LOW MPG

[Toe-Knee]

I love my Versa, but I'm tired of hearing about the high gas milage people claim. I drive 90% city driving and only get about 22 mpg. Anyone doing better than that is lying. 28 mpg in the city is pure B.S.

Let's hear from anyone getting LESS than 24 mpg in the city!!

Tony

[Promise Land]

do you have a CVT, manual, or auto?

[srellim234]

The definition of "city" driving comes into play, too. Many people claim they are city driving when they are not on the freeway or tollway. In fact, they are on roads with 40 or 45mph speed limits and large gaps between stop signs or signals. That's closer to highway conditions than true city driving.

Once we know which transmission you have we can offer you some tips to try to get better mileage out of your Versa.

[Ginx]

I have a new 2010, i didn't measure MPG on the first tank because I didn't know how much fuel was put in but I got around 370 miles before I decided to fill up (the light was on). My second tank I got 17.89 MPG .. something has got to be wrong or I got syphoned while my car was getting an amp put in .. I am on my third tank now and just putting miles on it to verify I don't have an issue, but i didn't even get 200 miles on my 2nd FULL tank. I think I got jipped while my car was in the shop.

BTW these tanks hold how many gallons, is it 12.2 or 14.2 ? How much do you think goes in the filler tube for a grand total of xx gallons ?

[hasaanbhutta]

i got mine in October 2009.... got 5500 KM on it.... getting around 460KM per 50L ... so i guess around 20MPG.... but i have started to notice its getting better by every passing day.... so i think once the enging is well broken into, it might get better mileage.....

[srellim234]

WE CAN"T TRY TO HELP ANY OF YOU IF YOU WON"T TELL US WHICH TRANSMISSION YOU HAVE!

[Promise Land]

The tank will hold about 13 gallons. The tank will take about 10.8 gallons to fill up. The mileage will start to get a lot better with more miles. My first tank was terrible too. I think after a couple thousand miles my mileage jumped into the 30's.

[Ginx]

Mine is a CVT transmission BTW

[srellim234]

The best mileage on my CVT seems to come when I accellerate at around 1,400 rpms. From a dead stop keep the rpms under 1.800 until the car shifts into a higher gear; when the rpms drop after shifting keep it at 1,400. The car will accellerate slowly at that level (to 40 mph in 20-25 seconds).

You won't hear the car rev up like a normal transmission accellerates. It will be really quiet and almost feel like it is bogging down.

If you are going up to highway speeds, get it up to about 40 mph before you raise the rpms up to the 2,200 - 2.400 required to get that much speed.

Hitting 2,800 rpms and up turns the car into a relative gas hog.

Side note: very few people actually have the patience to drive the CVT that way to get the mileage, but if you don't the mileage drops off in a hurry.

[Toe-Knee]

Sorry I was short on details in my post "LOW MPG". I have a 1.8 liter 6 speed manual transmission.

As for driving conditions, I live in New York City. Ninety per cent of my driving is true city driving: stop signs or traffic lights in every corner, speed limit is 30 mph and I rarely go a quarter mile with out stopping. Stop and go driving and idling at red lights

[srellim234]

I honestly don't know if you can get a whole lot better mileage than you currently are under those conditions. I hope someone with a manual transmission will chime in with some ideas to help you.

Without that help, the best suggestion I have is to install a Scangauge and use it to see if you can find a driving pattern that will aid your gas mileage.

[Shad0wXCalibur]

It can take a long time for some cars to break in. If you still have low miles, relax and wait. I didn't notice improvement until after 10,000 miles. I was averaging 24-25 mpg before it started improving. Worse than my 96 Neon with a 3-speed auto that was coming close to 200,000 miles at the time. The transmission shouldn't matter so much. I've seen great mileage reported from all types of transmission and I've seen crap mileage with all transmissions. Automatics nowadays are almost if not as efficient as manuals. The main difference is the "fun factor (acceleration)" and cost now.

[WeirdFishes]

I'm still on my first tank (6-speed), so nothing to report yet. The fuel needle started moving from the F position after about 80 miles, but that might not mean much. I expect to be at about 350 miles once I slip a little past Empty.

True City Driving (like NYC) totally sucks. Every time you stop and need to accelerate, it kills your fuel economy.

How do you guys calculate your fuel economy?

I divide the number of miles driven by the amount of gallons it took me to fill up.

[srellim234]

That's the proper way to calculate it. I track each fill-up so for the total mileage I just divide the total number of miles on the odometer by the total number of gallons I've put in it since we bought the car. That way any discrepancy on the fill level of an individual fill-up doesn't affect overall lifetime mileage.

[xplorer7]

Like WF, I am still on my first tank (also with a 6 speed MT), one mark above half full with 187 miles since the dealer fill up.

So far I have driven it under suburban conditions with some short stretches on the Interstate. Nothing like NYC driving!

I noticed that for the 6 speed specifically, the owner's manual recommends gear changes for normal, low altitude acceleration at a lower speed than some drivers of cars with manual transmissions may be accustomed to. The following would be for "normal" (maybe they should say "gentle") acceleration conducive to better gas mileage (there are "normal" and "quick" acceleration recommendations on page 5-22):

1st to 2nd: 8 mph2nd to 3rd: 17 mph3rd to 4th: 25 mph4th to 5th: 36 mph5th to 6th: 51 mph

[TomS]

Here are some tips for improving your fuel economy.

* Drive the speed limit. You will usually get the best mileage when driving between 45 and 60 mph (70 to 100 km/h)* Drive at a consistant speed (this may not be possible in NYC)* Brake and accelerate gradually and consistantly.* Avoid driving in stop and go traffic and rush hour (again, nearly impossible in NYC)* Do not rest your foot on the brake pedal (and for that matter, make sure the emergency brake is fully retracted)* Use the cruise control (not possible in true city driving)* Turn your car off when stopped for more than one minute* Combine several short trips into one long trip (and for God's sake, never take a trip for the sole purpose of getting gas).* Turn of the A/C and open the windows unless you are driving faster than 35 mph (60 km/h), then use the A/C* Tighten the gas cap* Park in the shade or the garage* Unload excess items from the trunk* Don't cary extra items on your roof* Maintain normal air pressure in the tires (and don't rely on the tire pressure monitor as your sole indicator that you need air)* Follow the maintainance schedule* Change the oil and filters on a regular basis* Buy a GPS, especially one with live traffic

(Note: Every one of these, except from the last one) were derived from my Garmin nuvi 255T)

[WeirdFishes]

Tom,

That is all very sound advice.

[Jerky_san]

I'll just throw my 2 cents in.. I have a 2007 CVT.. My BEST mpg was 26 and that was PURE 100% hw miles.. My mpg got better when I put synthetic in my car but when I drive purely city and a little highway driving I get about 20-21. Dealer says nothing is wrong with the car either. I've noticed that the CVT has a extremely long warm up time.. Mine will finally drop into low gear by the time I'm pulling into my work's parking lot a couple of miles away in 30-40 degree weather. If I "warm" it up the blue light will go off but it will never down shift really.

I figure if you had a manual then you'd probably get better mpg just because you could avoid the high revs of warm up time.. If your worried about screwing your transmission up then put synthetic in a manual. CVT's you can't do jack to since they use that special fluid. Basically I think nissian gave the EPA a modified car of sorts since my window sticker claims 30/36 and even with the new adjusted stickers with my same engine it was still supposed to be in the 28 mpg range.

Anyways your going to be cursed with poor mpg so you best just get used to it by what I've found. I've tried everything I could think of including doing "granny" driving of accelerating extremely slow and keeping the rpms at near 1200 all the time until I get over 35. Anyways good luck with trying to squeeze mpgs out of this car.. My dad's chevy silverado 1500 v8 gets 17 most of the time and my 4 cyc versa gets low 20's most of the time. He gets a good laugh from it every time..

[kc5f]

I've noticed that the CVT has a extremely long warm up time.. Mine will finally drop into low gear by the time I'm pulling into my work's parking lot a couple of miles away in 30-40 degree weather. If I "warm" it up the blue light will go off but it will never down shift really.

You'll never get good mileage until it's warmed up, so if you're only driving a few miles at a time, that explains a lot about your lousy mileage. Mine takes about two miles of slow driving for the blue light to go off when it's below freezing, but even then I don't figure the engine's getting good mileage yet. Down shifting? Mine is the same cold or warm, but since I keep it below 2000rpm until it's warmed up, there's really no downshifting to speak of!

Quote »I figure if you had a manual then you'd probably get better mpg just because you could avoid the high revs of warm up time.[/quote]I was ready to get a manual but went with the CVT because it was rated to get better mileage. Since mine's mostly highway it makes more of a difference, though, because the manual runs at much higher rpm's on the highway.

Quote »Anyways your going to be cursed with poor mpg so you best just get used to it by what I've found.[/quote]Well, if you're driving a couple of miles at a time or having to drive in Brooklyn that may be true. Sorry both of you have do deal with those disadvantages.

[robaustin]

Just to throw in my results after 3 weeks with the car. I'm getting 32-33 MPG on a CVT. I do mostly highway driving with maybe 15-20 miles on the weekends around town. I might hit 34 MPG if I went the speed limit of 65 on the PA turnpike but 75 seems to be Ok with the MPG at a reasonable rate.

--*Rob

[WeirdFishes]

32-33 going 75 mph? That's pretty awesome.

[V-Man]

I have a 4 speed auto on my 1.8L hatchback and also get 31 to 33 mpg's on the highway (doing 75 to 78 mph). Can't complaint since my previous Frontier V6 truck gave me about 15. I basically cut my gas expense in half and I do a 1,400 mile trip to NE GA every 6 to 7 weeks.

[srellim234]

It seems that this thread has deteriorated into exactly what Toe-Knee was trying to avoid. People bragging about good mileage, mostly on the highway.

Do any of you who haven't offerred any help have any tips you can give to increase manual transmission Versa mpgs in the true city driving of New York? Something along the lines of gear selection, accelleration rpms, etc?

[WeirdFishes]

Deteriorated? Wow, that's a slightly harsh response, don't you think?

[frankoV]

Deteriorated? Wow, that's a slightly harsh response, don't you think?

after all the threads regarding low mileage that end up doing exactly what 234 says they wind up doing . . . no.

[WeirdFishes]

Threads, like conversations, go off on tangents. Just a fact of life.

[srellim234]

Have any of you with manual trannies tried starting in 2nd gear or going from 1st to 3rd, accellerating at lower than normal rpms? Over the years I've had a couple of manual transmission cars that achieved much better mpg around the city when certan gears were skipped. Could the Versa be one of those?

[Treetopflyer]

I am in Canada (so I am having a bit of a time converting to liters/ 100km). But I am averaging about 425 km per tank. That's abot 265 miles per tank at 90% highway driving. It is a 2008 with CVT. It has about 20,000 km or about 12,500 mi. Nissan tells me that is acceptable. My Quest gets the same bloody milage on the highway! I sold my Mazda 3 for the versa to get better gas milage and the 3 blows this thing out of the water. Anyone have any luck with Nissan head office?? I am just about ready to let it drive off a cliff.

[srellim234]

You can keep track of your mileage in metric units at fuelly.com. It will do all the calculations for you.

http://www.fuelly.com

From what I've seen over the last 2 1/2 years here, Nissan apparently figures if the car starts and the computer doesn't throw an error code the car is "within parameters" and o.k. Even if it only gets half the window sticker mileage.Anyway, it seems the Versa has a much narrower efficient operating area than many other cars. This apparently includes temperature. A lot of Canadian Versa owners have complained about atrocious mileage around here so maybe the car just isn't compatible with the colder climate?

[Treetopflyer]

quite possibly. However my Versa doesn't discriminate. It gets lousy milage in the summer too.Unfortunately it means dumping it the second the lease is done.