That sucks, and I am sorry to hear it. When I first picked up my FDII in Virginia and drove it home, I never got more than 220 miles out of a tank in the city to 240 miles out of a tank on the highway, but now 19,000 miles later I am getting 280-300 on the highway.

I was looking at your Fuelly page and saw a couple of fill ups at 14 MPG and 15 MPG. The only time I ever saw it that low was when towing a trailer.

• Do you off-road or pull a trailer a lot?
• Use remote start?
• Is it possible someone is stealing gas? (I was able to get a locking gas cap mated to my ignition key if you are interested)
• Do you go to run-down gas stations very often?
• When pulling away from stop lights, do you notice everyone in your mirrors not keeping up with you? The Jeep will get up and going pretty quick without ever touching 3,000 RPMS... but it's still using a lot of gas to do it
• What is your COLD PSI at in the tires? Make sure it is at 35-38 in the mornings before you even start driving
• Was it a very windy day when you ran out of gas? Strong head wind's and strong storms kill my MPG
• Driving 75 MPH all day long in my FDII will net 19-20 MPGs, but coasting to speed traps help increase that

When brand new, 17 MPG wasn't uncommon for me. It is better now, but since my commute just changed to 3 miles away I am sure my MPG's will take a nose dive.

You may want to try the fuel mapping relearn procedures, It helped me a couple of times while I was trying to figure out how to get the CVT to let me drive.

 

Thanks for all the responses guys...

*Haven't towed a trailer yet. The one tank that did include some off-roading was the trip to Atlantic City and stop in the Pine Barrens when it was brand new. That was 20.3 mpg on the first tank.

*Remote start, not much.

*Stealing gas, not likely

*Run down gas stations, No.. Name brand only but they all have supposedly up to 10 % ethanol. And I run regular.

*When pulling away from stop lights(you mean triple tree?), do you notice everyone in your mirrors, Guilty.. I'm not the most reserved driver but I don't take off like a bat out of hell either. I'm usually in the middle of the pack.

*psi, May be a factor

So the story is we decided last minute to go snowboarding and spend the weekend up in Pennsylvania. So we were traveling up I80 with a steady headwind and Thule snowboard racks and the snowboards were upside down (because I thought it would improve mpg's). When the light came on I was traveling 72mph on cruise control and had 15 miles to my destination. I was going uphill when it ran out on me.

Now this happened Sunday evening. We came back Monday night and Tuesday morning the psi warning light came on. I haven't driven it since and haven't remedied the low pressure. but that should be a factor to the mpg's.

When brand new, 17 MPG wasn't uncommon for me.

Mine has about 2000 miles on it so hopefully it will improve. And I'll try the fuel mapping relearn procedures. Thanks

 

I would check the tire pressure. I don't bank on the "reserve". There is a low fuel light that when illuminated, means I screwed up.

 

x2 on what MrJeepr said.

One of the main MPG killers for all Patriots is aerodynamics. Anything 70mph+ is gonna make your economy drop quickly.

And, like MrJeepr, my economy got better in the first year. I now average 21-22mpg during the summer (with AC running) and 23-24mpg in winter. About 50/50 surface streets and local freeway. Almost no speeds over 70mph though. If I go out of town and cruise at 75-80mph, that drops to 19mpg in a hurry.

 

How fast do you drive? Tires aired up? How much weight are you hauling? I've averaged well within the 20/23 estimates since I got it. See fuelly link below. Good luck, hope you get it sorted out.

 

My light came on at 320km today...just getting worse and worse. I think I need to do an oil change soon though. That should help a little...

A good day is 400km per tank, but that's like seeing patriot beating a rubicon off road.

 

if I stay below 65 mph with my 5 spd. I get 25 mpg
if I stay below 60 mph I get 29 mpg

I obviously don't drive hard and 99% of my driving is on two lane highways. I drive 22 miles one way 5 days a week.

 

I get 20mpg on the highway
And do have occassional fill ups in the mid teens.
Sometimes weather and conditions may be a factor
Am not an aggressive driver, generally drive at the speed limit.
Not counting my offroad/beach driving.
I could get 18mpg on conservative all highway driving.
100k miles most of my mpg's has been 18i20mpg

 

Ive never gotten less than 20 on either of my Patriots. The FDI averaged 24, the FDII has been about 22.6. If I drive aggressively I can get the FDII down to about 18 around town, but it picks some of that back up when I start highway driving again. As a side note, I just put 850 miles on it over the holidays, all highway, all hills, avg was about 23.1, with one 220 mile stretch at 26.1! Had a 20 mph tailwind the whole leg, 40f, lightly loaded. Not too shabby for an FDII.

 

I've had below 20s quite a few times. All of them were during winter months and short city trips. M-F I drive 2-5 miles a day which sometimes isn't even enough to get the engine to its normal operating temperature. I've seen my MPG started going up after about 6k miles. I beat the sticker highway number (24) every time with highest being 27.9. However I struggle with reaching sticker city (21) probably because of the short trips I take.

 

The only times I have dropped below 20-21 average with my 2011( FDI not FDII )is when I have either towed my boat or used the remote start on really cold mornings when the window was iced up or I have to take my elderly Dad out for something and it is cold( 1st winter with the vehicle ). Even all City driving I see at least 20 MPG. My lowest has been 19+ MPG( I need to update my Fuelly info - been a while ) and that was with a LOT of towing and/or extended idle time warming up. I actually have seen as high as 34.7 MPG all highway.

My usual driving is probably 15% all City( 30 MPH and under ), 65% moderate roads( 35-45 MPH ), and 20% all Highway( 55 MPH and up ). For that typical driving I average 23-24 MPG.

 

Just a thought, (from experience) make sure no critters have built a nest in your air intake. That would take down your mileage.

 

I wonder about the gas where you are too. Seems from my experience, and what I've seen from other folks here, that the more Ethanol in the gas, the lower the MPG.

I usually average about 23MPG in my FDII, and usually at least 20 miles past the warning, but don't want to push to find out exactly how far after I can go.

 

I average about 26... and I have gotten 30 many times.

Location, elevation and tempurature have alot to do with mpg...
Tire pressure is another consideration..
The type of gas used is yet another (octane/enthanol content)
And Driving habits...

It may not be the patriots fault. The ECU also learns you're driving style, and adjusts fuel mapping to predict the best solution.

And finally, its not the cars fault you ran out of gas, you shouldnt let the tank get that low, and you shouldnt push it.

The thing that tells you how many miles you have left is based on how much gas you have, and its a PREDICTION based off your past fuel consumption. It has no idea about the furture, its a best guess. It has no idea if you are going to gas the thing up a hill.

 

Just keep in mind you have an FDI but the OP has an FDII so his Patriot has a lower MPG ability due to the gearing. Not likely he will see 30++ highway with an FDII nor 26 average.

 

The biggest hit I see to my mileage is a cold engine. Any time the engine is running under 195 degrees I'm getting low 20's for MPG

 

Maybe so. On the FDII driving as gently as I can, I get 23 MPG on the highway. I have had 2 lucky tanks that got me 24 and 25, but I couldn't ever seem to intentionally do that again. Typically I get 20 MPG on the jeep driving reasonably. So 20-23 MPG on a regular basis is only a 3 MPG difference... I don't think the FDII and FDI are very comparable for MPG. On my xB I was able to get 6mpg higher than it was rated in the city on every tank...

 

I don't think the FDII and FDI are very comparable for MPG.

I agree and that was my point.

 

Good luck! In my FDII I average 23MPG in the summer, and a little less in winter, maybe 21. That's a highway city mix, with a little off road often, on my driveway (you'd have to see my drive to understand).

 

I feel your pain. I came from a pretty fuel efficient car to the FDII, so it was a bit of a shock at first.... I thought I know what I was getting into and assumed I could get better than EPA estimates every time.

If I am in much of a headwind, my MPG will automatically be no better than 20. Having snow boards on the top in a headwind I could easily see getting 17... It makes that much of a difference

If you are seeing the tire light, you are probably 5 lbs low... Possibly another 2-3 MPG hit

 

Option #1 is to sell or trade it for a Toyota Prius. Option #2 is to keep the Patriot and live with your Gas Mileage and Hope it gets better. Kind of like President Obama, Hope and Change and look whats happened.

 

...Or something less extreme, like inflate the tires and remove the snowboards...

 

10-4 !!!!!!!!!

 

Anytime you strap anything to the roof the MPG will take a hit.

Everyone has their take on K & N air filters, but with every vehicle I've had 'em, I get another 2 mpg.

Haven't seen anything yet about tires unless I missed a post...what are you using?

 

All of the things listed above apply.

Driving to minimize time above 2500 RPM, staying below 65 mph, planning ahead and coasting to decellerate without using the brakes, and nothing on the outside to inccrease drag will help. Anytime you use the brakes, you are turning energy you bought with gas into worn out brakes.

That said, I wanted to minimize my subsidy of the middle east terrorists, so bought a 5 MT FDI, and get the fuel mileage in my sig below. Now, with more city driving, 10% ethanol, and my wife's trips through the Sonic drive through lane for iced tea, my cumulative gas mileage is slowly coming down with tanks in the 26-28 mpg range.

Gasoline with a higher octane rating than regular will hurt gas mileage. It burns more slowly to prevent detonation, so has less area under the time pressure curve.

FWIW and YMMV.

 

My experience has been a bit lower than RHill, but I've never been under 26MPG, and the closest I got to that was with the canoe on the roof (see avatar). Ignatz can put out low 30s if I drive really easy on the highways (under 60).

Driving easy can explain why I've not had any mechanical issues with my Patriot, either. Then again, I had a Pontiac Grand Prix that I drove pretty hard and it got to 250,000 without major issues -- front wheel bearings and tie-rod ends a couple times each -- nothing under the hood at all except the original battery at 220,000 (guy from AAA couldn't believe it).

 

hi

up until 6 weeks ago when i installed my Firestone Destination LE tires , 225's, the mpg was about 25 and some change on winter blend. After the tire switch, mpg settled to 22 and often hots 21 now.

i would have been as just as well off to have gotten FDII.

 

The 225s are wider than the stock 215s so they have more drag.

The 225/65 17s are taller (28.4 vs 28.0) than the 215/65 17s so your speedometer (and odometer) are registering less than actual speed/travel.

If you have a GPS, you can figure out your correction factor. Also, check your tire pressure.

If you had a FDII, you would still see the drop in MPG with the 225/65 17s.

 

Today I went for a nice Sunday drive, and I averaged 25 MPG over the course of my 134 mile trip in my FDII. It is rare, but does happen sometimes. I had little wind and drove mostly between 60-65 MPH

 

Just finsihed my second tank with my newly acquired 2008. Cold weather and about 80% city and got 20.7 MPG (US) or about 25.2 MPG (Canadian).

Pretty happy with that.