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Comments
When I switch to instantaneous mode, I can see the sweet spot for the car is around 55 mph; there the car does close to 50 mpg on level ground.
My first set of tires (Conti Sport 2's) only lasted 27,000 miles thanks to some enthusiastic driving. Not that I mind much, since the fuel savings just about covered it... Basically I'm having a lot more fun in a car the same size and weight, but handles far better, has 60 more hp, and still gets 25% better mpg.
For example if I wanted to push my 05 Nissan to the extreme in MPG numbers (40mpg Hwy 38mpg city) i'd use hypermiling techniques. Sure I'd anger every other driver out there with slow starts from stoplights and slow merging on the highway but I'd save enough on gas to make it through 4$ a gallon.
Currently I'm sitting at about 30mpg combined without doing hypermiling.
About half-way through this run, I was at about 37 mpg. Then use of AC, more city streets, and more stop-and-go (construction etc.) took their toll. I'm happy though with 35 mpg, given the EPA for highway driving is 34 and I was driving mostly in town.
The car is very sensitive mpg-wise to pedal pressure. Keep a light touch on the pedal, and you can get very good fuel economy. But use all 140 horses, and the mpg meter will sag pretty fast. That is what I saw the few times I decided to see what kind of pep the car has.
Driving like there's an egg on the gas pedal helps alot!
Cruise control - very rare and it reduces the fuel efficiency.
Car Trip Computer reading - don't trust that reading, it reads 3 -5 miles more than actual reading.
I do use scan gauge and drive behind the truck occasionally.
I do reset the trip computer and odometer every time fill the tank, always filled the tank in full. The actual mileage is from 30 to 34 miles/ gallon - best tank full.
My Opinion - this is not a fuel efficient car and not suitable for hypermiling either. I do drive Camry 1997 and 2007 both of them gives better mileage than Sentra.
I have found that high FE on the Sentra requires a very light foot. I notice when my wife drives our 2010 Sentra (which is not too often), FE drops greatly (she has a lead foot). For example, she'll struggle to get low 20s in town while I easily get over 30. I hate it when she takes out my car, because I'll be doing fine on a tank, between 34-35 mpg usually (it's at 36.2 on current tank), and she'll drive it a bit and it's down below 30! When I have intentionally used a heavier foot (or just feel like zipping around a bit), FE drops off. Based on my experience, I think upper 30s, even close to 40, is possible under the conditions in which you drive, if your highway miles don't involve much traffic, but you'll have to work for it and resist all temptations to unleash the 140 horses. If that is too much work... oh well, 34 mpg is the EPA highway rating for the car.
My city MPG is 17.5 although the manual says around 32.
I went to dealership and they said I better wait until I get 9000 miles.
But if you are getting only 25 mpg at a steady 75 mph, no stops, not much headwind, properly inflated tires, that is low. Have you tried resetting the average mpg readout when you start a trip where you will maintain a steady speed and w/o much headwind? It would be interesting to see what the mpg is for such a trip. Also it would be interesting to know what your instantaneous mpg readout says when you are moving along at a steady 75 mph, with cruise on, on level ground. I'd be real surprised if it wasn't in the mid-30s mpg.
The numbers are consistent with my 2.0S under similar conditions... not surprising, as they are the same car.
P.S. Originally I was given a Yaris. :P I begged for something else (it didn't even have cruise) and got the Sentra. At least I knew what to expect with it.
You'll take a big hit on mpg over 65 mph, in my experience with the 2.0. I can touch 40 mpg in mild weather if I keep it to no more than 65, but once I go over that it drops off a lot. Over 70, mid-30s is all I can do. I've never tried driving 75+ for an extended distance with the car (speed limits in my region aren't higher than 65-70) but I can imagine what that would do for FE.
Also are you sure you filled the tank the first time? I've seen a lot of problems on Sentras (I drive them a lot as rentals) re filling the tank. Even though I fill carefully, it's hard to completely fill the tank. In fact the folks at Hertz are aware of this problem, so when I explain that I just filled the tank and it still doesn't show Full they are sympathetic and don't charge me for a non-full tank. Thus it's possible you really didn't fill the tank the first time and didn't use 10 gallons of gas. However, you experienced the same mpg going home. That's when things like weather and winds can play a role.
What has been the mpg for the life of the car? Or doesn't your son track it?
We got the car with about 65K miles on it and it's up to 73k now, so when I talk life of the car it's mostly it's "recent life". He hasn't been tracking until recently when he says it seems like he's always filling the tank. I told him of course that it's part of having a car and being responsible for paying for it, but it wasn't until this trip that I really saw how poor the mileage is. He does most of his driving in the city, but I expected much better than 25 mpg highway even at 75 mph. I think before I take it to the shop I'll drive it for a week (my commute is 99% highway) to see if I can milk 34+ mpg out of it driving a little more cautiously (ie - not like a teenager)
Do you know what maintenance the car had before you bought it? In particular, do you know if it had the major servicing at 60k miles? If the car was not maintained well, that could drag down FE. So for example, have the plugs been replaced since the car was new? How are the filters especially the air filter? What was the tire pressure on your trip?
If I were you, I'd check all these things, including oil (when was the last oil change?) and then try driving it on your commute for awhile, not "driving like a teenager" as you said. The other thing to be aware of is, there's a little button on the side of the CVT shifter that turns off overdrive. Makes the engine rev a LOT higher than normal. A yellow light comes on in the instrument cluster when that happens. You might ask your son if he ever drives it with the O/D off... it would tend to improve acceleration, which a teenager would like, but would really hurt FE.
On the return trip I decided to see if I could get higher FE. It was cooler so A/C was needed only for the last 15 miles or so, I think there were more downgrades than upgrades (reverse on the outbound trip), and... I think this is the biggie... I had the instantaneous mpg display on the whole time and kept checking it. I've found that even a very small change in accelerator pressure can make a significant difference in mpg in this car, so I tried to keep the mpg meter as high as possible by using light pressure on the accelerator and coasting (in gear) as much as possible. Also on the 2-lane roads, I built speed coasting down hills and let my momentum carry me up hills, even if it meant I dropped below the speed limit (when no one was behind me of course). I used cruise only on the 60-mile freeway segment, otherwise I kept to the speed limit or just over. Limits were 55 to 65 except in towns.
The result? On the return trip, I averaged 41.8 mpg per the trip computer. This is the highest mpg I've achieved on this car on a trip of any distance. It shows what is possible in the car if you pay attention to FE. It takes a little attention, and if you're in a hurry it won't work as speeds need to be kept close to the limit. But I wasn't in a hurry, didn't need A/C, and had some fun testing the limits of the car short of what a hypermiler could achieve.
Imagine my disappointment when, after this effort, I refilled with 6.1 gallons. I managed a miserable 27.6 mpg! Computer average read 35.2mpg, and average speed was 30mph.
I absolutely understand that the 'full-er' the tank, the more disparate the computer vs. reality chasm. But this is just ridiculous. I will reserve judgement until I can put together a longer-range highway trip. But at this rate, my car is disappointing me with the lackluster fuel consumption.
For some background, I'm in Philly, I purchased my car in April, and have put 9,800 miles already. I've measured my fuel economy on every tank of gas, and my best has been 29mpg of Philly-to-NYC round trip with the cruise set @ 70ish mph (can't recall exactly). My worst tank has been 22mpg in mixed city/highway.
I'm very happy with my car otherwise, and in reality, 25mpg average economy is decent. But, reading how some people can touch 40mpg is annoying to me. I want to match that feat! Or at least, be able to crack 30mpg...
Hate to dis' your mpg's but the trip computer number is probably much higher than the 'miles driven divided by gallons used'
Nissan makes a great engines, just not very fuel efficient ones. My Nissan Versa CVT sucks gas like a gravel truck, always has and after 50,000 miles, still does.
Getting 40 mpg in a 2010 Sentra isn't "automatic". It takes some effort, as I've explained. Not everyone can do it or wants to do it because it means sticking to speed limits and using a very light foot on the gas. But it's possible. But I've also gotten ~20 mpg on a 2.0L CVT Sentra before, more than once. I get that when I rent one for business and drive it in town all the time, AC on, short trips, and not a particularly light foot on the gas.
YMMV.
I went to Baltimore from Philly, and back. In all I covered 218 miles and used 6.56 gallons which works out to a 33.18mpg tank!
If I remove the baltimore looking for street parking from the equation, its safe to say 34mpg was achieved.
The computer, meanwhile, recorded 39.8mpg average for the entire trip, but spent a large part of the trip reading 44mpg average. Its only when I commuted in my hilly town where it dipped below 40mpg.
At the end, I averaged 49mph, and the computer was promising enough fuel left over to cover 513 miles for that tank.
I'm happy to have finally managed the promised EPA economy, and happier that my car is not a 'dud', or needing mechanical attention. However, I think the kind of effort required to achieve this feat is ridiculous. This kind of effort, driving 15mph slower than all traffic on i95, and holding cars baack while reaching any lights, in order to avoid dead stops, should yield mileage closer to 40mpg. It takes real concentration and I can't imagine how people do it on a regular basis.
It was hard work.
I know there are a handful of similar cars like Corollas and Civics, cars that are well known to easily reach mid 30's on the highway without such heroic effort, have other trade-offs (the largest being higher transaction prices), but its hard not to dismiss Nissan for missing the mark.
I don't know what kind of "heroic effort" you think you need to achieve mid-30s highway mpg on a Sentra 2.0 CVT. I can do that with zero effort just by setting the cruise control to 70 mph or less on the highway, and steer the car. Not too heroic on my part.
But to get 40+ mpg on the Sentra... yes, that takes some "heroic" effort, or at least a lot of attention to fuel economy. It's rated 34 mpg highway, so 40+ is a real stretch. Possible under some conditions, and with a very light foot on the gas. Most people I wager don't want to drive that way.
I see that the new Sentra has a smaller engine, lower power, but also higher EPA fuel economy. I bet that car will require a light foot to get that fuel economy, and many owners won't achieve it.
Imagine my disappointment when, after this effort, I refilled with 6.1 gallons. I managed a miserable 27.6 mpg! Computer average read 35.2mpg, and average speed was 30mph.
It's the 39 miles of non-highway driving, which based on your avg speed of 30mph, must have taken well over 2 hours, that killed your gas mileage. If you're doing city driving that averages less than 20 mph, I don't think you're going to get close to the EPA city number in that part of your driving.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/drivehabits.shtml
If the speed limit on the interstate you commute on is less than 75, you could try sticking to no more than the speed limit to see what effect that has on FE. I noticed on my 2010 Sentra, FE dropped off a lot over 65 mph. Also, depending on how many of those lights you hit and how long they are, they could really ding the average FE.
Are you sure Nissan claims 40 mpg city on the 2013 Sentra??
Recently bought a 2011 Sentra that had 3k on the odometer. I researched CVT's for a year prior to buying so I knew what to expect. Unfortunately, and to my disappointment, I seem to be one to those owners with a gas guzzling Sentra.
After multiple trips, I realized the ONLY way I can achieve 34 mpg highway, is if I drive the speed limit, 55 mph. The moment I approach 60, the average speed everyone else drives in my area of Canada, my engine no longer sips gas, it guzzles. I get 28 mpg no matter what I do. 5 miles per hour difference, my mileage drops 6 mpg. I have a few hills, nothing extreme, it's 90% flat roads in my region. The problem is, if I want to save on gas, I'd have to piss off everyone else on the road. It's not worth it. There are way better cars out there, heck, my friends Corolla gets close to 40 mpg at 100 km/h (60ish) with a 4 speed-auto.
I have a 2008 Nissan Sentra 6-speed, and do mostly city driving and my computer tells me usually that I get 20-22mpg mostly. I do notice that I have to put in gas very often, my full tank would last me about 4 days. And no, I don't have a heavy foot. My oil has recently been changed, and I've been tracking how many miles each of my bars have been getting starting from half tank.
1 bar went down after 19.5 miles, the 2nd went down after 27 miles, and the 3rd after 28 miles. There has to be something up with my car, can someone help me out?
Idk if it's how I shift? I usually shift around 2 rpm sometimes 2.5 rpms, is that the problem? The car shifts pretty smooth so idk