I thought cars got better gas mileage

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
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I just read this month's Car & Driver magazine. They road tested a Volkswagon Passat, Honda Accord, Ford Fusion and Nissan Altima. On a 300 mile "road test" they all got 18-19 mpg. They were all 4 cylinder with around 180 hp, auto or CVT transmissions.

My 10 year old Ford Ranger with 150,000 miles on it is a 6 cylinder and its a 4 wheel drive and I get 17-18 with it. I had a 1995 Geo Prizm that I could not make it get less than 37 mpg.

My theories are two. First, these guys probably have lead feet, but over 300 mile road course, you can't stand on it the whole way. Second, all the safety equipment weighs these midsize cars down. They are a lot heavier than they used to be. Still, you'd think that they would get better mileage, especially since they all commented on how the transmissions were calibrated for mileage and shifted into high gear quickly.
 
Part of the problem is ethanol in the gas, but that doesn't explain all of it. My 1995 Chrysler New Yorker gets 17-18 around town, it still gets 27 on the highway even with the ethanol, and it has 143,000+ miles on it.
 
Another part of it is the hp. Sure the motors are more efficient than they used to be but 4cyl used to put out closer to 100hp instead of 180. Thats a big increase and some of it comes from burnt gas. For example I had 2 cars at the same time, a Dodge Daytona, and a Porsche 944s. Both had near the same engine size, near the same year, the Daytona put out about 90hp, the Porsche 190hp. Even though the Porsche was a more efficient engine design it didn't get as good mileage as the Daytona.

All those electronics add weight too. Power windows, doors, locks, etc.
 
My father has a small Nissan 4 cylinder 2WD pickup, single cab, late 80's model. I believe he gets MPG in the upper 20's, usually about 25 MPG. My sister has a small 4cylinder Nissan Altima, and gets about 17-18 MPG. I just bought a 2003 Silverado single cab 4wd V8, with a full size bed. I've only been driving it a week, but I get about the same as my sister's Altima, most of those have been highway miles. Smaller isn't always better.
 
I have noticed that my truck(2002 Dodge Dakota) my wives van(2008 Canavan) and my daughters car (2008 Dodge Caliber) have all been getting much worse gas mileage the past few months.All are well tuned with clean air filters.
My daughters seems the worst and it is a 4 cylinder,it may seem a little worse on hers as it only has a 13 gallon tank.
 
Just remember alot of states have different gas blends for summer and winter. And alot of states have switched to the winter blend.... which in my state gives me worse mpg...
 
I just bought a 2011 Impala and it is giving me 26 mpg which is about what they advertise. It is true that ethanol straight up gives you about a 30% reduction in you mpg also, and a blend would be somewhere in the middle
 
There are a lot of factors that play into mileage. Most newer cars sacrifice some mileage to get either lower or "better" emissions. Some cars "learn" better mileage from the driver, and some drivers learn better mileage out of their cars, driving habits make a huge difference in mileage.
 
I just had a base passat with automatic for a loaner while my car was being serviced and I easily got milage in the mid to upper 20s the whole time.... Even with a heavy foot. Can't imagine how they got such poor milage.
 
I got a 2000 Ford explorer ith a 4.0 liter SOHC fully loaded and I get 20 mpg average, now I got a motorcycle with a 1.3 liter motor and regularly get 42 mpg.

What's my point? I ferget...:)
 
Modern cars are VERY sensitive to driver technique. Driving my mother's car, I can get 20~30% better MPG then she does.

I had a Grand Marquis that routinely beat the MPG figures you get with today's 4-bangers. Around town was 22~23MPG average and the highway doing 75MPH was 27~28MPG.

The other thing I have found, is that driving a 400HP pickup in the bottom 10% of the power band is more efficient then driving the same model with a smaller V-8 or, gasp, V-6 at 80~90%. My lifted 34" tired Toyota Tundra with the 5.7L V-8 and 4.30 rear end gets better MPG then a new production Nissan Frontier. Of course, I can lead foot it and drop the MPG to single digits too. Ever drag race someone when you have a U-haul trailer going up a moutain in Colorado! Yep, blew doors off the family sedan!!! :D
 
Cars have gotten heavier to accommodate for the increase in safety equipment, electronics, drive train complexity, and increased horsepower. Not to mention increased waistlines.

Good Wired article

.
 
Guessing that many folks don't pay regular attention to tire pressure which can be a factor in lack of consistent mpg.

I am a fanatic about such things and mileage over the years has been consistent, no variances to speak of.

A side benefit when lived in TN [the nail on the roadway capitol of the world] which was you learned quickly when you'd picked up a nail.
 
Not sure which article you are reading. The test I found on C&D shows 24-26 mpg with a similar list of cars.

Car and Driver

Maybe it was just the drivers have some fun? Any car can get single digit MPG if you have enough fun while driving.
 
My '95 Explorer with the 4.0L gets 10 MPG if I'm lucky.

It runs good; good filters, plugs, no trouble codes, and still 10 MPG. Had a front brake caliper dragging earlier in the summer, so I redid the brakes, thinking it may have a little effect.

Some of that is the Ethanol in the gas, but not all of it.
 
Shann said:
I just read this month's Car & Driver magazine. They road tested a Volkswagon Passat, Honda Accord, Ford Fusion and Nissan Altima. On a 300 mile "road test" they all got 18-19 mpg. They were all 4 cylinder with around 180 hp, auto or CVT transmissions.
Click to expand...

I had a new 2.5L 5 cylinder VW Passat rental car which I drove ~3K miles. I averaged 38 MPG on I-10 doing 75MPH and 36 MPG in urban driving. That direct fuel injection really helps gas milage.

My mothers 2006 V-6 Accord gets in the high 20's on average with her driving it. I could probably eek out 30MPG if I was doing the driving.

Driver technique can ruin fuel efficiency in any vehicle, whether a car, truck, motorcycle, airplane, etc. Heck, on my 2007 KLX-250S street dual sport, I run between 119MPG and 62MPG on the same urban route. It all depends on my mood and how much of a hurry I'm in.
 
I've got a 98.5 Dodge 24 valve 5.9L Cummins dually that gets 16-18 highway. But When I get a tuner installed it will be getting 20-24 empty and 16-18 under laod highway.
 
My '03 Impala gets 27-28 average. My '63 Ford Falcon four door gets the same. It is running a 200 straight six from a '68 Mustang with no modern trick parts and a stock three speed standard. The '91 F150 with 5.0 EFI gets about 15. But it is loaded with tool boxes and tools.
 
I drive a 2005 Jeep Grande Cherokee 4.7L V8. It gets about 15 - 18 around town and 20 - 23 highway. Pretty good gas mileage for what it is, though it did use to get slightly less. Only change I made to it was I swapped the factory air filter for an K&N one about 8 months ago and it's gotten slightly better gas mileage ever since. I've cleaned the filter twice.
 
Wow, interesting that I'm getting 18+ MPG with a 5.7 Hemi Challenger R/T that I cruise at 80-85 on my daily commute, with 90-105 MPH runs to get past lines of slow traffic.
 
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