[SentraEd13]

I wanted to give everyone an update on my most recent gas mileage report for highway. I filled up my tank and reset the trip computer before starting out on a 117 mile trip from Middletown, NY to Cooperstown NY. I encountered a lot of uphill driving (45%) and the remaining percentage was level. By the end of the trip the computer read out 35.5MPG. Did I actually get that? Hard to say, but my average speed was 65MPH ONLY because the speed limit changed from 55-65 and I encountered 6 different construction zones where the speed limits were any where from 40-55MPH. -Ed

 

[OkieScot]

The EPA ratings are only good for comparing one car to another. The way people drive varies too much for you to ever be able to use it for anything else.

I am surprised that the Sentra doesn't do better on mileage. The rental 2.5 S Altima I drove got 41.15 mpg and that had a little bit of town driving in it and the car had less than 1000 miles on it when I got it.

Probably in city only driving the Sentra would be a bit better than the Altima.

 

[PHL]

My Sentra seems to do a lot better on the highway than in city driving.

The Sentra seems to be very efficient aerodynamically. The drivetrain friction also appears to be very low. Even when coasting on relatively mild downhill sections, I frequently find myself having to apply the brakes to keep my speed below 80-85 mph.

In city driving, however, the weight of the car seems to tax the 1.8L engine a bit. The engine is capable, but it burns a fair amount of fuel every time it needs to accelerate. I think the 30 mpg city estimate is VERY generous, while the 39 hwy estimate is quite achievable.

 

[Scooter1]

Got a '13 SV and get 35-40 running 75-80 on the interstate and speed limit in town. About 60/40 interstate. Live in Neb and contrary to popular belief it is not Bonneville flat. The wind does knock it pretty hard. Run in ECO mode most of the time and use cruise as much as possible.

 

[SentraEd13]

Run in ECO mode most of the time and use cruise as much as possible.

Running in ECO mode is key in getting the boost in fuel economy on the highway. It prevents the engine from revving too high to get up hills. Using the cruise with ECO is a great combination.

I agree with the comments about the city driving. The car is just not good for any stop and go traffic and the transmission is too quirky with its response. In fact, the city driving for my errands with the CVT is a dislike and I wish during those times I had a conventional automatic. -Ed

 

[grim69]

I wish during those times I had a conventional automatic. -Ed

I wish it had sporttronic shifting like the altima does. That'd be awesome. That's some good gas mileage you're getting scooter. I reset my mpg meter and its been staying between 31 and 32 mpg now. All my driving is in the city. So since day 1 its made a huge improvement.

 

[TrentP]

Well I took a 4+hr trip from Dallas to Galveston, and the Sentra did pretty well. My girlfriend and I have came to the conclusion that we must do more city driving than we thought. The Sentra does phenomenal on the highway or long distance trips with minimum stops. Although, it struggles in the city and can dramatically decrease your MPG. One once said here that the car has trouble getting out of it's own way. Which is true. The car does great with momentum. Still throughout the whole trip, I was only able to achieve 29.8 MPG with 93 octane gas and a bottle of octane bootser (gum-out, it was on sale) according to my IC.

Which also brings me to the issue I'm currently having with my cluster. At times the digital display will malfunction and certain essential readings will disappear (mpg, odometer, temps., etc.). The first time it occured I contacted Nissan about it and they stated they were aware of the issue and that it is caused by the heat outside. Which I already knew was a crock of shit (check recent posts for references) So I contacted another dealership who told me that it's the radio that turns off when it get's too hot and that they are aware of the IC digital display issue and are working on a software update. That would make sense as to why my MPG never fluctuates. It's moved maybe a couple digits +/- the whole time I've had the car. I have approx. 4k miles on it now.

 

[Saj]

Hey Trent,

In Canada so its advertised as 4.9l/100km highway and 6.0l/100km city.

I agree - highway fuel economy is fantastic - eco mode & cruise. Getting used to driving around the speed limit & with cruise but finding that it is really relaxing if you're not always rushing to get to your destination even if there isn't a fixed time you need to be there

As for city, it's above 6.0 and that's with slow acceleration. I'd estimate about 6.5-6.7l/100km's if I only did City driving.

I'm averaging about 5.7l/100km's as I've done mostly highway driving. Not sure what I can do as a driver to improve fuel efficiency in the City and not sure there is anything more I can do.

Overall, extremely happy with the gas savings - 50L tank nets about 800-930km's depending on amount of highway driving whereas before in my old car, I was getting about 700km's with a 60L tank.

 

[diablo2424]

Bone stock 2013 Sentra SV here, mostly highway miles (%85) a little bit of city driving, the dash is reading 33.8mpg, doing the math manually it seems to be within 1 mpg. Oh and this is a lease that I got with 20 miles on it but now up to 4,500. Going to order a K&N Filter soon, should help get a little more power and 2-4 mpg's.

 

[TrentP]

K&N claims using their filters will not void your warranty, but I would verify with Nissan and possibly request it in writing or print for future references. I think it was SentraEd who told me to be careful. They have warned him that changing any OEM parts increases your chances of voiding your warranty. Which we all know if a crock of shit but ya know. Just looking out for ya, may wanna check on that, mate. GL

 

[SentraEd13]

LOL Trent, Nissan would never put anything in writing like that. It's all about saving their ass and bottom line. I'm simply going to wait until the mfg warranty runs out before doing any OEM mods. The car is fine as is for now. -Ed

Trent, FYI, I was in the Houston, Cypress area last week. Loved it. Looking to make a move there within a year. I rented an Altima and must say it wasn't a nice ride with all the concrete pavement you have in Texas. Here in NY we use blacktop, a big difference!

 

[rwspro]

I bad fuel sending unit/sensor might be affecting the MPG on my and others 2013 Sentras. I bought my 2013 Sentra SV on the Labor day weekend and have only filled up 3 times. However, I haven't been able to fill up all 13.2 gallons capacity. During my last fill up, I waited until the car notified me that I was on gas reserve and only had 30 miles left to drive. The LCD panel started flashing. So I thought, I will fill it up now and was expecting to get 12+ gallons at least, but after 9.5 gallons the car spit out the pump handle. I looked at the gas level and it showed full. So it looks like the gas sensor is thinking that the tank is full, but it might be short 2.5 to 3 gallons. During my first initial MPG calculations I was getting very disappointed, as I only got 300 miles on the last tank (300/13.2 = 22.7 MPG). However, now it may make sense as the tank is holding only 10 gallons instead of 13.2 as the tank fuel sensor is either on the wrong place or defective notifying that the car tank is full, but it still has capacity left. If I take in consideration the 10 gallons max capacity I am getting now, then my MPG is around 29 MPG which is closer to the city driving I do. On the freeway yesterday, I had a 80 mile drive and MPG displayed an average of 39.9 MPG. I am keeping my gas receipts and will bring up this issue with my local dealer on my first oil change due next month. I am hoping the fuel sending problem is the issue for my low MPG, as I bought the Sentra thinking that I was getting a very fuel efficient car, but getting 22.7MPG is much worse than my previous 2000 Mazda Protégé (1.6 liter engine). I am hoping that Nissan/dealer will be able to fix this quick.

 

[SentraEd13]

rwspro, I really don't think you have a problem here. You have only filled it up 3 times? That's not a lot to go on to assume you have an issue. BTW, your numbers seem to be correct. This car is horrible on city MPG driving.

 

[rwspro]

SentraEd13,

I believe I may have some type of problem. During my last fill up, the car notified me that the tank was on reserve, but when I started to fill up, it only took 9.5 galloons and rejected/spitted the gas pumping gun. I was expecting to get 12+ gallons as the tank was on reserve. Somehow the tank sensor thinks that the tank is full but it still has room left, maybe 2.5 gallons. The gas level inside the car says it is full. I will wait until tank goes on reserve again to fill up and see. Thanks for post reply.

 

[SentraEd13]

I have been reading some consumer reviews on the city driving MPG and 23MPG seems to be the norm. In what you describe above, I have the same problem filling but my best friend has a 2012 Corolla with the same size gas tank and he can't get more than 10 gallons in at a time either.

Your problem is not the same as mine. My car spits out the fuel right away even when it is near empty.

 

[win231]

There was a recall on his car for bad air fuel sensors and his car shudders when accelerating so they put an updated tune on his car to help prevent that. The tune was from Nissan. I do a lot of city driving with eco on and I can't get it up. Its well under the advertised city mpg.

I think the key is "city driving." I have a new 2013 Altima 2.5 SL. So far, the best I've been able to get the display to say is 25.2 mpg average. 90% stop & go driving. When I do get on a fast-moving freeway, the indicator starts going up rather quickly. Just 20 miles at 60-75 mph made it go from 21 mpg to 25.2 mpg. Around here, even most freeway driving is stop & go. The sliding indicator my car has shows continuous mpg & it taught me that every time you stop, it takes a lot of fuel to get the car going again.

 

[PHL]

SentraEd13,

I believe I may have some type of problem. During my last fill up, the car notified me that the tank was on reserve, but when I started to fill up, it only took 9.5 galloons and rejected/spitted the gas pumping gun. I was expecting to get 12+ gallons as the tank was on reserve. Somehow the tank sensor thinks that the tank is full but it still has room left, maybe 2.5 gallons. The gas level inside the car says it is full. I will wait until tank goes on reserve again to fill up and see. Thanks for post reply.

I think the more likely case is that the reserve is much larger than you think. I've pushed the limit several times, driving about 15-25 miles past the point where the instrument display won't even estimate remaining mileage. In every instance, I did not need more than about 12 gallons (US) to fill the tank. In fact, until I confirmed the specs in the owners manual, I was thinking that the tank capacity was only 12.5 gallons.

 

[SentraEd13]

I think the more likely case is that the reserve is much larger than you think. I've pushed the limit several times, driving about 15-25 miles past the point where the instrument display won't even estimate remaining mileage. In every instance, I did not need more than about 12 gallons (US) to fill the tank. In fact, until I confirmed the specs in the owners manual, I was thinking that the tank capacity was only 12.5 gallons.

PHL, independent from my initial manufacturers defective part, I was thinking EXACTLY what you just wrote. Very annoying the pessimism of the fuel indicator system that just stops giving a read of estimated MPG till empty. Toyota's I have owned previously give you an almost real time till empty MPG until empty, but not Nissan. I am very tempted to fill up a gas can with 2 gallons of fuel one day and keep it in the car and run the car out until empty to get a final read out of how many miles I get on a full tank. However, I worry about it happening at an inopportune like going to work or being out in the extreme cold (almost winter here). It would be an interesting test to perform.

 

[Rona1991]

I've read all the threads because it interests me more as I probably have the most miles as I have seen.
From my experience in this car, this car runs shit in real cold weather, the Eco mode is full of shit trying to give you the best mpg as it doesn't let you rev the engine.

As far as putting v-power 93 gas in the car, I've gotten 45 miles per gallon. But I used to get 38-40 mpg on average highway+city mileage with regular gas.

I live North Carolina so there is a lot of hills here.

 

[SentraEd13]

So, last night my Dad wanted to see my gasoline log. I usually write down mileage, gallons pumped, cost to fill, and how many miles I drove on the last tank of gas. I usually drive until the tank is nearly empty, and please keep in mind 90% of my driving is highway with some hills. My lying trip computer tells me I get anywhere from 33-36MPG. Finally result: 30MPG and that's hard facts with numbers. 14,000 miles on the car.

I won't be buying another Nissan again. My old 09' Corolla got 33MPH. I'm wondering if Nissan inflated it's ratings like Hyundai and Kia did. Shame on you, Nissan.


I've concluded I'll keep this car one more year, make extra payments and then trade it in back to what I know to be reliable and true (Toyota).