We have an SE AWC (with CVT transmission) Outlander Sport. My wife daily drives it, and it's in FWD mode 99% of the time, unless it's snowing or icy, which is almost never down here.

We drive separately and both commute 18 miles each way to work. She'll see 19-20mpg typically, which is a far cry from what the window sticker claimed. I can drive it in zero traffic and do about 10mph under the speed limit and get 24-25, but that's obviously not normal.

The dumb bit is that my Evo X was 300 pounds more, made almost triple the horsepower, had a turbocharger, full time AWD, and got about 1mpg better. What the heck gives?!?

 

I'll chime in even though you already know my answer.

1) Oil, you mentioned you were using 5w30 vs the recommended 0w20
2) Do you actually calculate it or look at the HUD?
3) How lead footed are you guys in it? I usually only step on it when pulling out into traffic.

All in all, when she manually calculates, it's about 20-26. City vs Highway.

 

uh...

That doesn't sound right. My wife also has a daily ~38 mile commute (round trip). 95% FWD, expressway driving with a 5 mile construction zone in the middle during Morning rush hour. In evenings, she sometimes takes another route. And, I'd say she has the lead foot... @70-80ish MPH

We're (she's) able to get 30.1 MPG as shown on the OSD. I'm just a tiny bit less aggressive 65-70MPH when I drive the O.sport and was able to achieve 31.6 MPG.

We have utilized the 4WD Auto mode just recently in heavy rain and only saw our MPG drop to 27.6 ..

Currently, our vehicle is bone stock with less than 1.7K ODO

By the way, if you're calculating manually... you might need to know that our gas tanks are SMALLER than FWD models. 4WD models have 15.8 gallon fuel tanks vs 16.6 gallon.

.

 

My wifes outlander doesn't do to great on mpg's either. She doesn't have a lead foot and I refuse to drive it in fwd mode cause of the horrible bumpsteer. On the other hand, I've never tried to calculate it myself. I always used the display.

 

i never even saw 20 yet.

 

Horrible what?? I drove the last 40K miles in 99.9% FWD and have had zero issues.

As for the display it's hit or miss, sometimes it is pretty accurate but sometimes it's wayyy off.




As for everyone else, two tips:
-Get an aftermarket air filter, my K&N gave me about a 3 MPG bump.
-Drive slower. The little anemic 4 banger has to work really, really hard to accelerate and to go faster than 55 MPH. Seriously, anything over 55 MPH will make the MPG's drop like a rock.

 

That's shocking to hear... Are you kidding?

Unless you're practically racing your O.sport everyday, I can't imagine you not getting 25MPG (at the very least with FWD Mode)

 

The bumpsteer is bad on my wifes outlander. Every time you hit an imperfection on the road the steering wheel gets yanked out of your hands. She only has 11k on the odo but I'm going to have it realigned. It's done it ever since she bought it new.

 

I have aforementioned K&N also (from my Evo), and don't think the difference in 20 weight and 30 weight oil could possibly account for a 33% fuel economy loss.

The big thing I agree with above is that this little engine struggles, and if you are trying to go 10mph over Interstate speed limits (maintain 80mph), it destroys fuel economy.

If the Outlander Sport had the Ralliart engine and transmission as an option, I doubt fuel economy would drop, and it would be so much more fun! I realize that my wife doesn't need an extra 100hp, but I am disappointed that the window sticker on fuel economy is off by a mile.

One caveat, I just look at the HUD, which is what I did in my Evo, so it might be getting even worse fuel economy.

 

Mine, on the computer, is awful. When I calculate it on road trips I average 27mpg and I do not drive particularly slow... I'm also using 5w30 so tack on whatever that's worth to the anecdotal pile. My opinion is simply that the display mpg meter deal is a BS meter.

Recently thew in a Perrin panel filter and not noticing a lot of difference so far but I need to fill up and do the math before I'll be able to confirm.

regarding the bump steer: yes the outlander's steering system is no-bueno and bumpsteer is bad... I would get it aligned though if its tugging all over the place, that's not bumpsteer, that's likely just alignment. I thumped a parking block at about 3mph in reverse a few months after I got the outlander and it was WAY out of whack so it seems to me that the alignment can be easily upset.

 

Not to derail too much, but why are many of you running 5w30 when the manual calls for 0w20?

 

I drove my wife's OS last night. Not much for stop and go, but I averaged 26.5mpg. That was city + highway.

 

I'm curious in this too... Why go with heavier weight oil? (Unless 0W20 was not available at the time of oil change...)

 

0w20 just started showing up in my area and its about 45 min. to the closest dealership. Maybe some of the other peoples reasons for the change.

 

I dont mean to be abrasive with this (or start an oil fight) but some people don't believe in the nothing but synthetic garbage including myself...

mineral based 0w20 is harder to find than unicorn fart dust although it DOES exist.