[se9638]

good day all-
I recently purchased a 2004 AWD EW 4AT and love it! one thing i have to question (recently found out that high RPM's are normal) is the gas mileage. I am getting around 15mpg and drive like an old lady. I don't know what is going on and wonder if anyone has had the same experience. It only has 48K on it with new (good year) same size as original tires on it.
thanks everyone-
steve

 

[slimerdogs]

Welcome and it should get better then that. 20-23 are usual. Check the air filter and do some teating with the same gas station with some highway driving and see if it changes.

 

[Jammm3]

I find that if you drive very often in traffic or in city, then you are lucky to get much over 17 driving conservatively. If you drive like everyone else around the city 15-16 sounds right. Long highway stretches or roads without stops or traffic you will do much better. I just got a scangauge to see what was going on and I can get up to 29 or so if i watch the gauge on the hwy or freeway and there is no traffic but to work with just normal traffic/not stop and go, even watching the gauge it is work to get over 16 mpg.

 

[2009 ELE]

For me I drive a lot of in city routes and some highway and average about 23 mpg. Definitely check the filters and see if that helps!

 

[calvin13]

I average 20 mostly city. 18 if drive harder.

 

[Jammm3]

Ya know it's amazing that i hear people say check your filter and what oil are you using. I literally just drove the mile and a half back from the beach, in city lights with no traffic. The scangauge will give me an average. I drove pretty conservatively, coasting to lights and trying to get the most out of my forward motion but a slight elevation gain of maybe 50 feet over the whole trip. My mileage was still in the 14 range of mpg, and this is a new 2010.

Like i said above, if you have open spaces and you are conservative you can get good mileage but alot of take offs and stops you can easily be even below 15mpg. It is written all over this forum, so I don't think there is anything abnormal about your 2004 esp if it is AWD, I get that often with my two wheel drive, which is supposed to have better mileage. My average driving as conservatively as I possibly can to get the most out of every ounce of gas, even getting honked at was 17.3 over the period of 1000 miles. If I had driven like others in the city I would be lucky to get over 16 ever.
I had a manual 2003 for seven years that did better than this one but I had a bit more open driving. Bottom line is you own an Element, they are great and useful and at least they don't get 10-12 like many SUV's. If you are driving in the city, don't expect very good mileage, even if you are careful.

 

[rymo926]

yeah that:lol:

in san francisco with elevation change and stop n stop traffic i see 14-16mpg.

 

[Mikement]

It would be easier to accept if all Elements got those low mileage numbers - but many Elements seem to get over 20 mpg in the same driving conditions. So that brings up the question "I see others' Elements are getting decent mileage so why can't mine?"

 

[rymo926]

dunno, in suburb(the peninsula/south bay) driving i see close to 20mpg and all highway it's around 22-23mpg.
urban avg 15-45mph mainly 25mph
burb avg 25-45mph mainly 35mph
HW avg 65-85mph mainly 75mph

 

[Jammm3]

Actually my '03 manual did get much better mileage, I thought they did something, my mechanic said maybe they added California smog stuff that may have decreased the mileage. Also when i did mileage on my 03 my commute was longer, going places was a touch further, with a bit less lights and elevation change was a touch less to the local places, even though they were further. So One thing could be that I am closer to everything now, including work, and the part where there is traffic is this part closer into the city where I am now. The Element doesn't have time to warm up and become efficient with the shorter drives and then add to that the manual transmission on the 03 and there is maybe 3 mpg-i guess.

For instance, I am running over to the market now, it is .3 miles according to my gps, my mileage will be lucky to get over 13 because the car won't even warm up. I took about the same trip earlier with to get coffee with my daughter. This morning I checked the surf, a mile and a half each way. My main commute in the morning is in traffic, and on the way home on the empty freeway, I make up all my mileage according to the SG, it is up well over 20mpg.

So more than driving styles, i really think it is your environment that will dictate your mileage. My next test is on the next tank I am going to drive normally with traffic except for avoiding any hard stops, doing a little coasting but not going crazy with it to eeek out every ounce of gas. I want to see what just normal driving with a bit of conservation will get me, hopefully over 16 but I'm not so sure.

 

[desinia]

Check your filters, make sure you have the right oil in the engine (5w-20) and not that somebody figured 5w-30 or 10w-30 was "close enough". Keep your tires inflated like it says on the doorpost and then try the ultra-secret technique of putting a bottle of good quality fuel injector cleaner in the gas tank once.

Avoid fast starts and higher octane gas. The gas mileage on your E stinks until the engine warms up so lots of short trips will never see high mpg's.