I know others have mentioned bad fuel economy for the first tank or two but I am on my fourth tank (93 octane) and I am only getting 19-20 mpg both via both the trip computer and manual calculating it. I have had the car since March 30th and have put easy miles on the car: no hard accels or decels and most of the miles have been low traffic weekend highway miles.

How long do I need to wait until the car "settles in?" How long before I ask the dealer about it?


Thanks.
Brian

 

I got 26MPG on my first tank. Came down a bit, but that's because I drive with my foot in the firewall. You should probably look into it. AT or MT?

Steve

 

Its and auto

 

19-21 is about all you can hope for in typical city driving. You should get closer to 30 on true highway miles.

 

Mine is just a little over 600 and trip computer shows 23MPG but on my calculation, mine is 25, 26 MPG. (Auto)

 

mine has just hit 1000mi and the trip computer still shows 12 mpg

 

So are you guys reseting your MPG after each tank? Or are you taking the average over 800 - 1,000 miles? If you are, then that may be your problem. While I get most tanks at 22 - 24 MPG, I get some at 18 if I drive in the city. That will screw your average up big time.


Steve

 

reset your trip meter at each gas filling. divide the number of gallons filled with the miles travelled between gas fillings. Then let us know what your mpg is

 

Man, I am sorry to hear that it is so low..

I use to average 24 mpg up until about 10,000...


My last 5 tanks are all over 400 miles per tank... so, over 2,000 miles and averaging 28.5 mpg on them... but I did get about a third on true highway and another third on 'mostly' highway..

 

with 400 miles on my car, i averaged 34 mph over a 180 mile trip, uphill total elevation climb about 1000 feet, at 70mph. That was in 6th gear, and I was varying the speeds between 60 and 80 for break-in purposes.

I average 18 mph in the hills surrounding pittsburgh that i drive in, usually in 3rd or 4th gear.

I currently have 2000 miles on the car. I use 93.

 

i'm at 22000 miles, and i get 16mpg (almost all city) ... gotta love LA driving and over-eagerness.

just a price i pay i guess... (oh we only have 91 here...)

 

City MPG on this car sucks, running a FULL 25-40% LESS than the advertised EPA BS! I only get a combined City/Highway of around 18-19 and where a tank goes 90% city, I'm lucky to get 14. And I don't have a lead foot! NEVER seen better than 27-28 highway. This is where I sometimes miss my ex-Accord, an '89 SE-i Coupe 5spd rated 20 city, 30 highway that really got 22-25 city and 32-35 highway.
.
.
.

 

I average around 22-23 in town and I have gotten as high as 32 on the highway with my '04 6MT.

 

Doing 55 MPH?

 

No.
70-75mph.

 

Yeh,m I drive pretty fast too (AT) but mostly highway and get good mileage (28- 30mpg) sometimes a little more. But the short trips are what kill me. Im always between 70-70 on the highway and more during my random "spirited driving" sessions.. The AT burn more because of the extra energy being used my by the torque converter so you can t really comparespeeding in an AT to a 6MT on the same level.

 

But let me qualify my answer.
It was at night, by myself on a flat stretch of west Texas highway. About 325 miles with no stopping, very little luggage.
Wish it would do all the time. Usually get around 28-30, though on the highway.
There are so many variables involved in gas mileage it's very difficult to predict what one car might get versus another.

 

My car just hit 1000 miles. My only road trip was 340 round trip, all interstate. The computer said 31 mpg at an average of 80 mph. I backed this up with my own calculation. My other tanks have averaged 21-22 mpg in stop and go traffic and seems to be getting better. I have a 6MT and use 93 octane.

I love this considering I was close to getting a G35 and was willing to put up with the terrible mileage the VQ gets.

 

For a car with it's size, weight and power, getting 20~ in the city is really pretty good. I've heard some Subaru Legacy owners getting 14 mpg........

 

Our car averages around 33 mpg on the hiway at 72 mph.
6MT. long term average is around 24 mpg.
Round town is low, like 20 mpg.

I think its quite good on gas for a big car with all the power it has.


Brett

 

I average about 19-21 MPG (85%+ city). I have a 2006 6spd TL with just over 2K miles.

 

Wow that sucks.

I sit in Chicago Rush hour to and from four days a week. I average just under 20 mpg on a tank that's all city.

Last 'longer' trip was 32 mpg.


Auto, and not a light foot.

 

Exact same mileage here, but with a 5AT and just under 16k miles...been in that range for the last two years, too. I consider it to be pretty good.

 

Initially, just after I bought my '04 TL in July, 2004, I was not that impressed with the mileage. Not that fuel economy is the most important thing with me.. I was getting in the 22 MPG range for back and forth to work driving. However, after break in and a change to Mobil 1, I average in the mid 25's during the colder months and the mid to upper 27s in the warm months for the same driving. On the road, I got 33.94 (calculated) last summer on a road trip with the A/C running the entire time.

 

I love the gas mileage i'm getting in my TL.

 

3k miles on my car (but had front windshield broken and rims scratched already, though I've manged to fix it...sigh...).

Getting 23 mpg at 27 mph average.
I've test drove in a manner that saves fuel, and gets about 25 mpg on the same condition...not bad I guess...but gets impatient soon and I go back to the old habit...

 

Let us define the "city" for a true calculation. Reston, VA or Cary, NC, or any other small place are not "cities" when compared to New York. When one says that they get 19-21 MPG in-city, I believe they are talking about smaller towns. We have to realize that New York is not a city when it comes to driving. The roads in Queens, particularly, are a mere extension of parking lots which means you can hardly get better than 12 MPG because the best speed you would get during a normal day is not over 20 mph. I have done one full tank in all-Queens commute and it was 11 MPG.

 

I second the above. This is about what I'm getting for mileage with my '04 6MT too. I just ran it on a 160 mi round trip this weekend and the average was 29 mpg start to finish running mostly 70+ mph.

 

agreed, Im getting just over 300 a tank each time. Im happy with that, not sure what that equates to but that number is fine by me.

 

<---- Chicago..... 19-20 mpg in the city.

 

Your point is well made.. which is the reason when I post my mileage checks, I'm careful to usually say "in town". I drive my TL through Manassas between 4:50 and 5:15 AM, then back through the same route between around 3:15 to 5:00 PM. The going home time is far more congested than the going in time and while it is a city of sorts, it's nothing like New York or Chicago or even Washington, DC (thank God). I have been in heavy stop and go traffic from time to time and I still get very good mileage because it generally doesn't last for more than an hour to get through it and my TL just does well in this department. I couldn't imagine living in New York city. I'm so anal about my car and other property, I'd go absolutely nuts.

But fuel economy is not all that important to me. I look at it as icing on the cake. Sure I like to get decent mileage, but if I was really concerned about this, I would never have purchased a TL, but rather maybe a hybrid.

 

mine has 650 miles now and the mpg is 15. My dads chrysler 300m is 12mpg.

 

With 105 miles on my TL I'm getting about 19 MPG. Of course it's all been drives to work which is just 9 miles from my house. I only move about 15 MPH with all the red lights and run about 70-80 on open freeway (trying to keep revs low during break in).

If you want to save gas, try lightening the car. If you run with a full tank you're carrying roughly 136 pounds (17x8) of weight in fuel - if you run with just ½ a tank then you'll be saving 70 pounds of dead weight (of course the tail is lighter). Take out your spare tire, trunk mat, and trunk lining to really go bonkers. Keep the moonroof/windows closed if on highway.

Yeah you could go nuts trying to eek out gas. I was getting 16 MPG with my 2.5L Ford Contour, so you figure out how I drive


I wonder if waxing the car would cut down drag? It works for airplanes

 

is that number for real?

 

colossus - waxing your car is a good thing, but it's not going to help the mpg in your situation. You are moving to slow to have any measurable effect.

For the short commute you have, and the speed at which you drive it, 19 mpg isn't bad.

Yea, I get 30 mpg commuting to work, but it's a 84 mile round trip. To cheer you up, think of it this way - You burn less than 1 gallon of gas commuting each day while I burn 2.75. I'll trade for that situation any day.

Instead of worrying about the weight of the gas in the tank, pay particular attention to starting and stopping. If possible, coast as far as possible to red lights and stop signs. Racing up to them and then putting on the brakes just wastes energy; i.e. gas. When the light does turn green, apply the throttle lightly.

I did notice something this morning on my way in. I drive a 22 mile causeway as part of my commute. At the end of it, the speed limit drops from 65 (day)/ 55 (night) down to 35. I have gotten into the habit of switching off the cruise control at the first "reduced speed ahead" sign. My last two cars - '95 Maxima SE and '01 CL Type-S both would coast down to 35 mph by the time I hit the 35 mph zone. My TL only slows down to 40 mph. It seems to coast better. Is the rolling resistance that much better on the 3 Gen?

gurney

 

My '06 AT usually averages 19-20 mpg on city driving in San Francisco mixed in with a 5 mile freeway commute. Plenty of driving on hills.

Just returned from a 11 day vacation to Los Angeles along with three passengers and a trunk stuffed with four medium sized suitcases, back packs, electronics, food/drinks, etc.

Drove down at 78-85 mph and averaged 30 mpg for my first tank (409 miles). Drove another 208 miles around Los Angeles averaging 22 mpg. On my way home, I filled up at Santa Clarita. Drove home at 75-100 mph, mostly 90-95 mph for 356 miles and got 27 mpg. The TL pulled away nicely from other cars on the interstate. I also got a speeding ticket from a CHP via his radar.

I was happy with the TL's gas mileage.

Off topic...In Los Angeles, why do freeway designers (Caltrans) create car pool lanes in areas where there are no traffic? Everytime I hit traffic there's never any car pool lanes.

 

I consider myself a mild tree-hugger, but I gotta admit the carpool lanes in SoCal are absolutely stupid. They rarely get used, and when they do they're not consistent. I live along the 91 freeway near the 605 interchange. So all the people driving the 91 who need to switch to the 605 have to get out of the carpool and switch across 6 lanes of freeway - of course you can imagine what this does to the speeds - drops from 80mph to 7 mph - and my commute sucks a$$.

If stupid Cal-Trans would put a $250 million interchange I would gladly pay $1k myself just to avoid the idiot traffic - grandma doing 30 in the fast lane and the riced civic doing 120 in the slow lane.

Then there are other freeways the close the carpool lane for a stretch of just 2 miles. The nightmar slowing that causes in the fast lane ends up trickling to every other lane. It's just stupid. Drivers do fine when they don't need to change. The second some lane change comes up they turn stupid and forget how to signal and look over their shoulder.

So in response to your question - the car pool lane you're looking for is what actually caused the traffic (or rather the disappearance of that lane).

 

It's reassuring to see that the TLs are getting out the same MPGs as my G35. That is one major complaint G owners have about the car and they always act as if the grass is always greener on the other side. My G35 sedan 5AT sees about 19-20mpg in 100% stop and go 30-45mph city driving and ~27mpg at 70-75mph. This seems similiar to a 5AT TL.

 

yep, that number is definately for real, actually recently it started to show 11mpg

 

Mostly nyc driving, and when I sold the car, it was doing about 12mpg overall also. It got worse mileage, then my sequoia, which is a known gas guzzler.
On the hiway, the mileage would definatley improve, by my driving was mostly city. On a lot of commutes, my mpg for the trip could be as low as 6 mpg.