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SUVs Jeep Cherokee and Jeep Grand Cherokee Jeep Grand Cherokee Real World MPG
102 messages, Last post on Jan 04, 2009 at 10:46 PM
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Replying to: sahara111 (Dec 02, 2007 11:50 am) - We got the 7/70 Added care all major components for $600 on day of purchase, which I can upgrade to the max care by 3/36 for no fee. The dealer admits they cut the price by $400 over what Chrysler charges to keep us coming to their shop, but I have had pretty good luck over the past 20 years with them. Last Spring I put a full Max care 7/70 on my Chrysler 300 that had the 7/70 drivetrain already for $900 so $600 seemed fairly reasonable. It was interesting to see a Lifetime Maxcare available for the Jeep but at $1900 I did not have the cash. - Glad the cold weather starting challenges have improved, just think how gas engines were in the carb vs FI days! We don't get too many -20 overnights in S MN so I'm sure the CRDs are ok here with warmup patience. I honest do want to try the E85 eventually but that also does not work well below zero, it's tempting with one station in town selling it at $2.15, others are 2.39, I just plan to wait a couple months. Based on technical reading, I believe the switchgrass based ethanol vs corn will be a good alternatve in another 5 years. - And I agree Chrysler (and others) need to be working more options for fuel efficiency improvements. In measurements this fall the AWD Saturn Outlook did 10% better at mpg in a heavier vehicle, it just was priced WAY above the Jeep without features my wife wanted. I was happy with my old '01 JGC 4L Selectrac (shift in 4WD all the time) that got 1mpg better in 2WD mode 8 months of the year. Now Selectrac's only on the Liberty which I initially planned to buy w/V6, but it was not a good handler/rider nor quite enough interior room despite good head room. Perhaps the new 4L in the Nitro & Pacifica with MDS and Selectrac could squeek out 24mpg in the JGC and still be able to tow 5000 lb? Or perhaps people buying these deluxe SUV/CUVs don't want to think about shifting or switching in any type of AWD, keep it automatic, whats a few mpg? |
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Replying to: sahara111 (Dec 02, 2007 11:50 am) It certainly appears that you did your homework and purchased the correct vehicle for your intended purchases. I do have some questions and comments. You say you need serious power for heavy duty towing and for off roading. "The 3.8l and 4.7 engines were not options for me; no interest". Yet you also said earlier that the Hilander and Saturn were your 2nd choices, after the GC diesel. Neither of those have the towing ability or trail-ability of the GC 4.7. This is a bit confusing. What is the difference in rated towing of the Diesel GC and the 4.7 GC? The GC tow package includes a 7 pin electrical trailer connector, for towing heavy duty trailers with electric brakes? I don't believe those are available from the dealer for the Highlander or Saturn. What is the price difference of the 4WD GC diesel when compared to an identical equipped GC with the 4.7 after rebates. Are fuel additives for the diesel required on a regular basis? What do they cost? Does the diesel have a turbo? If so, is there extra expense involved such as more frequent oil changes than a gas engine? I'm asking this based on ongoing experiences with my diesel farm tractors that tend to dirty the oil quickly. And I understand that the high revving turbos units themselves like clean oil. This last question is for the poster that said it is much more expensive to process diesel than gasoline. I've heard that before and feel it must be true! I just don't understand WHY! The feel and smell of diesel, right out of the pump, seems to suggest it is much closer to crude than gas and therefore not refined as much, thus should be less costly. Any ideas! Thanks, Kip
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Replying to: kipk (Dec 03, 2007 5:08 am) I did some checking on my own and came up with some interesting numbers from Edmunds. The Diesel does produce 376 # of torque vs 335 # for the new 4.7. This would indeed give the diesel an advantage in "Grunt". However the Diesel only produces 215 HP compared to 305 for the 4.7. For everyday driving the 4.7 is going to be a lot stronger for passing and so forth. Advantage goes to the 4.7. Some of us get better than EPA estimates, while others get worse, with what ever we drive. All we can go by is the EPA window sticker. These numbers come from identical testing that can be duplicated over and over again. The testing procedures have been re tuned to more duplicate today's driving habits. They are all lower than they used to be. For towing, the Diesel GC has the advantage at 7400# vs the 4.7 at 6500#. Nothing really earthshaking there. We have to also consider the chassis set up and the gearing. The 4.7 is no slouch. Keep in mind that in a full size Ram the 4.7 is rated to tow 9100# according to edmunds. And that is with the 235 hp and 300# torque 4.7 engine. According to Edmunds, the diesel is not sold in states that adhear to California emission guidelines. Back to fuel cost. With the EPA ratings of 14/19 gas (4.7) and 17/22 diesel . Advantage 3 mpg diesel. I realize you are getting more than that, but a lot of gas folks beat the EPA also, so let's stick to facts that can be duplicated. Warranties have been 36k/3yr, 60k/5yr and so forth. Indicating about 12K a year for the average driver. With that average driver doing a little more city than town, the numbers will look like 16mpg gas, and 19mpg diesel. Still 3mpg diesel advantage. At $3 for gas and $3.25 for diesel the gas will cost $2250 a year. Diesel will cost $2052 a year. At $4 and $4.30 the gas will cost $3000 and diesel $2715. The $200-$300 savings per year for the average driver in fuel has to be weighed against the difference in initial cost and any differences in additives, oil changes, and so forth. Example: IF the initial cost of identical equipped vehicles is $2000 more for the diesel, that $2000 sitting in a CD at 5% will grow to $3257 in 10 years. At the higher $300 diesel fuel savings a year, the average driver will save $3000 in fuel cost for that 10 year period. So in 10 years the average driver has not reached the break even point. Of course if the diesel driver put the yearly savings into Cds it would add up and actually show some savings by driving the diesel. IF the purchase price is the same for diesel and gas engines, the diesel wins, by $200-$300 a year. ! Problem with all of this is that the average driver will not keep a vehicle long enough or drive enough miles for a diesel to pay for itself if it cost more!. Some will. In your case, you need to pull more than 6500# and less than 7400#, and you drive 32k miles a year. The diesel should meet your needs and save you some money.  Kip |
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Replying to: sahara111 (Dec 02, 2007 1:49 am)
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Replying to: coolrider (Jan 14, 2008 4:39 pm) Very few drivers these days ever consider how they use their vehicles. Oh sure, they have utterances of being environmentally conscious, having concern about mileage and costs but who can honestly say that they have reduced the number of their vehicles or have decided to combine a number of stops in to one trip rather than just getting in the vehicle and going where they want when they want to? What does better mileage have to do with these decisions? Does better gas mileage justify the lack true conservation? I don't think so. When my children were small (30 years ago) I worked as many as three jobs at a time to meet our needs. My wife and I had to make tough choices about groceries, cars, vacations and travel. We understood that groceries, health care and housing came before luxuries. We had one used car-a two door Datson (now called Nissan)710 and it got about 25 miles per gallon. We grocery shopped once a week, I swapped out driving with two co-workers on two of my jobs and I walked to work (seven blocks) for my primary job. The price of gas was less but the real cost was substantially more with my gross monthly earnings at about $750.00. It is not that the gas is high now but rather that we want to use our money for non-essential things and feel oppressed when we have to make adult choices or if we are even threatened with adult choices about when and how we use vehicles. I am sorry but driving a "high mileage car" to make yourself feel superior while owning several computers, DVD players, Ipods, cell phones, multiple and or big screen and or HD TVs, having a carpeted , fully air-conditioned house with all the appliances and 2300 square feet or more is just short of delusional. If folks really want to express some altruistic or some necessary economical behavior, drop the trinkets, sell all but one car and live in a modest house. Having a vehicle that gets even double the gas mileage of another vehicle is a drop in the bucket for the "environmental" cost of your existence. I am not suggesting that it's necessary at all but get real. The best way to save fuel is just to slow down and drive less. |
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I have a 07 3.6l larado and I am getting horrible mileage. I can actually see he needle move when i'm just driving around town. I figure the mileage to be about 9-10 MPG. A full tank is only hitting about 195 miles around town. Is this normal and what are others getting?
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Replying to: kwteng2 (Jan 17, 2008 11:42 am) A tank lasts over a week and I do not see the needle move. Seems like you need to have your dealer do some work: any smell of gas (leaks)? are you driving conservatively, ie keep it at the speed limits with slow smooth starts from stop and coasting vs braking a fair distance before a light? My son has our 01 4L I6 and gets 13 in pure in town driving, fairly aggressive but it's got 85K miles and needs plugs this spring. Yours seems very low mpg. |
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Replying to: kwteng2 (Jan 17, 2008 11:42 am) After driving home (which I call "city" driving but has 1 mile of freeway,2 miles of 45 mph with a few stop lights and 1 mile of frequent stop/go ... so perhaps it's more suburban than pure city) I was up to 14 mpg in 7 miles. -NET- I am not sure what all that means but I suppose if you have pure stop/go city driving you could be in the 9mpg range around town and have nothing wrong with the vehicle, especially if you are in a cold part of the country with winter warmups and less efficiency too. |
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Replying to: brian211 (Jun 17, 2006 1:03 pm) |
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There apparently are two MPG Jeep sub-columns, so let me post this data here that I just put out on the other Jeep Owners: MPG-Real World Numbers. Here is what I have measured in 3 sets of conditions after about 2000 miles of initial breakin on the 2007 Laredo 4.7L V8 with X package AWD Jeep: 1. SE Minnesota winter driving Dec7-Jan12 25% highway/75% city driving using 87 octane (MN requires 15% ethanol in it's gas). 1000 miles 15.8 MPG using the onboard computer. Frequent remote starting with 3-4 min warmups too, so this represents "real life" in northern climates. 2. MN to central TX Jan26-27. Conservative driving at 65-70mph speed limits 98% fairly level freeway with 2 adults and about 400 lbs luggage. 1162 miles 62 gal or 18.75 mpg using actual mis & gallons BUT onboard computer shows 19.4 mpg. 3.Central TX back to MN Feb15-16. Slightly faster driving at 70-75mph, 2 adults and 500 lbs luggage (big storm "chasing" us back, bought souvenirs & too many groceries). 1181mis 64 gal 18.45 mpg $187 fuel costs, but computer showing better again almost 1 mpg better than actuals. So my computer calculated mpg seems to be about 1mpg or 5% better than reality, bummer. However, an interesting point: leaving the midwest the 87 octane gasoline is not mixed with 15% ethanol. (I have yet to try E85 due to our colder than normal hard winter where it runs rough below 10 degress and plan to try some this spring, but it's a known fact you lose 20-30% mpg/efficiency with E85.) I suspected coming back to the midwest gas pumps yesterday with a fill on the southern Iowa border my MPG might drop a bit due to this 15% ethanol ... but no, it improved?! The last 300 miles with this 15% ethanol based gas I got 19.2 mpg actual (20.2 on car computer). BTW, this 07 Jeep vehicle is SUPERB for handling and comfort as well. Compared to our 2001 Jeep it rides MUCH better. I'd get tired in the 01 after a 4 hr trip (it also was a loaded Laredo). I can easily drive this 07 Laredo for 8 hours and even did an 11 hour stint Feb 15, more than the longest road trip ever taken in my wife's 300M which I always considered to be the most comfortable road car we have ever owned. I now have 5600 miles on this 3 month old Jeep vehicle and it's impressing me so far, no problems. |
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