My nine-year old Oldsmobile does that.

I’d like to think everey car I own from now has a fuel-efficiency meter, and an external thermometer.

I think Nissan is talking about returning to the days of the all-in-one trip computer. A lot of luxury cars and some sports cars over $50k have them, but back in the 1980s GM and FORD put them in anything that cost more than a shoe box.

i had a 1990 ford probe w/ the v6 and the 5 speed manual tranny… it had an all in one trip computer with this extensive keypad, let you view instant mileage, set speed alarms, all this stuff you don’t see on modern vehicles.

What BS. I’m never gonna be lookin at that thing. And it’s way old technology, Nissan is just trying to capatalize on the current green movement and its popularity. It really annoys me for some reason.

I think the reason it annoys you is the same reason it annoys me: people are so ****ing stupid they need to be shown flashing lights in order to get them to understand that accelerating = more gas consumption.

No **** sherlock, thank’s for putting condescending technology in my car……

Oh, and the other annoying reason is because greenheads (yes, I know they are annoying biting flies as well) will think this is a good idea :S

It’s not that people don’t know more accelerator means more gas, having the device there, to a lot of people, is kind of like the car challenging you to get good mileage. I’ve driven Impalas at work that have them, and I’ll throw on the average MPG thing.. I had it to 27MPG city at one point in time.

heh I remember my friend bought a new M3 back in the day. he did a burnout and you say the little gauge move from the high teens mpg to like 8. that was hilarious.

Its a good thing BMW deleted that feature from their cars. Just another signature BMW feature that Chris Bangle and his merry band of homos couldn’t figure out.

Jesus Christ… so basically what Crappan is saying is “we don’t feel like making more and more fuel efficient engines so instead we’ll just give you this ’state of the art’ gauge to help you become anal retentive with squeezing every possible mile out of a tank of gas”

How ****ing behind the ball is nissan on this? Hmmm… I remember when my folks bought their LHS back in ‘94 it had one… and let’s see.. oh! My ‘97 Sebring has one too! Well how bout that?

Give me a freakin break… the crappiest of all japanese manufacturers just proved themselves to be all the more crappy.

Personally I’m the exact opposite, I like mashing the throttle to see how long I can maintain 1mpg.

LMAO madcapp im using that one; merry band of homos…..pure comedy.
hahaha amgoff i get mine down to 2mpg, my other female friends 325 has the damn needle, it annoys me but i can peg it on zero.

you drivers are ****ing stupid. Im all for more technology stuff packed in the cluster! Its too boring to just stare at the road and drive. Its fun to play with trip computer and stuff and before u know it, ur home already.

My Volvo S-60 does have a fuel efficency read-out along with many other read-out infos.

Jazz/Madcapp/AMGoff: ROFL! That’s hilarious! Ahahaha….made my day.

Holy crap you guys. Who pissed in y’alls Wheaties this morning? What a negative bunch of whiners. I’m sure y’all are FULL of swell ideas for the carmakers, if only you could get them to listen to you.

Nissan’s putting a fuel efficiency guage in their cars makes a lot of sense if you think about it. The data that drives that guage already exists, being used by other devices (like the engine management computer). All Nissan is doing in installing a $5 or $10 guage to display that data for its human opertors so they can drive more efficiently if they CHOOSE to. And no, AgmLauncher, everybody does NOT know how important driving style is. If you think they do, you’re giving them WAY too much credit.

I drive an ‘03 VW Passat that includes an instantaneous fuel economy readout; I use it quite a lot just to see how high I can make it go. (I’ve learned that for any given driving situation, lower RPM’s ALWAYS returns better fuel economy). It also has an average economy readout, and over time, I often drive in such a way that will keep that average as high as possible. And for those who care, I average about 25 MPG with the 1.8T engine and an automatic transmission; I’d say that’s pretty impressive for a car as relatively large as a Passat.

So, AMGoff—you’re right that this is hardly a new idea. But if you were a car manufacturer in this world, and you could spend $5 per car to help people get better fuel economy, or spend millions of dollars developing ever more efficient engines, which would YOU do? And just what is it about Nissan’s cars that makes you say they’re crap? There are millions of people, and countless positive reviews, that would disagree with you.

^ ^ Thank you scott Kempton…. totally with you all the way.

I love the “Instantaneous MPG” readout in my Volvo. I get kicked out of it, just love it. Helps a lot!! I average 21 mpg right now. Its summer time, I havent used the freeway cuz i didnt take a summer semester at college. I scored a high 24 MPG a while ago when i was in class.

S-60-driver: that IS pretty impressive!

A few months ago, I drove from Atlanta, GA to Nashville, TN (about 250 miles). I zeroed out the average MPG readout as soon as I got on the highway, to eliminate any city driving from the calculation. I kid you not—I got exactly 35 MPG on the highway at 70 MPH. Again, I think that’s pretty darned impressive for a car as relative large as a Passat.

this article is useless

S60, not harping on you, but I have a friend who drives a 70 wagon and is also stoked with his 20.5 to 21 mpg. Problem is I get 21.5 to 22 from a 5.4 liter F150 driven normally, so 21 or 24 from a Volvo sedan seems way low for me, as does 25mpg from a 1.8 liter Passat.

Personally those needles in the company BMW fleet were one of my favorite little things, whether I buried them or milked them. It is feedback of your style and the driving environment and how that interacts with the vehicles efficiency. Cool stuff, but if Nissan does this, please skip the lights and digital crap and just give a NEEDLE and not some other shìt. Hai?

RicardoHead—21.5 to 22 MPG out of your F150 IS pretty impressive, but I’d be willing to bet those figures are under absolutely optimum conditions, on the highway only. I’d be extremely surprised if you AVERAGED that much (which would mean you get significantly better than that on the highway). My Passat DOES average 25 MPG, including in-town and highway driving. See my 2nd post about 35 MPG on the highway.

Regarding putting needles on a guage; I agree with you that it IS better than idiot lights (which I have seen, and are pretty much useless). But I’d have to disagree with you about needles being superior to a digital readout; needles can only give you a vague idea how you’re doing, whereas my digital readout tells me EXACTLY what I’m getting, down to .01 MPG.

Scott- that’s impressive.

RicardoHead- Yeah, 24 MPG is a little low for highway use, but i should have been more clear when i typed that earlier. I achieved a 24 MPG readout cuz I use the freeway one day a week (one class, once a week). Rest were city driving. I would’ve scored higher had I driven on the freeway almost everyday. Maybe someday…..

Ricardohead- 21 to 22 MPH out of a 5.4 F150??? I have sold hundreds of them and not one customer has had even close to that!! You need to post your technique online and send a memo to Ford to show them how ya do it. Thats a miracle number if it can be done. A 6 cylinder maybe, but a 5.4??

I have an ‘05 Altima and it has a fuel efficiency. I think it tends to be a little optimistic with my fuel consumption. I reset it everytime I fill up the tank and if I run the numbers myself, they always turn out a little lower than what the monitor says, but only by 1-2 MPG.

To be honest though, it has made me more conscious about how aggressively I drive. From my experience, less aggressive driving improved my gas mileage by about 10-20%. So perhaps this could work. I know some VWs give you “live” readings of your mileage, I once drove a Passat that did something like that.

I just wanted to add, that the fuel efficiency monitor in my Altima doesn’t give a “live” reading, but rather, it updates periodically.
And in the first sentence of my comment, I meant to put “monitor” after fuel efficiency there.

I guess dividing out the miles driven by gallons used is just tooooooooooo much work these days. Who likes numbers these anyway?

More and more computer **** in a vehicle means more and more trips to the service department. I’m about ready to rip out the tire pressure monitors in my truck and unplug the damn dummy light. You can’t even install a remote start in some vehicles without worrying the airbags will go off because of all the integrated electronics. With all of the **** being integrated into vehicles, gee I wonder why gas mileage is low…

Guys, that’s my average in the F150. Seriously. I do probably 70% highway in it, to be sure, but some of that is rush hour stop & go.

I typically tank up right when the fuel light comes on and my odometer reads between 445 to 470 miles. The fill up ranges typically between 20.5 to 21.5 gallons. You do the math – I have maxed it at 22.5 mpg. I calcalate based on 3 tankfuls to smotth out anomalies that may occur, and winter-blends tend to get about 1mpg less. I have wondered if the odometer is out of whack, so sometimes when a few of us are driving to the same distant location away I check my miles driven against a friend’s. They are the same (within less than half a percent) so that is accurate, and when possible I go to the same pump.

My technique? Simple – but your average brain dead idiot still cant do it. I maintain good tire inflation and read traffic and redlights up ahead and slow in advance by taking my foot off the pedal to maximize use of my momentum, minimize complete stops, and avoid braking hard. I accelerate pretty normally, but don’t drive the truck like a maniac (it’s a truck for Christ’s sake) and don’t get particularly aggressive or egotistical when on the road with it.

I’ve said before – I have never had a car where I did not AVERAGE at least 10% (to 30%) above the highway mileage on the sticker (when I drive this way). The truck was stickered at 16/19 so my target was 21 or more, which I get. It’s freakin easy to get better mileage, but it’s easier for people to just bitch and moan that the auto companies are screwing them than it is for them to do something for themselves. Between gas and maintainance I figure this style saves me about $750 per year, which is well over a grand before taxes, so that is cool.

And BTW Scott, I still prefer needles to digitals. The brain processes needle direction faster than it reads and processes digits, which is probably why digital watches went the way of the dodo bird. Really all you need is an indication, not a science, and your mind can subconciously make sure needle stays to the left without looking at it, whereas you must divert your optical focal point to a digital readout and then process “is it hi or low” to understand that. Head-up displays circumvent that, but the last thing I need is a freakin $1000 display to tell me what a $4 needle can do more effectively and still let me focus on the road.

This feature is in several cars under $15,000 and like many other little touches, missing from most Japanese vehicles.

My car has one and let me tell you, it DOES influence economy if you use it. Just try for yourself – drive without looking at it for a few tanks of gas and then a few tanks while watching it. I found more than 10% difference…

“The brain processes needle direction faster than it reads and processes digits, which is probably why digital watches went the way of the dodo bird.”

Sorry, I collect high end mechanical watches and while I prefer them over digital, the only reason why people prefer watches with no batteries is the snob appeal and Rolex influence. The trend of the digital dial is coming back actually though not quite up to the high end.

Veda, digital watches mostly went away in the 70s. Even the trendy swatch crowd prefers dials. Sure, snob appeal plays a role with some people, but others (like most people I know) are focused on functionality and no one I know wears a digital. Most of us have battery driven dial watches, though, and the bulk of those are timex’s, citizens, fossils, and seikos. Normal stuff, normal people, normal watches, not a digit in the bunch. And I work with techies too, so they normally love that digital crap.

It’s the same way people love charts and graphs over data. The mind comprehends visual indicators more quickly than numbers.

Beda: Timex watches rule. W.J. Clinton wears an Ironman

Nissans are not crap.

LMAO! Maybe Veda is talking about the digital watches that have digital hands on the face…as I have on my digital cell phone.

Digital speedometers were as popular as screen doors on submarines.

Kempton – exactly, it’s a five dollar guage so what the hell took them so long to to install the damn thing. Then they go and make some press release about it which only highlights how crappy they are. Seeing as how many other cars have had this feature for years and years they should have just quietly added it to the cars. I say they’re crap based on experience and opinion. Save the Infinity FX their entire lineup is hideous. I’ve been in an Altima, they’re slow, ride bad, and feel cheap. After my mother’s accident they gave her an xterra for her rental. Poor gas mileage, rough ride, and piss poor ergonomics. If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to pick a japanese car I’d go for a Mazda, then a Honda, then a Mitsu… after that I’d rather them pull the trigger than buy a Toyo or a Nissan.

If we’re bragging about gas mileage… we averaged 30mpg in the Seville down to and back from Chincoteague, and thats a 4000lb car with a big American V8 without out even thinking about it.

Piablo: the only cool digital speedometer was in KITT.

AMGoff: My order of preference (quality) of major japanese automakers doing business in the U.S. That’s across the entire line. As an individual car, i’d probably go with the Nissan Titan or Maxima

1 (3) Mazda
2 (1) Subaru
3 (2) Nissan
4 (6)Mitsu
5 (5) Suzuki
6 (4) Toyota
7 (7) Honda

JackJim – LOL! True!

RicardoHead—thanks for taking the time to share all that info with us. It’s nice to see thoughtful, useful comments on here occasionally. I still disagree with you on the dial vs digital issue, because the digital readout has vastly higher resolution than any guage ever could, and it doesn’t seem to tax my brain to decipher that information. But again—thanks for taking the time to explain your opinion.

AMGoff—so first you fault Nissan for installing the guage, then you fault them for taking too long to do it. Then you conclude that releasing a press release about it “highlights what a crappy” company they are. I have a suggestion for you: why don’t you try waking up on the OTHER side of the bed from now on; you may find that your outlook on life improves. But kudos on the 30 MPG in the Seville—that is impressive indeed!