Hey, don't take offense. You just stepped on one of the newbie land mines. Many of us have been on this board for years and thus know there are MANY threads addressing gas mileage and ways to improve it. You just have to search the proper forum to find all the info you'll ever need.

But new people come on the board about every 5 minutes griping about gas mileage and asking how to improve it. Ok, that's a slight exaggeration but you get the point. It's become kind of a running inside joke and that's why a previous poster made the 'broken record' reference.

You're right about some people here being less polite than others, and I'll be the first to admit that I have my moments. In any case, welcome to XOC and again, don't take offense, just let us cranky XOC vets have our fun.

And btw...people have mellowed around here big time. The way noobs used to be treated led a member named 05_X to create what has to be the funniest thing I've ever seen on this board:


As for improving your mileage, about all you can do is lighten your load as much as possible (my gear basket lives in the attic), don't be a leadfoot, anticipate lights and coast when possible, and so on. People have spent lots of time, effort, and $$ on intake kits, exhaust kits, you name it, and nobody can document anything more than a tiny increase, if that.

Sadly, 7 years of Xterra ownership - a 2000 and now an '02 - has led to one conclusion: it gets what it gets and I'm not going to worry about it.

What's truly annoying is that with new engine technology, the 2007 Suburban has an EPA estimate of 15/21.