man all you guys getting 18+ mpg are so lucky. i have 2500 miles on my 5AT and the best i've ever gotten was 17 and that was just one time. right now i'm at 250 miles and my light is on. i dont even drive the car hard cuz i've been trying to get better gas mileage, i havent even taken it above 3k rpm but once this tank. man i hope my mileage gets better

 

"I get about 14-15 miles per gallon, no highway miles. 1.5 mile trip to work and back."

Why not just walk to work ?

 

I'm getting about 17-19mpg in my 03 sedan auto with 23K miles in Kansas City. I've only had the car about 1.5 months. I get around 17mpg if I'm doing mostly city driving and I'll get 19mpg if I'm doing about 30-40% highway. In KC, we have winter gas from November through March and the winter gas definitely kills MPGs by about 15% according to the drops I see in the MPG in my wife's Legacy and my old Maxima. Cold weather also kills mpgs because the engine uses a lot of fuel to warm up.

I hope to get around 19mpg in the city, 23mpg+ in combined driving, and 25+mpg in 100% highway driving once spring rolls around.

 

In my post I said the dealer filled it at 72 miles. So at 225 miles on 1/2 tank, it's more like 150 mile to half. If I can get 300 miles from a tank, I'd be happy. My 03 Maxima would get about 290-310 miles to a tank in mixed driving. To get the same type of mileage in a car that is much more fun/pleasing to drive, I am fine with it.

 

I get about the same MPG and that sucks. Maybe even worse.

 

Guess mine will suck too, because I live on a military base and it's about that far for me to go to work. I'm still going to love this car alot,14-15 MPG is 3-4 more than I got with my nissan Titan 4X4, guess I'm winning still.

 

First, the AWD will eat up a little of your mileage...

But I just filled up for the first time after the dealer supplied tank ran through... and according to the MPG computer, I got ~19.1 on my 2005 6MT... and I was running very inefficiently, due to break-in - I was on the highway for some of the time, so I was varying the RPMs and changing between 5th and 6th a lot... I wasn't flooring it by any means, but I was having a little fun with the car - not driving like a grandma, either. Under normal driving, it could have been around 22 I would guess... Not bad for first tank.

 

I got my 2005 5AT around the middle of January.. since then, I've filled it up 5 times:

1/26, 17.40mpg (filled up with 91 octane)
1/31, 16.42mpg (89)
2/8, 17.35mpg (91)
2/17, 17.44mpg (91)

average price per gallon: $2.22
average mpg: 17.151mpg
average fill up: 14.801 gallons

(yes, they are in an Excel spreadsheet)

Those 4 tanks were pretty much 50% bumper to bumper/slow traffic, 15% freeway, never over 4,000RPM (ok, maybe once or twice).. I just filled up again today.. however, the last tank was probably 35% freeway and 15% bumper to bumper and I got about 19.5mpg.. that was a huge shock.. and that was with a few WOT blasts after reaching 1,200 miles.. oh, and when I'm on the freeway, its usually 80mph..

 

For 6mt owners, I'm convinced that you'll get better mileage after the under 4000 RPM break-in period. Driving at high speeds (over 75 mph) will hurt the mileage, but reving the engine will improve your fuel economy. I'll post my before and afters when I'm done with the break-in.

 

All true. But it is not uncommon to be at 225 miles at half tank. That would mean 450 miles to be bone dry, not when the light comes on. I routinely am at 400+ miles when the light comes on. 90% highway and I get 24-25 MPG every week. Premium makes no difference at all. What does make a difference is oxygenates. If its oxygenated, it will have less energy available. Its basically filler and has nothing to do with reducing emissions. It has everything to do with increasing tax revenue. Since gas is taxed by the gallon, it is in the states best interest to have you buy as many gallons as possible.

 

I've experienced that oxygenated gas accounts for about a 10-12% decrease in fuel efficiency. And with ethanol replacing MTBE here in CAL because MTBE is much more toxic to ground water supplies than it is for cleaning the air, the mpgs won't get any better. Doesn't make sense to spend more money to burn more gas per mile to help the environment, but that's where we are.