I’ve been getting exceptionally bad gas mileage with my 2016 Jeep Renegade. It’s the 70th anniversary edition, a 4-cylinder engine w/ automatic transmission and 4WD. The sticker said 29 highway, 21 city, 24 mixed use. I’ve consistently gotten around 16mpg for the first 12,000 miles, including at least 3,000 highway miles and probably more. Any idea why the fuel economy could be so terrible? Jeep is claiming the car has no issues, and it is passing all diagnostics. Historically, I have gotten better gas mileage than the EPA estimates with the cars I’ve owned (Mitsubishi, Acura, VW, Subaru). This is the first time I’m getting worse, and it’s a LOT worse.
Does it have the option of being driven in 2WD? The 4WD produce lower mpg than 2WD. But even still, because you’re so significantly below EPA estimates something has to be wrong. Maybe try another dealership? I mean, your vehicle shouldn’t have a bad thermostat or any of the other typical reasons for poor gas mileage due to it’s age, but something here ain’t right…
I woul jack up each wheel and make sure they all spin freely. And yes, if this can be driven in 2 wheeldrive, it should be.
Your driving style can be a factor also.
The car is driven very gently, I use it to transport my kids around. No hard acceleration, no hard braking, no high speeds. I only use the A/C for 2-3 months out of the year, and it doesn’t seem to have all that much impact anyway (I consistently averaged 16mpg all winter). The car is evaluated by a very competent Jeep dealer every time the oil is changed (every ~3k miles, more often than really needed given that it’s a synthetic oil blend). There is no option to switch out of 4WD to save fuel. My Cherokee has a “Sport” option that is 2WD, but its shifting approach doesn’t result in any fuel savings. I typically get about 5-6 mpg better with my V6 Cherokee than with my V4 Renegade.
OK , guessing here. Not sure but it sounds like you are driving in 4 wheel drive all the time . Are you supposed to be in two wheel front drive except off road? I don’t think this is an all wheel drive vehicle , but I don’t know for sure. Also it sounds like your driving pattern is the worst for MPG. Last ,you have an inline 4 cylinder , not a V4.
Hi @VOLVO_V70, there is no way to switch out of 4WD. Not sure what you mean regarding my driving pattern being worst for MPG. I’d say about 1/3 of my total mileage is pure highway, I made at least 8-10 300+ mile trips with the car in the first 12k miles, and there were plenty of other shorter highway trips mixed in. The EPA estimated 29/21 and 24 mixed. Consumer Reports got 24 mixed, and I pretty much always get better MPG than they do (with the same car) in their tests. Every other car I’ve ever owned has outperformed the estimated MPG (including when I lived in NYC). I don’t know the difference between V4 and inline 4 cylinder, but I was just trying to differentiate between a 4- and 6-cylinder vehicle. I get better mileage with my bigger, heavier V6 Cherokee than I do with my Renegade.
I did some searching online and all I could find is:
Base model is FWD, 4WD optional
Based on Fiat 500L, made in Italy
However, it does say 4WD, not AWD. Usually that means the 4WD is not full time.
That is how I understand the system to be also. And if it is not an all wheel drive system the OP may be doing serious harm to the drive line.
The car is kept in “Auto” mode. The only alternatives are mud/snow/sand. I would love it if there were a FWD “economy” mode with low-RPM shifting (ditto for the Cherokee). There isn’t. And unlike the Cherokee, which has a “sport” FWD mode (with high-RPM shifting) there isn’t a similar option with the Renegade.
12,000 miles in 2 years
6,000 miles a year
500 miles a month
115 miles a week
23 miles a day @ driving 5 days a week
Take into account your 10 300 mile trips an you’re not even averaging 15 miles a day.
You’re not even getting the engine fully warmed up, I’m surprised you’re getting as good of mileage as you get.
@It_s_Me You’re surprised I’m getting 16mpg?
How are you figuring fule mileage? With the miles driven divided by the gallons needed to fill the tank method?
It would seem to me that if the car is getting fuel mileage that poor the Check Engine Light should be on and some diagnostic codes should be set for rich running.
Low tire pressure can cause a problem like this but in theory you should get a warning for this. Everything working as planned of course.
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The OP keeps stating the 16 MPG number. Not what they got on a highway trip or what they got on a tank of strictly city stop and go . I wonder if the read out for fuel mileage has been ever reset.
The mileage has been consistently bad, typically between 15 and 17 mpg. It’s been measured numerous times by calculating the number of miles driven between fill-ups. The total fuel purchases since the car was purchased also match up with this mileage calculation. When the purchasing dealer was evaluating the poor fuel economy, they gave me a loaner Renegade. The fuel economy was at least 30% better with the loaner than with my car (same specs otherwise). A 15-mile highway trip with the loaner got 32 MPG, my car got 24 MPG on the same trip (same time of day, weather, traffic conditions). But the diagnostics on my car are showing no problems whatsoever.
With no CEL and no diagnostic codes I have no idea without car in hand and driving it on a road trip.
A 15 mile highway trip getting 32 MPG is going to be on shaky ground; diagnostic wise. That’s too few miles to figure anything.
I was going to say: it’s a Fiat, and they are not known for great designs. But the loaner numbers negate that.
So here’s the question: do you guys know of an independent option for evaluating a car’s fuel economy? Jeep took the car yesterday for a test, and when I got it back, it showed 32.7 mpg on their trip data. I have never seen anything close to that with this car, even when going on a long trip and resetting the fuel economy calculator at the start (after getting onto the highway). So I’m assuming that they drafted behind a big truck in the right lane for however long to get whatever data they were seeking, and now they’re going to tell me that the car is perfectly fine, because that’s easier than addressing an issue that I’ve been complaining about since the car had fewer than 1,000 miles on it. All I want them to do is address the issue, but they can’t (or won’t). If I can’t demonstrate the consistently poor fuel economy via an independent source, I’m not sure there’s anything to be done.
This is the small CUV, it’s AWD (“4WD” no longer has any real meaning). Car and Driver got 18 mpg when driving it hard, 26 mpg on their 75 mph highway test. So lots of short trips could result in (surprisingly) bad mileage.
LOL. If you eliminate the highway miles, my average MPG probably goes down to about 12, or 50% worse than what Car & Driver got when they drove it “hard.”