21 city MPG!!!

Since the gas hike to $3 per gallon I decided to do my very best to drive w/maximum gas mileage in mind. I just filled up last night and when I calculated my mileage I was at almost 21 mpg (20.85). Thats not bad considering there isn't one mile of that wasn't city driving. Albeit it is pretty flat down here in Fl.

I am curious as to what the best mpg is for everyone else.

MAn I hate driving like a grandma though to get it :rolleyes:

What RPM have you been shifting at? I need to try to take it easy, too. I've got about 5300 on the odo, so the engine should be loosening up, but i'm getting only about 18 city mpg, and 19 highway.

His is a 4x2 and yours is a 4x4 that is the difference. I get about what you get for mileage.

I average 17-18 MPG over a mix of highway and city driving.

^^^

That's about what I get.

i think theres something wrong with the trip computer. I never see anything more than 16 mpg. almost half city hlaf freeways.

With all due respect, I don't believe those numbers. I did a test recently where I babied it in city driving, and all I could manage was 16. I might accept 1 or 2 mpg more I suppose, but not 5, no way. Something wasn't calculated properly.

TLR - is that a standard or automatic?

I'm getting 18.4 consistantly. That's fine with me!

I hope this motor breaks in and loosens up pretty soon, because my mileage suck! Its not been over 16 yet!

I got my X in April '05 and it has 4500 miles on it. I have been keeping close tabs on the MPG, and in strictly city driving, I get between 20.2 to 20.8 mpg, and in strictly freeway driving I get 22.3 mpg with the 6 spd transmission.

Oh, I forgot to add, my very first fill up yielded only 17.2 mpg and after that I have been getting 20.2 to 20.8 mpg in the city. I am delighted with the Xterra performance.

MikeX
I understand being skeptical about the numbers. I was to at first although even before trying to conserve I never got below 17-18 city/ 20 hgwy.
I calculated the numbers 3 times and they are correct. 292 mile by 14 gal. = 20.857142857142857142857142857143

05_X
I have a 4x2 Standard

muffle
I was careful to try and shift no further then past 2k rpm. Happened a couple of times pulling out of parking lots and such but really I think the biggest gain was accelerating slowly from stoplight to stoplight

I average about 20 mpg, with a 5 spd manual and 4wd...I can drop that to 14-15 mpg by rushing and not timing traffic gaps, etc...and I can stretch it to about 25-26 if I drive gently for long stretches at constant speed.

I can also drop it to about 7 mpg if I am crawling over rocks/idling waiting for others to get over, etc... all day in 4wd lo.

I can see getting 25-26 mpg on long stretches of interstate or highway driving. 55-60 mph and it should be very possible. My biggest problem is driving 55-60mph :p

OK, I accept your data, good for you. I wasn't aware you had a manual. I guess if you keep the rpms low when you shift you can do it, but I don't think you are going to want to drive that way from now on!

I get about what everyone else gets. I figured it out since I bought my truck and am averaging between 19 to 20 depending how spirted I feel when I drive. I do only have 1400 miles on it though.

I'm getting between 18.6 and 18.8, it depends on how I drive. I try not to go above 65 to make my gas last. I told a buddy of mine who has a '05 Pathfinder to try easing off the gas some and since his MPG went up from 17 to 18, he has become a changed driver. He doesn't speed like he used too!!

I am averaging 20-21 since I started driving very conservatively (I keep it below 65 on the highway), check my tires every week and keep them at 35lbs, removed the basket and air dam from the roof rack and removed about 100 lbs of stuff from the truck.

I also removed the rear seat cushions and folded the rear seat backs flat since I am usually the only occupant.

I have pretty close to 7000 miles on the truck.

I don't have a trip computer so I calculate miles between fillups divided by the gallons.

It's important not to shift so early that you "diesel" the engine. Lugging is very hard on the engine. It's ok to coast downhill with no throttle at a super low rpm, but if you're trying to apply throttle and lugging it, you are degrading engine life.

So what does this all mean, I'm going to run into more people in Xterras going under 65 mph on the highway where the speed limit is 65 ?? Joy! Move over old people , there is a new slow type in town

I think if gas prices stay the way they are you will also be running into a lot of people who do not drive Xterras going under 65 mph.

You are very correct. It is definitley important to listen and feel out your engine more than watching your rpm. If you destroy your engine the money saved in gas won't help much. It's pretty easy here in Fl since it is so flat but I still generally find that I need to stay around 1500 RPM or more to keep it from dogging.
YOu make a good point that we should all be watching if shifting early to save gas.

Hmmmm....looks liek losing the roof plastic saves wind resistance too...I took mine off the day it came home from the dealer.



I took mine off because it blocked the sun roof...But it might be saving me gas to get rid of it too.

This is true, but if I read the ECM portion of the manual right, the engines in these 05's are pretty "smart". The ECM adjusts the valve timing and many other parameters to match the driving for optimum efficiency. So keeping the revs up is not as critical as the older engines. You shouldn't "lug" the engine. On deceleration, the ECM actually cuts the flow of fuel from the injectors according to the manual.

I am about to leave on a trip this morning. I will fill up and let you all know what fuel economy I am getting on the road mostly country road driving in the hill country of Central Texas.

the 05 has an 14 gal tank?

No, 21 gal.

I've got about 2500 miles on my 4x4 auto so far. I drive around 50 miles a day back and forth to work. A little highway and the rest streets with minimal stop lights and speed limits around 40-45 MPH.

Last 2 tanks were around 21 MPG I don't drive that hard, but drive like Granny either. Overrall I am quite pleased with the mileage as my 99 J@@P Grand Cherokee ( 4.0L 4x4, auto) got around 19. and our 03 Envoy XL 4x2 got around 18MPG in the same driving conditions.

The X is a much better vehicle all the way around than the prevoius 2 vehicles.

20mpg on the last tank. 95% city driving and shifting between 2000 - 2500rpm

17 mpg on the last tank. All city driving, shifting at 2000-2500.

I went on a 133.6 mile round trip today. Only 36 miles of it was "freeway". The remainder was city driving and county road/state highway with construction delays. At my turnaround point it was gravel road and pasture complete with mud and meadow muffins. I had topped off when I left and topped off upon return. I went 133.6 miles and used 6.376 gallons of Chevron 87 octane. That comes out to 20.953575 mpg. Close enough to call 21 mpg.

That was with the A/C going and moderate wind.

I drove between 60-63 mph on the highway stretch which is 18 miles one way. About 1/2 way through it, I notice a pickup blows by me at 70-75. At the end of the highway stretch there are a series of traffic signals. At the first light it is red and this same pickup was only two cars ahead of me. We were at the intersection at the same time but I used considerably less fuel than he did getting there.

Compared to most of you, I am old. So you would drive by me and think look at that old fart going so slow. Its not because I can't go any faster, I don't want to. It doesn't take me that much longer to get there. It costs less and is safer. I haven't had an accident or ticket in 10 years.

In the US, approximately 42,000 +/- (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/10/national/main635233.shtml) people a year are killed on the highway and most are attributed to speed or speed for conditions. Compare that with the number of active military deaths in 2004 which was 1887 according to http://web1.whs.osd.mil/mmid/casualty/Death_Rates.pdf.

I'll go a little slower and live a little longer and spend less.

Kind of like the two bulls at the top of a hill. The young bull looks down in the valley and sees a bunch of cows. The young bull says, "Let's charge down there and get one of them cows!" The older bull says, "Let's walk down there and do them all."

Make sure you check your tire pressure.

Mine were all around 26lbs.... I then slightly overinflated to 33 and got 2MPG - I'm averaging 19 in mixed City/Highway driving. Not bad...

Invest in a good tire gauge and go with the factory recommendations. On my O5 it should be 35 and that is what I go with.

Well, for the pre-'05's it's 30lbs - and you do get a slight benefit from a slight over inflation, even if you do sacrifice some ride quality.

I just filled up my 3rd tank, my first tank averaged about 16.3 miles per gallon. I installed my loadwarrior and bike rack before my second fill up (loadwarrior, x-towers,crossbars and 2 bike racks on the roof) my mpg dropped to 14. I am now getting worse mileage then I was in my 2001 Xterra. I know its too soon to tell but does anybody have any recommendations other than tire pressure and air filter. I hope this trend isn't going to continue.

In the paper over the weekend they were talking about the high price of gas and what people can do with their cars. Apparently there was a study that was just done that came to 2 conclusions:

1) don't gun it at the lights, take your time to get up to speed.
2) ac or open windows, does not really matter

I think running AC the whole trip is gonna hurt your gas milage. Most of the dealer MPG sticker specs are without AC running I think. Corect me if I'm wrong.

Per the owners manual section 5-18 "When cruising at highway speeds it is more economical to use the air conditioner and leave the windows closed to reduce drag"

I have read in several places they say the wind resistance from driving with the windows open is worst than running the air conditioner since the new ones are so efficient.

jsut filled up my second tank in my new 05. will check out my mileage, but in the meantime, does anyone know if a good catback exhaust will increase gas mileage? i seen a few advertised (one of the few acessories available for the 05 ), but not sure if its worth the price or if it will void the warranty

euphoria-

There have been a few threads on this and I think the general consensus is that a catback and even intake won't help that much. If you want them put them on but the likelihood of saving enough gas to pay for them is a very long way down the road if at all.

I guess I can't complain. My first fillup was 17.61 MPG. That was in mixed driving with the A/C running. I had a 2000 Nissan Crew Cab, and the engine was tight initially too. Mileage improved with time with that truck. I expect the same with this vehicle. I hope to be breaking 20 MPG in a couple months...

I have calculated this with both 50% Hwy/50% City, 25% Hwy/75% City, and mostly city, and I ALWAYS end up right at around 15.5 MPG. Granted, my "city" driving involves sitting in still traffic, moving for a quarter mile, then sitting in traffic again. And, all my city trips are 3 miles or less. Super short, super trafficky, and always with the A/C on. I guess that's why I'm not seeing more than 16 MPG.

Also, I like to gun it...but when she was being broken in I took it easy. I have noticed no difference between gunning it and taking it easy off the line. Maybe because my mileage is piss due to my short city trips, I guess it doesnt matter if I take it easy off the line...

If my trips were all like this, I would use a bicycle. You aren't driving it far enough to get it warmed up.

I just broke the 2K mark on my X and have noticed that the MPG is increasing.

As for A/C or Windows I believe the TV show Myth Busters ran a show to test this theory.

... but they did the test at less than hwy speeds, and had skewed results because of it. I watched that show. Like to see them do the same test again, but at 70-75 MPH.

This thread got me thinking... I have about 6500miles on my X and so far have been averaging 16-17 in city and 17-18 in highway.

I just did a 600 mile trip including driving in the Sierras for 3 hours (lots of up and down). I kept the speed to 70mph the whole way and amazingly got 21.9mpg! I never expected that much of a difference. I have done this exact trip a few times in the X and every time I averaged about 17.5mpg, but doing 75-80mph. This made about 13 minutes of difference each way vs. about $19 of gas.

Since this trip, I have been babying it driving around town and I am getting about 21-22mpg in a mix of city/highway driving. I guess this is where stopping to be a leadfoot pays off big time

Now only if I could control my urge to rev it up

My commute is about 1.5 miles and it takes me a few minutes. Any time I go to the other side of town, a couple mile drive takes 10-15 (because of traffic and lights) so on those drives it probably warms up a little more. I agree with the bicycle comment, but I don't wanna show up to work all sweaty (it's super humid here)...

Also, maybe I should stop driving 80 on the highway? I think I tried 70 and it didn't help - but I kept going up to 80 to pass people. Perhaps I should try keeping a steady 70...

I'm right there with you, I just popped up to 19MPG this evening. It is difficult, but I managed to retrain my driving habits and lay off the gas. Every thing I do now is smooth and easy. No hard accelerations unless I really have to do so. But driving like this now makes me appreciate the feel of the truck even more. I feel in tune with it more and more. It's kinda weird......

OK, I've had my X-Terra since April, and just turned 13K on the odometer. Ive gotten about 20MPG since the 2K mark, and most of my driving is freeway. I get about 350m per tank, and put just under 18gal in at a time. I upshift at 3000rpm, and down shift at 2000rpm, leaving me at 2500rpm in 6th gear doing just under 80mph. The AC is blasting when required because I agree that the wind disturbance caused by open windows will exceed the draw in HP of a AC compressor. I am happy with the mileage I get, and 2 of my co-workers drive H-2's and have had to park them due to fuel cost.

I just checked my mpg city trying to drive slow to get a good result. 15.6 Not so good. Some of this may be the 285 75R 16 BFGs I put on instead of stock. Oh well I think I'm going to drive it the way I want which is with a little attitude oan F**k the mpg. If you can't drive the way you want then get another vehicle.

Cheers
Billk13

WEll, i have about 850 miles on my '05 X and the computer gauges at 16.3mph. How does that work anyway? Im too lazy to open up the manual. Thanks.

At 3200 miles, I've seen an improvement from 19+ a couple thou ago to 20.7 last time I filled up.

Mixed 2-lane highway & city (suburban), rolling hills, I use the cruise alot (I really think that helps), and have been known to wait on accelleration for a hundred yards so I can do it downhill.

But then again, Night Armor cars have a lower ballistic coefficient so you automatically get better mileage!

I read somewhere that between 60 to 70 you use 25% more fuel consumption and between 70-80 you use 35% more fuel because of wind resistance. Makes sense to me. These trucks are as aerodynamic as a beveled brick. So I keep it between 60-65 and get good mileage.

Lately, I get about 20 - 21 MPG mixed city / highway, and -not- driving like an old lady...

My drive is 16 miles each way, mostly flat, with about 2 miles of freeway. Elevation here is about 640 feet. I can drive with the AC off (that time of year finally) so that probably helps too.

I have a 6MT 4x2 S with 4200 miles on it. I shift around 2k rpm's except when getting on the freeway - then just depends on what I'm getting into - sometimes keep in 5th at 2200 2300 rpms till around 65 mph, until I get to cruising speed and hold in 6th 2100 rpms at 70 mph.

On regular roads 30 - 45 mph I cruise in 5th or 6th, and keep my rpms around 1200 - 1800 depending on the angle of the road (hills here are more like unlevel surfaces), usually going about 5 mph over the speed limit.