28 MPG??!???!? You've got to be KIDDING me!!!

[Frank Lee]

Wish i could afford to change out the final drive for better highway gears.

pfft. Then you'd just have another excuse to go faster.

[comptiger5000]

True, but when he does, it might hurt his mileage a little less.

[luvit]

drive like hell.
just put a bunch of stuff on your car like this:

it helps reduce drag from wind and deer.

[SentraSE-R]

Can I try to shame your lead foot into submission, Shadetree? My SE-R is EPA rated within 1 mpg of your Maxima (19/26 city/hwy v. your 18/26). You've got 190 hp and 3000 lbs. I've got 170 hp and 2750 lbs. That gives you a 16.8 lb/hp ratio, and me a 16.2 lb/hp ratio, and about the same mash the go-pedal feeling. I get the same 0-60 7 second time as your car.

Now look at my mpg in my signature over the past 16,770 miles, and weep .

[ShadeTreeMech]

What kind of RPMs do you have on the Sentra at say 55 mph? I'm right at 2k, iirc. And I sorta suspect that Sentra has a much lower Cd than my 5 seater sporty/luxury sedan. Not that I'm hating on the Sentra; the sentra was my first Nissan love. I'd give my left nut for a newer sentra. Just saying, my barge likely pulls a lot of air along with it.

I'd love to BasJoos my car, but then my wife would hate me :P

[ShadeTreeMech]

Frank, on the 93 tempo, does it have the old 3 speed auto the 90 model had? I know I always wished I had a 5 speed in the 90 tempo I had. 3k rpms at 60 is ridiculously high in a small car with a larger engine.

I had a Buick LeSabre that barely cranked out 2k rpms at 90 mph. It always facinated me how fast I could go at 1200 rpms in that car (about 60). And taller gears would take out some of the off-the-line acceleration that gets me into trouble to begin with.

[PaleMelanesian]

How about 35 mpg on a highway trip in an Odyssey? Two different trips I've done that, with dozens of others in the low 30's. 244 hp 3.5 V6, 4200 lb, much worse aerodynamics than a maxima.

It's there if you'll reach for it.

[SentraSE-R]

Shadetreemech,

My SE-R turns 2200 rpm @55 mph, and has a cD of .335. I'm handicapped by running 200 rpm faster @ 55 mph, and with more drag compared to you. Your Maxima's cD is .32. I do have the advantages of a manual transmission and smaller engine, but straight-on top gear, no shift, highway driving tells the story. Your Maxima in top gear torque converter lock-up compares equally to my car for efficiency then.

If I cruise at 72 mph, I get 26 mpg. 62 mph gets 33-34 mpg. 55 mph gets me 38 mpg. That's about a 50% mpg improvement just from slowing down. My wife's slipperier AT Elantra shows less improvement, but still gains 5-10 mpg (from 31 mpg to 36-41 mpg) from slowing from 70 to 55 mph. That's why we're all telling you that going with the flow wastes gas.

[ShadeTreeMech]

I wouldn't have guessed the difference between 72 and 55 would have been so extreme! Certainly not a difference of 12 mpg.

Guess I'll just have to piss some folks off by driving "slow"!

[SentraSE-R]

I've probably posted this before on this site, but it's pretty illustrative. My family car comparison. The leftmost blips for each car are low-speed P&G results. The next-to-left dips are next-to-top gear cruise control results. The rest of each graph are top gear cruise control results read from my scangauge. In the case of my Sentra, they're confirmed by day-long 400 mile drives down and back to/from my mom's home.