'03 Gas Mileage

[mitchgat]

Hey all,

I'm about a month in to my 2003 xc, and I'm a little dismayed at the gas mileage I'm getting. I drive primarily city, and as of now I'm averaging right at 20 mpg. I was told (okay, silly me) by the dealer that mileage was better than that, and I thought I had read the same here at some point.

Two things, I guess.....one, is 20 mpg about right, and/or does anyone have any ideas for improving mileage (other than parking it, etc.)? I'm a little leary of the K&N thing unless you all convince me otherwise, but I'll listen, to be sure, to whatever ideas you have. I thought I was making a big jump in mileage from my Pathfinder, but so far not so much. In every other way, yes, but not in mpg.

Looking forward to your collective wisdom.

Mitch

[BillAileo]

We've gotten as high as 30 on the highway but, depending upon what type of city driving your doing, 20 may be about right. I wouldn't recommend going the K&N route.

Bill

[wgriswold]

I usually get between 26 and 27 never below 25 on average with an average speed of 36. I think we should include the average speed when reporting MPG since that is a major factor. I usually drive at 6500 feet and don't know how that affects my mileage.

[JRL]

Real world driving, about 16=17 city and about 23-25 highway at a steady 65.
I don't believe anyone who says they're getting 30, it's impossible unless you're coasting or with a VERY light foot on a VERY LEVEL road (like FL roads)

[jckpui]

I've been getting between 21 to 22 mpg in mixed city and highway driving, with an average speed of 33 mph. I tried for higher the last time on a long trip, and got 27 mpg. It took cruise control, traveling at 65 mph, and partial drafting behind tractor trailers and motorhomes.

[4033]

my 03 gets anywhere from 17-27 (city-hwy, mostly city). the all wheel drive doesn't help.

i'm impressed that wgriswold knows how many feet he drives a day...

[tgwillard]

Owning two Volvos with the same engine I can comment on my experiences. With the FWD S80 on a long trip we have achieved over 38 mpg on two different trips going south from Pennsylvania. Coming home we got 35 mpg. Driving back and forth to work, which is mostly highway miles, my wife gets about 31 mpg in the summer and about 26 mpg in the winter.

With my AWD XC70 I have not yet taken it on a long road trip. Around town I get about 26 mpg in the summer and about 22 mpg in the winter. I expect to get about 32 mpg when we do take a trip to Boston this August.

I use mid grade gasoline and drive conservatively. I make sure I have the tires inflated to the high end of their recommended range (about 36 psi).

These mileage figures are based on manual calculations and not the readout in the vehicle which tends to run about 2 to 3 mpg less than the actual mileage.

[dlr97]

In our 2004 XC70:

Driving many 4 mile trips to work in city traffic, 16 mph average speeds: 15 mpg

Driving many 8 mile trips in lighter traffic in small town, 24 mph average speeds: 21 mpg

Driving from California to Denver and return, keeping speeds 2-6 mph below speed limits, 63 mph average: 29 mpg

High altitude driving seems to increase mpg (increases turbo efficiency I think). In city driving, average mpg seems to correlate well with average speed.

[mitchgat]

Interesting feedback; I feel much better about things now, although I'd still like to do better. I'm going to check my tire inflation and max them out for summer and see if that helps some. Keep it coming, though. I enjoy hearing what you all think.

Mitch

[geo]

Hi, my 04 D5 diesel has averged fractionally under 30mpg (uk gallons) for the 38,000 miles we have owned it.
tank to tank variations of between 23 and 42 depending on journey.
My wife works 3 miles from home so 6 miles per day urban it does 23, when I took a 1600 mile European trip, it did 42. so anywhere in between could be normal
geo

[Aviator]

i'm impressed that wgriswold knows how many feet he drives a day...


Ummm......I think he's referring to elevation ????

Dave.

[4033]

Ummm......I think he's referring to elevation ????

Dave.

it was a joke, maybe not a good one but still a joke.......

[KeatB]

38 miles per UK gallon - you gotta love diesel if only for that.....

[philosophicaldreamer]

38 miles per UK gallon - you gotta love diesel if only for that.....

Indeed[thumbup][thumbup]

[al_roethlisberger]

I had been getting around 20 around town, but now am driving about 50 miles each way to work, at a pretty constant 65-70mph, fairly level to gentle rolling terrain and am getting at best so far 24.5mpg.

I am considering airing up the tires a bit to see if that helps.

Al

[Willy]

38 miles per UK gallon - you gotta love diesel if only for that.....

Yes indeed, but it is about the only thing too :D
Willy

[Reverse]

As this is my first post, hello everyone.

Last Tuesday, I purchased an '04 XC70 an completed a 295 mile trip. The computer's version was 26 mpg, however the $3.99 calculator's 29+ mpg disagreed. :)

[santon]

I got my 2003 about two weeks ago. 1/2 city driving and 1/2 highway drivign (which really isnt highway as you never get above like 50 miles and its stop and go). I would consider it more closely to all city driving then 1/2 and 1/2. I am getting 23 miles per gallon. gettign 650 km to a full tank with about 30-50km let to empty (which i assume is about a gallon of fuel). So 403 miles/17.5 gallons.

[Reverse]

I drive 23 miles to work, 17 on the interstate and 6 city. Four days was 184 miles and additional 31 miles of city driving. My 04 XC70 averaged 24.9 mpg using Shell gas.

:):):)

[dexter]

off my '03, i see 22.5 to 23 off the computer. driving about 70% in the hwy (w/ traffic) and the other 30% in the city. i also drive/accelerate pretty fast.

[philosophicaldreamer]

City driving=22-24mpg; highway driving=29-30mpg. I do use premium gas only.

Ta-ta, j.

[Reverse]

I just bought my 04 XC less than two weeks ago. Yesterday, I finally checked the air pressure and it was 28 psi in all four tires.

[chinapat]

Since buying our 2007 in June, the in-dash computer display says we're averaging 18.5 mpg. This is half highway driving (65 to 70) and half city driving (lots of hills, starting and stopping in downtown montreal).

I was a little surprised myself at how bad it is. With the cold weather starting to set in, I have noticed it get a little worse.

I will check the tire pressure though... good tip.

[Reverse]

After raising the air pressure to 32 psi, mileage increased to 25.3.

[gregvet]

After raising the air pressure to 32 psi, mileage increased to 25.3.

The driver side panel of my 07 XC 70 says that the tires are to be inflated to 36 PSI. I have kept them at this PSI and I average 26-29 MPG highway driving.

[Reverse]

I read that also, however someone here posted with air pressures at 35 count on getting rattles.
28 was ridiculous, the car handled terribly, plus it's a good way to wear a good set of tires quickly.

However, I'm not done playing as I enjoy tweaking vehicles. :)

[Forkster]

Up to 30% of your fuel economy is determined on how hard you accelerate. If you use gentle acceleration, moderate merges, and normal cruising, you should get 20MPG(US) city and 28-30MPG(US) highway. US - meaning US gallon.

I get ~11L/100km city, and 8L/100km highway.

[Toms]

Hi,I have a intermittant bad milage/consumption on my car. It has just had it's 140000km (about 80000miles) service and has been in twice to a dealer, once relacing the oxygen mass sensor and another relacing the lamda sensor. It seems to come out of the dealer with the right milage but soon goes back to the original back consumption withina few hours of driving. Anyone know what is going on? The dealer sure does not know.