I am currently in the market for a new car. I figured I would come to the people in the know about the Juke. I average 200 miles a day. 120 of that highway just getting to the job. Does this car really require premium fuel? At .30 - .40 cents more a gallon it will be a deal breaker for me. And does it really get around 30 mpg on the highway? Thanks for any help or advise ya'll can give me.

Hi Julia, welcome to the NICO Juke forum. So glad to have you on board.

I can't give you any advice from personal experience, but I can lead to some good information.
Here is a discussion on fuel from one of our users... looks like he is getting 29mpg pretty regularly now that it's broken in. my-mpg-after-1500-miles-t515451.html

My understanding on the fuel issue is that premium is recommended, but not required. Though I suspect the milage on lower grade fuels would be less and not justify it.
Let's do the math on that.. If you drive 200 miles per day, that would be 6.9 gallons per day (at 29 mpg). 6.9 gallons x .30 per gallon premium = $2.07 per day or $62 per month.
For most people we find that the cost of premium fuel winds up being much less per month than they expect. But, you are not "most people".. driving 1400 miles a week or over 72,000 miles per year is TON.

Clearly your priority list needs to have fuel efficiency at the top. The question is.. how important are those other things that the Juke might provide? Fun, sporty, comfortable, stylish, safe, awd, suv ride height, space, etc...

We really need to get fuel efficiency data for both premium fuel and regular fuel.

I wonder if anyone that does some consistent driving would be willing to do that for us. (Fill one tank with premium, calculate fuel economy, fill the next with regular, and calculate fuel economy).
Realistically, it would be best to calculate after a few tanks of that fuel grade so the ECU has more of a chance to learn and adapt to the situation.
Based off that data, we could tell you if you're actually better off (economically) running premium or regular.

Thanks!

I know with my charger you could do a battery cable pull and that would start the learning process all over again. There is much debate whether premium is providing better gas mileage numbers. There are also questions over whether warmer climates are getting better results due to not having the additives that the northern climates have in their winter fuel mix. We may have to wait until the Spring to get a true gauge. There is also supposedly a flash out for a CEL issue that some claim also helped their gas mileage. (all unconfirmed of course)

PapaSmurf2k3 wrote:We really need to get fuel efficiency data for both premium fuel and regular fuel.

I wonder if anyone that does some consistent driving would be willing to do that for us. (Fill one tank with premium, calculate fuel economy, fill the next with regular, and calculate fuel economy).
Realistically, it would be best to calculate after a few tanks of that fuel grade so the ECU has more of a chance to learn and adapt to the situation.
Based off that data, we could tell you if you're actually better off (economically) running premium or regular.