No way, I love my X. Plus how do you get muddy in a small car?

I was in Columbia SC and saw the gas prices jump up every day after the storm hit. Almost like clock work the prices would go up 10 - 20 cents and hour at this one station. Even saw some people fighting over how much fuel they were buying.
I had a rental car and it's cheaper to return it needing fuel than buy it at the pump. $3.00 at National vs. $3.49 at Mobil.

I've got less than a year before the bugger's paid off, and starting in March, if not sooner, I'm working full-time at home anyway. If I can just hold out till then...

Have to jump on the analysis about two pages ago...

Because I have no life, and got high stressed by the wife (we have a Jeep and an X) I actually - yes, actually did this - created a spreadsheet comparing the costs of gas and pay off time for both of our rigs.

Found out, that even with three years of payments left on my X, I would save $4000 over trading it for a Prius. I also compared it to Saturns, Hondas, Ford Focus, and the Kia Rio. The only thing that saved me money over the X were ridculous scenarios like buying the Kia Rio (baseline by the way power steering optional) - and then the savings was mostly from the low payments vice the gas savings.

Yes - I even factored in 4% annual inflation.

So - while I totally geeked out, I statistically crushed the wife's opposition and we are keeping both rigs. Oh yes - I just put my Shrockwork sliders on the X.

Im keeping my 04 X. Allthough I just picked up a 2000 hyndai accent 4 cyl 5spd. 35 mpg. Ill be driving that to and from work While the X sits in the driveway unless it snows. Invested too much into the X to get rid of it now.

I'm not going to sell mine anytime soon and lets face it the value of suv's are going to tank anyway if gas continues to climb.

I have started to combine trips and have gotten even lighter on the throttle. Thanks to the recent gouging I did cancle a trip this weekend to Jackson Hole as while it would of been nice to spend a few days fishing and camping the 400+ dollars just in gas ruled it out especialy when previous trips out there cost between 160 to 200 dollars.

Couple of points here. I have to drive for a living and I have to carry my stuff around with me. I don't need a pickup but I need something that will take me off road at construction sites, etc.

So what can I do to make my 05 a little less gas hungry?

I stripped off anything I don't need from the inside. A 100lbs makes a difference. I removed the back seat cushions, the carpet floor mats they put under the rubber floor mats, the emergency road kit and all the other junk I don't need day to day.

I removed the air dam and basket from the roof rack.

I check my tires at least once a week and keept them at 35 lbs.

I drive a little slower and avoid flooring it all all costs. If I have to give up the right of way, so be it.

In the morning when it is cool, I roll down the windows and enjoy the fresh air and turn off the A/C.

I can tell by the fuel consumption that it has improved already. I was using about 1/4 tank per hundred. I am getting close to 120 miles per 1/4 tank now.

Never better said.

NO WAY IN HELL AM I DUMPING THE X. I need it to live up here and work in the mountains!!! OH and of course go WHEELIN!!

We do however take the Element to more places, but it does have a bumping stereo. I also wear my orange shirt, hat and sunglasses so no one sees me in it.

Great post yesterday from "scottjk", who had to resort to compiling a cost analysis spreadsheet taking into account all known varibles in order to prove to Mrs. Scottjk that it would be financially detrimental in their case to trade their X for something w/ better gas mileage rating. This is a good reminder that many cost factors need to be considered over the total time of ownership, not just fuel mileage rating, to arrive at the bottom line. Insurance and maintenance costs alone vary widely amongst vehicles and can eat up any "savings" in gas. Perhaps "scottjk" will post his spreadsheet as a public service to other X owners who need ammunition to persuade their significant others.

I still plan to get an '06 X when they finally arrive and jettison two vehicles I own now. I haven't done a detailed cost analysis study yet, but I believe that I will save money over the life of my new X by owning only one vehicle instead of two. I also like the added safety factor of a larger vehicle and want the option of having side curtain air bags.

D.B.

I am not getting rid of my '01 X because gas is ridiculously expensive. I've only had it for 2 weeks now, and got it only because my '95 cherokee's rear main seal started leaking oil badly (After only 130k miles). The Xterra is staying, but I have cut back on driving.
And to those who think the Xterra gets bad mileage... try owning (and driving regularly, for me daily!) a 12 cylinder Ferrari !!! That car is truly a gas pig. But DAMN, when you get on the throttle, it is just f****ing exhilirating!!

In a somewhat related matter, an interesting company called United Nuclear claims they are almost ready to start selling kits to convert existing vehicles to run on hydrogen (included is a solar powered hydrogen generator). Although they will have specific kits for various SUVs, they don't have a dedicated kit for the X yet - but you can still buy seperate components to do a conversion. Will be interesting to see if they are hype or reality. If they do have a working product and their prices come down to where it would be economically viable, I would certainly consider converting my X. I will be monitoring their progress.

From their web page United Nuclear Hydrogen Fuel Systems

- D.B.

i am not getting rid of mine i just got it two months ago. Gas prices will go down i am not going to jump ship.

I just got out of a truck that was getting me 10mpg around town, so the X is a step up.....plus....not much of a difference really from 2.50 to 3.00 to make me sell a vehicle.

Updated gas prices.............

wow it went down, last week reg was at WTF..

Yeah - same here...gas did its seasonal summer jump, boosted by the "shortage", and has settled back down to the $3/gal range around here at least...

If anyone does jump, once they realize how falsely inflated the mpg claims are for the replacement rigs...its frying pan to the fire for them.

(EPA sickers are a cruel joke...the manufacturers get to "meet" CAFE requirements, the Gov gets to "show how the regulations improved economy", and the customers are duped into buying the same old shit warmed over with a new sticker on it.)

I know freinds with hybrids rated at around 50 something CITY...and their real world mpg is high 30's...which includes hwy too.

A diesel Liberty gets real world mpg in the mid teens...big whoop.

On the other hand, a guy I wheel with (An X) was complaining he was getting only around 15 mpg or so...he gave me his gallons and odometer reading, and tire size (32's) , and after correcting for the fact that he was going faster than he thought, and going further than he thought, (Due to the larger tires...)... it worked out that he was actually getting closer to 19 mpg...while keeping it under 80 mph.



I had a Mitsubishi Galant company car one year, averaged 17 mpg...I'm averaging 20 mpg in the X....on 33's.



On the plus side...my company now reinburses mileage at $0.40/mile.

Not me! Just bought another one tonight!

Hmmm I’ve been reading along, and given that I need something big enough to haul the boat around with and so I can't get away with a tiny little del sol or similar the X isn't a bad choice. In fact I'm kind of proud of it - and here's why:

Running at 70+ mph on the interstate, fully loaded, in the dead of summer with the A/C cranked on high and towing a boat I still get almost 16 mpg - not bad.

Now the boat on the other hand, She’ll set you back a few. She has a 27 gal tank and factory specs are: 1 hour and 20 min to completely burn off all of that precious fuel at WOT!
Keep in mind she has two engines, that can really suck it down – but she’s oh so fun.

-Later

...from my cold dead hands!!!

Wizard

I just posted over in the 2005 forum but after filling up last night I realized that I got 21 MPG city in my 05 S on my last tank. There is no way that I am dumping the X!! 21 mpg is not to much worse than what I was getting with my Sentra Spec-V (23 city)and I had to put premum in that. I'm driving like a grandma but it works

I do believe that this sums up my feelings on the subject exactly

yeah, i just noticed regular is down to about $3.09..........

Question for all to ponder.

I just bought my x about a month ago but So I am not an expert on them but here goes.

Why does everyone complain about the mileage just because the price went up. Most people I see here have owned their X for a few years at least. So the X gets bad mileage compared to CARS. Every SUV gets worst gas milage then a car. I would think people bought there X for a diffrent reason than how many MPG they get. The 16 I get with my X and the 15 I get with my other truck I am at over 400 monthly in gas but I love both my trucks so I live with it and make changes elswere. I guess all I am trying to say is that the X got bad mileage when we bought them so why complain about it now?

Sorry if offended anyone with this reply.

Not me. My '99 X does just what I bought it for, just the way I want it to. I don't use it to commute. It gets me to the ski areas and the trailheads (or beyond) just fine.

I learned in the 70s how to drive a car for mileage - mine was a 440 wedge. Give it enough gas to get going, let it pull its way up to speed, stay there.

I never did look to this truck for speed and I never saw it as anything other than a truck. Toughness, stability, reliability, carrying capacity were my criteria - not speed, not gas mileage.

I see a lot of folks looking to add speed or looking for a higher HP unit. I'm OK with folks passing me on the highway. The real fun starts when the pavement ends. On trail, with full torque developed by 1700rpm, who needs more horsepower?

Gas lowered to 2.64 here today. Keep going down, down, down.....Thats 10.00 less/ fill up already. Lets break ground on those new refineries and start drilling those wells mr Bush!

Went down for $3.19 to $2.76 here today. I'm a happy camper.