k0260

similar for me too.. wife's Toyota Matrix as much as possible. Jeep weekend warrior, little use during the week. Drive a beat up Tacoma for my work/week day truck.

staceychambers

Rant to follow please excuse me..!

The man asked a serious question. It amazes me how many people wanna jump up and pound their chest saying at someone because they are concerned about MPG...... I AM! I drive a Jeep because i love them... I am not rich, i have a family to support but i want a jeep. if i wanted a freaking prias i would buy one but i want a JEEP! I am a jeepaholic.... i love my jeep and i love being in it..... Its my Daily Driver and THAT is why i want to milk all the MPG's out of it that i can so i can jsutify takeing it more places instead of the wifes car!

I am waiting for someone to tell me why i should not want to save MPG? Why i should want to pay more for gas?

If I can milk 5mpg out of my jeep (as i have read on this forum) then it would save me about $1,000 per 10,000 miles.

10,000 / 11mpg = 909gal * $3.50 per gallon = $3181.5 per 10,000 miles
10,000 / 16mpg = 625gal * $3.50 per gallon = $2187 per 10,000 miles
Saving me
284 gallons and $994.00 per 10,000
28.4 gallons and $99.40 per 1,000
$1,500 for regearing would put me back in the black at 15,000 miles
So if i drive 20,000 miles per year that would be like a $2,000 a year raise or in Jeep terms - New rock rails, new lights, new tires, new tire swing, new bumper etc!!!!

BTW I am leaning toward 5.13's (dont know if im right or wrong) but I keep very detailed records of my milage and when i do re-gear i will post the results for all to benifit from. Not opinions, not theories, not BS Just NUMBERS......

please excuse the rant but i HAD to get that off my chest!!!! LOL

Scott-BC

Don't get me wrong, I'm not slamming anyone for wanting to save money. I have a REALLY hard time driving like Miss Daisy in my Jeep, which is the only way to really save money on gas. Regearing, intake/exhaust, programmers...all pointless if you still drive your Jeep like you just stole it.

mook8651

2 Door
3.21 gears 6spd
35 trail grapplers
2.5 RK lift

Getting 19 mpg daily driven no highway.. I get better MPGs not driving on the highway.. Keep it in the ECO an you will get good mpg.. Drive with a heavy foot an you wont that's all there is to it

seer1

[QUOTE=staceychambers;3062057]Rant to follow please excuse me..!

The man asked a serious question. It amazes me how many people wanna jump up and pound their chest saying at someone because they are concerned about MPG...... I AM! I drive a Jeep because i love them... I am not rich, i have a family to support but i want a jeep. if i wanted a freaking prias i would buy one but i want a JEEP! I am a jeepaholic.... i love my jeep and i love being in it..... Its my Daily Driver and THAT is why i want to milk all the MPG's out of it that i can so i can jsutify takeing it more places instead of the wifes car!

I am waiting for someone to tell me why i should not want to save MPG? Why i should want to pay more for gas?

I've got to agree here. If you have nothing positive to add, why are you typing anything at all? The dude asks for some advice and all you can say is buy a Prius? Yeah we're driving vehicles with the aerodynamic properties of a brick, but it can do better than 12.5 mpg. First of all you've gotta do something about the gearing. 3.73 with an AT and 35's is pretty ridiculous. You need to bump it up to at least 5.13's. I'm assuming you're a flatlander living in Alabama and that'll help. A ways back, a fellow did a bit of an unscientific study regarding RPMs. Work on keeping it under 2,000. That's not always possible, but if you work on it, that alone should give you 1-1.5 mpg more. Next, experiment with your tuner. I run a Flashpaq and don't know anything about the Hypertec, but try different settings. I live in the mountains at 7,000 feet, also have an '07 with 34's (actual measurement), an AT and can get 17.5 on a good day with the 87 octane setting on my Flashpaq. Heavy emphasis on taking it easy on the skinny pedal. Good luck there and welcome to the forum. Apologies for the numb nut posts here.

IndyChavez

Performance upgrades! I went from 12mpg to 15mpg with an magnaflow exhaust. But I'd have to drive the jeep for at least 50,000 miles until the savings kicked in. But it could have bin the summer fuel...idk.

dognights

I bought a no-option but AC, leftover Jeep Patriot new as a daily driver for a solution to my crap MPG in my JKU. I average almost 30mpg in the patriot(manual), I keep miles and wear and tear off my fun jeep, it retains better value, and Im getting twice the MPG or so. Something also interesting is that when I added another jeep to the insurance policy I already had, my total insurance actually went down because the daily driver patriot is ranked as safer and less likely to be stolen, etc. So it costs me less to insure both then it cost to just insure my JKU on its own.

After driving around the patriot all week it also makes the JKU feel like a sports car because it is so slow. If you negotiate hard you can also get a steal on a patriot. They almost give them away if you are aggressive at a dealer and dont care which color or whatever you get. Total including what I save on gas and tires on the JKU, not including the savings of additional wear on the JKU, by having the Patriot I save about $4000 per year or so total, which completely pays for the patriot in a few years with the savings or puts a bunch of savings away for fun road trips in the JKU.

At about 300 miles a week you are saving $80 bucks a week in gas. Another thing I enjoy about this setup is I dont stress about something that might happen to my JKU on a trail that much. If it breaks put it in the garage and order parts. I still have a way to get back and forth to work without issues. Also something I find funny is that the Patriot still gets some beach and camping duty as well.

I know it is not a greats solution to how can you get better mileage out of your JK, but to be honest after going through the same thing it just didnt make sense to even try to improve the Mpg of the JK. Add weight, lift, and big tires and it just is not possible to fix really.

cosmokramer

Seriously buying a used 90's honda maybe your best bet. However, as for saving mileage on your current daily driver, you can try one more thing. I swear I have never ever been an advocate for synthetic motor oil before, but I decided to start changing my oil as money got tighter and prices at the oil change places crept up higher and higher. My girlfriend's car was already synthetic and since I was changing her oil, I decided to get a package deal for my oil (5 gallon jug with extra quart to top off of Mobile1 and premium mobile1 filter) because of a local sale. I changed my oil. I was suprised that my MPG went up by 2 (I check MPG at fill ups, not by a trip computer which my Jeep does not have). I said it ain't so, I'll check the next gas tank. Again, 2 mpg increase. No change in driving style, 10 mile route to work, 50/50 hwy/city miles, same air filter, same mixture of top on and off driving, same tires, same tire pressure as the first 35,000 miles when I ran conventional oil, same summer season (so no change in so called winter blends or whatnot). I swear it was the only thing I changed, and I get 2 more mpg. I couldn't believe it.
If you have a few tools and do it yourself, it's a less than $40 investment to switch to synthetic. Try it. It may not give you as much as 2 mpg with what you drive (as I drive 4 door unlimited x with 17" stock wheels and stock tires), however, it's the cheapest investment for a possible gain.

JPop

Thanks Stacey and Seer for breathing some common sense into the discussion. I have several vehicles and of all of them, my Jeep is the efficiency champion. I very much care about fuel mileage despite beating the crap out of my JK and for giggles laying down rubber with my Dodge Ram. They are my daily drivers checking in at around 18 and 12mpg respectively.

As much as anything, I don't like taking time to go fuel up. I generally run each vehicle down to under 3 gallons before filling up. It's more about time than money for me and the less amount of time I need to spend at the filling station the better. I bought my Ram with the optional 37 gallon tank and I'd like nothing better than to have a larger tank in the JK.

Getting 10+% better fuel economy out of a JK isn't that tough to do if you aren't currently thinking about your fuel economy. It can also be done relatively on the cheap, programmer, drop in filter and a replacement can. Some modest changes in driving habits and sticking to speed limit at 50mph plus.

Lastly, I would also attest if you bought your JK to zip around the city streets and highways with quick acceleration and harder breaking, you also bought the wrong vehicle.

dognights

I dont really agree with this. If you buy a reasonable bike even new, maybe something like a 650 twin you could have it paid for with the savings in under two years if you used it on a semi regular basis to commute. With something like a new 250 you could easily have the savings on the reduced fuel over a JK pay for the entire bike plus some in under a year.