Real World Gas Mileage

[OKVersa]

Since the weather turned cold, we are getting 27.3 to 29 MPG. I let the thing warm up for five minutes each morning before going to work and run the heater or defroster from time to time. The heater is really hot, so I don't run it all the time.

Outside temps are between 30 and 60. Most miles are highway miles.

I was getting 31-35 in the summer running the a/c, and now in the winter I'm getting less.

Does letting it idle make THAT much difference?

[XterraVersa]

Does letting it idle make THAT much difference?

Yes, for those five minutes everyday you are getting 0 MPG. That is why city driving takes a toll on MPG.

[motoguy128]

I took my first long trip this weekend. 1050 mile round trip. Taking total miles and total fuel consumed, I averaged 30.1mpg. I had 1 passenger and about 80-100lbs of luggage. This was 90% freeway driving bewteen 70-80mph. There was an even mix of crosswinds, tailwinds and headwinds. Temperature was 30-45 degrees. I used defroster about 30% of the time.

For most of my driving style, I'm seeing about 29mpg overall. I'm not really upset. Even if you could trasnplant the Toyota's class leading 1.8L engine, based on the aerodynamics, and gearing needed you'd probably only get about 2 mpg better. The Versa has better midrange power than the Toyota and is more free reving.

I'm still way ahead compared to my Accord on short trips, and it's more fun to drive... so I'm not dissatisfied. If I drove 65mph on the freeway, I'd probably get 32-33mpg. Unfortunately, I think the engine gets out of it's ideal economy range above 3000RPM.

[OKVersa]

Yep. I'm smart enough to know that letting it idle results in 0 MPG at that moment

However, it seems odd that it takes more gas to idle than run the a/c going 70 down the hwy.

[proxim2020]

Just wanted to report my gas mileage for my little trip. After calculating, I'm getting about 31.6 mpg on the highway at high speeds. Most times I was driving the V close to 80mph. The car was weighted down with all our stuff plus gifts. Since we didn't anticipate some of the delays we had, along with trying to rush to make it by Christmas, we ended up spending $60 more than we originally anticipates. The GPS says that my moving speed averaged 73, but that includes when we hit some traffic early on which cost us 30 to 45 mins of travel time. On the way going back home, we will have less weight and no deadlines so we can take it easy. We should see a large jump in the gas mileage.

[motoguy128]

Don't forget, if your driving high speeds following other cars some of the time, you'll get 1-3mpg better mileage than driving in light traffic.

[proxim2020]

Yea, I tried my best to use other's drafts. I knew I would be getting less mileage driving at the higher speeds and tried to cut my losses by drafting fellow idiots. I tried not to use 18 wheelers. You don't want to be behind one when a tire goes.

[Wyld Bill]

FWIW The wife is getting 24 to 28MPG with our new Suzuki SX4 2.0 in AWD with a mix of driving. Been driving it agressivly too.

[sentraman01]

Interesting that most of you guys with the new Versa are burning fuel at the same rate that I do in my 2001 Sentra-which is a higher rate than I did in my '96 200SX. All are nice cars, but maybe Nissan could do more to improve fuel economy in their new vehicles.

[proxim2020]

One way they can make the 6MT better is by increasing the size of 6th gear. Running down the highway at 3200 - 3500 rpms can't be very helpful with fuel economy.

[JuneBug]

I am a bit disappointed in my 27-29mpg city/highway driving...I gotta dumb question. How do you really measure gas mileage anyway? fill it up and drive it until the gas light comes on? That's what I've been doing...I just want to make sure I'm not missing something...thanks.

[BenDupre]

Write your mileage on your gas receipts. Save about three to five of them and divide all the miles by all the gallons. This is an average, but it's the only way to negate the variability of when the pump shuts off while filling. You can't get an accurate or comparable number from one tank.

Ben

[JuneBug]

oh ok, but that sounds like an awful lot of math

[motoguy128]

I will note that the speedometer is almost 2mph off according to my GPS. that would equate to a 1mpg discrepancy. If you figure that most cars read 2mph fast... that could represent a 2mpg difference.

My fiancee's Altima 4 cylinder read 2mph slow and therefore the actual mileage was 30mpg going mostly 75 mph. That's 1mpg better than EPA, but 3 mpg lower than the class leading Accord and Camry.

[LiteraryCannon]

This may be irrelevant but I feel that it can help some people:

I purchased a brand new Mazda3 S in April 2006.It had 8 miles when I purchased it.I was averaging about 18 - 22 mpg in mixed city/highway driving. About 60 - 80mph on the highway and 30 - 40mph in the city. I spent 40% of the time in the city and 60% on the highway.

That was for the first 11,000 miles or so.

Just recently, starting December.. I noticed that the car is getting about 28 - 31mpg. Which is higher than the EPA rating. No other factors have changed besides the mileage on the car and that it has received 3 oil changes.

I drive conservatively 80% of the time and semi-enthusiastically 20% of the time.

I hope this helps.

[campersand]

I just posted this on another thread, then realized that I should've kept it here where the bulk of the mpg info is.

After 5 fillups, my average is 30.05mpg. Could be better but if I can maintain an average of 30-31 I won't be too disappointed. Plus, it's gotten better with almost every tank. The 1st one was 27.83, the last one was 32.86. That was with mostly highway driving, though.

[marleyfan]

I will note that the speedometer is almost 2mph off according to my GPS.

Isn't it possible that your speedometer in your vehicle is more accurate than your GPS at measuring speed?

[tecis]

i jsut put the gear ratios into a calculationg program and it told me the versa at 4 (used given data on nissanversa.org, dont know if the axle ratio will be higher in mexico) has in 4th gear at 100 km/h (62 miles) 2530 rpm, at 3000 rpm 118,6 km/h (73 miles)....3500 rpm at 138,4 km/h (86 miles)I seldom drive faster than 125 km/h..

the mt 6 is in 6th gear 500 rpm higher....

[motoguy128]

GPS would only be inaccurate at calculating instantaneous speeds at small intervals or at speeds under maybe 10mph. On a rolling average however with 5+ satellites compensating for altitude changes, I'd expect it to be more accurate.

The speedo on you car is affected by tire wear, tire pressure and tire slip. Speed is measured at the transmission output.

[versabundus]

H

I will note that the speedometer is almost 2mph off according to my GPS. that would equate to a 1mpg discrepancy. If you figure that most cars read 2mph fast... that could represent a 2mpg difference.

My fiancee's Altima 4 cylinder read 2mph slow and therefore the actual mileage was 30mpg going mostly 75 mph. That's 1mpg better than EPA, but 3 mpg lower than the class leading Accord and Camry.

ow would mph relate to mpg? It's Distance, and fuel used not speed.

[XterraVersa]

How would mph relate to mpg? It's Distance, and fuel used not speed.

Distance = speed X time. If you speedometer is off 5% your distance traveled would be off by 5%. Converting to mileage, your mileage is distance / volume. If the distance is off 5% your mileage will be off 5%.

[versabundus]

The odometer is digital, the speedometer analog, not necessarily syncronous. I see what you mean though, maybe that's how one gets 37 mpg when everyone else gets 30.

[OKVersa]

I hesitate to bring this up.

All winter, we have got 25-28 MPG. Yes, I go outside and start it up 5 to 10 minutes before leaving to work. We run the heater while driving. We had a little more city miles and yes, we let it idle from time to time.

We also had driven it in ice and snow and ran the defroster a lot.

Two weeks ago, we got gas and we got 27.3 MPG. Hubby tops it off.

Last week, it warmed up significantly - enough to stop warming it up of a morning. We got another tank - almost all highway miles and it read 42.3.

Yes, folks, that is 42.3. It's a CVT.

Hubby topped it off.

We were so shocked, we were blocking the lines at the "cheap" gas place, the SAME place we got it the week before.

I know there is room for human error in the fill-ups, but the math WAS correct.

So, yes, the cold weather is VERY significant in the MPG our Versas get!

I don't know when we will fill up again! Maybe in another week or so.

[bigant]

doz anyone have cai and or exhaust installed? And what is the MPG.

[longo]

Ultra, 03' HOnda Odyssey, 92' ford F150elnora Ab.1-24-2007

« Re: Re: (OKVersa) 7:04 PM 4/7/2007

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Wierd MPG's are not unusual in the Versa. The gas tank is very difficult to re-fill, it gurgles and gulps, gasps and burps near the top with the hose clicking off each time, and just when all that is all over with, it will still take another gallon.

When I am obsessivly determined to do an accurate MPG test (like every time) I fill it up until the gas actually runs out..(I use a very slow touch on the nozzle to keep the gas from gushing all over me and all the other concerned environmentalists at the pumps. Must be some odd kink in the filler pipe that creates air locks in the route to the tank.

If you do a fill up to the top, drive for only a 100 miles or so, then the next top up has to be up at the same level...not easy to do unless you use the fill it up til' it pukes system. Missing only one gallon on short top ups will give freakishly high MPG's

A recent example, on the trip from a fill up at Flagstaff AZ to Lake Powell UT 127.2 miles on the speedo re set, our 'top up' was 2.04 gallons. It was a reasonably flat stretch, 65 mph posted speed limit and for the first time in 2000 miles of cross country driving, we finally had a tail wind...

but 62.35 mpg!!!?

[tractor07v]

MPG should increase some after about a 1000 miles or so because then the engine can loosen up. My first couple fill ups were only about 28 29 mpg, but since i broke the 1k mark its been averaging around 32 33 mpg. Also cold weather does lower mpg because of the denser air needing more fuel(though it does increase performance )

[Ever Victorious]

Whatever performance gain you get from the cold dense air in winter is counteracted by the added ethanol. Unless you're in one of the very few areas left that doesn't have a special winter blend of fuel.

It's right about the time for the switchover. I've used 2 different gas stations over my last 4 fillups in the SUV. When I fill up at one station, I average 21.5 mpg... the other, 19.0. They're the same brand and grade of fuel, and I'm driving the exact vehicle the exact same way to the exact same places down the exact same roads with the exact same traffic.