That's not my name.
I drive to get from point A to point B. And when Point B happens to be work related and also happens to be located on the other end of 280 plus miles of Interstate, I do my damndest to get there as quickly as possible. So with the Juke packed with gear, I rolled out of the local gas station and hit the road.
On a round trip to and from Las Vegas, the outbound leg out of Los Angeles is not going to deliver the best fuel economy. Just climbing over the Cajon Pass (3,800 feet) causes big-block levels of fuel consumption, not to mention the Halloran Summit, the usual swirling winds and elevated speeds you encounter on the 15.
That being said, I still got all scientific and stuff with the fuel mileage just to see how the Juke would fair under these conditions. Click on through for the numbers.
My first tank took me from the Westside of LA to Baker; home to a Greek restaurant, a bunch of gas stations and a tall thermometer.
198.6 miles driven. 8.979 gallons of fuel used. 22.118 miles per gallon.
The second leg took me from Baker to Las Vegas, around Las Vegas and then back to Primm, where I gassed up before my trip home.
142.5 miles driven. 6.528 gallons of fuel used. 21.829 miles per gallon.
Hardly stellar, but these were not ideal conditions for maximum economy. It should be noted that I did this driving in 2WD with Sport mode engaged.
Riveting, I know, but this is the part where you come in. On the drive back I was asked to try and maximize the mileage from the Juke. No high speeds, no Sport mode, no AWD and no traffic. Any guesses as to what I managed to wring out from our Juke? Do you think I managed to meet the EPA numbers?
Stay tuned.
Kurt Niebuhr, Photo Editor @ 17,742 miles
ed124c says:
04:00 PM, 01/23/12
23.8
blueguydotcom says:
04:56 PM, 01/23/12
No.
dragonflight says:
05:25 PM, 01/23/12
that's only a touch better than my old-school Hyundai Tucson 2.7 v6 on the highway. ~70-80mph, moderately aggressive driving usually yields around 20-21mpg.
Would've expected a lot more, especially given the modernity and size of the Juke engine/powertrain. not to mention it's a lot smaller than the tuc.
cts34 says:
05:59 PM, 01/23/12
Just finished a 878 mile round trip from Pittsburgh to Charlotte in my 2011 Juke SV AWD. First leg took a tank and a half at 22.1 mpg. Return trip was 25.9. This was interstate travel just about the entire way. Neither is that great, but i really wasnt expecting more. I absoultely noticed a difference from the "sport" and "eco" modes--even the rpm drops on the highway in ECO. I used ECO for both of the legs of this trip. For the record, my (now-gone) 2008 CTS DI averaged 28-30 mpg the last few times I made the same trip.
zoomzoom22 says:
06:15 PM, 01/23/12
Doesn't matter...that range is pathetic. I've gone from home #1 (Parker, CO) to home #2 (Fort Collins, CO), a distance of about 100 miles, on slightly less than 1/4 tank of gas - and that's with an engine built in 2004.
I've done the trip so many times that if I had to practically fill the tank in order to make the round trip every time I'd be broke. I believe the AWD Juke has a 11.5 gallon tank x 21mpg is 240 miles/tank. Having to nearly FILL my car just to make that round trip every time would be unacceptable.
I like the Juke but question why anyone would actually buy one.
jukiemcjuke says:
06:32 PM, 01/23/12
I reckon the best mileage you were able to get was 2 MPG less than the EPA estimate, tops.
firstwagon says:
07:02 PM, 01/23/12
Don't remember what the EPA numbers are for it but I'll guess if you drove carefully you should get around 28 mpg... even with a CVT and AWD.
bassrockerx says:
07:52 PM, 01/23/12
the engine is great and the awd is super amazing but in a car this tiny i would need at least 30mpg to even consider owning it.
agentorange says:
11:14 PM, 01/23/12
If you used then cruise a lot on the return and avoided excessive speeding (what some call keeping up with traffic) then I would hope you would break 25mpg Primm to LA.
spdracerut says:
11:19 PM, 01/23/12
Keep in mind that West LA is essentially sea level and Baker is just over 5000 ft. elevation, so an uphill drive. I think Primm is about 600ft higher elevation than Vegas and Vegas traffic sucks. A buddy of mine has the FWD manual version and has averaged about 32mpg. He is also on the east coast and I think he uses premium which is 93 octane out there vs. the 91 octane crap we get here on the west side.
elgac says:
06:43 AM, 01/24/12
$0.37 says you get 24.7mpg (or close to it) if you drive somewhat normal.
28.2mpg if you almost go hypermiler.
throwback says:
07:35 AM, 01/24/12
We are already know the answer. The Juke gets terrible mileage for it's size. Turbo engines that are on boost rarely do well mpg wise. Add in high ground clearance, poor aerodynamics, grippy tires and you get 22 mpg. I would love to see this powertrain in a Sentra, they could make for a very nice performance sedan with better mpg.
bloodyr says:
08:23 AM, 01/24/12
Wow this is pathetic. Our family breadbox on wheels with a big V6 (weighing in at a whopping 4500 pounds) got 28 mpg on a recent 300 mile trip. And we still had 1/3 of a tank of gas left at the end.
Even in my 306 hp G35, I can exceed the mileage of this Juke. I thought turbo 4s were all the rage for their combination of power and fuel economy? This seems to be an epic fail on the latter...
fordson1 says:
08:31 AM, 01/24/12
Damn - the A8L with another thousand pounds of weight and more than twice the hp got similar or better mpg under similar conditions. Pathetic.
There is a very short list of manufacturers that know how to make turbo engines that produce good power and still get good mpg (VW and maybe Ford...we'll see.)
For sure we know that producing turbo vehicles that are acceptably fast ONLY if you keep your foot in it (turbo Regal, turbo Cruze, Juke, Ecoboost Explorer) is not the way to do it.
jeepsrt says:
08:35 AM, 01/24/12
Not very impressive mileage, I got 19-20 mpg from Colorado Springs to Breckenridge roundtrip with 4 people and loaded with skis and luggage in a V8 '11 Jeep GC. Which include 2 passes of 11,000 ft and 12,000 ft and passing on 2 lane roads.
blueprint1 says:
09:30 AM, 01/24/12
IL has to test the fwd manual Juke ... many comments here and elsewhere tend to point at much better mpg.
greenpony says:
10:44 AM, 01/24/12
24.130 is my guess.
h2omojo says:
12:13 PM, 01/24/12
The Juke was on my initial wish list for new cars, but after reading the mpg people were getting I ruled it out. This was just another reinforcement that I did the right thing. I know they aren't the same class but I love my Mazda 3 skyactive.
bluejuke says:
06:33 PM, 01/24/12
if you REALLY try I bet you can get 35mpg(ive done in a couple of times) but anything over 55mph the juke sucks down the gas, it needs more of a overdrive