Gas mileage, how to improve?

Naughtygoose

Member
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2014 CX9
Has anyone done anything successful to improve their gas miliage like the green filter or anything promising, I have an AWD and the mileage sucks.
 
We've got the fwd and suffer the same. Will probably be the last cx9 we own, not just because of this but we won't need this size vehicle when it's time to replace it.

I have yet to see anything that will help these overweight things. And with as many of them out there it's a surprise.
 
Sell and buy something that isn't a 7 passenger 4300lb AWD SUV.

There are no miracle improvements for MPG in modern vehicles, despite what snake oil filter manufactures claim. If you could gain 3-4mpg by using a different intake/filter the car would come with one from the factory. Manufactures don't spend mega bucks on weight saving materials to improve fuel efficiency then toss in a terrible filter just for fun.
 
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I avg anywhere between 20 - 22.5 mpg in mixed driving. I see. The lower number in stop and go traffic. I've seen as high as 25mpg on long trips!
 
Where do you live? I live in Southern Cali and there are a lot of hills and bad roads here. The wear and tear on the vehicle is serious. Mixed driving is between 18-20.5 - I hit 27 one time coming back from work, minimun stopping and mostly downhill.
 
Has anyone done anything successful to improve their gas miliage like the green filter or anything promising, I have an AWD and the mileage sucks.

same here in stop and go traffic, I'm getting 12 mpg !! , but I knew what I was getting into with the old CX-9, but didn't realize it was soooooo bad, my own fault for not doing due diligence, will probably trade it in soon, good thing gas is cheap right now so hopefully will get a good trade in value, once gas hits $3 or $4 noboby will want these gas guzzlers. I do get like 24-25 mpg on no traffic highways though, but once I hit traffic avg goes to 14 mpg.
 
Something is not right if you're only getting 12 mpg. I average 15 mpg city driving and can get 18 mpg highway if I keep it under 80 m/h.
 
Something is not right if you're only getting 12 mpg. I average 15 mpg city driving and can get 18 mpg highway if I keep it under 80 m/h.

yeah agree, so low, but I live in New York City, Long Island Expressway rush hour traffic stop and go, traffic like 10 straight exits , kills my MPG, not blaming anyone but myself, don't really need such a big car for a daily driver, going to trade in soon and get something smaller.
 
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Something is not right if you're only getting 12 mpg. I average 15 mpg city driving and can get 18 mpg highway if I keep it under 80 m/h.

Probably just a heavy foot. I thought something was wrong when we got ours too because the MPGs were so bad, until I happened to leave for work at the same time as my wife one day. As she left me in the dust after every stop sign I quickly realized why her in town mileage was so low. ;)
 
There is no magic bullet. Nothing you can buy. Don't carry junk around that you don't need. Take off the rack on the top. Air up your tires to the sticker pressure or a bit more. Do engine maintenance on schedule. Don't make jackrabbit starts. Drive more slowly. Buy a Prius. (Our new Prius Prime plug-in hybrid gets 60 mpg after the 25 mile battery is depleted...(lol2)
 
I live in Portland, OR and drive around 35 miles per day in my 2012 CX-9 GT FWD. I get between 19 - 20 mpg for around town and 25 mpg on highway trips to Seattle and Vancouver, BC. I find that using cruise control as much as possible improves the fuel economy considerably - I tend to use CC whenever I think I am going to be able to maintain the set speed for few miles. I also don't have roof racks, and keep the car serviced and tires inflated.

My commutes are nowhere near as stop start as they would be if I were driving on the Long Island Expressway though. I also try not to carry too much junk in the car, however, in winter I need to carry chains so that adds a few pounds to the car weight. I measure the mpg by writing the mileage on the gas receipt and dividing miles since last fill up by the gallons pumped, which is probably more accurate than the gage on the dash.
 
I'm new to the CX-9 game, 2nd post.

My Traverse I had a few days ago got around 15-18 MPG City and on highway trips I could get 25+ at times.

My CX-9 is getting 13.7 MPG according to readout, it's horrible. I'm still on the tank I got free after buying the truck.

K&N air filter may get me a few more but what else you guys doing? Using high test, taking all the extra weight out of the car?
 
I'm new to the CX-9 game, 2nd post.

My Traverse I had a few days ago got around 15-18 MPG City and on highway trips I could get 25+ at times.

My CX-9 is getting 13.7 MPG according to readout, it's horrible. I'm still on the tank I got free after buying the truck.

K&N air filter may get me a few more but what else you guys doing? Using high test, taking all the extra weight out of the car?

Mine never went lower than 16.5 li/100km...averaging around 17 with mixed driving. It increases during summer months when the A/C is working overtime.
 
I'm new to the CX-9 game, 2nd post.

My Traverse I had a few days ago got around 15-18 MPG City and on highway trips I could get 25+ at times.

My CX-9 is getting 13.7 MPG according to readout, it's horrible. I'm still on the tank I got free after buying the truck.

K&N air filter may get me a few more but what else you guys doing? Using high test, taking all the extra weight out of the car?

don't depend on the readout; I find it doesn't refresh often enough.
do the math yourself. fill up tank (regular 87 octane is fine, no benefit to higher octane in these cars), set odometer to zero. drive to almost empty, fill up again and see how many gallons it takes. divide mileage by gallons.

the biggest single contributor to MPG is DRIVING STYLE. the CX-9 will get 24-25 highway, 15-17 around town. if you're getting less, it's how you're driving.

there are NO TRICKS to better mpg. as long as you keep it maintained (plugs, filter) the rest is all on you.
 
don't depend on the readout; I find it doesn't refresh often enough.
do the math yourself. fill up tank (regular 87 octane is fine, no benefit to higher octane in these cars), set odometer to zero. drive to almost empty, fill up again and see how many gallons it takes. divide mileage by gallons.

the biggest single contributor to MPG is DRIVING STYLE. the CX-9 will get 24-25 highway, 15-17 around town. if you're getting less, it's how you're driving.

there are NO TRICKS to better mpg. as long as you keep it maintained (plugs, filter) the rest is all on you.

I found my issue, totally my fault.

So I leave the heads up readout on the MPG setting so I can see what I'm getting around town. My work is 3 miles away, I pickup my son after work...this is my daily drive. I go nowhere, it's all around my house.

Last weekend I filled all the way up, did errands and the readout was 16-17 MPG which is great.

Then Monday came around and everything was fine until I picked up my son from school. I wait about 15 minutes for him with the car running, AC on, etc. I live in Florida, it's hot, I have no choice.

I watched that readout go from from 16.7 to 15.5 in 15 minutes. The next day 15.4 to 14.7, the next day 14.9 to 14.0. The next day 14.5 to 13.7. By Friday it had dropped to 13.1.

So there you have it, I'm an idiot. It wasn't the trucks fault, when it's actually moving it gets great fuel mileage. The constant sitting is where the numbers are skewed which makes total sense.

My Traverse did not do this. If the truck wasn't moving the MPG number remained the same which is incorrect. The Traverse didn't get better mileage than the CX-9. In fact I'm getting 300 miles on a tank (all city) where the Traverse could never reach this number.
 
don't depend on the readout; I find it doesn't refresh often enough.
do the math yourself. fill up tank (regular 87 octane is fine, no benefit to higher octane in these cars), set odometer to zero. drive to almost empty, fill up again and see how many gallons it takes. divide mileage by gallons.

the biggest single contributor to MPG is DRIVING STYLE. the CX-9 will get 24-25 highway, 15-17 around town. if you're getting less, it's how you're driving.

there are NO TRICKS to better mpg. as long as you keep it maintained (plugs, filter) the rest is all on you.

you get more HP if you use 93 octane in the second gen cx9. Also there are definitely tricks to saving gas: limit breaking to only when necessary, don’t speed up to red lights, don’t accelerate quickly when not needed etc..
 
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