2011 Dodge Journey Pentastar fuel economy

[ChrisPollard]

Softer tires will actually DECREASE your mileage. You'll sometimes see "low rolling resistance" tires sold to improve fuel economy ... basically they're harder compounds with less grip. Less grip because of less friction. Friction is what keeps you planted on the road.

I was expecting a little better mileage than I've been getting too. First vehicle I've driven in a long time that I haven't actually gotten BETTER than EPA numbers. I would get 39 out of my Sebring - that was rated for 36 highway. Got 41 out of a Caliber rated for 39. I'm not exactly an aggressive lead foot. Got that out of my system as a teen. :P When I looked at my EVIC today, I was at 11.9L/100km. That is since I pulled the Journey off the lot at the dealership. City and highway. Best I've seen it was 8.5 after a long (1300km) run down the highway. City mileage is pretty brutal - even with the 4cyl. I'm hoping to see it get better with age. Or spring. LOL Remote start + winter = bad mileage as it idles.

[bigtsr]

I have spent quite a lot of time on "car forums" for the different Chrysler products

I have owned over the years and mpg/L/100kms is a neverending topic.

People become upset sometimes obsessed with their choice of vehicle/drive trains.

The first thing they do nowdays is question other owners with regards to numbers.

What they should realize is that each vehicles gas consumption is the product

of their individual driving habits(of each user),their enviromental factors and the

seasonal characteristics of the fuel used.

If you were to look at my evic right now you would say wow,reads 8.9 L/100km.

Well that's the result of the resetting of the reading on an 80 km round trip in the

hills surrounding my area,I simply reset on the downside of the first 4% grade.

I coast on downgrades(DJs coast like soapbox racers) and use cruise where

practical and safe.

Point is "you makes your choice and you pays your money" and if you want better milage

change your driving style,keep your tires inflated,run synthetic oil or drive something

else.

[drb227]

Changed the oil last week. She did about 190kms. Maybe too soon but the economy is still at 22L/100Kms. I spoke to the service manager and he said the onnly thing he can do is reset the computer to factory specs and see if that helps. I WISH i could get 15.5L hell I'd be glad to get 16L/100kms. When I first bought it, I did so with the expectations of getting 15-16L/100km. Never expected it to get the advertised 13.3L/100kms. Is there any agencies I can complain to? There must be something because there's a HUGe difference between 13.3L and 22L/100kms. Other than that we both love the car and features. I even just put on my 17" wheels and winter tires. I figured the winters are softer maybe get better economy?

Out of curiosity, how many kms do you get per tank? What's the percentage of city/highway mileage per tank?

I'm usually around 70-75% city for most tanks in my FWD Crew. I usually get around 12.5-13 per tank. I can always get around 500-550kms per tank in this scenario.

Edited November 21, 2011 by drb227

[coolram62]

Unless you use the remote start a lot and then let her idle and/or all city driving I would say there is definitly something wrong. My '11 (FWD 3.6) has been averaging 22.4mpg with a 60/40 mix city/highway driving. It's dipped to just above 18mpg in all city driving and I've seen 28mpg hghway (at 60mph with A/C on). The DIC is fairly close to what I record on paper and what my Garmin records. I did install/adapted a K&N CAI and have Nitto 850+CUV that are supposed to have less rolling resistance than their predessors. Also I'm not light footed when it comes to driving. The other difference for mine would be where I live isn't much above sea level with faily level roads. .

The odd thing is the oil reminder came on at 3.5K miles and that was the day after I received a complimentary oil change certificate from the dealer. It was funny but I went in to have it done and asked the service manager and she said that my Journey is not the only one that has been set early (they've had the same on '11 3.6 Durango,Charger and 300 but not the Challenger). She went on to tell me they have contacted Dodge's maintenance division/engineers but at that point had not received a satisfactory answer.

[Defender007]

I have spent quite a lot of time on "car forums" for the different Chrysler products

I have owned over the years and mpg/L/100kms is a neverending topic.

People become upset sometimes obsessed with their choice of vehicle/drive trains.

The first thing they do nowdays is question other owners with regards to numbers.

What they should realize is that each vehicles gas consumption is the product

of their individual driving habits(of each user),their enviromental factors and the

seasonal characteristics of the fuel used.

If you were to look at my evic right now you would say wow,reads 8.9 L/100km.

Well that's the result of the resetting of the reading on an 80 km round trip in the

hills surrounding my area,I simply reset on the downside of the first 4% grade.

I coast on downgrades(DJs coast like soapbox racers) and use cruise where

practical and safe.

Point is "you makes your choice and you pays your money" and if you want better milage

change your driving style,keep your tires inflated,run synthetic oil or drive something

else.

Maybe if the economy numbers were more correct, I may have bought something else. Very few cars meet the posted figures, but VERY few are off by 9L/100kms. My wife drives it and she's the complete opposite of a aggressvice driver

[Defender007]

Out of curiosity, how many kms do you get per tank? What's the percentage of city/highway mileage per tank?

I'm usually around 70-75% city for most tanks in my FWD Crew. I usually get around 12.5-13 per tank. I can always get around 500-550kms per tank in this scenario.

All city, I have never seen over 400kms, even with the low fuel light on, I was at 390. Average is about 340kms with a 1/4 tank left

[drb227]

There is no question that something is very wrong. Don't let the dealer tell you otherwise! Call Chrysler if you have to.

[Windancer]

There is no question that something is very wrong. Don't let the dealer tell you otherwise! Call Chrysler if you have to.

I agree this is not normal. There is something definately wrong, the car should get much better mileage than that. As I have said numerous times, gas mileage is not a strong point of this car but that is not good. You can see by my sig that I use My Fuelly and I have kept track of my mileage since day one. It includes warm up time and idling and it is at 15.6 which is too high IMO but that is the plain truth and I have to live with it. Let us know if you find anything out.

As you can see mine is a Fully Loaded up 2010 Journey R/T AWD and has 16,000 kilometers or 10,000 miles on it..

Terry

Edited November 22, 2011 by Windancer

[pompy]

I recently drove from Buffal NY to Orlando Florida (approx 1200 miles). travelled through the mountains of WVA and Virginia. Maintained the speed limits either 65 or 70 MPH. 2011 SXT 6 cylinder with 6500 kms.

My fuel average for that journey was 8.0 liters per 100 kms which works out to approx 35 miles per Canadian gallon or 29 miles per US gallon

[Defender007]

Well about 1000 after the synthetic oil change and 6400kms on the odometer I filled it up last night and her avg economy was at 24.2L/100kms!!!! I went to the dealer last week and they did a "reset" on the computer. Basically they reset the Adaptives but it didn't make a difference. The service manager said that if that didn't help there was nothing else he could do. Is there somewhere I can call or something I can do? We love the car but this fuel economy is killing me. I didn't get rid of a v8 grand Cherokee to save 6l per 100 when I should be saving about 15l/100km according to the window sticker

[Windancer]

Well about 1000 after the synthetic oil change and 6400kms on the odometer I filled it up last night and her avg economy was at 24.2L/100kms!!!! I went to the dealer last week and they did a "reset" on the computer. Basically they reset the Adaptives but it didn't make a difference. The service manager said that if that didn't help there was nothing else he could do. Is there somewhere I can call or something I can do? We love the car but this fuel economy is killing me. I didn't get rid of a v8 grand Cherokee to save 6l per 100 when I should be saving about 15l/100km according to the window sticker

There has to be "something" wrong. Is the EVIC in the vehicle correct? Have you documented what you are getting and sent it to Chrysler? Dodge Cares gave the telephone number out in another thread. I really hope you can get to the "bottom" of this.

Terry

[DodgeCares]

I recently drove from Buffal NY to Orlando Florida (approx 1200 miles). travelled through the mountains of WVA and Virginia. Maintained the speed limits either 65 or 70 MPH. 2011 SXT 6 cylinder with 6500 kms.

My fuel average for that journey was 8.0 liters per 100 kms which works out to approx 35 miles per Canadian gallon or 29 miles per US gallon

Pompy,

The Chrysler Canada Customer Assistance Center number which Windancer refers to is 800-465-2001.

[Defender007]

There has to be "something" wrong. Is the EVIC in the vehicle correct? Have you documented what you are getting and sent it to Chrysler? Dodge Cares gave the telephone number out in another thread. I really hope you can get to the "bottom" of this.

Terry

Yes, I checked it once and the EVIC is 95% correct. I did a manual calculation once and the EVIC was correct. I don't know what documentation they might need. I will try to call them and see what they say.

[Journey_SeXT]

Hi defender007,

It wasn't mentioned so far throughout this entire thread and it may or may not apply to your situation but if you are using E85 fuel you can probably expect a 30% reduction in fuel mileage. If this is the case your fuel mileage would be just about right.

[bramfrank]

I don't have a Pentastar, but since fuel consumption is pretty similar for the 4 as compared to the 6 (because economy is largely dictated by power demand, not how many cylinders your engine has - and, of course engine efficiency, and with the 6 speed tranny, the Pentastar engine will sit in the power band (which is the sweet spot for fuel consumption) better with than with the 4 speed unit in the 2.4).

From what I'm reading in this thread, I gather you are resetting the EVIC and going for a drive - analysing stop and go for city driving only is going to look truly ugly, especially if you are using the remote start, sitting in traffic on the 15 or 13 twice a day and more - economy ratings are based on ROLLING TIME and a standard set of road conditions.

You aren't buying E85 because we can't get that in Montreal, but you may well be running E10 - buy your gas at Esso - they don't put Ethanol in their gasoline in Quebec (yet). That could buy you a 10% increase in fuel economy right there. If you are running 'premium' grade gasoline and the engine spec doesn't call for it you could be sacrificing another 5% of your economy (and paying a lot more for the privilege).

Based on your comments that YOU (as opposed to your wife) are getting appropriate mileage for highway runs I strongly suspect that there's nothing wrong with the car.

How much fuel do you put in when you fill up? Note that a tank of gas weighs about 125 pounds and that if you aren't letting it run all the way down you will get noticeable benefits by letting the tank empty before filling up, though if you park indoors at both ends of your commute you could also get condensation in your tank at this time of year - that's a heck of a trade-off..

Going to full synthetic isn't going to help your mileage much, by the way. But as long as you aren't stretching the mileage between oil changes it does help a bit. The idea is that we tend to change our oil because it collects contaminants, not because it breaks down.

And to answer the question someone else asked about stoplight engine shutdowns and air conditioning . . . vehicles that use the technology have electrically powered air conditioning compressors. While fuel consumption may benefit to some degree using stoplight engine shutdowns, battery power is used run the vehicle for the duration of the shutdown and to restart the car and that needs to be replaced, the starter motor and solenoid are exercised more and the vehicle is therefore subject to more wear - and you get heat buildup from an engine switched off in heavy stop and go driving on hot summer days to consider as well.

A comment to he who thought the 19" wheels make a difference . . . they don't, because the wheel/tire combination doesn't weigh appreciably more (in fact I believe it is less, based on my hefting about my 17"" summers and my 16" winter wheels) than a smaller steel wheel with a honking big tire on it but hauling about 500 pounds of engine and AWD hardware DO make a difference in city driving, not to mention that even moderate leadfoot driving in traffic makes a real big difference.

Just the fact that the OP's wife got 30l/100km (7.8 mpg) average mileage in her Jeep may speak volumes. At this point I'd wager that the issue is the driver and the environment.

My EVIC usually says 11.8 or so for my combination of city/driving, but I never reset the unit - my GPS does keep a record of my fuel use, though it is in the car so I can't tell you what it says. I went to Ottawa last week to get my son and the consumption dropped to 9.7 (overall average) and since I'm back has pushed back to 10.5 l/100 km - but those are indicated values, not calculated. I strongly believe that the EVIC does not accumulate averages based on distance travelled since the last reset, but only for some smaller number of miles (which can be restarted) - I think they only look at the last 1000 km or so for the display - because a 400 km trip shouldn't impact on average mileage as much as the trip to Ottawa did.

Edit: I decided that Christmas day was a good time to update the maps in my nav . . . so I had a look at my gas mileage. According to the records I have purchased fuel 18 times (not always filling up, so only the overall averages really count - also, the vehicle wasn't delivered with a full tank of gas, which skews the numbers somewhat in the negative direction.

According to the navigator I have put in some 633 liters of fuel and traveled 5230 km, for an average consumption of 11.98849 liters/100 km (that's 19.706 mpg for you 'muricans) .

I'm no leadfoot and I don't leave the vehicle idling nor have I gotten stuck in traffic for any extended periods - the majority is highway/freeway, but a good 30-40% is in-city driving.

It is about what one would expect for this weight of vehicle during cooling temps - and I've put in about 2/3 of that as E10 which does impact on economy (can't find E0 in the US unless I put in 'high test', which undoes the economy benefits of dumping the ethanol because it costs more and delivers less mileage than 'regular grade' E0 would.. Besides, putting in ethanol every so often is a good thing because it tends to scour things clean in the fuel system as long as it doesn't settle out.

If the OP would like to check out how my SE Plus rides I might be amenable to a ride-along or a swap for a couple of hours.

Edited December 26, 2011 by bramfrank

[Journey_SeXT]

Thanks bramfrank for the E85 insight for the province of Quebec .....I had a feeling it wasn't offered in your province just like Ontario but I thought it was info that might help someone else who is using that type of fuel and wondering why the fuel consumption would be poor.

[ChrisPollard]

I was looking at the pump while filling tonight and noticed the ethanol sticker on it. Regular (87) is up to 10% ethanol. Plus (89) is up to 5%. Super (91) is 0 ethanol. I wonder how many people would blindly pay the extra to fill with 91 octane if they re-labeled the pumps with Good (90), Bad (89), and Worse (87). LOL Yeah, that's the marketer in me thinking out loud.

[Brainmaze]

my R/T AWD is at 18.4l/100km average, I did about 600km of highway travel plus about 700km of city only since I reset my EVIC! that's bad

[drb227]

Wow! I have the Crew model, so no AWD and I regularly get around 12-13 L/100km to a tank. I do only about 25-30% highway driving most of the time. You seem to be having the same poor gas mileage as Defender007. It should get better though, as the engine gets broken in. On my first few tanks, I was getting around 15 L/100km but it dropped to the 12-13 range after a few thousand kms. I can easliy get under 9 L/100km on the highway. If I really try and go easy on the go pedal around town, I can sometimes get the mileage into the high 11L/100 km range.

Can the AWD really be making that much of a difference in the gas mileage?

[Defender007]

Thanks bramfrank. I usually fill up at Ultramar since they is 2 of them near my house and it's cheaper there. I fill it up for her when it gets to half or a bit less than half. She takes l'acadie down from chomedey back and forth all the way to rocklands. Sometimes at night she'll take the 15 back up. She lets it run in the morning and evening with the remote start. She's not an aggressive driver that's why i find it weird that the economy is screwed up. Even when I take it and feather it, it still burns a lot. The dealer told me to mark my odometer and keep my gas receipts for the next 3 fill ups to test the fuel economy. We'll see what happens

[redtomatoman]

On my most recent trip, I did not use my cruise control (because 2 days at the dealership wasn't enough to get it fixed). I got 25.6 mpg while using the efficiency meter on my EVIC. I had a bike on the roof, two passengers, and a cargo area full of gear. I had previously gotten 25 mpg without a bike on top of an empty vehicle while using cruise control. The punchline here is that the efficiency meter works! It definitely takes some attention, but if you want good mileage, pay attention to that meter. It will show you the way.

Peace.

[Defender007]

I checked the Esso pumps and they now also put up to 10% ethanol. I checked it today, economy was at 23.4L/100kms :heartbreaker:

[bramfrank]

Hmmmmm . . . Their web site doesn't reflect this change . . .

I've got to check my local station to see if they have the sticker now. If it is province-wide, it will be interesting to see how this change from Esso affects my fuel economy . . . . it probably took them this long to realise that adding ethanol is like a hidden price increase!!!

Then again, it would eliminate my reason for buying only their fuel and those among us who know to avoid ethanol will start taking our business elsewhere.

Edited January 14, 2012 by bramfrank

[TheHing]

Mine is down to about 12 l/100km in 50/50/ city highway

Edited February 11, 2012 by TheHing

[bigtsr]

I checked the Esso pumps and they now also put up to 10% ethanol. I checked it today, economy was at 23.4L/100kms :heartbreaker:

You must be doing a lot of idling time because otherwise that's horrible milage.

I use Shell Bronze (up to 10% ethanol) around 95% city driving and mine is at

11.5/100km,don't idle much at all and don't use remote start.

Edited February 11, 2012 by bigtsr