Nissan Skyline manages 38mpg in real world driving
The Infiniti G35 is marketed in Japan as the Nissan Skyline where it's available with other engine options besides the 3.5L V-6. One of the other options is a 2.5L version of the V-6 rated at 225hp and 194lb-ft of torque. A team of development engineers from the company recently wanted to demonstrate the fuel economy of that combination and set out on a real world drive between Nissan's Tochigi assembly plant and drove through Kyoto and to their destination at the Nissan Technical Center in Atsugi. The run took 17.5 hours and covered 636.5 miles on a single tank of gas at a rate of 38.3 mpg. Not bad for a rear wheel drive sport sedan and considerably better than I've been seeing in a similarly-sized hybrid the past few days, about which you'll hear more next week.
[Source: Nissan]
NEW NISSAN SKYLINE HITS 1,000KM ON ONE TANK OF FUEL
- Skyline's V6 engine combines fuel efficiency with high-performance driving -
TOKYO (March 23, 2007) -- Nissan engineers set out to prove a point - that the new Skyline sedan could go 1,000 kilometers on one tank of fuel. The challenge - that this would be accomplished on real roads with unpredictable traffic and weather conditions and with different drivers. The so-called 'eco-driving challenge was conducted by a team of product development experts on the roads from Tochigi to Kanagawa. The 2.5-liter Skyline model driven was powered by the VQ25HR V6 engine, capable of generating 225 horsepower and 26.8kgm of torque.
The team succeeded in covering a impressive distance of 1,024.4 kilometers with an average fuel consumption rate of 16.3km-per-liter. The main objective of the eco-driving challenge was to promote greater awareness of Nissan's advanced fuel-economy technology as well as demonstrate the efficiency of the new VQ engine under real-world driving conditions.
The 1,000km drive took place on Friday, March 16, 2007, with a team of eight test-drivers under the Nissan Performance Innovation Task Team (PITT). The team started the drive from the test course at Nissan's Tochigi Plant at 3:30a.m. under pre-dawn skies. The Skyline drove through the Tohoku Expressway, Tomei Expressway, and Meishin Expressway with Kyoto as the turnaround point, and arrived safely at the finish line at the Nissan Technical Center in Atsugi at 8.54p.m., nearly 17.5 hours later on the same day.
The team experienced a variety of driving conditions including traffic jams from rush-hour congestion and construction-works, but the automatic fuel-warning alert never activated throughout the 1000km drive.
Introduced in November, 2006, the new Skyline delivers a unique fusion of high-performance, styling and comfort in an advanced sports sedan.
*The Nissan Technical Center (Okatsukoku, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture) is Nissan's primary center for research and development in product development and manufacturing technologies.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Paul Sallmen 3:12AM (5/09/2008)
That's actually pretty fast for Japan (around 60 km/h). Japan is very crowded, so getting a car up to highway speed can be quite a challenge. Highway speed can usually only be done on the toll highways and, if those highways are near a large urban centre like Tokyo or Osaka, then highway speed can only be achieved at night. That's why most cars sold in Japan have automatic transmissions. Cars there spend a large portion of their lives in traffic jams.
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David 7:48AM (1/03/2009)
I have a Nissan Skyline and I run a Hydrogen cell set-up, I get 667.5km and average 60kmh that's a total of 13 gallons of fuel too. The car is a straight 6. I can say I have not spent a whole lot doing it either.
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Harold 9:39AM (1/31/2009)
Mileage is good even for the speed, but will it run on E-85 ethanol? I live in the Midwest and Ethanol is much cheaper than gasoline. I just don't think gasoline will remain low for very long.
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Chris M 2:34PM (3/27/2007)
636.5 miles in 17.5 hours is an average speed of 36.4 mph. Not exactly rushing about, but it does show that modest speeds can save fuel.
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dwarsco 5:38PM (3/27/2007)
chris m. So did they change drivers while going 36.4 mph?????? not trying to be a jerk even though you might have been.
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dwarsco 5:39PM (3/27/2007)
trying to edit jerk part but i cant.
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MikeW 8:57PM (3/27/2007)
VQ27VHR? anytime soon?
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rgseidl 8:28AM (3/28/2007)
@dwarsco: 36.4 mph average doesn't mean they didn't occasionally stop to refuel or change drivers.
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Stephan 1:36PM (3/28/2007)
Did anybody read the whole story. They experienced "jams from rush-hour congestion and construction-works"
I don't know if you guys have driven in rush hour at 5-10mph but it makes your gas mileage plummet. Plus 36.4mph sounds about average. My wifes truck has tracks how many hours the engine has been on. I divided that by the number of miles and came up with 37.1mph. Also my motorcycle automatically calcualtes my average mph and guess what 39.1, I am a little faster on that beast =)
So to me it seems they were indeed driving in real world conditions. I would take 38mpg if they offered it here, without paying the Huge extra costs of hybrids. Would be a nice engine in the Altima....
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joe cross 10:39AM (4/01/2007)
We have a similar vehicle here already, the Lexus IS250 has a EPA city of 26mpg(same as 4 cylinder camry).I dont think many americans can drive the way these guys drove on a regular basis(especially when the beemer pulls alongside you), but you will surely get better mileage from a 2.5 than 3.5. I am glad fuel conciousness has replaced the horsepower wars.Maybe we will see 2.2 sixes or even 2.0s.That aside four cylinder technology will lead the way,we aren't getting the gas mileage we should be getting from them because sixes produce more profit both at sale and repair/maintanence time.
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Roy 9:50PM (6/13/2007)
36.4 mph if they went through rush hour traffic in a large city and did some normal stop and go traffic driving in another city or 2 is quite quick actually, I figured it up and for my 2 mile drive home in the afternoon I average 14.5 mph. That is on a normal no problems day btw.
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