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2011 Dodge Journey Pentastar fuel economy


Defender007

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I've never heard of a Journey with a 3.7L V6. Where do you live? Are you sure it's not the 3.5L?

My thinking also as I have a 2010 R/T AWD, was going to reply to this but I assumed it was a mistype.

Terry

Edited by Windancer
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  • 2 weeks later...

This past weekend I was in Windsor/Detroit and when I left filled

up and had the best mpg to date.

The winds at our back cruising non stop the evic read out

7.3 liters/100km.(32 mpg US)

When I filled up reset evic it read 59 L/100km 728 km DTE

by the time Ihad driven 33 km on the 401 xpway on cruise

at 104 km/hr (65 mph).

Summer gas+lightfoot+windage may account for it but I am happy.

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I just had my first real road trip and i am impressed with the fuel ecomomy. Up until Friday, i had driven the Journey Crew around 4000km (2485 miles) and i have been averaging 14.5 L/100km (16.22 US MPG) with a mix of short city drives and 30-40 minute highway drives.

For easter I did a 900KM (559 mile) road trip for Easter and the car averaged 11.8 L/110Km (19.9 US MPG).on the trip up. That did however include 150km (93 miles) of city short trip driving.

the trip back however, the car averaged 10.4L/100KM (22.6 US MPG) which gives me an average of 11.1 L/100KM (21.19 us mpg for my last two tanks of gas

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On every vehicle I have owned, I have noticed that fuel mileage in winter goes way down. Here is a link that has a short explanation between winter and summer blends.

http://ask.cars.com/2009/02/whats-the-difference-between-summerblend-gasoline-and-winterblend-gasoline-does-it-affect-my-cars-pe.html

Here is also a link to Gasbuddy.com

http://blog.gasbuddy.com/posts/A-crash-course-on-seasonal-gasoline/1715-401024-239.aspx

If you read the 4th paragraph, it goes into more detail as to why there is a difference in fuel mileage between summer and winter blends.

Going back to the OP's high fuel consumption, I wouldn't think that there would be such a big difference from what other forum members are reporting. Just recently there was a settlement, I believe it was California where a lady took Honda to court because she didn't get anywhere near the reported highway mileage claims by Honda. I wonder what recourse the OP could have in regards to his city mileage, being that posted mileage claims on the window sticker are figures usually, I do believe, from an independent agency and not the manufacturer.

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We've had our DJ for a couple weeks now and we're starting to get a better feel for it. We had a Dodge Caliber previously with the very sad 1.8L 4 cylinder engine, so we were always lead footing it to get any semblance of power. The main issue with the DJ, as others have pointed out, is that it's a heavy beast (more so with the third row seating), and getting it going is usually the biggest drain on fuel. Once you're past 20Kph and start easing off the gas as you get up to the regular street speeds you want to get, then it's very easy to keep it under 10L/100Km when travelling between 21kph and 100kph. This vehicle wasn't made for stop and go, but it's not terribly hard to keep the mileage down if you can just keep moving :)

Edited by Psyke
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just got back from a trip of about 1000 miles round trip with 2011 main street 3.6 engine with a k-n air filter and using reg oil,mostly interstate miles and some city driving bumper to bumper traffic jam on the way home. after pushing the reset on the evic it said i was getting 26 mpg while driving on the interstate going about 70 mph but i always use the old method of checking mpg by the miles divided by gallons of gas used and it figured out to 23 mpg. which i feel is pretty good considering the 45 min traffic jam,hat we got caught in. hoping when i switch over to syn oil i will get better mileage and from past cars that is usally about 1 mpg better,have 1 more free oil changefrom the dealer and then ill change over.

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Defender007, I just went through all the posts again and noticed one thing; it was never mentioned/asked if you/your wife were driving with the auto climate control on? the reason I ask is because it will turn the AC on, even if not being used to actually cool the car (probably more for moisture control).

I was driving the other night and noticed a cool breeze on the back of my neck and realized there was cool air being pumped to the back seats; I had the front synced to 23c (it was about 5c outside) and thought I had turned off the back, but I guess I hadn't. When I switched from AutoCC to manual, the AC light came on. I turned it off, turned the autoCC back on, then off, only to find that the AC was turned back on again. I'm not too surprised that the AC is being turned on, but I hadn't realized it. I hadn't been using the AutoCC much as I like controlling the fan speeds manually, but the wife had turned it on when she came to pick me up from work and I hadn't noticed.

Could this be potentially be factor in your issues?

cheers!

Steph S.

Edited by Psyke
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I'd be really surprised if that is causing the issue. I leave mine on auto all the time. I've never taken it off auto in the 13+ months that I've had my 2011 Crew. My gas mileage is routinely in the 12-13 L range in mostly city driving. In fact, it is supposed to be better for the A/C components to keep them being used year round, from what I've read.

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Maybe but if th compressor was the problem, wouldn't it ruin my highway mileage as well? On the highway I can bring it down to about 9L/100kms. Very weird. We are expecting this summer so she won't be needing her car soi will be taking it more often and I will see if maybe my wife is the problem, lol

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I got 310 KM from a full tank (~79L), that's 25.2 L / 100KM.

Ricky

I'm really sorry to hear that you got such poor mileage from your Journey. Even in the middle of winter here, where it can be very cold, with constant long periods of warm ups, lots of snow etc. my mileage has never been that poor. I don't want this to sound the least bit condescending, but are you sure of the math? Is it possible that you may have made a small error with the numbers? Just curious that's all.

Terry

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My DJ mpg has improved slightly since it turned the 8000 km (5000 mile) mark on the odometer.

I think I can honestly say that my mileage has not improved significantly in the 2 years i have owned it, even though my 2010 Journey now has 21,000 kilometers (13,000 miles). I certainly agree with bigtsr that the high idle times experienced in Vancouver would be a contributing factor to the poor mileage that you experienced.

I have to fill up today and I'm sure it will be around the 18l/100 mark as this tank was all city driving with my kayaks on top.

Terry

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Hey Windracer, bigtsr,

Thanks for the opinions! My Journey is at around 9000km, which is close to it's break-in, if it isn't already broke-in, and it's mileage has been just so-so. 310km is just my worst case, I usually get around 350km - 420km per tank(city only). I agree with both of you that driving in Vancouver means lots of idling and stop-and-go, I mean there are TONS of traffic light and stop signs here.

I'm sure my driving habits aren't that bad because when I drive my mom's mercedes GLK (3.5L V6), I get over 550km from a 66L tank. I know it isn't the fairest comparison since Mercedes is a premium brand (better at using fuel more efficiently?), but I'm just making a reference.

I certainly hope it'll get better as I drive it more.

Ricky

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  • 3 weeks later...

First week end trip to the lake with my 2011 demo DJ picked up on Tues. Had 500 km on it when bought. 1st leg 200k- 19.5 ltr 2nd leg 178 km-17.7 ltr 3rd leg 334 km-25.8 ltr home stretch 288km- 27.2 ltr Mileage is as good or better than my previous 08 Patriot. Driving was old man style, speeds from 100 k to 108-9 k to keep under the radar. There was a strong crosswind on some prairie but the best mileage was up in the bush away from the wind and 100 kmph on cruise. Sure does have the power to do a quick pass though, not like winding up the rubber band of the Patriot. Next trip this Friday will be the same but towing the 1200 lb boat up.

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We've put 2000 miles now on our 2012 Journey Crew. We do mostly highway driving, I'd say 90%. Lots of uphill/downhill highways too. Usually go 75 on the highway. Also use the remote start a lot to run the A/C for a couple of minutes and get her cooling off before we hop in.

We are getting 24-25mpg average since day one. Absolutely impressed with this mileage for such a big vehicle and plenty of power. Love it!

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