I see everyone saying they get like 18 to 20 on the highway and like 15 in city. I get like 14 highway and 10-11 city. Ive got a roof rack, but all else is stock. why doyou think I get such bad mpg's and is there anyways i can improve it?? thanks guys.

 

That's not TOO bad. What vehicle do you have, how many miles, what tires and when was your last tune up? I think normal is closer to 13/16

 

What year and how many miles? I have an '01 and the best I can get on the highway is about 18.5 mpg most generally around 18. My '95 gets a little less at around 16 highway, even after the most recent tune up. You must burn premium gas. There are a lot of posts here regarding spark plugs and wires to use. Anything over 2300 rpm on the tach you can figure about 1/2 mpg less per increase of 200 rpm. So at 72 mph you are probably at about 3000 to 3200rpm, so at 62 mph you will probably get closer to 16 mpg. Remember this is a full time 4 wheel drive vehicle, that weighs over 5000lbs.

 

i have an 03' with 60k on it. not sure when the last tune up was, but im about to do one, so well see after that. thanks guys

 

What size tires are you running? If you are going for a tune up and replacing plugs and wires go for the 8MM Magnacor's

 

Funny you mention this. For years I always believed that the best mileage was in the highest gear, running at the lowest RPM and anything over 70 mph was too much wind resistance. Until I started driving the exact same 3.5 hour route and I started keeping track of my mileage. Our pathfinder got significantly better mileage going 80 vs. 70. I've only had the chance to test the Rover once on the highway though. I wasdriving 72 for over 3 hours straight and I got about 15.9 mpg. Coming home I kept it between 75 and 80 and got about 17 mpg. And this was after topping off my tank with 6gallons of regularunleaded.I'll have to retest this since it wasen't the exact same route. It probably depends on the vehicle and it's wind resistance, but I'm starting to think it has to do with the peakpower of the engine, which isn't at low RPM's. After all, at 65 mph you may be using less gas per unit of time than at 80 mph, but it's taking you longer to get the same distance and therefore your engine is running longer. Going slow is probably just propaganda from the oil companies . Has anybody else noticed this?

BTW, I've never had the patience to go 65 mph for very long, so maybe my theory is shot.

 

So, your truck probably has never been tune since it is do for it's first tune at the 60K.
What octane gas are you running?
That roof rack will cost you an easy 1.5 MPG.

 

Do you live in a cold climate where the supply 'winter gas' ???

Warm-ups are a killer in the winter, because itstays much longer in the open loop mode, where it runs super rich until it reaches normal operating temps. And winter gas will rob you of at least 20% off your normal summer gas mileage.

I'm in Canada, and it is a very cold winter up here. You can't have a more up to datemaintenance wise Disco than mine. All was done within the last year, synthetics everywhere ,plugs, wires, new O2 sensors,tires inflated at 40 p.s.i etc... And with winter gas, I get about the same figures as you....And I have Yakima cross bars, no big roof rack. So if your situation reflects mine, don't sweat it...it sucks, but its normal !!

 

thanks for all the advice guys...