Removing plastic stuff on roof, MPG

Any impact on gas mileage?
Better airflow for sunroof?

what year X is it? i take the basket and wind deflector off and it helps on the MPG by about 1 or 2mpg, my main reason of taking it off though is to use the sunroof, but i put everything back on in the winter

00 X though all years basket seems to be about the same?

just curious because i wasnt sure on the 05s, never seen one without the basket

1-2 mpg is a pipe dream.

It's negligable.

well i had it on until mid spring averaging anywhere between 15-15.5mpg and in the summer with it off i was getting around 17.5 overall mpg, so i personally noticed a difference,and yes i know about the winter blend of fuel if that gets brought up, because i put the wind deflector back on before the switch to the winter blend and my mpg went back down, varies from truck to truck i guess, i remember there was a thread on it somewhere..

Yup.

Agreed.

I think they changed it around 2002 to reduce wind noise, then again in 2005 (definately different for 2005).

Not sure if there were tweaks in any other years...

I'm sorry, me too. It's such a small change to the vehicles shape in comparison to the height and overall "boxiness" of the Xterra.

If you put bikes or skis etc up top the wind noise is cut similar to the fairings Yakima and Thule sell

I don't think its the plastic that is causing air restrictions that hurts mileage as much as it is a weight issue. Removing ANY weight will increase gas mileage to some extent. You really won't see much improvement at all by removing the plastic. However...I guess you could ride around in a frame with a seat bolted to it and get 25 mpg if you really want to!

I took all the plastic crap off the roof the day it came home.

I can use the sunroof, and the remote GPS antenna can see the sat's.

I'm not a big fan of plastic gew-gaws.

The X just looks awefully naked without anything on top. I have taken the basket out for now but the faring is in there.

I take the wind deflector off during the winter. It becomes an ice and snow trap that sounds like stones banging on roof and racks. That's irritating after driving a while until the snow and ice breaks off.

As far as mileage improvement is concerned, none really in the winter because of winter grade fuel. And I also think, because colder air is denser, it provides more rolling resistance.

It's just a theory of mine, but I remember from my ground school days (and verified somewhat while working in the aircraft manufacturing business) that colder, denser air allows aircraft's wings to produce greater lift and take off in less distance, than say, a hot day.

In flight school classes, same thing, colder air is denser...same thing in physics and chemistry actually.



And - on the plus side....the colder air provideds a denser charge to the engine's fresh air intake...the colder the intake air, the more combustion can be supported, as in, the more air, the more gas, and, the more power.