2011 QX56 minimum usage per week

[wxkat]

Aloha everyone

I've been leasing a 2011 QX56 since last October and have really enjoyed driving it. I'll admit the exterior takes some getting used to, but as far as I'm concerned the interior and the ride are nothing short of excellent.

The downside is that I take a hit on gas mileage because the QX is fairly thirsty at around 13-14 mpg, and with gas now getting up to somewhere around $4.20/gallon for premium, I've been keeping the QX mostly garaged and only using it once a week, maybe twice a week if need be. (I have another vehicle -- a Hyundai Genesis -- that I use more frequently because it gets around 6-7 mpg better than the QX.)

A friend told me that Nissans generally need to be run at least a couple times a week to prevent transmission issues. I haven't had any with the QX, but I'm wondering if using it just once a week (and possibly even less) could give me problems down the road. As much as I want to cut my gas usage, I don't want to do it at the expense of having to service the transmission, so I'm just looking for a happy medium. Any thoughts?

[uwhusky]

I'm no expert on Nissan transmissions but I know enough about cars and transmissions to say I think he's wrong.

First off, you're leasing and chances are your car is covered by warranty for the duration of your lease. So even if he's right and the transmission goes bad, it's not like you can't simply take the car to the dealership and say fix the transmission...it's under warranty.

That being said, I'd probably try to drive it at least once per week just to keep the fluids moving around the car and let the engine fire up. Honestly, the incremental difference between the miles/gallon of each car and the incremental difference in gas isn't really that much when you get down to dollars and cents. You've got a leased car! You get xx,xxx of miles per year, use them!

[Timmbo]

I agree with uwhusky on this one. I don't think you are hurting it by not driving it much, but since it is leased, I would totally drive it. Like he mentioned, if you do the math, you really are not saving that much. It would be one thing if you had the QX56 and a Leaf, but it is a Genesis that really does not get that much better of gas mileage.

Enjoy the QX!!!