I get about 19-20mpg (mixed driving) with all terrains on the same engine/trans combo in my Frontier.