Horrible Gas Mileage

[NY11SLS]

Hi All,
Newb kizashi owner (2011 SLS). I purchased the car 3 months ago with 60K miles on it. Since then, I've been getting terrible gas mileage, around 13 - 15 MPG. I changed the spark plugs and made sure tire pressure is 38 PSI and it's still bad. I drive somewhat "spirited" by nothing that should be eating gas like my car seems to be doing.
Totally frustrating!
Any thoughts?

[KuroNekko]

What's your average speed, according to the read-out on the screen? Where do you live and drive? Do you have AWD?
I recall a while ago that another Kizashi owner was complaining about gas mileage averaging 16 MPG. However, it was determined he often drove in or around NYC. His average speed was 15 MPH. The traffic conditions there would really tank fuel efficiency.

Try to determine if it's your car or your driving conditions. At your mileage, I'm guessing it's your driving conditions. The Kizashi unfortunately isn't very efficient, especially in city driving conditions. Getting in the teens is rather normal if you do over 75% of your driving in city conditions with lots of stops, traffic, and short trips. I used to commute from Maryland to Washington, DC and the traffic would have a direct impact on my MPGs. In very congested conditions, apps such as DashCommand gave me a live average of about 16 MPG. It was only once I got out of city congestion that fuel efficiency went up.

My suggestion is to monitor it more closely. Watch the average speed and if you don't already, log and track your fuel efficiency with apps like Fuelly. You can even get a cheap Bluetooth OBDII device (I got one recently for under $4) and you can use free apps like Torque Lite to live monitor your fuel efficiency. These methods would then give you a better sense of if your driving conditions have a big impact in fuel economy trends.

[Tom Kizzie]

@what rpms are you shifting? just shift @ 2500 and keep rpm between @1750-2500rpm. You should get much better fuel economy. Use cruisecontrol everywhere you can and look 0.5 mile ahead

if you drive in the city a lot then push gas with a feather

[DiggerDerrik]

These cars don’t get spectacular mileage. Should be about double what you’re reporting though. Also you can’t trust what the dash tells you. Mine is always way too optimistic. My average is probably 27mpg average per tank with mix of Highway/city and some of those highways miles being stop and go. I borrowed the car to my 17 year old son for a week and he found a way to get 17mpg with it. Must have hammered it on every green light. He drives like he hates having gas and brake pads on the car. Avoid that and I bet it goes up.

[FrankoLaMoya]

I do 95% of my driving in the city and I average around 18 MPG. It has been like that since I had the car....I often get 28-29 MPG when I go back home (highway only).

PS I only put the AWD on when there is snow or a LOT of rain.

[NY11SLS]

Thanks for the responses!
According to the dash readout, my average speed is 34 MPH and MPG is 26.4 (there's no way that's accurate as I've been measuring via the odometer and fill-ups). As of now, I just hit half-tank of fuel and only clocked 110 miles on the last-fill up....so that's even lower, closer to 13 MPG.
Most of my driving is definitely stop & go, city-type driving (Westchester, NY), so that's probably a factor.
I only use AWD when it's snowy or really raining out.
Most of the time I drive in auto, and the CVT shifts around 3.5K.... I do want to enjoy the car, though.
I knew going into the purchase that the Kiz wasn't the most fuel efficient around, but was hoping for closer to at least 18 MPG.
I'll try that bluetooth OBD II device.

[KuroNekko]

Thanks for the responses!
According to the dash readout, my average speed is 34 MPH and MPG is 26.4 (there's no way that's accurate as I've been measuring via the odometer and fill-ups). As of now, I just hit half-tank of fuel and only clocked 110 miles on the last-fill up....so that's even lower, closer to 13 MPG.
Most of my driving is definitely stop & go, city-type driving (Westchester, NY), so that's probably a factor.
I only use AWD when it's snowy or really raining out.
Most of the time I drive in auto, and the CVT shifts around 3.5K.... I do want to enjoy the car, though.
I knew going into the purchase that the Kiz wasn't the most fuel efficient around, but was hoping for closer to at least 18 MPG.
I'll try that bluetooth OBD II device.

For those dash readouts, are you resetting them after every fill up? If not, then they are the average since the last reset which may be from the previous owner. To reset, use either the DISP or TRIP button (depending on what you want to reset) and press and hold on the value you want to reset. I personally reset my MPG average and Trip A read-out at every refill. I have set them to reset together (you can do this in the display menu option you can access by holding down DISP for several seconds).
Given you have a 10 MPG difference from the read-out and the actual MPG, I think it's still averaging from previous measurements. 34 MPH average is rather high for city driving too. My Kizashi's read-out is on average 2 MPG optimistic of the actual fuel economy per reset. It's been like this ever since I got the car five and a half years ago with only 7500 miles on it.

As for improving the fuel efficiency, a number of factors can come into play. Reducing the weight in the vehicle can help if you have a lot of junk in the trunk. As you also stated, tire pressure is important. Factors like the oil, spark plugs, and air filter can also play a part but the oxygen sensor has more to do with fuel efficiency than those parts.
That being said, the main factor in fuel efficiency is driving condition. Where and how you drive has the biggest impact. Drive it hard with quick acceleration and hard braking and your fuel economy will suffer. Smooth driving with a lot of coasting will certainly boost MPGs.

I own a manual transmission model which are only FWD. While on paper, CVT models are a bit more fuel efficient, the reality is that the AWD system with the CVT adds weight. Manuals seem to get more reliable fuel economy and I get close to EPA estimates for my model which are 20 city and 29 highway. The lowest I ever got was 19 MPG. However, with long freeway drives at under 75 MPH, I've hit 34 MPG before.

[LPSISRL]

You also might want to check for a fuel leak.

Sometimes I play a game with my AVG readout by trying to keep it as high as possible after resetting it after a fill up. Got 31.5 so far on this one. Mix of city/highway.

If you are on the highway, switch it to instant and see what it reads. On a level road doing 60 MPH or better you should see between 35-40. You could also reset the AVG at the same time and see what it reads. I once kept the AVG above 40 MPG for over 150 miles. It was a very level road and I kept it at 55 with the cruise so the Kizashi ain't bad on the highway kept at reasonable speed.

<WESHOOT insert comment here>