Fuel Mileage

[Rollinwrench]

Hi,recently purchased '07 Element EX. Love the vehicle,however,so far I am only getting 14mpg around town. only 33,000 miles and i don't drive it hard. Is this indicative of a problem, or is this the normal type of city fuel mileage? By the way, it's auto trans w/awd.

[Rick92040]

Change the oil to 5-20 full synthetic and check your air filter and tire pressure.
And welcome to the forum. look at the "how to" section for great info..
http://www.elementownersclub.com/for..._faq_eoc_howto

[EdwardChen]

Rollin,

I have the exact same year/trim/drivetrain as you and I typically get about 18-21 mpg in the city. Definitely check all the fluids and do all the basic maintenance if it hasn't been done yet. I largely doubt an oil change and new air filter won't get you another 5 mpg, but it doesn't hurt. All of that plus checking the tire pressures could get you close though. I have noticed that my mileage dropped about 2-3 mpg (from 21-1 recently, which might be due to the winter gas, or that my cat was stolen and now the CEL is on and i need to replace the oxygen sensor.

I'd check those out first, then let us know how it looks.

good luck!

[Screw Aerodynamics]

I was able to consistently achieve 20-25 mpg average for every tank of fuel for the first 55,000 miles with my 2006 EX 2WD automatic. I then changed tires from the stock Goodyear Wranglers to a slightly oversize set of Michelin LTX tires. Wonderful ride, feel, quiet new tires - but immediately terrible fuel economy - 20% reduction over 10,000 of use. Tire Size Matters for an element.

[EdwardChen]

Did you account for the innaccurate odometer readings due to the larger tires? What new tire size did you go with?

[Rollinwrench]

tire pressures are at spec. air filter and oil are new.i'm going to experiment with tire pressures and switch to 5w-20 synthetic at next service. i'll keep you posted and thanks for your input.

[Rick92040]

Something else that uses fuel.. The A/C is on anytime you move the switch to the defrost position and STAYS on even tho you move it to the front vents and the light is off. Unless you do this: http://www.elementownersclub.com/for...ad.php?t=17192

[Jst2878]

alignment can be off as well. change fluids too

[Screw Aerodynamics]

In response to Edward's question, the replacement tire size is 225/70-16. I'd be interested in the math on the odometer adjustment comment.

[Jersey Steve]

Originally Posted by Screw Aerodynamics

In response to Edward's question, the replacement tire size is 225/70-16. I'd be interested in the math on the odometer adjustment comment.

The distance your car travels per tire revolution is a function of tire diameter (C=Pi x D).

Therefore, your speedometer and odometer will be off by the amount you changed your tire diameter.

For example, if you went from a 27 inch tire to a 28.5 inch tire, that would be:

28.5 inch - 27 inch = 1.5 inch.

1.5 inch ÷ 27 inch = .056 x 100% = 5.6% increase in tire diameter.


So when your speedometer reads 50mph, you are actually going 50mph x 1.056 = 52.8mph.

Similarly, when your odometer says you have gone 1 mile, you have actually gone 1.056 miles.

And when you calculate a gas mileage of 20mpg, you have actually achieved 20mpg x 1.056 = 21.1 mpg.

I don't know what the stock Element tire diameter is, but you could easily substitute it above to figure out your actual mpg with the larger tires.

sm