The Nissan Club banner

MPG on the Altima?

24K views 117 replies 48 participants last post by  tharam04  
#1 ·
Does anyone else have the problem of their car's MPG dropping constantly? Ever since I got my car in November, my MPG has been increasing very very slowly. I don't drive a lot, around 20 miles a day (City, no highway) for 4 days. The rest of the three days my car just stands in the driveway.

A month after I bought my car, I got up to 19.5 MPG. Even before that I noticed the MPG always fell, but never really bothered to worry about it. But when the MPG wouldn't go beyond 19.6, I started getting infuriated. I mean, the MPG was the selling point for me, the reason why I bought the vehicle in the first place. So I called up my dealership, and had a discussion with a customer relations manager there who told me that it's a new system in the 2013 that increases and decreases the MPG as you drive to give you the optimum efficiency. I took his word for it because I really don't know much about cars anyways (this is my first car).

After that discussion, the next day I went on a road trip to Canada. It was around 470 miles from my house in New York. The MPG went up steadily during that drive. I drove at about 70-75 MPH most of the trip. When I reached Canada, I noted the MPG to be 22.5 (I started at 19.5). When I came back home, the MPG went up to 24.3. But, now that I'm home, and I'm mostly driving local, my MPG is starting to decrease again. It's only been 2 days driving local and I'm down to 24 MPG. I don't know if this is normal, and I certainly don't want the MPG to get even more down. Is anyone else experiencing this? Is this normal?
 
#2 ·
2.5 or 3.5?

Do you have a heavy foot? Do you floor it when the light turns green? Don't pay attention to the MPG from the onboard computer next time and figure out your MPG on your own. Fill up the tank and then reset the trip computer. When it's time to fill up again, note how many times you drove from the trip computer and how much gas you had to fill up.

Gallons divide by miles = ?

On average with my 2.5 SL, I get 540 to 580 miles per tank.
 
#9 ·
2.5 or 3.5?

Don't pay attention to the MPG from the onboard computer next time and figure out your MPG on your own. Fill up the tank and then reset the trip computer. When it's time to fill up again, note how many times you drove from the trip computer and how much gas you had to fill up.


Okay, thanks for the suggestion. I'll fill up and report back asap. I remember the last time I filled up was when I was coming back from Syracuse. That's around 260 miles. The computer said I had 555 miles left at that time. Now I have 170 miles left. So technically I'm not really getting 555 miles out of a full tank of gas. But this time around I'll calculate manually.
 
#3 ·
I've had my car for about a week and ony have 200 miles and the mpg on screen is about 20.9. I do some city and highway mixed. I have been very easy on the throttle. I hope this improves or I am goi g to be mighty pissed. I'm coming from a Tahoe and the major major major selling point was the MPG. Don't get me wrong, I love the car but was really looking for about 30mpg. D
Does the MPG. Anyone else know if the MPG gets better with time?
 
#6 ·
First things first: reset your avg. MPG on the computer by holding down the display pages button for 2 seconds. Now that you're back at square one, do not let the RPMs get above 2K. This is the trick with this car (2.5L). My mileage was only 21 MPG city and I was wondering what was going on as I don't consider myself a leadfoot, although I do drive faster than those around me. When I started being smoother and not letting the RPMs get to 2K, my city mileage went up to 29. I was amazed.

I believe that a major reason the mileage is bad at first is because the CVT has learned the habits of those who test-drove your car. Next time you're at the dealer take a peak at the avg. MPG of the Altimas on the lot--they'll all be well below 20.

Try my suggestion and see if it helps.
 
#5 ·
Driving 95% freeway going no faster than 65.

I had a job for a bit where I drove a bunch. 3.5SE btw. Freeway driving was like 98% of what I did. I decided to try to get the best mpg possible for a tank. Drove very slow and calm when not on the freeway. Once on, I got up to highway speed not going over 2.5k rpms. Drove no faster than 65, usually was going 55 or 60 in the right lane. I only managed about 27.

These cars are straight up gas hogs.

Im currently only commuting to school, short trip on highway and then driving through town. Im only averaging around 19 right now.
 
#18 ·
I'm averaging 25-26 between city and highway driving in my 2.5SL.

Obviously your mileage is all dictated by your driving style and habits.

Currently I am abiding by the Manual and staying below 70 and not going over 4,000rpm's till around 1,000 miles.

Once I start being able to drive how I normally do, we'll see how my gas mileage does lol.
 
#19 ·
When discussing gas mileage, it is helpful to state which engine that you have given that the 6-cyl MPG numbers aren't the same as the 4-cyl.

When I accelerate normally, after the torque converter locks and all that jazz, the RPMs usually stay around 1500. Sometimes I will give it more gas and maintain about 1750 RPMs, but usually no more than that. This has always gotten more 25+ MPG with my 2.5. Also, I usually drive in D mode not Ds, since Ds is more sensitive to the throttle and usually runs a higher RPMs with less input.

When driving in the city, the MPG will usually go down. I've gotten up to 40 MPG according to the computer driving on the highway, but once I started going back to forth to work daily (1 mi each way, speed limit 30 MPH), that MPG dropped fast to the upper 20s. Over time, the MPG has gotten better and in some cases better than the stated ratings. It all depends on how you drive your car.
 
#20 ·
31city 36 highway

My fuel mileage is one of the few things I like about the vehicle at this point. My car is in service for the 4th time in 3 months.
 
#25 ·
That's awesome that your getting that kind of gas mileage out of your 3.5 rob, how many miles are on the vehicle???

I only have 458miles on my 2.5SL but I'm only getting 26-27 with 70%hwy & 30%city.

I know as I put more miles on the car the gas mileage will improve but I'd really like to start seeing 30-31MPG sometime soon.
 
#27 ·
I have about 4500 miles on my 3.5 SL. I get that mileage with pretty conservative driving and acceleration. I've noticed that if I take my foot off the gas...the car takes a long time to slow down....even the rpm doesn't drop very much while I decelerate .....the the speed decreases very slowly. I also display the screen with the sliding mileage screen to show me what's happening based on my driving style.
 
#30 ·
With this trip to DC I have about 515 miles on the car. In and around town with some highway I'm averaging about 26 mpg. That's with me being extremey easy on the gas. Even my wife is like 'wtf' because I'm going to easy (not exceeding 2k rpm). Btw as another post stated. It is difficult to keep under 2k rpm when going up a hill.
 
#32 ·
Don't try to maintain a low rpm all the time. It could end up burning more gas. If the gears set too low, the engine is struggling to turn and gas supply increased to keep it from stall. Like when you are driving manual shift. Shifting up too early would make you slow and using more gas. Just focus on driving properly and maintain a healthy engine speed. Moderate and smooth acceleration is best. Doing so is good for gas and your engine life.
 
#31 ·
3.5SL- 650 miles so far... mix of 20 mile 70-75mph highway cruises to work and back along with some spirited around town driving giving me an average of 22.5 MPG calculated. Some excessive idling too because of the cold and wanting to keep the car warm. Assuming it'll get a little better, but not stressed if it doesn't.
 
#44 ·
based on what you guys said I can see that most of these cars are around the same ballpark and are measured differentlly by different labs etc and it wont be 100% accurate. the best option for me i guess is to keep checking out forums and see what actual mpgs are. LOl the only hard part is converting it to km/l for conversion lol
 
#45 ·
The fuel use display on the dash is way off. Reset the trip odometer and calculate manually after 3 tanks of gas.
My 2.5SV after 6000km (3750miles) is averaging 38.5 CDN mpg (32.5US mpg) on a 140km (87 mile) commute travelling 50% at 60mph and 45% 80mph. The remaining 5% is getting to the highway and the distance off the highway to my workplace. I got the car in late Nov so temperature has been freezing and below which plays havoc with the fuel mileage. It better get better in the spring/summer because Nissan Canada claims 50mpg highway.