Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Charlie
Which minivans? RT, RS, NS or AS? I4 or V6? 3 or 4 speed? FWD or AWD? There are so many differences covered by "Chrysler minivan" that I need more.
I'm looking to replace my wife's 02 Xterra with an 07 3.8 minivan real soon. I'm looking forward to saving the gas money.
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Here's some more info -
I've had the '98 3.3L V6 2WD Flexfuel and now have a '02 3.8L V6 2WD ES model (2nd gen) w/ "autostick" "manual" shifting and 60K. No roof rack. The current 3.8L does better MPG all around than the previous 3.3L. Driving "normally" the wife gets about 17 MPG on her 5 mi daily commute.
In town I usually autostick to shift earlier, and I've seen 21+MPG average on occasion, but short trips and A/C kill it quick. A good short trip in-town for me is 20 MPG. I've been doing as much P&G as possible (lots of hills here - for better or worse) and cycling the A/C if near 90 degrees.
On the hwy (interstate) I'm usually loaded with the wife and 3 kids + dog and gear. When I'm at 70MPH w/A/C I usually see about 22 MPG like that. Empty I can get closer to 25MPG.
Recently switched to Pirelli P4 Allseason tires from Goodyear Assurance and have seen a MPG drop (about 1MPG) and generally feel like they coast worse. They do perform a lot better than the Goodyears in the snow and ice, which was my major concern with all the hills in this area (WI).
I'm running 5W-30 synthetic and tire pressure is at 40 PSI.
That's all I can think of...
Thanks.
Jay