New Owner - disappointed?!

Thanks. The more input the better!!

All, thanks for the input. I had checked the tire pressure, and all averaged 2 psi above spec. The disappointing thing here is I was driving with an extremely light foot and coasting as much as possible. I wanted to set the MPG bar high for my wife as she will drive it the most!!!

So I'm really asking for your help. We plan on keeping this car until the wheels fall off so I want to make any changes I can immediately to increase MPG to get the payback.

Am I right in assuming that more gas is sucked up for the first 6 or 7 miles while it's in cold running loop right? I'm wondering if it would help if a block heater was installed and plugged into a timer turning on fifteen minutes before leaving for work. Thoughts?

I don't have any idea on what's out there for tuning so can someone fill me in? Will it void my warranty? Has anyone done a comparison with running different octanes? Does anyone know how much the stock steel wheels weigh verses aluminum? Someone mentioned low resistance tires, will they be bad in the winter? What cold air intake is recommended? Anything else? Would lowering the car make any difference on drag? Is it harder on tire wear if lowered? Anything else I'm missing?

What do you all think could be expected after break in - country and small town driving 70% driving 55-60 mph?

Thanks to all. Gene

First off, the Versa is not a Civic. I don't know what years you've had, but the older Civic's (maybe even the new ones) are lighter than the Versa is. Plus, I think Honda is slightly better with MPG's in the Auto transmission.

You have the Auto tranny in the S right? The Versa really takes about 10k or so to even break in, with ours before we hit 10k we were getting about 26mpg, after it went to 32 or so mpg. Still 28mpg is good, My motor is a 1.9 DOHC and it can't get over 23mpg with the AC on, with AC off I can barely get 26mpg. And i have a light weight car, all of my doors, side fenders and bumpers are plastic not metal or whatever the Versa is, it is metal isn't it? lol

I think the DC Sport is a popular intake, Versaspeed should have almost everything you'd need to improve MPGs. And some people on here can help, several have modded. I never got to mod ours. I'm not sure exactly, but I think anything that tampers with the motor will void the warranty I believe, but some people who have modded will know more of what voids the warranty.

And I forgot what else I was going to say lol Welcome to the forum! There's lots of people and stuff on here to help you =]

Oh I remember! I'm not too positive with the cool start, but if you don't want to get a block heater, why not first try starting the car and letting it warm up while you get ready then leave? I ALWAYS start my car and let it warm before I actually leave that way it's warmed up when I drive off in it, but driving on cold starts can be bad in the long run anyway and I baby my car too much to drive on a cold start lol.

I absolutely agree, the 98 Civic I have pales in comparison to the 2011 versa sedan we bought....room, comfort everthing except the MPG. Yes, the Versa is bigger and we expected some loss of mpg. We do like the car.

My problem is that the dealer quoted me 28-34 which I found was incorrect after I bought it. Because it was a service loaner with 4500 miles on it, it didn't have a window tag stating the mileage. After we negotiated price for including the 100,000 drivetrain and bumper to bumper, the only thing remaining was the worry about MPG. That's where the story get very frustrating.

I mentioned what they quoted me for MPG but I wanted to be sure so I talked them into letting me put 150 miles on the car to check it. They agreed, filled up the tank and brought it back to me. They told me to click the pump handle twice to top it off - they said that's what they did. I went to fill up at 100 miles and after clicking it twice it only took 1 1/2 gallons?!!! 70 mpg!!!! I knew that was wrong so I put another 100 miles on it and averaged almost 36 mpg overall. I figured I had proven what I needed to.

After we bought the car, the first tank was 28 mpg, next tank 29. I was floored!!! Now, I have figured out how the dealership pulled this off. The last time I filled it I clicked it twice and took note of the gallons, then I trickeled the gas nozzle and was able to get another two gallons in the car!!!!!!! That's what the dealer did knowing that I would be checking mpg. The other way that I verified this is that I remembered that it took 70 miles to get the gas gauge to even start moving when I first took the car from the dealer. Ever since, if I double click, the gage starts to move after 20 miles. I'm going email the dealership managment and Nissan USA with what they had done and ask them what they are going to do about it.

I'm really hoping to get some gains after break in. Once it is, I will also switch to synethetic oils. I don't think I could switch intakes without voiding the warranties.

As far as the cold start goes, our cars are in an insulated garage so I've never started them and let them warm up ahead of time, it takes gas to do that too. I agree that it should be done if the car is sitting in temps below freezing.

Is it just me or doesn't Versaspeed show prices of their products? I don't like dealing with companies that I have to call to get prices.

I am VERY interested in non evasive mods like the throttle contol thing and anything else could possibly suggest.

Thanks for any and all responses.

Rand0m0sityxX said:

I think the DC Sport is a popular intake, Versaspeed should have almost everything you'd need to improve MPGs. And some people on here can help, several have modded. I never got to mod ours. I'm not sure exactly, but I think anything that tampers with the motor will void the warranty I believe, but some people who have modded will know more of what voids the warranty.

And I forgot what else I was going to say lol Welcome to the forum! There's lots of people and stuff on here to help you =]

Oh I remember! I'm not too positive with the cool start, but if you don't want to get a block heater, why not first try starting the car and letting it warm up while you get ready then leave? I ALWAYS start my car and let it warm before I actually leave that way it's warmed up when I drive off in it, but driving on cold starts can be bad in the long run anyway and I baby my car too much to drive on a cold start lol.

Click to expand...

versagene said:

My problem is that the dealer quoted me 28-34 which I found was incorrect after I bought it. Because it was a service loaner with 4500 miles on it, it didn't have a window tag stating the mileage. After we negotiated price for including the 100,000 drivetrain and bumper to bumper, the only thing remaining was the worry about MPG. That's where the story get very frustrating.

I mentioned what they quoted me for MPG but I wanted to be sure so I talked them into letting me put 150 miles on the car to check it. They agreed, filled up the tank and brought it back to me. They told me to click the pump handle twice to top it off - they said that's what they did. I went to fill up at 100 miles and after clicking it twice it only took 1 1/2 gallons?!!! 70 mpg!!!! I knew that was wrong so I put another 100 miles on it and averaged almost 36 mpg overall. I figured I had proven what I needed to.

After we bought the car, the first tank was 28 mpg, next tank 29. I was floored!!! Now, I have figured out how the dealership pulled this off. The last time I filled it I clicked it twice and took note of the gallons, then I trickeled the gas nozzle and was able to get another two gallons in the car!!!!!!! That's what the dealer did knowing that I would be checking mpg. The other way that I verified this is that I remembered that it took 70 miles to get the gas gauge to even start moving when I first took the car from the dealer. Ever since, if I double click, the gage starts to move after 20 miles. I'm going email the dealership managment and Nissan USA with what they had done and ask them what they are going to do about it.

I'm really hoping to get some gains after break in. Once it is, I will also switch to synethetic oils. I don't think I could switch intakes without voiding the warranties.

As far as the cold start goes, our cars are in an insulated garage so I've never started them and let them warm up ahead of time, it takes gas to do that too. I agree that it should be done if the car is sitting in temps below freezing.

Is it just me or doesn't Versaspeed show prices of their products? I don't like dealing with companies that I have to call to get prices.

I am VERY interested in non evasive mods like the throttle contol thing and anything else could possibly suggest.

Thanks for any and all responses.

Click to expand...

I could be wrong but I think the EPA changed for the Versa one of the years, so the dealership might not know which one, plus you could have looked at a window sticker while you were there on the new ones on the lot. I just looked the 28/34 is what Nissan's website says, I believe its like an average. The breakdown for the 1.8s is 26/31 with a manual and 24/32 with the Auto. I believe the average owners get is 28-32, depending on area, climate, weight, etc.

It takes gas to let it run, but not alot, my mileage hasn't changed since I quit letting it warm up, its getting into the 80's here so i haven't bothers warming it up fully i feel bad for doing it but I think its okay.

Im not sure what you're really saying about the gas, when we filled ours, we'd fill it when the light came one, it'd take 12 gallons, we'd have a whole gallon still in the car when the light came on. But we do not "top it off" when the pump stops at the end, we just put it up and go, you get better mileage. You also get better mileage when you fill up fully from under a quarter but not on E exactly. That also helps you calculate it better too.

And Versaspeed has the prices on his site, or at least he did when I looked there last when we had our Versa. I plan to use him for parts when I get a Juke.

Rand0m0sityxX said:

I could be wrong but I think the EPA changed for the Versa one of the years, so the dealership might not know which one, plus you could have looked at a window sticker while you were there on the new ones on the lot. I just looked the 28/34 is what Nissan's website says, I believe its like an average. The breakdown for the 1.8s is 26/31 with a manual and 24/32 with the Auto. I believe the average owners get is 28-32, depending on area, climate, weight, etc.

It takes gas to let it run, but not alot, my mileage hasn't changed since I quit letting it warm up, its getting into the 80's here so i haven't bothers warming it up fully i feel bad for doing it but I think its okay.

Im not sure what you're really saying about the gas, when we filled ours, we'd fill it when the light came one, it'd take 12 gallons, we'd have a whole gallon still in the car when the light came on. But we do not "top it off" when the pump stops at the end, we just put it up and go, you get better mileage. You also get better mileage when you fill up fully from under a quarter but not on E exactly. That also helps you calculate it better too.

And Versaspeed has the prices on his site, or at least he did when I looked there last when we had our Versa. I plan to use him for parts when I get a Juke.

Click to expand...

Let me try to make the "gas fill thing" a little more clear. If I fill the car until the nozzle clicks off once then pull the trigger one more time until it clicks off again, I will get "X" gallons in the car. But after it's "full", I can still slowly trickle gas into the filler neck and actually get two more gallons in it before it would start over flowing onto the ground. I suspect that is what the dealer did. When I picked up the car for the MPG test drive, the dealer told me what to do to check my MPG. He said "Once you put enough miles on it to check MPG, fill up the car until the nozzle clicks off and then pull the trigger one more time until it clicks off. Then divide the gallons used into the miles driven" If they trickled it full to overflowing and I didn't, then there would be two gallons of gas that were burned off that I could not account for. This would make my MPG calculation very high and would look great for the seller.

Checking mpg by looking at where the gauge is will yield very inaccurate results. One has to divide the total miles traveled since the last fill up by the actual gallons that it took to fill it again. I've seen a few thread comments where people are estimating their mpg by where the gauge was. That method will never give you correct efficiency.

I've emailed the dealer and am waiting for their reply. I'm sure I will not get any satisfaction, but if noone ever calls them on this stuff, then they will keep doing it.

Hindsight being 20/20, I should have looked at the MPG ratings of some other brand new Versas that still had the window sticker. I was stupid enough to believe I could take a salesman at his word.

Integrity can be a tough thing to come by these days. In my opinion, if a mans word is worth nothing then neither is he. This is my number one beef with society today.

I will check the versaspeed website again for prices. Thanks to all.

versagene said:

Let me try to make the "gas fill thing" a little more clear. If I fill the car until the nozzle clicks off once then pull the trigger one more time until it clicks off again, I will get "X" gallons in the car. But after it's "full", I can still slowly trickle gas into the filler neck and actually get two more gallons in it before it would start over flowing onto the ground. I suspect that is what the dealer did. When I picked up the car for the MPG test drive, the dealer told me what to do to check my MPG. He said "Once you put enough miles on it to check MPG, fill up the car until the nozzle clicks off and then pull the trigger one more time until it clicks off. Then divide the gallons used into the miles driven" If they trickled it full to overflowing and I didn't, then there would be two gallons of gas that were burned off that I could not account for. This would make my MPG calculation very high and would look great for the seller.

Checking mpg by looking at where the gauge is will yield very inaccurate results. One has to divide the total miles traveled since the last fill up by the actual gallons that it took to fill it again. I've seen a few thread comments where people are estimating their mpg by where the gauge was. That method will never give you correct efficiency.

I've emailed the dealer and am waiting for their reply. I'm sure I will not get any satisfaction, but if noone ever calls them on this stuff, then they will keep doing it.

Hindsight being 20/20, I should have looked at the MPG ratings of some other brand new Versas that still had the window sticker. I was stupid enough to believe I could take a salesman at his word.

Integrity can be a tough thing to come by these days. In my opinion, if a mans word is worth nothing then neither is he. This is my number one beef with society today.

I will check the versaspeed website again for prices. Thanks to all.

Click to expand...

Yea, i never said you calculate by checking the gauge, i said thats where i fill up at when my needle gets to that spot. Thank you for trying to tell me I'm wrong, when I never said how i calculate, i just said where i fill up. .. I still divide the miles by the gallon. But if you fill up at like a 1/2 tank or a 1/2 tank then calculate you will get inaccurate results. You have to fill up under 1/4, but don't fill up when its on E, because it will kill your fuel pump over time.

I don't get why it stops, and you click again and get 2 more gallons, we never had to do that with our Versa, your gas tank could be reading differently, or its the gas pumps. When we filled it, we just push the handle and it'll click once, average was 11.5-12 gallons. If we did click it again, it'd overflow, because the Versa gas light comes on with like a gallon or so left, its kinda a neat thing, can help prevent people from running it on E too long and running out of gas, I know if I drove my Saturn on the E I'd run out of gas quick, and I have no light, it comes on when i'm under the E, which means Im on fumes lol kinda shitty.

If they don't reply, I'm sure you can report it to the BBB and get something going on there.

I didn't even think about the OBDII! Do try that trick, it could be that the OBDII doesn't have a consistent reading to actually yield out good results. With it being a loner, you have no idea how it was driving by the random people that have driven it.

you could also just have a "bad" motor, not every motor will get near, the same, or above the EPA, some people WILL get below it, the EPA is really just a collection of data, they don't test every car that comes off the line and calculate. So if nothing else works, most likely you just had a bad motor, that will inevitably not get the EPA or above. =/