527 miles on a tank--M45

[DeanM45]

Just got back from a trip to Vegas, car averaged 28.9MPG. The drive on the 15 showed just under 33MPG at 75MPH, ac on, stereo on, etc, nothing special. Tires are Continental Extreme Contact cold inflated to 40psi. Had my sub (70lbs), 150lbs of catalogs, 80lbs of luggage, two sets of clubs (played at The Legacy -- great course) in the car as well. What KILLED the mileage was drilling around Vegas streets. The below pic is me getting on the freeway--it eventually came back up.



This was really the only mod I did before the trip:


Blocked off about 1/3 of the grill. Car had no problems cooling even with 110 degree weather and a boatload of people and clubs in the car.



So the M45 can be made to be pretty damn efficient mileage wise!

[cruzad3r]

amazing. i think the highest MPG i have ever seen on my car was 22.4 and that was about 75-80MPH average.

what was the reason of blocking the grill? was it really for MPG/aerodynamic trick of some sort?

[DeanM45]

Yes, for aerodynamic reasons. As long as the car does not run hot, the smaller the opening the better. Limiting the amount of air that gets into the engine bay lowers drag. I'm pretty sure that only the lower grill area is truly needed for cooling (think of the old "superman badge" Q45) but I did not want to go that far just yet.

[TDot]

I'm more amazed that you can do 500+ miles at 75mph. Once I know I'm doing a 200 mile trip my car doesn't go below 100mph. That being said, I am impressed on the mileage...and the patience. I just did a trip 520 miles with 2.5 tanks of gas with the car and trunk fully loaded, rear fender was 10mm from touching the wheel.

[DeanM45]

Pop on the cruise at 75, drop in a movie or good tunes and take it easy. I don't like having to scan for cops and along the 15, especially now, there are cops all over the place. I remember at least 5 pulled over cars. I was really impressed with the Eibach springs/KYB struts/shocks. With the 300lbs or so in the trunk and no less than 400lbs sitting in the backseat I had no issues even with those damn speed bumps at Harrah's.

[cruzad3r]

i'm assuming you're using Seymore tune?

[DeanM45]

i'm assuming you're using Seymore tune?

Yep

[Brian35XR]

LOL, the M35x gets nowhere close to this MPG.... poor job by Nissan/Infiniti. This car truly makes no sense....

[pegasus]

I'm lucky to eek out 20, usually it's more in the 17-18 range.

[DeanM45]

Because of their weight these cars shine on the highway at steady cruise. Each car has its sweet spot as far as speed. The largest improvement in mileage (and performance) for me was the UpRev tune from Seymore4. My car is lowered, full exhaust, intake, trans cooler, trans shift kit, some custom under body covers to make the underside as flat as possible, body seams closed up as tight as possible, windshield wipers tucked, etc. Lots of little things that add up in the end. Stop and go kills the mileage. When I am in the city or heavy traffic I use my paddle shifters (I installed) to get to as high a gear as possible and hold it there. The trans ecu has built in safeguards to keep you from doing anything dumb but in traffic, keep the rpms as low as possible. Make no mistake, if I get on it while "playing" the mileage drops VERY quickly but it is damn fun to run away from "sports cars", LOL!

[EniGmA1987]

Very nice mileage. My best was 460 miles on a tank and I have an M35.

[CPJ LB]

Hey Dean,

great work on the mpg's.... something off topic though, what laptop are you using when you're data logging and uploading the tune from Seymore?? I have a the Uprev cable but have a Mac that I want to use but can't...I also have an old laptop with Windows XP, but XP is no longer supported... are you using a laptop with Windows 7 ???

[DeanM45]

Hey Dean,

great work on the mpg's.... something off topic though, what laptop are you using when you're data logging and uploading the tune from Seymore?? I have a the Uprev cable but have a Mac that I want to use but can't...I also have an old laptop with Windows XP, but XP is no longer supported... are you using a laptop with Windows 7 ???

Hey Anthony, I actually use a Samsung Windows 8 Tablet (actual 8 not the RT crap). Works fine and is much easier to deal with than a laptop sitting in the car.

[CPJ LB]

Hey Dean,

great work on the mpg's.... something off topic though, what laptop are you using when you're data logging and uploading the tune from Seymore?? I have a the Uprev cable but have a Mac that I want to use but can't...I also have an old laptop with Windows XP, but XP is no longer supported... are you using a laptop with Windows 7 ???

Hey Anthony, I actually use a Samsung Windows 8 Tablet (actual 8 not the RT crap). Works fine and is much easier to deal with than a laptop sitting in the car.

thanks for the fyi... I'll look on craigslist for a used one or something