Worst mileage of any car since 1985

[RCHarris]

First, let me say there is much to love about the EX35 and I as an early adopter knew going in that the car had its warts. But the one thing that I did not expect was the fuel economy of a Ford Expedition. I have 9,000 miles on my car and I cannot, under any circumstances, raise my overall fuel mileage above 17 mpg. Most of the time it hovers around 16. My driving habits are fairly benign. I do not race the car or run it at outrageous speeds, just your normal average run of the mill kind of everyday driving. Half of my mileage is freeway cruising and half around town.

I have twice taken it to the dealer who told me that these are the mileage numbers that most of the EX owners are reporting. That is contrary to what I've been reading on this and other forums. Most seem to get around 20 all around.

I have to say that given the fact that this car has not sold well and its long term future has got to be in doubt, I am seriously thinking about taking a beating and trading it away now before the EX35 becomes Infiniti's version of an Edsel. Cool car? yes, Fun car? yes, Comfortable and well made car? yes, Outrageously out of step with the times car? unfortunately, YES

Coop

[marlin29311]

How are you calculating your MPG's?

[AVG]

HelloI have 4,000 miles on my EX35. I get from 21.6 to 21.8 all the time highway or street here in Florida. This is a two wheel drive EX35.

[drdamian]

I get about the same milage as you are reporting. sometimes a little higher 17, 18, 19 MPG. but i knew this when i was buying the car. i did my research before i made my purchase and i knew what i was getting into.. it sounds like buyers remorse to me.. i mean when you are driving a 40K+ car you should be able to afford gas and not cry about it.

[jmess]

My driving is 50 city 50 freeway also (with some stop and go) and I consistently get 16-18. I didn't expect to get any better when I bought the car.

15,000 miles at 21 MPG cost about $336 more than 15,000 miles at 17 MPG. No matter what gas prices do the difference will always be the same. People trade-in cars to get better mileage and end up losing thousands of dollars in depreciation just so they can save $336 a year?


Modified by jmess at 5:09 PM 1/26/2009

[jonkarn]

I am also getting very poor gas mileage, but I knew coming in that it wasn't going to be that great. I drive the car fairly hard, sometimes on DS mode, and probably get 15-17mpg with a mix of highway and street in NYC. If I drove all street I think it would be closer to 14mpg.

I got the EX after the lease on my Saab 93 was up. I got an average of 19mpg in that car combined driving the car hard. Not much better than this car, and that was a 4 cyl. with 210hp. When I drove all highway and sticking to about 70mph not too hard, I could get as high as 30mpg. But what fun is that? In the EX probably no matter how much I tried to control the speed and acceleration, I cant get better than 22 highway. I guess thats where the big difference comes in. The 4 cyl turbo in the saab on the highway gets good mileage, but in the city where the turbo is spooling up all the time its not so great either.So my feeling is the EX gets 14/15 city 21/22 highway. Hey i heard the Acura RDX doesn't have good gas mileage either and that is a 4cl turbo with only 260 hp.

Overall this car is way faster, has way more luxury, is built way better and has extras that actually are intuitive and work, unlike the Saab and the RDX. Again it is a more expensive car so that is expected. And along these lines, if I am getting a 45grand car(actually paid 38) with 300hp, I can't complain about mileage. I would get a Prius or a Civic if that was the case.

I still love this car and would never get another Saab. Case closed.

[bokingwen]

I get around 16 to 18 MPG driving mostly in the City (Chicago). I did do my reserach before purchasing the EX and some people do report 20+ MPG. At first I was kind of disappointed but than come to think of it with the power of the car close to 300 hp and AWD 16 to 18 is normal. After you need the fuel to power a engine like the EX have.

my 0.02

[302@12psi]

I've managed to average between 19-21 with my driving. Doesnt seem to matter what percentage I do on the highway or backroads. I VERY rarely do any stop and go or city driving.

It's a small SUV with a 300 hp motor that's out of several sports cars. It's not going to get awesome milage.

[specialist23]

try resetting the mpg.

[M45Caliber]

it appears that there is a "real life" difference of about 3 or 4 MPG between the AWD and RWD Ex's. I just went out and checked the computer on my wifes EX35 RWD. We haven't reset it in over 5,000 miles and it's showing a average of 22.1 MPG over that time. Her driving is about 40/60 city/freeway driving. She does have a "lighter foot" than I do, but she's still pretty agressive sometimes.

It seems that most AWD EX's are getting maybe 16 to 19 average?

[inteller]

yes mine is around 16-19, but considering the ice storm outside, I'll take my poor mileage to get the awesome handling!

[specialist23]

it appears that there is a "real life" difference of about 3 or 4 MPG between the AWD and RWD Ex's. I just went out and checked the computer on my wifes EX35 RWD. We haven't reset it in over 5,000 miles and it's showing a average of 22.1 MPG over that time. Her driving is about 40/60 city/freeway driving. She does have a "lighter foot" than I do, but she's still pretty agressive sometimes.

It seems that most AWD EX's are getting maybe 16 to 19 average?

don't you think that taking a "sample" of 5k miles is a bit off? now don't get me wrong, you shouldn't go by a sample of lets say even 10 miles but i'd say a good few days worth or even a week would be a good sample of what real mpg would be.

[M45Caliber]

I disagree -- empirically, 5,000 miles is much better than 1 tank, as you are ensured of your mileage being impacted by all driving conditions, traffic scenarios and even climatic changes. I believe a statistician would tell you the same thing. One tank all freeway might yield 25 mpg. Another tank all city might yield only 17 mpg -- but over the course of 5,000 miles all of these variables even out.

[RCHarris]

To the poster that said it sounds like buyer's remorse I would say, yes, this is partially true. You see I was specifically looking for a '08 G35 Coupe when I purchased my EX35. The Coupe was uncomfortable for me and the EX fit like a glove, so without so much as 15 minutes worth of investigation (my bad), I bought the car on the spot. That was in February of last year and 9,000 miles ago.

I've never been particularly concerned about mileage in the past. I have two classic sports cars in the garage and neither one gets more than 12 or 14 mpg. Fortunately, my wife drives a new Prius :>). But this past summer it came home to roost when I was paying $4.89 gallon for supreme here in the SF Bay Area. Can I afford that, of course. Should I have to afford that? No. There are a number of high performance cars on the market that are fun to drive, well built and still deliver reasonable gas mileage. Infiniti knows they have a problem, that is part of why they are introducing the 3.7 next year - a more fuel efficient and powerful engine.

Mostly the reason I'm unhappy is that I bought this car expecting that it would be around a while and that it wouldn't become an ugly stepsister to Infiniti's other offerings. What I am seeing is virtually no manufacturer advertising support for the EX, no aftermarket support for the EX and no particular interest in the concerns of the consumers who supported the car upon its introduction and have issues. What we have is an outstanding car that seems to appeal to a very limited number of consumers. Since I pay cash for my cars, I am always concerned about resale down the road. Lousy mileage isn't going to help that.Like I said in my original post, I love this car. I'm just not sure I want it in my garage when Infiniti pulls the plug on it.

Randy

[marlin29311]

I've never been particularly concerned about mileage in the past. I have two classic sports cars in the garage and neither one gets more than 12 or 14 mpg. Fortunately, my wife drives a new Prius :>). But this past summer it came home to roost when I was paying $4.89 gallon for supreme here in the SF Bay Area. Can I afford that, of course. Should I have to afford that? No. There are a number of high performance cars on the market that are fun to drive, well built and still deliver reasonable gas mileage. Infiniti knows they have a problem, that is part of why they are introducing the 3.7 next year - a more fuel efficient and powerful engine.

The 3.7 liter VQ is not any more fuel efficent than the 3.5 liter - any gains in fuel economy have mostly come from the transmissions (ie, the 7 speed automatic offering on the new G37 sedan), maybe a little bit from the introduction of VVEL on the 3.7 - the 3.7 is just the natural evolution of the VQ engines that have come all the way from a 2.0 liter and now have offerings in the 3.5, 3.7, and 4.0 liter sizes. Its not a problem, it's an upgrade...anyone purchasing a luxury vehicle understands the trade off from buying a large displacement engine with high power and it's effects on fuel economy - it's just very difficult to make powerful engines run like a small 4-cylinder!

Mostly the reason I'm unhappy is that I bought this car expecting that it would be around a while and that it wouldn't become an ugly stepsister to Infiniti's other offerings. What I am seeing is virtually no manufacturer advertising support for the EX, no aftermarket support for the EX and no particular interest in the concerns of the consumers who supported the car upon its introduction and have issues. What we have is an outstanding car that seems to appeal to a very limited number of consumers. Since I pay cash for my cars, I am always concerned about resale down the road. Lousy mileage isn't going to help that.Like I said in my original post, I love this car. I'm just not sure I want it in my garage when Infiniti pulls the plug on it.

Note that the car is only a year old! It takes time for aftermarket compaines to begin making products for new model vehicles - the same is true of my Altima coupe. The car is only a year old, and there are not nearly as many mods for the car out right now as there are for previous versions of the altima. Even the same holds true for the G37 - there are no where near as many aftermarket parts for the G37 as there are for the G35 - aftermarket compaines (like Stillen, Tein, K&M, etc...) all have previous projects that they have been doing R&D for, and don't have the capital or resources in this economy to begin taking on even more projects before other ones have been completed. Rest assured, as with all other Nissan/Infiniti products, there will be aftermarket support - the EX has done well so far for Infiniti's line up, and there doesn's seem to be any indication of removing it from the line - Infiniti would not have made the vehicle if it was a loser.

Are you using the in-dash computer to figure out your gas mileage? If so - reset it! That number is the aggregate mpg number from when it was last reset. As some others have mentioned, this is a large vehicle - you're not going to see excellent gas mileage as you would with the same engine in the sedan or coupe - and you are on an AWD setup as well, which also consumes more power.

[RCHarris]

Hey Marlin,

I appreciate your loyalty and optimism. I sincerely hope you are right.

Listen, I paid $39,000 cash for my EX35 just 10 months ago. I smile every time I drive it, but that doesn't mean it's flawless. At first I couldn't really find a nit to pick. But eventually issues come up and you become aware that, like all cars, no matter the price, this one has its faults.

My gut feeling, and that's all it is, is that the EX isn't gonna be around for long.The reported sales numbers have been awfully low to make a good business case for the continuance of this model beyond it's first design iteration (what's that, 3 years?). The economy is forcing every car maker to cut back and re-visit their model line ups. I agree that aftermarket vendors are often slow to recognize need and tool up for same. But I also know that if this was a model that they had confidence in, there would be some activity and I see almost none.

Why hasn't Nissan/Infiniti supported this car with media advertising? They are pushing the G cars and the FX cars, not the EX. What does that tell you? The only "support" from Infinity that I have seen is large cash incentives to move inventory off the lots. Correct me if I'm wrong.

So, perhaps you're right. I sincerely hope you are. But I'm still concerned that when I go to sell my EX35 in 3 or 4 years, it will be a disappointment. Guess I'll have to drive it and keep smiling.

Randy

[marlin29311]

My guess is that it's a regional thing - here in the northeast, I see several billboards with the EX on it when driving on the interstate highways.

I think the problem with the ads is that people are more tuned into the performance cars from infiniti than they are from the suv/crossover market. People want to see the G because it's one of the most successful cars ever.

Crossovers don't get much attention in the media anyway, unless you're Ford, and even they've backed off. Consumers are more interested in smaller, more fuel efficent vehicles at the moment, so while that is the current trend, you are going to see more ads for the Ford Focus, the Honda Civic, etc (the small cars) - that's what people want to buy. When's the last time you saw an ad for the Cadillac SRX? Probably not for a long time, but that's a crossover that hasn't left the Cadillac line.

Hell, my coupe doesn't get any ad time - I've yet to see anything with the Altima Coupe on it - but it's not going anywhere!

No matter how the vehicle does, it still carries the Infiniti badge on it, and that should always guarantee a good re-sell value in the future - quality, even on discontined cars, is always prevelant.

[SteveTheTech]

I disagree -- empirically, 5,000 miles is much better than 1 tank, as you are ensured of your mileage being impacted by all driving conditions, traffic scenarios and even climatic changes. I believe a statistician would tell you the same thing. One tank all freeway might yield 25 mpg. Another tank all city might yield only 17 mpg -- but over the course of 5,000 miles all of these variables even out.

I like the long term overall average as apposed to a tank by tank calculation. Gas formulation,ambient temperature and humidity greatly effect gas mileage so taking a long term average with two drivers over 5,000 miles is the way all the major automotive publications provide their real world testing. Plus it's much easier to keep of a long term test.

I smile every time I drive it, but that doesn't mean it's flawless. At first I couldn't really find a nit to pick. But eventually issues come up and you become aware that, like all cars, no matter the price, this one has its faults.

My gut feeling, and that's all it is, is that the EX isn't gonna be around for long.The reported sales numbers have been awfully low to make a good business case for the continuance of this model beyond it's first design iteration (what's that, 3 years?). The economy is forcing every car maker to cut back and re-visit their model line ups. I agree that aftermarket vendors are often slow to recognize need and tool up for same. But I also know that if this was a model that they had confidence in, there would be some activity and I see almost none.

Why hasn't Nissan/Infiniti supported this car with media advertising? They are pushing the G cars and the FX cars, not the EX. What does that tell you? The only "support" from Infinity that I have seen is large cash incentives to move inventory off the lots. Correct me if I'm wrong.

So, perhaps you're right. I sincerely hope you are. But I'm still concerned that when I go to sell my EX35 in 3 or 4 years, it will be a disappointment. Guess I'll have to drive it and keep smiling.

First off I would like to welcome you to Nico.

I understand how you feel about the things you have listed here. Five year depreciation on all Infiniti (even the QX56) models is pretty average with the comparable other high lines. All cars depreciate and maybe there will be greater demand if less are sold, people still pay good money for QX4s. As with all cars you will loose money whether there were an aftermarket to pimp your ride, it's just the nature of the beast. Having AWD as apposed to RWD is as mentioned a key factor in overall MPGs that are observed. The additional weight and power loss through the ATTESSA system to redistribute the torque as required.

I think the main reason their ad campaigns have focused on the new G37s and FXs is they are new models and Infiniti seems to have cut their ad budgets to save money. The money they are spending is going to their broad market cars. I'm not knocking your choice but in general, the EX is a niche market car. Whereas advertising for a G includes potential coupe,coupe awd,coupe Sport,sedan,sedan awd, and sedan sport awd buyers. The FX has been anticipated for a few years as an update on a great vehicle, and is also available in several variations to appeal to more people.

[Mixelplux]

I went in for a G, but walked out with the EX. Main reason of that is cause of the interior feel. The G looks dangerously close to my TSX. The EX gave me a brand new feel. With that said I get about 15mpg with 60% city with my RWD version.

[EXceptional]

Coop... sell your Car and get something else.

You don't need my permission... and you won't hurt my feelings, either.

[aft981]

Well I'm actually pleasantly surprised by the mileage I'm getting off each tank.

I drive an 80 mile round trip commute each day, an average (depending which way I go, sometimes I get bored!) 60% hwy.

I had an '04 AWD Murano before this, and used to get between 18 and 20mpg average (I always reset one of the odometers AND the onboard avg mpg setting each time I fill up).

With my EX I haven't had a single tank average under 19mpg yet. The average mpg shown in the digital display between the speedo and tacho reads 20.9mpg. I haven't reset that since I got the car in May. The fuel economy screen under 'Info' which has the bar chart thing of average readouts between each reset shows consistently 20mpg or above (I reset after each fill up). The car now has 21,000 miles on it.

Like I said, I'm more than happy, especially as I have a bit of a lead foot! I've actually been trying to drive a little easier this last tank, I'm 230 miles into it and am averaging 21-22 (that bar chart isnt the easiest thing to read!).

With 40+ more HP than my old Murano, and with the way it begs to be driven, I couldn't ask for more really!

Oh, its AWD too.

[EXceptional]

Another thought of mine...

If you're having fun driving it, who cares about mileage anyways.

[Tora]

Another thought of mine...

If you're having fun driving it, who cares about mileage anyways.

I would think anyone who is socially, environmentally or cost conscious would care about the mileage.

[EXceptional]

I would think anyone who is socially, environmentally or cost conscious would care about the mileage.

If you're all of these three, then how come you own a Car ?


Modified by EXceptional at 2:02 AM 1/31/2009

[aft981]

Bike $0/gallon. Funny, but I started thinking, and its not quite true.

If you cycle 5 miles to work, especially in the summer months, you'll get dehydrated. You'll need to drink. If you get Deer Park delivery to your home (cheaper than buying bottles), 20 gallons a month costs 30 bucks. 1.50/gallon. Not that much cheaper than gas, and how many miles can you cycle on a gallon?

Then you have to think about the energy used to refine, filter, bottle and transport the water. And then if you are cycling to and from work, or wherever, your clothes will get dirtier quicker, so more laundry, with those costs associated.

Not all its cracked up to be, this cycling malarkey. lol

PS I do actually own a bike and do cycle regularly from Spring - Autumn. Just not to work, cos by the time I got there it would be time to turn round and come home.

[gloa2000]

I recalculated my mpg since my last post, i did 100% Local and my computer says its 18.6 mpg. Bring your car to dealer and have them check your engine or try manual calculation (mileage/gallons math). It could simply be your computer.

or Do you have 22s on your EX? bigger diameter on your wheels with tires can fool your computer to give false mpgs.

[splautz]

I just got my EX. It's AWD. It seems to be doing around 15mpg with 300 or so miles on it. I took it in to get some accessories put on and they gave me a loaner car to drive, which is identical to my EX with AWD, except it doesn't have the tech & luxe packages with only 17' wheels. Mine has the 18' wheels with luxe package. This loaner has been getting noticably better gas milage then mine.. Do you think it's the difference in wheel size or extra power from the tech features (extra sonar, lasar for ICC, cameras, xenon hl etc) causing the difference? Or perhaps these cars get better mileage once the engine is broken in? The loaner has over 5000 miles on it already. Another theory is maybe they put regular unleaded gas in it before giving it to me.

[marlin29311]

or Do you have 22s on your EX? bigger diameter on your wheels with tires can fool your computer to give false mpgs.

If someone has 22's on their car, they should be wise enough to change the aspect ratio of the sidewall on the tire to match the same diameter as the previous tire, otherwise your speedometer will be off by a lot.

[gbear]

I live in Dallas, and I have owned 2 Infiniti G-35's one stick (2005) and one auto (2007), and neither got mileage as good as the EX(rwd). I generally get about 18-19 in a combination of city/highway, and I drive extremely agressively. I noticed that the EX is geared higher than the G's with the Tach at about 2700 rpm at 80 mph, while the G's were turning over about 3400 rpm. This makes the EX much better on the highway. I have gotten 25 several times on the highway averaging about 75 in cruise, and the best the G ever did in Dallas was 23.7. In Denver at higher elevation the G's got about 25-26 highway, but I have not gotten the EX up there yet. There is a distinct difference with elevation in mpg, with higher elevations delivering much better mpg. I have also noticed this in a 300C, a Tahoe, and in a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

[gloa2000]

If someone has 22's on their car, they should be wise enough to change the aspect ratio of the sidewall on the tire to match the same diameter as the previous tire, otherwise your speedometer will be off by a lot.

That is my question, if they did not think of 22s getting much bigger than 17 or 18s with reg tires, they mpg will be lowered, since their speedo is off. Also there are lots of FX owners reporting 13-16 mpg, especially with sports pkg, bigger wheels=more direct weight to the transmission=worse mpg.