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Nissan Altima Real World MPG

302 messages,  Last post on Jun 07, 2013 at 4:12 PM

You are in the Nissan Altima Forum.

What is this discussion about? Nissan Altima, Fuel Efficiency (MPG), Sedan

Messages Page 30 of 31

#291 of 302 Re: Followup on low MPG: pollution&catalytic converters [m6user] by poormpginla

Sep 11, 2012 (12:36 pm)

Replying to: m6user (Sep 04, 2012 12:48 pm)
Yes, the expert did drive my car before our conversation. He got great mileage: presumably this is part of why he was impatient with me, since in his mind he had already spent an hour proving that there was nothing to complain about.
 
Of course, an expert driver paying attention only to his mileage, filling up the tank literally next to the onramp and and then the offramp so that he drove 99% on a freeway, was always going to get great mileage. He proudly showed me his receipts, proving he got 35mpg in my car. But I have effectively tried the same experiment, driving a couple of hours each way almost entirely on freeways . I got 32 mpg. (My OBC said I had been getting 35 mpg if you trust that more than my own fill-drive-refill-divide calculation.) Yes, my car can do it; no, I'm not an inherently gas-wasteful driver.
 
So why *have* I been getting between 14 mpg and 19 mpg on almost every tank of gas since I got the car (new)? The one surprising answer I have been given is that really short trips give really terrible mpg. So a (very) short commute does save me money on gas, but not quite as much as I would have thought.
 
It had never occurred to me that my car would burn significantly more gas in the first mile or two, revving fast in a fuel-inefficient effort to warm the catalytic converter quickly. It may not even be true. But I figured it was worth sharing the idea here.

#292 of 302 Re: Followup on low MPG: pollution&catalytic converters [poormpginla] by m6user

Sep 11, 2012 (3:28 pm)

Replying to: poormpginla (Sep 11, 2012 12:36 pm)
If the kind of driving you do most of the time is very, very short trips of less than 3-4 miles or running a bunch of errands where you start and stop the engine several times in a relatively short trip, then you are going to get the worst possible mileage. And that would be with any car but the newer cars it may even be worse than the old ones. The EPA city mpg test is not nearly as severe as I described above so you should expect significantly less MPG thant even the EPA city rating for your vehilce. Remember they try to simulate a lot of differnent kinds of city driving to come up with their city rating. Even the city rating will have a range associated with it and it sounds like your type of trips may be on the lower end or even lower than than the lower end of their city MPG range.
 
Comparing a car that is ten years old or older may not be a great comparison as these new cars are tuned a lot differently to get that high MPG in normal situations. If your situation is well off of normal than you may even get worse MPG with your newer car than with an older one if that makes any sense to you.

#293 of 302 Re: 2013 3.5 SL mpg [ahossa1] by mtpete

Sep 16, 2012 (1:43 pm)

Replying to: ahossa1 (Sep 07, 2012 10:10 am)
So far straight premium.
 
Just had another almost 600 mile trip - came in at 32 mpg, mixed driving, over steep mountain passes.

#294 of 302 2.5 SL with tech package by growing_credit

Sep 22, 2012 (11:40 am)

Few questions:
 
I have my altima for 2 weeks now and the guage shows me 28.4 mpg (may be bcs all of my driving has been in city and yesterday was stuck in traffic for 45 min due to acc) how to reset those numbers? I've yet to take a long trip on freeway and than see how the mpg numbers behave
 
One of my relative adivsed me to use premium every 4 - 5 fill ups that will extend engine life. Is that true? Can I do that? Has anyone any exp of how it affects engine?

#295 of 302 Re: bad MPG [jimfish1] by bartosis

Sep 22, 2012 (9:10 pm)

Replying to: jimfish1 (Jun 20, 2011 5:27 pm)
It is very sad that my 2011 2.5 Nissan Altima Coupe can't get better than 27 MPG on the highway. I do like quiet and comfort of my Coupe. I traded my 09 Civic hybrid in on this and I got 45 to 50 MPG all the time. The stated 32 MPG on the EPA window sticker was the deciding factor. Nissan grossly over estimated ergo... it was a lie. I don't know anybody that gets my 27 MPG let alone the 32 MPG Nissan advertised. I could have got the 3.5 or better yet a Mustang 5.0. I won't be buying a nissan again.

#296 of 302 Re: bad MPG [bartosis] by celidor

Sep 26, 2012 (4:29 am)

Replying to: bartosis (Sep 22, 2012 9:10 pm)
I have a 3.5 liter Nissan Maxima. Bigger engine than your 2.5 and the maxima is heavier than the Altima but I easily get better highway mileage than what you are getting. You should be getting much better MPG. It should be easy to get the EPA's numbers or better. Most people I know get much better MPG than what you're experiencing and most get better than the EPA.

#297 of 302 Nissan Altima 2011 mileage by dilipg

Feb 16, 2013 (4:37 pm)

My 2.5 S Altima has run 13500 miles but is giving a mileage of 8-9 MPG in New york city.
I am frustrated by its performance and the consumer Affairs of Nissan is of no help.
Any suggestions?

#298 of 302 Re: Nissan Altima 2011 mileage [dilipg] by jchd1340

Feb 17, 2013 (8:12 pm)

Replying to: dilipg (Feb 16, 2013 4:37 pm)
There is nothing you can do. i own an 07 2.5 with only 40k on it and my gas mileage is horrible ( 15 mpg average ) i tried everything! to no avail. spread the word and sell it. do not listen to anybody who says its because you don't know how to drive. it is the car!!!!!!!!!!!

#299 of 302 Re: Nissan Altima 2011 mileage [dilipg] by thegraduate

Apr 18, 2013 (7:44 am)

Replying to: dilipg (Feb 16, 2013 4:37 pm)
My 2.5 S Altima has run 13500 miles but is giving a mileage of 8-9 MPG in New york city.
I am frustrated by its performance and the consumer Affairs of Nissan is of no help.
Any suggestions?
 
Short trips = lower mileage. Having driven in NYC myself, I'm not surprised that its so low. You obviously make very short trips or you'd have more than 13k miles on a 2 year old car.

#300 of 302 Re: Nissan Altima 2011 mileage [jchd1340] by mlmcgahee

Apr 19, 2013 (5:41 am)

Replying to: jchd1340 (Feb 17, 2013 8:12 pm)
When is the last time you reset your mpg display. to get an accurate mpg you need to reset it right after every fill-up otherwise it will display the average mpg since the last time it was reset. How many months/miles have you driven since your last reset?
  
FYI
 
Page 2-18 of the owners manual
Average speed mode
The average speed mode can be selected to
display the average miles per gallon and miles per
hour since the last reset.
 
Mike

Messages Page 30 of 31

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