7-16-08: 2008 Altima Hybrid Update & Log
Wednesday July 16, 2008
Hard to believe it's been a month since we updated y’all on the 2008 Altima Hybrid, but it's that time again. Well, that’s summer for ya … flies by so fast.
Mileage: 6675
Fuel economy: 39.5 mpg
Weather conditions: Hot, sunny (and sometimes quite humid) central PA days.
Maintenance/Repairs: Besides the standard tire air pressure and fluids check—none. The fuel economy dipped this past month (from 40.5 mpg in June), probably due to three reasons. We drove more highways and less town/city streets. We used the AC more. And since the AC compressor is powered by its own electric motor (quite similar to the '07 Honda Accord Hybrid's set-up), the car can be sitting quietly in a steamy parking lot yet keep everyone comfy cool inside. Of course, it draws the battery down more quickly too. And last but not least, the economy might have dropped a tad from some handling and cornering tests that occupied some of our time. It’s one heck of a fun car to drive—fast on the draw and tight on the turns. So when it's all said and done, really can't complain about 39.5 mpg at all.
photo © Adrian Gable - 2008 Nissan Altima Hybrid
Comments
Wow! How do you get even 39 mpg? Are you hypermiling it?
I haven’t been able to get over 32 mpg even in the winter here in Arizona. I admit I have a bit of a lead foot, but I’ve really been trying since I got the Altima. When my wife drives it she can get a couple more mpg but not much more.
Jimi
By the way, I’m not alone. Check out this website where other Altima owners have posted their mpg:
http://www.truedelta.com/fuel_economy.php
Jimi
Hey Jimi -
We do most of our driving on secondary roads, and although we are not hypermiling by any means, we do practice gentle eco-driving techniques. As you probably know, most hybrids do not do as well on highways and we’ve noticed that on long trips our mileage drops off to about 35mpg, but averages out with the town, city and suburban driving we normally do. We’ve found it quite easy to get 40 mpg when the weather is warm. As mentioned above, we generally practice all the principles that we talk about in this top 20 eco-driving article along with Scott’s thrifty-drive techniques.
While there are a lot of factors that could be influencing your final mileage (from how much you’re driving on the highway to having the AC on much of the time), low fuel economy could also be a sign that something else is going on with the car too: for example, the tire pressure could be excessively low (we keep ours at a minimum of 35 psi) or a brake could be dragging … front end alignment could be out a bit … or maybe there was a slight variation in how your car was assembled (even though they are all built on the same assembly line, they are not all alike) … most of these are unlikely, but nonetheless possible. It honestly is most likely driving habits and conditions. Looks like folks on truedelta.com are getting a wide range of fuel mileage numbers that vary with their percentage of highway driving too. We feel that driving style is the one overriding factor–the one that’s 100 percent controllable by the driver–that influences the final fuel economy numbers from any vehicle.