What's your real world mileage like? Is mine low?

[CJD91]

Just wondering how everyone is doing on gas mileage. My truck gets about 10-11 MPG in 100% around town use with my somewhat heavy foot. On the highway and rural roads it goes way up. Was looking for around 14-15 MPG around town though, seems like what most people get.

Any parts I should replace that will boost my mileage? Not looking to go with manual hubs. Plugs, air filter, or distributor? Would those really cause my mileage to go down so much?

[volp]

every time I check it's 15mpg almost all city drive. I'm taking a trip today so i'll let you know about the highway

[Qxxx4]

i always average 15MPG city, 20 MPG highway, i do alot of highway driving and I usually get a steady 20MPG

[CJD91]

Yeah, you guys are higher than me. What could cause low mileage?

[Qxxx4]

well dont use gimmicks like add in liquids, never work at least for me.

I stick to using gas from the same station at least for months in a row (switched to sunoco last week due to new job/convenience of location and lower prices). Dont need to go premium but I do every few 1000kms and take it on the highway.

If youve got a clean air filter, good spark plugs, and properly inflated tires....worry more about how your driving than spending money on other things. Everyone has a different driving style but really trying different methods rather than spending $$$ will help you much more since your spending $0 changing your driving habit.

I currently am testing my highway driving, to see if theres a difference between using cruise the whole way, or doing the pulse method where you accelerate and coast....ive heard its much better than cruise. Im at 475km and just under quarter tank left, so it should work out to low 11L/100km or over 20MPG since ive done some city driving and idling as well.

Oh...remove your cargo cover if you have one, mine was a good 30lbs....its in my basement right now!

[CJD91]

I'm going to clean the MAF too.

[Qxxx4]

I'm going to clean the MAF too.

give us a photo tutorial if you can

[SnowSurfLax]

By "heavy foot", do you mean you accelerate hard from every stop? That'll give you your kind of mileage. Driving style will affect mpg more than anything. I'm like you, I've a bit of a heavy foot, so I average around 14.5mpg with mixed city/hwy driving of about 60/40.

I'm sure if I drove 100% city I'd be closer to your mileage.

Also, if you're running the climate control in AUTO mode, you're almost always have the AC on which will suck 1 - 2 mpg. And, if you're in AUTO mode on the transfer selector, that too will suck 1 - 2 mpg.

[fueler]

ya im in the 13-16 mpg range too. thats with the AC off. i dont think ive ever come close to 20 mpg

[K03sport]

around town driving will kill your mileage number.

In the winter (with winter gas) we averaged 12 mpg. With less idling in the morning, we jump to about 15 in the summer.

the best mileage I have ever recorded was 22 mpg on a trip from Denver to Dayton Even though we were in 4H (winter ice storm), we were only driving at 35-40mph for many hours, actually about 8 hours.That was a loooooong day.

Starts/stops hurt mileage, high speeds hurt mileage. The only thing that will get you better mileage is long, slow, smooth driving.

You could replace all fluids with synthetic stuff, but that may not improve milage, just might make better use of the power you have.

[CJD91]

Step one: Remove MAF from airbox.

Step two: Spray MAF with CRC MAF cleaner

Step three: Replace MAF.

give us a photo tutorial if you can

[CJD91]

By "heavy foot", do you mean you accelerate hard from every stop? That'll give you your kind of mileage. Driving style will affect mpg more than anything. I'm like you, I've a bit of a heavy foot, so I average around 14.5mpg with mixed city/hwy driving of about 60/40.

I'm sure if I drove 100% city I'd be closer to your mileage.

Also, if you're running the climate control in AUTO mode, you're almost always have the AC on which will suck 1 - 2 mpg. And, if you're in AUTO mode on the transfer selector, that too will suck 1 - 2 mpg.

Not hard hard, but usually up to about 3k-4k RPM before it shifts into second

[Fisherdude]

18.5 mpgs with easy driving and combo of highway and city driving.

[W O T]

If you're looking to cut your gas mileage, sounds like your foot is the problem.

If you actually wanna save gas, theres no reason in daily driven city to crack 3000rpm. On the highway I find I get the best mileage cruising @ 130ish

Just went on a big road trip to sauble beach this past weekend and probly am gonn get the best mileage of my cars life, I think Im @ 270miles with over a 1/4 tank left

This is with the 3.5 though

[Adnan]

good advice Brian and wow 475 km is crazy!

i did about 500 km recently mostly hwy avg around 16 mpg

usually i get anywhere from 12-18 mpg i rarely rev over 2500 rpmand keep it at 50-60 km/h city 100-120 tops hwy

[Qxxx4]

yeah this morning I ended up getting my fuel light to come on @ 495kms, i never let it go that low but i didnt want to pay overpriced long weekend gas, but unfortunately it didnt drop anyways. I could hear my fuel pump whining a bit so yeah it was getting low. I did quite a bit of idling and city driving over the weekend as well and its been about 2 months since ive ran premium but i plan to once regular goes below 85c again if it EVER does

on the talk of average speed....130? i thought anywhere past 100 was horrific to gas mileage, i usually do 120 cuz i want to get there eventually!

[AJRK]

With the 3.5, I usually get 15 MPG (15.7L/100) city and about 19-20 (11.7L/100) Highway if I keep it under 120Kmh (75Mph). I think I got 550Km out of a tank once.

This summer I plan to take the Q on a few highway road trips, so I'll definitely get a better idea of highway mileage, and I'll post my results.

And Brian, I think cruise control is way better than the pulse method.. I personally hate the pulse method, and I think it's harder on the car.

[K03sport]

And Brian, I think cruise control is way better than the pulse method.. I personally hate the pulse method, and I think it's harder on the car.

Cruise is only good on flat sections. Once you start to hit hill that will make the transmission want to kick down, time to cancel the cruise and use your foot. Once you are back on the flat, set the cruise again.

[W O T]

on the talk of average speed....130? i thought anywhere past 100 was horrific to gas mileage, i usually do 120 cuz i want to get there eventually!

s*** i musta averaged 135-145 on friday afternoon to sauble beach. My car cruises 110 @ 3000 and only 3200 @ 140..... i figure the speed gain to fuel consumption with only 300 extra rpm for 40km/h is where my mileage comes from

Radar detector helps

[Johnsonsrt10]

I've been driving my 2000 qx4 for just over a year, put 16,000 miles on it an i have averaged 15.7 mpg, thats highway road trips and city commuting, that sounds like its on par with most people, however i tend to have a lead foot. (i use an excel spreadsheet to keep track of all my gas) i've also spend $2650 just on gas since last april.

[Densetsu]

3.5L engine. I get about 20mpg on an average highway trip, 16-17mpg in the city, around 18mpg mixed. These are summer numbers, mileage plummets in Edmonton winters when it's cold, cold, cold.

My record was something like 23mpg, but that was starting out in the Rocky Mountains (Banff, AB) and coming back home to the prairies (Edmonton, AB). A fair bit of downhill driving there.

As far as maintenance goes, changing my spark plugs at ~130,000km made the biggest difference in mileage. Swapping out all the other fluids and filters didn't hurt either, all in all I saw about a 15% increase in fuel economy after all the maintenance had been done. I think the only regular maintenance item that hasn't been changed since I picked up the Pathy in Nov '07 has been the fuel filter. Keep the Pathy happy and it'll keep you happy.

[Qxxx4]

WOT, 110@3k? wow our engines are very different, mine is about 2500rpms for 110, just under actually. 120+ is when it cruises at 3k. I wish i had your extra power!!

as for me ive done the spark plugs (iridium), fuel filter, i change my air filter yearly but this year plan to go K&N, have all my fluids in check, and my new wheels didnt affect my mileage by more than 5% id say

[JonathanPrem]

Damm 400-500km. I think i've got the worst pathfinder out here.I get about 360 km80%hi(16kmdrive). I think im getting bad mileage is cause i cleaned out my throttle body and after that my rpm is always near 1k at idle. Any ideas on fixing the throttle body issue

Thanks guys

[KyooX4]

I usually get around 14mpg city. My best ever mileage was on a trip from FL to NY @ 23mpg. That was after liquid swaps and a new K&N air filter.
Modified by KyooX4 at 3:50 PM 5/23/2009

[Densetsu]

s*** i musta averaged 135-145 on friday afternoon to sauble beach. My car cruises 110 @ 3000 and only 3200 @ 140..... i figure the speed gain to fuel consumption with only 300 extra rpm for 40km/h is where my mileage comes from

Radar detector helps

We have the same engine and my figures are nothing like that. At 110km/h my tach is around 2200RPM... 120km/h is 2500RPM... 130km/h is 2800RPM.

Are you stick or auto transmission? If you're auto, is the OD not working? Those are crazy high numbers.