08 Versa SL manual Gas mileage tally

[dr.zed]

I posted a while back about poor gas mileage from day one from my wife's manual transmission Versa. 08 SL. The dealer said they wouldn't even look at the car until it hit at least 12,000 kms. It did, and about 3000 kms ago we took it in and they looked at it and "adjusted the fuel system". The dealer said to come back if it didn't change.

Well... you take a look of the entire gas mileage lifecycle of this car and tell me what you think.

[1_Sleek_Versa]

Hey you average 8.55l/100km.....

I have a 08 SL with CVT trans, never city driven and this POS gives me 9l/100km. The car has 8000km and the dealer told me it's normal. (lol)

Something has to be wrong, the engine NEVER goes over 3000rpm, no hard starts and stops, only 2 stop signs on my everyday 40 km trip to work.

Hopefully the new fuel pump and fuel press.regulator will help, because yeah my car let me down at 8000km, during the holidays. I never thought I'd use the roadside assist, so quickly.

Should of bought a GM I guess (sigh)

[dynatek]

The information gather is impressive, but the single largest variable regarding fuel usage is driving style. The motor will be more efficienct (read better mileage) at higher operating and ambient air temps. Lower temps will effect fuel density which will alter mileage, but not nearly as much as the way you drive. Mileage tests must be done under the exact same conditions (often difficult to duplicate by average driver). In our testing, the 07 Versa 6-speed regularly returns 36-37 mpg (US) running a steady freeway speed of 70 mph (the testing is done running from Las Vegas, NV to Mira Loma in So Cal. Care is taken to duplicate average speed and minimize throttle changes-though it is necessary due to the dramatic changes in elevation (we have grades that exceed 15 miles). Still, running no less than 40 trips, the mileage figures are always within 1-2 mpg when running in test mode.

[Rockhound]

I do the same for my wife's Versa (w/CVT). Our overall average is 29.4 MPG at 20k miles (max = 34.1, min = 23.9). The EPA 'combined' rating is 29 MPG, and since we drive more in the urban cycle than highway, I'm quite impressed.

As for Dr. Zed's mileage, if my math is correct, your overall average of 8.55 l/100km is equal to 27.5 MPG. Your best of 7.25 l/100km is 32.4 MPG. Granted, your worst is pretty bad, @ 20.5 MPG. (I'm doing the conversion here not because you don't know it, but to help out readers who don't use metric, myself included).

The EPA rates the 6-speed Versa at 26/31, with a combined MPG of 28. Your average of 27.5 MPG just doesn't seem that bad to me. Granted, it would appear your mileage is on a decreasing trend over time, but, like dynatek said, lower temperatures = lower fuel efficiency, and your final graph illustrates that trend nicely.

Although you've had a few bad tanks, I'm not sure what the issue is, the EPA ratings are just guidelines, not guarantees, and your averages are within those bounds. I've also had personal experience with mileage increasing well past the manufacturer-defined break-in period.

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Hey you average 8.55l/100km.....

I have a 08 SL with CVT trans, never city driven and this POS gives me 9l/100km. The car has 8000km and the dealer told me it's normal. (lol)

Something has to be wrong, the engine NEVER goes over 3000rpm, no hard starts and stops, only 2 stop signs on my everyday 40 km trip to work.

Hopefully the new fuel pump and fuel press.regulator will help, because yeah my car let me down at 8000km, during the holidays. I never thought I'd use the roadside assist, so quickly.

Should of bought a GM I guess (sigh)

9l/km = 26.1 MPG on the highway. Are these trips of long duration, or just short hops on the highway? Just wanting to get a feel for how the car is driven.

I understand your frustration, and it sounds like you've had a bad experience with the Versa, but I'd hardly call it a POS.

And if you want something even more efficient and reliable, I'd hardly start with GM. Although they've shored up some of their quality issues, economy cars are hardly their forte - they've never produced a truly competitive small vehicle. Aveos (an American...I mean, South Korean, Revolution) are crappy penalty boxes that have lower EPA ratings than Versas, and Cobalts are, well, Cobalts.

[KKaWing]

While I don't have a tally, I usually get around 7.8-8.3L/100KM unless I drive it really hard. I did notice when I had the old Arctic Alpines on it would jump to around 9L/100KM. Now that I switched to some X-Ice Xi2's it dropped back to around 8L/100KM I drive around 25 KM to work on the hwy but that usually comes with around 2 days a week with a traffic jam of some sort. Oh I have a 6 speed.

[Rockhound]

Like I mentioned in the other ongoing gas mileage thread, it would appear that Canadian fuel consumption ratings are way, way too generous. Taking a sampling of a couple other cars, the same is true for the Mazda3 and Fit (that is, the US EPA rating is much lower than the Canadian rating).

I understand where most of the complaints are coming from now. I'd suggest you guys start looking closer at EPA ratings for more realistic guidelines. I don't blame anyone for being upset at getting 28 MPG when they were told it would get 31.4 MPG (7.5 l/100km) in town!

[frankoV]

After a year [minus 5 days]:

33698 km driven, 2,811.3 ltrs used, CVT:

8.34 l/100km combined33.87 miles per imperial gallon28.2 miles per US gallon

Not quite what I expected but satisfactory.

I did get an average of 6 l/100km a couple of tanks, and 5.9 on one tank . . . but that was going a steady 80 km/hr [shivers in remembrance of going so slowly on the highway]

As posted elsewhere, EPA estimates in the US were downgraded, but remain the same in Canada.

Cold weather, worse mileage.

And when people say that the break-in period is 2-3 oil changes, they are right . . . my mileage improved then [though it sucks now -- again, my kids are driving, and I think they let the thing warm up for half an hour before they get into it . . . and they drive differently than I do.

[dr.zed]

Lots of great feedback.

My wife is a very conservative driver, and our 02 Golf GLS 115hp engine in a 2800 lb car got always 600 kms in winter and 650 kms in summer on a tank of fuel which was 39L.

The last three tanks were straight into the highway at 125 km/hr steady.

Even though I respect the weather vs. gas mileage look at the plot graph there is a small trend but nothing I'd say that will drastically improve in the summer. We took delivery on July 2nd and as you can see there is little correlation between age and gas mileage.

This car has been **** mileage from the start. The dealer will have one more crack then I'm getting out with the OMVIC.

[Rockhound]

We took delivery on July 2nd and as you can see there is little correlation between age and gas mileage.

Uh, which graph are you looking at? I see a distinct decreasing trend in mileage over time, there's only a few outliers. This also happens to parallel the fact that temperatures have been steadily decreasing since time of purchase. Falling temperatures have counteracted, at least to a degree, the effect of break-in.

This car has been **** mileage from the start. The dealer will have one more crack then I'm getting out with the OMVIC.

Did you read my earlier posts? Your overall average is 0.5 MPG lower than the EPA 'combined' rating. According to US economy ratings, there's absolutely nothing wrong with your car. I seriously doubt there's anything the dealer can do to tweak your economy.

Aggravating that the Canadian fuel economy estimates were so far off - but again, this is an issue for more cars than just the Versa.

[dr.zed]

Uh, which graph are you looking at? I see a distinct decreasing trend in mileage over time, there's only a few outliers. This also happens to parallel the fact that temperatures have been steadily decreasing since time of purchase. Falling temperatures have counteracted, at least to a degree, the effect of break-in.



Did you read my earlier posts? Your overall average is 0.5 MPG lower than the EPA 'combined' rating. According to US economy ratings, there's absolutely nothing wrong with your car. I seriously doubt there's anything the dealer can do to tweak your economy.

Aggravating that the Canadian fuel economy estimates were so far off - but again, this is an issue for more cars than just the Versa.

You are right about the slowly decreasing gas mileage no doubt.

First off Canada likes to screw with their customers by advertising their fuel economy in Imperial not US MPG, therefore everything looks very good. In fact I hated L/100 km, but it was the only way to compare since the only MPG figure that matters in comparison (for me) is US MPG.

The EPA is meaningless to me. Nissan advertised this vehicle to get an industry standard gas mileage notwithstanding variables, so every other vehicle would be affected as well. Matrix is 6.2 City, 7.8 Highway, Suzuki SX4 6.x and 8.x, etc... Its the only way to compare.

Some are higher and some are lower, but how can you dispute a vehicle that gets nearly 50% worse gas mileage on the highway? Even brand new in 26C temps?

I don't care what the temperature 100% highway run three times within a week to yield 9.5L /100 is unacceptable. My 350RWHP LT1 Camaro got better gas mileage than this.

[frankoV]

you're right, zed . . . 9.5 highway is terrible. unless you are sitting on the skyway for hours at a time.

[uglymale]

i finally hit 31 mpg on the freeway on a recent trip. this was achieved on a 4spd auto and cruise control @ 60 mph for most of the journey.

i'm actually quite relieved after dismal performance in the city (22-23 mpg)

[Rockhound]

You are right about the slowly decreasing gas mileage no doubt.

First off Canada likes to screw with their customers by advertising their fuel economy in Imperial not US MPG, therefore everything looks very good. In fact I hated L/100 km, but it was the only way to compare since the only MPG figure that matters in comparison (for me) is US MPG.

The EPA is meaningless to me. Nissan advertised this vehicle to get an industry standard gas mileage notwithstanding variables, so every other vehicle would be affected as well. Matrix is 6.2 City, 7.8 Highway, Suzuki SX4 6.x and 8.x, etc... Its the only way to compare.

Some are higher and some are lower, but how can you dispute a vehicle that gets nearly 50% worse gas mileage on the highway? Even brand new in 26C temps?

I don't care what the temperature 100% highway run three times within a week to yield 9.5L /100 is unacceptable. My 350RWHP LT1 Camaro got better gas mileage than this.

Here's what I've got...

1. The Canadian fuel mileage numbers I pulled for the Versa, Fit, and Mazda3 were in liters/100 km. I then converted these numbers to US mile/gallon. The whole Imperial gallon thing is nonessential to this discussion, or so I thought...

2. Why is the EPA rating meaningless to you? It should be free from advertising bias or deception, and the latest procedures seem to generate fairly accurate real-world fuel consumption estimates.

My point is to look at the Canadian fuel consumption rating versus the EPA rating for just about any car. My small sample reveals that many, many cars have received very generous Canadian ratings versus their EPA counterpart.

Versa (6MT)----------------------EPA: 26/31 US MPG (9/7.6 l/100km)

Canada: 30/37 US MPG (7.9/6.3 l/100km)

Suzuki SX4 (auto, FWD)------------------------------EPA: 22/30 US MPG (10.7/7.8 l/100km)

Canada: 26/36 US MPG (9.0/6.5 l/100km)

Mazda3 (auto, 2.3L)-------------------------EPA: 22/29 US MPG (10.7/8.1 l/100km)

Canada: 25/34 US MPG (9.5/6.9 l/100km)

Fit (auto)------------EPA: 28/35 US MPG (8.4/6.7 l/100km)

Canada: 33/43 US MPG (7.1/5.5 l/100km)

(all of the Canadian ratings were taken as l/100km units from manufacturer websites, then converted to US MPG. US ratings from EPA website.)

Seeing as this is the case for several small cars, my point is that your car's average of 27.5 US MPG falls within the EPA guidelines (26/31) nicely.

3. Point taken on highway mileage, and I bet this is to some degree the fault of the manual transmission. The CVT keeps revs much lower at highway speeds, thus increasing economy. 24.8 MPG (9.5 l/100km) is pretty paltry.

All I'm getting at is that there are plenty of US Versa owners that have been reporting much lower average mileage than 27.5 MPG. You bought the car under the impression that it would return much better mileage, however, and that would make me livid as well. So as for these ratings, are they manufacturer supplied numbers or are they generated by the Canadian government?

[1_Sleek_Versa]

9l/km = 26.1 MPG on the highway. Are these trips of long duration, or just short hops on the highway? Just wanting to get a feel for how the car is driven.

I understand your frustration, and it sounds like you've had a bad experience with the Versa, but I'd hardly call it a POS.

And if you want something even more efficient and reliable, I'd hardly start with GM. Although they've shored up some of their quality issues, economy cars are hardly their forte - they've never produced a truly competitive small vehicle. Aveos (an American...I mean, South Korean, Revolution) are crappy penalty boxes that have lower EPA ratings than Versas, and Cobalts are, well, Cobalts.

Hi Rockhound,

Yes my trips are pretty long and I keep the car at 95 km/h all the time, the engine is always @ 2000 rpm all the time. I only have two stop signs on a 40 km route. No traffic at all on the road. No city driving, at all. Even my girlfriend used the car for 2 weeks, she threw me the keys back telling me that her old beat up Z24 has better gas mileage lol.

My Versa REALLY has a gas consumption problem but the dealer told me everything is normal. The car is babied, no hard driving, but drinks gas like it was FLOORED all the time.

Concerning the GM quality comment.... I've bought 3 brand new Chevrolet's in the last 6 years. No problem whatsoever. This year I bought a Nissan, leaving the GM boat buying a 1.8 l 122 hp Versa, for "reliability" and "fuel economy". 8000 km in my Versa never got both. All I got was a dash creacking gas guzzling roadside assistance needed, Nissan.

It was pretty embarassing for me when the neighbors were looking at my brand new car being loaded on the truck. I've owned many old beaters in my life but my first ride in the towing truck is with my brand new Nissan.

As for now, my only hope is that the new fuel pressure regulator and/or fuel pump was/were the problem of the huge gas consumption. The car has been there for a week now. Hopefully they will find something wrong.

Don't woory guys I'm not bashing Nissan, I'm just a little bit unimpressed. I will keep you guys posted on the fuel consumption when I'll have the car back.

[dr.zed]

Rock> All fair comments. The bottom line is that I bought a car that Nissan advertised as getting "around" those numbers and it falls short of expectations. WAY short of expectations.

You simply cannot advertise something and then expect consumers to put up with a vehicle that achieves 35% less. City is debatable, highway less so.

[dr.zed]

It will make no difference if its just the fuel pressure regulator.

I had that done nearly 10,000 kms ago. They didn't touch the fuel pump.

[aleckz]

Did you guys try the topping off method? That's a problem in my calculations since day one. Every time I filled up my Versa it would only go to 9.8~10.2 gallons per fill up, but I would be driving till the Fuel Light comes on (2~2.2 gallons left) So there would be a void of 1 gallon or so to fill up, I found this out in these forums and my mileage went up quite a bit since I was calculating for 11.2 gallons per fill.

My last fill was 7 dollars @ $1.55p/g - So 4.5 gallons and I traveled roughly 140miles till the light came on. So I got a number of 31.1 mpg.

I've been thinking as well that I might be smarter to fill up half a tank or a set number of gallons (6 or 7) so that there is less weight in the car. So if I leave a 7 gallon void, that frees up close to 40 pounds.

[dr.zed]

I've been filling up until the nozzle stops each time.

Record my mileage fill up the same way until the nozzle clicks once. You don't even need to wait until the gas light comes on so long as you always stop when the nozzle stops. Whatever you filled up at record the mileage. Thats how far you went on "x" amount of fuel.

[frankoV]

beside which we are looking at a long term evaluation, not just a tank or two

[Shad0wXCalibur]

Heh. How thankful I am that my 200,000 mile beater is managing 30 mpg almost all city driving...

[loudmax20]

I have a 08 HB 6speed that I got used with 11800 miles and have put 2700 miles on it since 11/26/08 and so far have gotten an avg of 29.9MPG and lets say I don't drive lightly. I sometimes rev it all the way to the limiter, before shifting. I have managed to get it to 123MPH. But, I have always pushed my cars, I had a 01 Taurus and beat the hell out of that thing and always got around 19MPG in the city. But, I have to hit the interstate for the 15 mile drive about 12 miles on the interstate and I do about 80-95 on the way. I guess I got a good one out of the batch. I love the crap out of this car.