For you all who got bad mpg and took it to the dealer

[Jerky_san]

Well today i finally got fit up with getting 20 mpg all the time so i decided to take it to the dealer in which all they did was drive it down the h/w 40 miles and told me it got 32 mpg and so they find nothing wrong. Ironically I just not 1 week before this went to the a bigger city in my state which is 40 miles back and forth and had around 60 to 70 around the city driving and all i could pull was a 21mpg.. That was with me babying it all the way.. So i want to know what all the dealer did for you all who have taken it to the dealer because of getting bad mpg.. I have a 07 cvt sl versa..

Also I'm fairly certain it is not my foot being heavy since my 72 vw gets 25-28mpg in city and h/w driving.. The olds 98 with a 455 bb in it got 12mpg generally.. And whenever i've drove my dad's v8 chevy silvirado i pull around a 17-18 in city driving..

[reyes1212]

yeah i only ONCE got 400 miles out of the tank...and thats with the light on.every other time im getting less than 350 or sobut most times less than that

[Vahagn23]

i get less than 170 in city, there was only once all highway driving got 400 but moslty 170 or lower

[corpsecorps]

Tell us how you got to your mileage numbers!

the whole process.
Modified by corpsecorps at 5:00 AM 2/5/2008

[law]

Theres nothing your dealer can or will do for you about gas mileage.The numbers posted on the vehicle are an estimate and are based conditions like speed and the road. Also there tested on an open road with no stops.Thats why it says a suggested mpg.

[jfanaselle]

This is true. All they can do is verify that nothing is actually wrong with your vehicle. If they drove for 40 miles on the hwy and got over 30 mpg, your vehicle is operating perfectly fine.

I drive 150 miles per day and average anywhere from 25 to 34 miles per gallon. So many factors influince this number, such as what brand of gas I use, the average temperature while commuting, the time of day I drive to work (traffic), city/hwy driving, how fast I was going, etc.

You say that you always get 20 mpg, but if the dealer is able to get over 30, then you need to evaluate your driving style. I'm not trying to be insulting, but the CVT drives a little differently than a normal vehicle... if you keep yourself around 2,000 RPMs while accelerating and keep yourself under 70 mph on the hwy, I guarantee your milage will increase a ton!

[kc5f]

Got to agree - driving style and time of year make all the difference. Most of my driving is highway, which helps a lot, but it's in an area with terrain and climate much like Conway. I keep the rpm's low when accelerating, although I do spend probably half of my time at 70-75 mph. The graph below shows how the time of year affects my mileage. The temperature, worse driving conditions and change in fuel composition combine to make the winter the worst time for mileage... (The graph for my last car shows the same pattern over a ten year period.)

[Jerky_san]

When i drive around the city I push the gas my rpms spike to 2k and after around a second it drops down to 1500 and after i get to the speed i'm wanting to go at it drops to around 1150-1200.. I usally drive the speed limit or 3 or 4 mph higher..On the highway i drive 70-75 as well and the rps never go over 3k unless i'm passing someone.. Personally I was just hoping they would of atleast hooked the car up to the computer and looked at the air/fuel to see if the ratio was around 100...

[RitzburyGD3]

I know that most small engine cars are ideal for gas mileage at 3,000 RPM. my '07 Auto S model keeps it at around 2 at the city. i was wondering if around 3000 was optimum for mileage on an auto. if so, maybe i'll try overdrive in the city, and it will stay around 3,000.

i never fill my tank all the way (no bank acount, thanks to the guys that stole my identity 2 years ago) so i never get an accurate reading of milaege. i think it's close to 25.

[Vahagn23]

well I filled it up fully and set the milage count to zero and I drove it until the tank was almost empty and it said 170 miles thats how I got my numbers

[water500cc]

my three months old Versa...i've never got 400around 350 was the best i got

and the worse was only around 290!i guess the weahter is a huge factor...i couldn't start my car last week..had to get a boost..had to warm up my car very often... (it was -50 plus wind here)...

however my sister in law's car...she's able to get at least 400 for most of the time...so i'm like...

last time i had Petro for gas...the other times i use Extra Foods gas station..cuz u can get starbucks...and they go around 320-350 for the most of the times... still seems too low for me

[frankoV]

A buddy works for Transport Canada. You know they say that "all gas is the same"? It ain't. Esso is the worst for some reason.

I sure don't miss Saskatoon weather . . . but miss the city in the summer.

Hang in there with the mileage -- the reason it will get better (he says quoting someone who is supposed to know such things) is that it takes a while (at least a couple of oil changes, if not more) for the rings to seat properly -- gas blowing by and not igniting therefore being wasted. Once the engine is broken in the seals seal and voilá! -- better mileage. [at least that's my hope].

[vpnavy]

The last 6 fill-ups (city/hwy) have my MPG bouncing between 29 and 34. I am driving a S Sedan with 4 speed auto.

[corpsecorps]

SO you filled it yourself?Did you fill it again to see how much gas it took to fill it again?when I am On "E" it takes less than 10 gal. to refill.

Fill it, go on a long drive and at the end fill it again, Then check the mileage.

Other options,You are in Brooklyn - perhaps someone is Stealing gas out of your tank!

Do you smell gas around your car - perhaps a Leak?

[Rockhound]

well I filled it up fully and set the milage count to zero and I drove it until the tank was almost empty and it said 170 miles thats how I got my numbers

Miles per "tank" ≠ Miles per gallon.

Like corpsecorps said, you need to then fill back up and see how many gallons you consumed during that interval, then divide miles driven by gallons used.

Like has been said many times before, also make sure to keep as many things constant as possible - consider "full" when the pump clicks off the first time, and try to use the same station/pump if you want to be really picky about it.

so i decided to take it to the dealer in which all they did was drive it down the h/w 40 miles and told me it got 32 mpg and so they find nothing wrong.

If you really are driving your Versa in the manner you describe, then I'd be inclined to not believe their claims.

What's the #1 answer from lazy dealership technicians regarding car problems? "That's perfectly normal, that's how the car was designed...there's nothing wrong."

Did they really check the mileage properly, or did they just 'eye it' from the fuel gauge? One wonders if a ECU flash would help 'reset' some of these V's that are getting horrendous mileage - I'm really not sure that we could get ours below 24 MPG even if we tried.

[srellim234]

I tend to agree with the climate/syle effect to a degree. Although the car gets very poor mileage for a car in local traffic compared to others in its size range, the last few tanks have been ridiculous, even with a light foot.

This morning I filled up at the same station in the same manner I always do. Fill it up until it clicks, let it settle a bit, then hit the pump again until it clicks the second time.

This tank I was the ONLY one driving the car. Virtually no use of the defroster or air condtioning. I have a light foot (slower than most off the red lights and such). RPMs never went above 2400 the entire tank. This was 100% local city driving; the car never got on the freeway. Result? 10.550 gallons at a whopping 21.9 mpg. Pretty much the only variable this time was colder weather.

Although it's a decent little car we don't need that kind of poor performance compared to what the car was presented as. We get only 3 mpg less both highway and city in our 2002 Buick Rendezvous six cylinder that seats 7 in its leather, roomier interior than this Versa is delivering. For us we feel we wasted $18k on the Versa because the car does not provide us with what we needed and thought we were buying, namely an economy car that would deliver mpg in Los Angeles traffic.

Like any car, this one has and will have loyal followers among those who get what they need or want out of it. We don't happen to fall into that category.

[frankoV]

How many times have you had the oil changed?

Most new cars now have this "warm-up" time to seat seals etc.

[bigdog]

well i have the 07 auto s w/ a san gauge & between city/hwy scan gauge reads a consistant 30.5-31.0 mpg per tank=320-350 miles

[srellim234]

The car has been serviced at the recommended intervals by West Covina Nissan.

bigdog- there is a big difference between driving in the Los Angeles basin traffic and driving in North Carolina traffic. I've done both. I will put a scanguage on the Versa eventually to try to maximize MPG out of the car by finding the proper RPMs if I don't trade it for something "greener" in a year or so.

No matter how you cut it, though, this car will never perform to the levels we hoped for when we bought it. A lot of it is that the car is at one extreme or the other. One, Rush hour traffic is all stop & go at slow speeds or I'm drivng city streets. Two, I'm on the freeway going to Victorville or Palm Springs or San Diego with a 70 mph speed limit. Either way, the car is below or above the best MPG ranges.