Fuel Economy Update for January - 2014 Nissan Rogue SL AWD Long-Term Road Test
Edmunds.com
Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,316
Fuel Economy Update for January - 2014 Nissan Rogue SL AWD Long-Term Road Test
Our 2014 Nissan Rogue has earned an average of 24.5 mpg so far during its year-long test.
0
Comments
EPA MPG Rating: 28 Combined (25 City/32 Highway)
^^^
That right there is what bothers me. I used to own a Nissan Rogue. I averaged around 23.5-24 MPG on my 100+ mile daily commute of mostly highway and back country roads. I had owned a Nissan Versa which on the same route average 36.5MPG out of the rated 38MPG HWY. Not bad, 96%. So buying another vehicle from the same company, I thought the vehicle would perform similarly, perhaps not quite as well. Maybe 90%, at least 80%....
So on the identical route and driving style, my Nissan Rogue only averaged 23.5MPG. A mere 73% of the EPA HWY rating. Considering that MPG was the 2nd most important criteria in my purchasing decision. (First being the need for a 3rd row.) I gave up other features to gain those two. (I also had the blower motor fail within 1 year of ownership, but it was intermittent, and finally the blower motor resistor failed on the 13th month of owning the vehicle. Replacement would cost me $700 (as I was just over my warranty mileage). A fight with Nissan USA, eventually got them to cover half the cost. 6 months later, it failed again. I spent 1/2 my summer with intermittent AC. On a brand new vehicle. Nissan never would do anything about it. So when I found myself facing some financially difficulty, I decided my Rogue was not worth trying to keep. Design, layout, etc....I really loved. The interior, everything. Great design. Nissan's refusal to remedy a problem on a 1 year old vehicle, even after the owner already dropped $700 burned me. I will never buy a Nissan again...
***
But back to the point, a quick googling will show the exact same thing almost universally. That pretty much ALL Nissan Rogue owners are averaging around 23-25 MPG. Now, I think we all understand that EPA ratings are "estimates". But when the average for folks doing highway driving is LOWER than the city rating. SOMETHING IS WRONG
And I think WE ALL know what it is. Nissan is allowed to do it's own tests. They optimize the vehicle's computer system for the test. Just like VW did the diesel emissions. So on the test they can achieve these flying scores. But real world folks are getting way way way less. Unacceptably so. But where is the EPA?
Why hasn't the EPA looked at the real world data at places like fueleconomy.gov, truedelta, etc where people enter their miles. And noted vehicles in which universally the performance is lower than expected. And then select and test those.
Honestly, Nissan should be hit fairly heavily for their false mileage claims.