Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Even though I'm happy with the mielage, it does feel like cars in general could get more out of each gallon, but I'm afraid that's going to have to come from giving up the added weight of a lot of the add ons that we've become accustomed to in our vehicles.
That brings up an interesting question... would you trade some convenince and safety for mileage? The weight of airbag systems. The comfort of air conditioning. There's a lot of stuff on our cars now that eats into mileage.
I wonder how many mileage complaints you see online are caused in part by the ethanol hit?
On long distance trips - with 3 adults and 1 child - I have averaged 42-44 mpg using the Air Conditioner it is 42 - w/o AC it is 44. I'm a conservative driver which means I do not do jack rabbit starts and don't speed either. I set the cruise at exactly 70 on the interstate, and observe the posted speed limits religiously. I want to set a positive example for my children, and community that shows that I'm not fuelish.
On a tangential note, I recently rented a Hyundai Sonata (I4, not V6) for three days, and was pleasantly surprised to have gotten 35.2 MPG for the tank (95% highway). With a car like this, I couldn't help but drive conservatively, and it showed in the gas mileage!
We purchased a Versa hatchback with CVT (variable) automatic transmission last fall. We now have 13k on it, but the mileage is still poor; nearly 25% worse than published. The local dealer has been no help, and just shrugs it off. We do everything possible to squeeze the rated mileage out of it, but to no avail. Our best highway mileage of 8.4 l/100 is still far cry from the rated city mileage of 7.9 and highway mileage of 6.3 l/100 km. After all I've read, I starting to believe this vehicle was over-sold, unless someone can give me a better reason. :lemon:
Paul in Victoria
Also a lot of us drive more city miles than we think and that kills mileage.
Have you tried filling up just before a really, really long road trip, then refilling and calculating your mileage?
I bought it new in April of 2008 in Hawaii and usually averaged between 38-42 mpg. I opted to get the upgraded packaged with the CVT transmission, bluetooth feature, and other accessories.
I was really suprised to see so many disgruntled users. In Hawaii the fastest highway speed is 60 mph, this may also have something to do with why I was getting better mileage than most users. Now that I've moved to the mainland, I'll see what my mpg will be with faster speed limts.
I hope this helps.
For the last year, I've never cracked 32 on the highway and my mixed driving is 29-30mpg. That's The Inconvenient Truth About Ethanol :mad:
But I still love my Versa!
I just bought a 2009 Versa Hatchback 1.8 S. When I take my foot off the gas on the highway, the car feels like it is slowing down, not coasting like a "normal" car. Does this happen to everyone else ? I have the 4 speed auto trans, not the CVT.
Thanks
On my Versa, I notice that the rpms will drop about 4k when you let off the gas, in the first 3 gears of the autotrans, but when you are in 4th gear (overdrive) it won't drop at all. So now you've got the engine drag slowing you down as well as the wind pushing you back, if you try to coast in 4th. It's acting like a manual trans in 4th gear, and like an autotrans in gears 1 thru 3.
In other words, there is NEVER a 4,000 rpm drop in engine speed - that would only happen, imho, if you were locking it in 2nd on the street or in 3rd on the freeway. Please note that with the Yaris, at least on the one I test drove, it is easy - and common - to drive on the freeway in 3rd because the way to opt out of "overdrive 4th" is to position the control lever to the left or right (I forget which) and NOT to push a button on the side of the handle (the more normal way).
All this having been said, on my Cobalt automatic the car just seemed to coast on the freeway without much engine drag. But on my wife's Odyssey, it actually feels like it is dropping a gear to provide engine breaking. One system is designed to maximize gas mileage while letting you coast, the other system is designed to maximize engine breaking to reduce brake wear, or help you slow down coming down a hill.
Quote:
On my Versa, I notice that the rpms will drop about 4k when you let off the gas, in the first 3 gears of the autotrans, but when you are in 4th gear (overdrive) it won't drop at all. So now you've got the engine drag slowing you down as well as the wind pushing you back, if you try to coast in 4th. It's acting like a manual trans in 4th gear, and like an autotrans in gears 1 thru 3.
********************************************************************************- ****************
What you notice is the torque converter, which does not lock in the first 3 gears (and therefore rpm's drop when you take the foot off the pedal), then locks (I believe the 3rd gear and) 4th gear (no drop in rpm's when you release the pedal). This is normal and by design.
Sounds like the Yaris tranny doesn't employ torque lock. If I understand things right, locking the torque converter is good, as it prevents slippage, and therefore improves fuel economy.
That said, I am not an expert, so I could be totally off.
I have the old-fashioned 4 speed auto trans.
btw, this includes use of the a/c.
We went to Disney together last month him and his family in the Fit and me and my family in the Versa, a 600mile trip (each way) loaded down with our luggage and stuff. Two adults, two kids in each car. I averaged 35.4 mpg he averaged 35.9 mpg. I had no isses with luggage while he had no room for a cooler and his kids had to share a suitcase (a very small one at that). On the return trip my brother wanted to swap cars to see if they could see any difference so we did, that was all it took. Upon getting home they decided to sell the Fit and get a Versa. I will update you all with the details when he sell his Fit and gets the Versa.
Where the Versa really shined was in road noise - it was nice and quiet. The 2008 Fit was much noisier.
Where the Fit shined was in handling - it was a little sports car.
I got much higher gas mileage on my Fit with 5 speed than on my Versa with 6 speed, both manual transmission - about a 5 mpg difference. (I now have a Cube with CVT and it actually gets slightly better gas mileage than the Versa with stick, so it may have been a sample variation).
I have test driven the new generation Fit in 5 speed only and it has a lot of wind noise, a fair amount of road surface noise, and the engine is still geared low - 3,750 rpm or so at 80 mph. So the noise hasn't gotten any better. The handling has gotten worse, except on the Sport Model (I drove both Base and Sport) which handles well but rides terribly (not insufferably terribly, but harsher than the former generation base model which still out handles it, imho and brief opinion). Where the Fit excels is in the fold flat seats and enormous station wagon hauling capacity.
I think both are great small cars, but my conclusion is that the Fit is over rated and the Versa is underrated. If you ignore the cost factor, the Versa is slightly superior, if you take into account the cost factor, the Versa is a significantly better buy with one big caveat - when I went to trade in the Versa and Fit after 6 months, the Fit traded in for more than I paid for it (ignoring sales tax and license fees) but the Versa trade in was the more normal Japanese car trade in range.
And yes I'd by either again in an instant, but I've gotten pickier about safety and would like to see stability control on both and also better roof crush tests. The mediocre roof crush tests on the Fit coupled with the lack of stability control (which reduces roll-over risk) makes it much less desirable to me, from a safety standpoint.
Using Shell gas which has no ethanol at my station. I think the lack of ethanol increases mpg's. Also bumped my tire pressure up to 40 psi, from 35 psi.
BTW, the Shell station near me, with NON Ethanol gas, used to be only about 10 cents more per gallon than Wawa, but for the last two weeks, it has been 20 cents more per gallon. (Wawa dropped its price)
I just purchased a beautiful 2008 Nissan Versa. 1.8L with 6 spd manual. This car was purchased with MPG's in mind. I just took a new job which requires a 60 mile commute daily through a big city interstate system. So far I have been using the cruise control when I can, which is most of the time, and not going any faster than 60 MPH. In this thread I have learned to look for pure gas, and inflate the tires to 40 PSI. Are there any other suggestions to get the best MPG possible? Is 60 MPH the best MPG speed? Would 55 MPH make that much difference? I noticed the RPM revs a lot higher than other cars I'm accustomed to. At 60MPH it almost revs to 3K, but it is a small engine. That may be normal. Just looking for any suggestions the masses may have.
Thanks...
But that's just our picky wish list
Thanks....
Thannks...
Thanks...
Other than that, it's a fine car. Well made, roomy, quiet, boring.
Not as much fun as my TDI that gets now 43 mpg and is on its way up as it breaks in further.
Our 2010 Altima gets less than than even with its CVT, but a CVT robs MPG plenty if driven stop and go as this one usually is. Keeping the RPMs low is where the mileage is, but ours is usually in the 2-3k range, usually just cause thats where the fun is
Mileage test:
1. 34 mpg
2. 37 mpg
3. 37 mpg
4. 35 mpg
NOTE:
I live in a hilly rural county with the highest legal speed limit of 55 mph which I pretty much stick to.
I'm retired and don't need to commute nor be anywhere on schedule so I can, and do, take my time getting around. If my only choices were between "city" and "highway" driving I would have to say neither. Much of my driving is just cruising through the countryside looking for good bird spots - both my wife and I are avid bird watchers.
Just for comparison my wife's Buick Park Avenue doing exactly the same kind of driving would give us about 24 mpg. Although the Versa is relatively quiet and smooth for it's class it's nothing near the tomb-like silence and arm chair comfort of the Buick. My wife says that driving around in the Buick is like sitting in the living room and watching the countryside roll by through the picture window.
I understand these numbers may not be relevant to most of you but they reflect the actual mileage we get driving the way we do and that's the bottom line.
So far, we are satisfied with the Versa given it's limits.
23 Civic Type-R / 22 MDX Type-S / 21 Tesla Y LR / 03 Montero Ltd
That's the trouble with the mpg postings on this thread - are we comparing two different cars or two different driving styles? If I drove the same way your wife has to drive I may do no better in my Versa.
Just got back yesterday from a round trip of 325 miles to Minneapolis and back - 33mpg. Put car into CC at 65mph (the speed limit) and just let her cruise into the city. Interestingly once I got into the the city I had to drive faster than out on the rural highways. Did a lot of driving taking beltline freeways around the city and everyone was driving 80-85 mph and I had to keep up with the flow of the traffic or be run over.
Your wife's 30mpg as a city car driving stop and go and urban freeways may be very reasonable.
I pretty much read all the post in this thread going back to 2007. I noticed that as time went on the mpg postings got better and better. I wonder if the early Versas may, in fact, have had some problem? I'm no gear head but I do know that programming of the motor control unit does not have to be far off to adversely effect mpg. Perhaps Nissan realized this and quietly went about reprogramming the later Versas for better mileage?
Just speculation on my part.
Take care,
Natureboy3
Signed: Optimistic.
Dealers are full of [non-permissible content removed]... they will tell you anything to make you feel good about your purchase beforehand or question yourself if something seems wrong afterwards.
I am used to my 45 mpg Jetta, so the 28 mpg we are getting from the Versa are not overwhelming. On the other hand, I would hesitate to call this a "Subcompact". It is very roomy, tall, with loads and loads of space for the back passengers. Not like a van obviously, but not like a true subcompact either.
Even though I've thought our Versa MPG could be a little better, with only 5k miles, I don't think we've driven it enough to know anything definitive yet.
23 Civic Type-R / 22 MDX Type-S / 21 Tesla Y LR / 03 Montero Ltd
I'm not too upset about the mileage as the other attributes of the vehicle more than make up for it for me: reliability, space, comfort. My father and brother can sit with great comfort in the back despite both being 6'2".
Take most dealer mileage stickers at 80% of their face and you'll be right around reality.