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How many 5-Speeds? And... fuel economy???

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#22 · (Edited)
I ordered my car to get it the way I wanted it. The 5MT mileage fgures were better than the CVT, and I prefer shifting manually. Maybe I should have gotten the CVT, since clutch repair is not covered with the limited lifetime powertrain warranty. And the 2008 CVT I test drove had more apparent "gears" when controlling it manually than the 5MT. All else equal, I plan to keep my Patriot at least ten years and 150K miles.

MPG since new is in my sig. My driving is 80-90% highway. I drive 65 when in a hurry and 60-65 mph otherwise. I shift at about 2500 RPM. I try to keep the manifold air pressure (using my ScanGauge II) 15% below max while accelerating or going up hills. This means sometimes I gradually decellerate when going up hills. I push the throttle pedal until I am controlling the engine, and then pull back on the cruise stalk to disengage the cruise control. If I do it well, one can't even feel it disengaging. Then I reengage it when I get back up to speed. I work at driving for economy.

Air speed, whether due to headwind, going fast, or both, is a big drain. Aerodynamic drag goes up with the square of the air speed. In still air 70 squared is 4900, 60 squared is 3600. 4900/3600 = 1.36. That's 36% more drag to go 16% faster. In a 10 mile per hour headwind, 60 ground speed becomes 70 air speed. As mentioned above, any crosswind also increases drag unless it is a quartering tailwind or a tailwind.

Aerodynamic drag is just a part of overall resistance to movement. We also have powertrain friction and tire rolling resistance. Maintaining tire pressures helps. Lower pressure = more rolling resistance.

Wider tires, taller tires, and vehicle lifts add to the aerodynamic drag from the tires. The higher the car is, the more the tires are exposed to the drag of the air flow. Stuff on the roof adds to the overall drag.

I've toyed with the idea of putting flush cover plates over the empty fog light openings and reducing the size of the grille opening on the front of the vehicle with a flush cover plate. The factory has already done it with a black plate inside the grille opening closing off the upper 40% of the opening. I suspect that there might be some drag reduction by doing it with a flush plate on the exterior of the grill opening. I suspect that the factory made the "apparent" grille opening the size it is to get the "Jeep" look.

Wish I had a six speed with a gear in between fourth and fifth. And the tallest gear being a little bit taller than fifth. But I 'd have to shift from sixth to fifth going up hills like the truckers. Maybe the clutch wear shifting up and down would negate the fuel advantage.

There's no free lunch. But one can drive to reduce fuel consumption and expense with what one has.

FWIW and your mileage will probably vary. :)
 
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Discussion starter · #26 ·
Well, I just came back from a highway trip where round-trip (with light traffic) at about ~70-75, round-trip 86.5 miles... I ended up doing 30.72 miles to the gallon!!!

I'm VERY impressed.

The way I figured this out was by stopping off at the gas station first, and filled up completely. I then reset my trip odometer, went on my trip, and coming home, I stopped off at the gas station just before my house. I filled up completely again at the gas station.

I then divided the miles driven from the trip indicator, with the total number of gallons that I put back in the tank, and that's what gave me my number.

I'm pretty impressed...

The AVG Fuel economy gage of course only gave me 25.7 at it's best. I'm not sure what it uses as it's criteria (total number of miles driven, etc...) but I'd love to know.

Either way, I'm really impressed with 30.72 miles to the gallon.

That beats even my Crown Victoria (w/ 2.73:1 gears) which has done a BEST of 28.2mpg on the highway.

I'd love to see what a high-flow cat, an open element air filter, and a set of new low resistance tires would do... hah...


Todd,

2008 Jeep Patriot Limited
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX-P74
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter
 
#27 ·
2009 4X4 5-speed with 3400 miles on it so far. Last tank with city driving was 23.3 averaging 22.1 so far. Noticed a jump after switching to synthetic oil. One long highway trip resulted in 28.8 mpg at 65-72 mph. All calculated by me, no computer.
 
#28 ·
RHill said:
MPG since new is in my sig. My driving is 80-90% highway. I drive 65 when in a hurry and 60-65 mph otherwise. I shift at about 2500 RPM. I try to keep the manifold air pressure (using my ScanGauge II) 15% below max while accelerating or going up hills. This means sometimes I gradually decellerate when going up hills. I push the throttle pedal until I am controlling the engine, and then pull back on the cruise stalk to disengage the cruise control. If I do it well, one can't even feel it disengaging. Then I reengage it when I get back up to speed. I work at driving for economy.
Click to expand...
I discovered that was a great way to save fuel.

I have not tried to disengage the cruise using the "soft" method. I'll have to try that.

Do you find the lag in the electric accelerator really annoying? Trying to match engine speeds in neutral is always a trick. Any tips?

I know many drivers say coasting in gear causes the fuel injectors to shut down, but I find the difference in the distance I can coast far more beneficial to mileage numbers. My mileage is always lower if I "coast" in gear rather than in neutral.
 
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#29 ·
I got an 07 Limited with the 5-speed, a rare combination and I average about 25 mpg in the summer and 23 in the winter, longer trips I usually average 27-28 mpg but I'm 23 so there are sometimes when the rpms get up there so I'm sure that hurts. my best was a 31 mpg loop I'd agree with the guy that says E-10 kills mileage. Gotta love it when the gov't says you need to get better fuel economy, then says you need to run 10% of your fuel as ethanol. Love this country, hate its leaders. Another tip I have is to draft, but not right on their bumper, that makes you an *******. I was getting much better gas mileage drafting a big rig at 75mpg than I was plowing along by myself at 65
 
#31 · (Edited)
Bimmer_2002 said:
4x4 5 Speed owner here.....Ok, apparently I got the last 2008 5 speed 4x4 in all Quebec and Ontario (2 Provinces) when I bought it in june 2008. So either they didn't make enough or it's very popular here. It might have helped that the government was giving 1000$ back if you would either buy the 2.0l or the 2.4l 5 speed.

I don't have my average because I don't have the computer and I'm too lazy to do it. All I know is I can't complain. :D
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I bought mine July 19 2008, they buy a last batch of 2008 Patriot at "Maison Chrysler Charlesbourg, mine was built 06/2008, 5 speed 4x4 , but I've searched for anywhere else around Quebec city and they we're no manual 4x4...

By the way, I do around 7.2L/100 Km at a steady speed of 95-100 km/h and about 8.5L/100km average, so about 600-650 km per tank.

Cold winter kills mileage, I rarely gets more than 450km for 45L.

I wanted a 4x4 5 speed for the same reason ! I had a 1000$ cash refund from the government :D
 
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#32 ·
NorthPat said:
I bought mine July 19 2008, they buy a last batch of 2008 Patriot at "Maison Chrysler Charlesbourg, mine was built 06/2008, 5 speed 4x4 , but I've searched for anywhere else around Quebec city and they we're no manual 4x4...
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FYI:

I bought mine from Gosselin on July 2008, at St-Nicolas and they got three or four 4x4 5 speeds manual (North Edition). I even had a choice of color...

My model was built on 06/2008.
 
#33 ·
you will get lots of miles worth your $$$

don't worry,it's great on the gas,it will suck slightly more during cold winter months but overall it's a great gas saver
 
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