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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
You are in the Jeep Cherokee and Jeep Grand Cherokee Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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I have a new 07 JGC 4WD Laredo with the 4.7 V8 that can burn E85 (85% ethanol). E85 is fairly common in the upper midwest although even in our SE MN town of 100K there are only 10 stations that offer it (Iowa, Illinois have quite a few spots, not as much in Wisconsin). I waited until March to try it since it does not start well in below zero temps which we had intermittently during our longer than normal MN winter. I know there is a lot of debate on the viability of current corn based ethanol and I am not a big proponent of that but do believe when/if we get the cellulosic "switch grass" ethanol refinery and distribution perfected we may see real benefits to this alternate fuel in 5 years or so ... and I bought my lifetime powertrain warranty Jeep to last me at least 10 years. Here is an excerpt of a posting I just posted on an E85 forum: I am now on my 4th tank of E85 which has crept up from $2.28 to 2.39 and now 2.49 in just the past month in SE MN. Of course reg 87 gas w/10-15% ethanol has gone to $3.15 and now 3.25. Yikes. So E85 at 2.49/3.25 is 24% cheaper than gas (I got lucky & filled at 2.39 one more time, but corn is going up in price - where is our cellulosic ethanol please !?!?). My MPG varies from around 13 in town to 17 on a hilly 60mph 2 lane road. I got 16mpg  70 mph level freeway that measured earlier at 19mpg w/gas which works out to 16/19 or 16% less than gas. Net: I am slightly ahead with E85, 8% savings or on a $150/mon gas bill I save $12. Not a big deal and still harder to find stations. And some are higher than $2.49 so any advantage rapidly diminishes. It feels good to fill up at $2.39 but you do it more too. If GM and the government would push cellulosic "switch grass" ethanol we might start seeing real reasons to use it but for now with all the subsidies etc I am not in the E85 cheering squad, but not a naysayer either. |
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Replying to: steve_ (Jun 17, 2006 1:52 pm) I just changed all the fluids to Amsoil, Motor Oil, oil filter, Trans fluid, front and rear diffs, and transfer case. I've always used Mobil 1 but afer looking at the ball wear test data found Mobil 1 to be at the bottom of the pile. Spent a little more for my Jeep. This is about a 4 mile per gallon increase from last years same trip, the jeep seems to want to coast forever.
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Replying to: albo2 (Apr 20, 2008 5:54 pm) |
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Replying to: albo2 (Apr 20, 2008 5:54 pm) |
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Hi, Thought I would post some of my fuel mileage numbers for this forum. As of my last fill-up I now have 17603 miles (since new purchase last August). I recently (at the 16881 mile point) calculated the average of my fill-ups for the first approx 1/2 of ownership (8344 miles) and the 2nd half (the 16881 mileage). The numbers are: 1st half = 25.172 actual mpg. 2nd half = 25.577 actual mpg. Note, of course this is for all mileage, not just hwy or commuting miles; this is my only vehicle so I do everything including stop-n-go grocery shopping with it. A few other numbers of possible interest: in my vehicle (as I pointed out several months ago) the Trip Computer reads low. I keep track of this too (see below) and the overall average since new is it reads 1.87 low. And the overall average of my fill-ups since new is now at 25.428 (and continuing to climb). Here is my last fill-up - I'll test the formatting in this editor to see if it holds when I post it.. - and then post more numbers in the next message: Odometer Trip Computer Trip Dist. Gallons MPG ACTUAL Trip comptr diff. 17603 24.2 399.3 14.859 26.872 2.67 Later. |
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Okay - that formatting doesn't work!! So, I'll enter it differently. Here are the last several of my fill-up data in this format: Odom - 14983 Trp Cmptr - 22.5 Trip Dist - 388.4 Gals - 15.609 ACTUAL - 24.883 MPG (Trp Cmptr error - 2.38) 15437 24.2 453.4 17.452 25.979 MPG (1.78) 15769 23.3 331.9 13.291 24.971 MPG (1.67) 16128 25.3 358.8 12.990 27.621 MPG (2.32) 16462 24.2 334.6 12.524 26.716 MPG (2.52) 16881 24.8 418.9 15.758 26.583 MPG (1.78) 17203 24.3 322.0 12.489 25.782 MPG (1.48) ...and the latest posted in prev msg.. Pls recall that I previously checked the odometer and trip meters with a GPS, which showed them essentially spot on. The only issue is the trip computer calculation which you can see varies each time. Keep in mind, even with the current 65-70 cent difference in fuel costs (vs. regular), I am still ahead or breaking even because I am on pace for my planned 30,000 miles per year - so I do enough mileage for that one aspect to make sense. Also keep in mind the majority of this has been cold weather miles. Supposedly, diesel efficiency will become better in warm weather but of course I'm not banking on that; we'll see shortly anyway... I agree with whoever that the vehicle is very comfortable for long distance driving. Plus, the extra sound proofing w/the diesel option makes it very, very quite. I really do absolutely love the vehicle and am very glad I went this route. It really makes tons of sense for me, although I understand not for everyone. Later.
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Hi all, Sorry; meant to post this sooner but had lost it for awhile. Anyway, short synopsis: moving from SUVs in the mid-teens MPG up to say low-mid MPG is far more important that moving from Civics or whatever to higher MPG small hybrids, etc. Probably many of you have already surmised this, but the actual graphs and math help tell the story. Here is the main link: http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2007/12/20/18-is-enough And/or, you can more quickly see the math here: http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2007/12/19/how-suvs-can-save-the-- climate So, I thought this was interesting and maybe a little relevant. |
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Replying to: sahara111 (Apr 21, 2008 1:24 pm)
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Replying to: 96gc1owner (May 06, 2008 4:51 pm) Not much time available tonight, so short and sweet. Here are my 2 recent highway-only (ie, very little local/town and no slower commuting): - I had one trip from western WA to south-eastern WA, a little local mileage there, and then continued to northern Idaho, and then all the way back to western WA. Involved at least 2 very cold (sat outside) starts, and some snow/ice driving, some 2-lane highway passing and otherwise normal interstate speeds (75mph avg roughly); distance on trip meter was 893.9 miles and I got 23.62 mpg for the whole trip. - The other trip was from the same starting point, same route to eastern WA and then return to western WA. The mileage included some local miles, and on the trip over a lot of 80-90mph cruising (following some Subaru turbo); this includes up the pass at 70-80 and then to 80-90 w/sustained 90mph for minutes at a time (several of those...), and then on the return portion a bit more moderate 75-80mph. I filled up at the 327.6 miles point and I had 22.95 mpg. I personally thought that was great; I didn't hold back, I really had fun with it and let it fly - passed everything going uphill, it's just a great engine. Both of these were open highway, several passes, many many hills, no drafting, some wind thrown in too. No. I think the best I can get under ideal conditions (ie, while commuting around the metro on freeways) is maybe 28 or 29; I have one 27.62mpg and one 27.759mpg and those include at least a minor amount of local town, stoplights, etc. I believe I will hit 28 at least once by summers end (around 30,000 miles total) and maybe by 40k I may be able to hit the rare 29 - but I'm not counting or betting on that, and again, that's ideal conditions (for me anyway). I say that because a) it is continuing to slowly get better, b) I have some recent experience with a Passat TDI - which did the same thing...and c) I am using an excellent european oil, but, will have changed it 3 times vs. 2 times by the 25,000 miles point - meaning, the engine has had cleaner oil in it than otherwise, and so it will continue to 'break in' well past the 25000 mile point as I begin to follow the oil change recommended (every 12,500 miles...). I'm using the Elf Solaris LSX 5w-30 full synthetic (meets the MB 229.51 spec and ACEA C3 spec). However - if Jeep would sell this thing in 2wd only (do they now in 2008..?), then I'm perfectly convinced that 30mpg would be very achievable at least sometimes; if they would/could clean up the aerodynamics a bit more, then it would go higher. Both of these are easily, easily done - if they would just do it. Stupid if they are not planning to IMO. Further, they may need to consider offering a different rear end option; and/or a 7-spd transmission as MB does in some of it's CDI offerings (as I understand it - not sure about their 2 SUVs...?). Keep in mind my 2007 has Jeep's heaviest, supposedly most capable 4wd system the Quadra-Drive 2 I think it is called; more moving and interconnecting parts and thus inefficiencies, plus the rear-end ratio is oriented to towing and off-roading (ie, pulling serious loads). Again, a 2wd version with a couple minor changes could get serious mpg for such a vehicle and still retain respectable towing (what most people would like in addition to great MPG). Later. |
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I just bought a 2007 Cherokee Overland edition w/ 4500 miles on it from a dealership. It's the Hemi. The sticker said 14 - 19 mpg...which yes from owning plenty of other cars, I know that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get that. However from my experience I can usually expect that I'll be somewhere in the middle or at least w/in that range. Well to my surprise in the 2 weeks I've owned it I've gotten 11 - 14 mpg even on fairly conservative driving. Freeway at speeds between 65 - 80 mph I averaged about 14 mpg max. That's at the lowest range on the sticker. I called 2 dealerships and both said that is not necessarily abnormal for this vehicle and that it may be my driving style. Bottom line I have never ran across this much disparity on mpg on a vehicle. I love the HEMI engine but had I known, I probably would have steered away from this vehicle. Any thoughts on this? I'm using 87 octane, tire pressure about 32-33, etc. The freeway miles were w/ my air conditioner on most of the time due to 90 degree weather and a baby in the car...that I'm sure is making a difference too. Thanks in advance.
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