SUV's and bad gas mileage

I think its a combination of a bad aerodynamics, low technology engines and weight. However, many companies have been puting newer engines in them lately. The 4wd ones have an extra crankcase (i think thats what its called) to turn which is good for a mpg or two less. Gear ratio may also play a part in the bad milage.

The only thing that i can think of with some smaller SUV's geting poor gass milage is that they are a underpowered and the engine has to work harder. Plus the smaller ones are still pretty heavy when compaired to cars.

 

I think it comes back to weight which influences engine size (plus keep in mind they have tto have large engines when they promise they can tow certai weights, etc). There's alot ovf V-8's out there that use a lot of gas.

The only good news is the engines seem to get better mileage over time as they work themselves in. I have a Silverado and I started off at 14-15mpg (in teh city) and I just went over 60k miles nad now it's around 17. Still not very good but better than before.

 

There are more SUV's and cars coming out this year that will be hybrids. Lexus, Ford, and Honda are all bringing out new hybrid vehicles this year. The waiting list is a bit long from what I understand and the dealers are jacking up the asking price as well.

 

Primarily due to weight.

I have a 2002 GMC C1500 and my wife has a 2004 GMC Yukon. Both have the exact same engine (GMC 5300 series). My truck gets about 20-25 on the highway and hers gets about 15-20.

The mid size SUVs have the same weight/engine power ratio problems.

 

I like what DaimlerChrysler's doing. That SUV-Sports Car-Wagon called the Magnum has a HEMI V8 in it if you want it. That just screams of low gas mileage. But what they've done with it (and with the upcoming HEMI Jeep series too) is make it essentially a 4-cylinder unless you're accelerating. It shuts down 4 of its cylinders automatically and seamlessly and runs on the remaining four when you're at a cruising speed on the highway or are in bumper to bumper traffic - basically scenarios in which your RPMs don't fluctuate severely - but then seamlessly kicks the dormant cylinders back in as soon as you hit your gas pedal. The result is gas mileage in the range of an efficient 6-cylinder, but acceleration and towing power of a HEMI.

 

Dallas,

Yeah I've read alot about that engine. It saves only a few MPGs though. Not alot given all the fuss I've heard about it.

Here is a good article on the concept.

http://www.allpar.com/mopar/new-mopar-hemi.html

 

Dallas, I think the "SUV-Sports Car-Wagon" used to be called station wagons. Now they wedge some ridiculous engine into one and call it a whatever-sounds-cool.

I just looked up the Hemi Magnum's mileage. It's not great, but not horrific like some SUV's - but then it isn't an SUV I guess. The mileage is 17/24.

My next car will hopefully be at minimum, be a hybrid, but that's hopefully another 6 or 7 years down the road.

 

I'm currently getting 11.4 MPG in my truck.

 

Thats pretty bad.

What kind of truck??

 

I just read a thread on some forum on the Internet where a guy with a Magnum Hemi is claiming he's only getting around 10-12 mpg in city driving and is getting rid of it.

 

Man, I thought getting about 15-16 in my Mountaineer in town was bad.

 

I'm sure the aerodynamics plays a pretty big factor. My cars both get ~30mpg on the highway. Back when I drove 180 miles a day, I put a roof rack (with fairing) on one and it dropped my mileage down to 27mpg. I took it off and it went back up to 30mpg.

One other factor I thought of was the types of tires SUVs are typically equipped with. On bicycles, there's a pretty dramatic difference in pedaling effort when you switch from knobby, thick, mountain-bike tires to hard, thin, high-pressure road-bike tires. I wonder if you could recover some gas mileage simply by switching the tires on an SUV?

On another note, I figured I would get dramatically better fuel economy with my motorcycle, but the difference was less than I thought. Far smaller aerodynamic profile, far smaller engine, and only 400lbs of weight, but I'm only averaging around 45mpg.

 

2004 Ford F-150 5.4L 3.73 LS 4x2.

It's crazy. I never let it go past 1500 RPM upon acceleration, and never go faster than 70MPH. This is all city driving. The best I've gotten is 12.3 when I got on 59 and drove to the Woodlands.

It only has about 1600 miles on it, so I'm hoping it'll get better as the engine starts to break in. If it doesn't, well, I'll just have to live with it I guess.

 

Our SUV (95 Rodeo) gets about 18-20 city.

My MINI Cooper S gets 24-26 city and 28-30 highway.

Get this when I take it out to Track Day at Texas World Speeday I get 8 mpg.

Seems if you run the car at 6000 rpm's all day it decreases your gas mileage.

 

Something isn't right then. You should be getting around 14-15 in the city and up to 20 on the open road.

Id bring it into the dealer and have them check it out. You might have factory defect somewhere in there.

BTW ...."breaking it in" .....that shouldn't affect your gas mileage

 

When I'm filling up once a week at $45 a pop, something definitely isn't right!!

I brought it in to the stealership, and they claimed nothing was wrong. I did replace my stock wheels/tires for a bigger size, but I did ratio calcs and I should only be losing about 1-1.5 mpg. Also, since the day I've bought it, the AC has never been turned off! Very interesting about breaking in the engine not affecting gas mileage. I've always thought that it did. Thanks for the heads up!

 

I'd bring it to another dealership then.

What kind of gas are you using?? Same station every time??