Low MPG on 2010 SL CVT - driving in SF Bay area

[rekoil]

Just bought a 2010 SL (CVT transmission standard) and have been driving it regularly from Mountain View, CA into San Francisco and back - about a 40 mile trip each way up and down US 101.

Given the drive. I'm assuming that my actual MPG should be somewhere between the city and highway ratings, which is 28/34. However, the two times I've measured mileage after I've filled the tank have given me readings of 27.2 and 27.6 MPG, respectively - lower than even the city MPG rating. These were the last two fill-ups, with approximately 1150 and 1400 miles on the odometer at each fill-up.

I'm not driving with heavy loads, and I'm not driving aggressively - about 65-75 MPH highway speeds for about 35 miles of the trip, with the final five in the city (the hills there could be a factor, but it's such a small part of the trip I'd be surprised if it had a major effect). I am running the AC for maybe 20 miles of the trip, but only one way (into SF in the early afternoon, back to Mountain View at night with AC off). And I'm not doing the trip during rush hour, so I'm not hitting any heavy backups or long periods of stop-and-go; there's the occasional slowdown but nothing like rush hour gridlock.

Looking at my odometer, I'm seeing it generally between 2500 and 3000 RPM when cruising on the highway in the 70-75MPH range, and closer to 2000 at 55-65. Given other posts, this seems normal.

Anyone have any suggestions on other things to check here, or other explanations for this? Should I be contacting my dealer at this point?

Thanks!

[biggie]

For the 1.8 the 34mpg is bit rare I believe. The hills and city driving definitely would hurt. 27mp isn't really horrible, I usually got 29-31with mixed driving (but less city and hills that you probably see).

Also if the car isn't very old most people see the worst mpg early in the car's life and gets a little better after 5k+ miles I believe.

[Promise Land]

We've argued (or passionately discussed this over the last couple of years. The CVTs seem to get worse mileage of the three transmissions and 27 isn't too bad to start with. I was getting around that when I bought mine in 2009 and it didn't start to get into the 30's until I hit about 5,000 miles. I'm mostly driving 55mph every day back and forth to work, and now get about 33mpg. I'd suggest giving it some time for the engine to break in. Based on a lot of people posting here, you should start to see the mileage go up at ~5k miles.

[robaustin]

11K Miles on my 2010 CVT. Consistently 31-33 MPG Hwy on my commute, which is 45 miles pure highway, 10 miles local roads.

--*Rob

[iluvmyVersa08]

I have an 08 SL CVT hatch as well, and now have just over 35K. I just got 32.9 MPG on my last tank. But normally I get like 27-28 MPG (mostly city driving, some highway). The faster you go, the more fuel you will burn.

[Kingdom934]

Agree.

Faster you drive, much more fuel is burned - especially if it is uphill driving. I noticed that due to the Versa's small engine, I can get good gas mileage if you want to stay in the right lane (slower traffic). My Versa tends to burn more gas going faster than 70mph. Since I have a down hill and uphill drive on the freeway, downhill is no problem with coasting, but I need to really need to keep my gas down pretty far to maintain a 65+ mph uphill. Anything below 55mph, uphill shouldn't require too much pressure. Just anything pass that 60 I find the Versa struggling keep up with fast traffic uphill.

AC usage will hurt gas miles. Not too much on freeway (when compared to driving with fan + rolled windows), but it will hurt in stop go traffic or city. Thing is, due to AC usage, you'll find yourself with a lack of power and you'll be pounding the gas harder keeping with/merging with traffic though.

I normally get around 28~29MPG for 3/4 ish freeway and 1/4 highway. Lowest I got was around 22MPG with mostly city and AC along with a heavy foot. I dislike using AC anyhow due to the gas usage and that it isn't the greatest in stop go traffic along with the amount of power I lose.