kootenayXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- west kootenays BC
My MPG calculations are in imperial units since I'm from Canada, but I've owned 3 XJ's and gotten great mileage out of all three. I only really keep track of highway mileage since city and off-road driving has alot of variables. I calculate my mpg on the same 400 mile highway trip which has 4 major mountain passes.
-1990 4.0/AW4 and 3.55's on LT235/75/15 tires and a 2.5" lift with the front bumper valence trimmed averaged 24-25mpg
-1998 4.0/AW4 bone stock and 3.55's on LT235/75/15 tires averaged 26mpg (driven like a sports car though)
-2000 4.0/5spd bone stock and 3.07's on P225/75/15 winter tires on heavy steel rims just averaged 29mpg in the winter with intermittent use of 4WD along the way! Needs a tune-up and curious to know if I can squeeze 30+mpg out of it after the tune-up and running the much lighter stock aluminum Ravine style rims in summer driving conditions.
Here's my observations:
-gas mileage decreased a bit on the 1990 after I removed the stock bumper valence. The 2.5" lift didn't seem to have much, if any impact on MPG though.
-I get my best MPG if I keep the RPM's under 2k, optimum from my findings seems to be around 1750rpm though.
-Cruise control seems to increase mpg by maybe 10%, but I can't use it much since the roads in my area are really curvy and there's alot of hills. I'm sure if I lived in a flat area and could use cruise alot I'd be able to add 3-4mpg to my numbers.
Overall, the XJ's I've owned have returned way better mileage than most other SUV's I've driven. When I was younger I always wanted to have a bigger lift and bigger tires, but now I'm pretty happy to run 235/75/15 all-terrains and a small budget boost which barely have any impact on my gas mileage.
-1990 4.0/AW4 and 3.55's on LT235/75/15 tires and a 2.5" lift with the front bumper valence trimmed averaged 24-25mpg
-1998 4.0/AW4 bone stock and 3.55's on LT235/75/15 tires averaged 26mpg (driven like a sports car though)
-2000 4.0/5spd bone stock and 3.07's on P225/75/15 winter tires on heavy steel rims just averaged 29mpg in the winter with intermittent use of 4WD along the way! Needs a tune-up and curious to know if I can squeeze 30+mpg out of it after the tune-up and running the much lighter stock aluminum Ravine style rims in summer driving conditions.
Here's my observations:
-gas mileage decreased a bit on the 1990 after I removed the stock bumper valence. The 2.5" lift didn't seem to have much, if any impact on MPG though.
-I get my best MPG if I keep the RPM's under 2k, optimum from my findings seems to be around 1750rpm though.
-Cruise control seems to increase mpg by maybe 10%, but I can't use it much since the roads in my area are really curvy and there's alot of hills. I'm sure if I lived in a flat area and could use cruise alot I'd be able to add 3-4mpg to my numbers.
Overall, the XJ's I've owned have returned way better mileage than most other SUV's I've driven. When I was younger I always wanted to have a bigger lift and bigger tires, but now I'm pretty happy to run 235/75/15 all-terrains and a small budget boost which barely have any impact on my gas mileage.