We bought a used '06 Buick LaCrose, beautiful, comfortable, lots of bells and whistles. BUT the gas mileage is 21mpg average. Green Diamond tires, 3.8 engine. We are gas saving drivers. Any ideas?
The EPA estimate for that car is 22-24, and a lot of people don’t trust those estimates. The fact is that for a 3.8 6 cyl engine 21mpg is not “very poor” - its close to right. All of that varies a lot by the kind of driving you do. I’d say 21mpg all highway is a little low, but for around town is probably about right.
That said, make sure the car’s maintenance is all up to date - especially fuel & air filters, spark plugs & wires. Make sure the alignment is on spec. Make sure there is no problem with any brake drag. And the single biggest gas saver you can get? A tire pressure gauge. Check the door panel for the tire placard and make sure that the pressure is maintained at the specs for the car (a couple of lbs firmer won’t hurt as long as you don’t exceed the cold psi max for the tire - listed on the sidewall).
For real? We missed that EPA estimate. Our belief was the car would get close to 30mpg. Big disapointment. Thanks for the quick and informative reply.
Have a look at this: http://www.edmunds.com/buick/lacrosse/2006/review.html
and here:
http://www.greencar.com/cars/2006-buick-lacrosse.php
21 MPG overall is pretty reasonable. The offical estimates are 17 MPG city and 28 highway. 21 MPG overall is exactly what the car should be getting.
“Our belief was the car would get close to 30mpg”
Just out of curiosity, on what did you base that belief?