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2021 Grand Cherokee Laredo X Poor Gas Mileage

9K views 34 replies 23 participants last post by  Bilko 
#1 ·
I purchased a 2021 GC Laredo X V6 AWD a couple months ago. I LOVE it! The only issue is that I am getting just over 14MPG blended City/HWY, around 70% city 30% highway. I have been taking it easy and not rapidly accelerating. I have tried resetting it and I have ran 87 octane with and without ethanol with no measurable difference. Stock 20 inch wheels, zero mods outside of window tint. I called the dealer and they said they cannot test anything until it has at least 7500 miles, I am at 2700 miles right now. Any ideas? I was hoping to get closer to the 18 MPG City that was advertised.
 
#2 ·
these hand calculated figures? Might get better as it breaks in a bit but not much. 14 is rather low for something made 2021. stock too. heck my near 10 year old JKR on 37s gets that. on 35s it did 17mpg and stock at best was 19 with the 4.1 gears it has.

my 3.6 dont like 87, uses the next grade up like 89. even new it never ran right on 87 had some ping in it at load. 89 no more ping.. Might help some?
 
#3 ·
Are these a lot of short trips with plenty of idling, or mostly trips of more than 10-15 miles?
 
#4 ·
Stop and go, they suck, period. With 5,000# getting moving over and over again, takes fuel. Add in hills, and they suck even more. My 2012 was probably the worst around town of anything I have owned since the carb days. On the highway it would edge up to maybe 21, around town 12-13. BUT, that was a 5.7 and the old 5/6 speed auto. Newer ones I would fully expect to be over 15, maybe higher, but never 18 for MY driving around here. Nothing gets rated city miles around here. Now highway miles, I typically exceed, and true combined driving I typically exceed.
My only suggestion is to compare it to other cars that you have driven, with realistic averages that you got typically with same driving. My 12 Overland got worse MPG around town than my 392 (6.4) Challenger, but LESS MP$ due to running much cheaper gas.
Also what does it get on flat highway constant 65MPH? If not pushing 23 or higher, then I would be concerned.
 
#5 ·
I seriously doubt you'll ever see anything close to 18 MPG. With the 2018 - 2020 V6 loaners I've had, usually not more than 15-16 combined, 23+ for pure highway. My Hemi TH does about 13.5 combined, 20 MPG highway.
 
#6 ·
You should get much better gas mileage than this unless your city driving is in NYC or San Francisco. It may be just because the engine needs to loosen up. I have the older model with the 5-speed auto and the same AWD system, the only time I see 14mpg is when I am offroading. On my pre-covid, stop-start commute I could still achieve 18 mpg. On a road trip it was more like 25+mpg, for example, I can drive to Tahoe which is about 225 miles each way and over 8,000ft mountain passes plus local driving to ski resorts and still arrive home with gas in the tank.

Have you released the parking brake:smile2: I am only joking but it may be worth checking your brakes are not hot, this would imply binding brakes and also check your tire pressures.

If everything is good wait until you have run up a few more miles before panicking.
 
#7 ·
My 2018 HA 3.6 regularly gets 21-22 mpg as a dd in mixed driving (calculated). During a recent trip where I held the speed at or slightly below the 70 mph speed limit the display showed 27.2 mpg when I arrived, after 2 hours of cruising on the interstate. I keep the tires at the door sticker recommended cold tire pressure and fill it with the recommended 87 octane.

Your 14 mpg combined seems a bit low for whatever reason.
 
#9 ·
Yeah I drive about 17 miles each way to work every day. A bit of idling but nothing excessive. I’m in Southwest Missouri so traffic isn’t terrible and I always turn off the auto stop! Very strange deal, not hand calculated I’m using the display of MPG.
 
#10 ·
Does gas there have a lot of ethanol in it? You could try a different station/brand as an experiment. Unless one of the wheel's brakes is hot, or the tires are near flat, its hard to troubleshoot without the specialized equipment the dealer has or lots of experience.
 
#11 ·
I think this is more a case of driving conditions than anything actually being wrong with it. For instance, if I try to pull a mileage run and traffic is moving smoothly, I can hit 22 MPG with the TH taking it easy. Remember this is a Hemi running 275/65's. Same thing around town. Pure city with the cluster of working traffic, a drive through here and there and I'm looking at a solid 12 MPG. I would also suggest doing careful hand calculations for true mileage. The instrument cluster can vary in accuracy between cars. It should also do better as it gets more miles on it. The wife's Pacifica definitely picked up some MPG after the first 20K.
 
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#13 ·
I just bought an 18' GC Overland 3.6 a few weeks ago. I've put about 800 miles on it so far and I'm getting around 18.6 MPG or so. The car now has just under 14,000 miles on it. about 70% HWY, 30% City driving in Connecticut running 87oct. 75-80MPh on the highway trips. Typical stop and go city traffic. I was actually rather impressed. I was only getting 21ish in my 19' Tiguan SEL R-line 2.0T running 93oct which was absolutely terrible that for that car.

14MPG is pretty disappointing but you probably need to give it more time
 
#15 ·
That seems really low. Either something is wrong or you’re driving way more aggressively than you think you are. I have a 2021 GC Limited AWD V6 (18in wheels though) and in my suburban driving which sounds similar to the conditions you describe I average 20-21. Highway mileage has been shockingly good for me (25.5 indicated on a road trip from WI to Vegas and back). I did notice that the displayed mpg seemed a little low for the first few hundred miles, but I would say for me it corrected itself long before I got to 2700 miles.
 
#16 ·
Over 125,000 miles, my 2014 Laredo 3.6 4wd averaged 21.4mpg with about 60% highway, 40% city driving (calculated by the Fuelly app, the EVIC is always higher by 1-2mpg), with a max of 28.4mpg and a min. of 16.2mpg.

I just checked my Fuelly app on my 2018 Laredo 4wd and have averaged 20.9mpg over 37,000 miles with about the same mix. My max. was 27.8mpg, my min. was 16.6mpg.

My lowest-ever-recorded mpg on 2 consecutive WK2's was 2mpg higher than you are averaging. Unless you're driving more aggressively than you realize, that sure does not seem right.
 
#18 ·
“Around town” is so difficult to nail down. Not only is it how you drive since you are more often accelerating from a stop, but even what is around town driving varies wildly. Someone might be around town with a traffic light, a few stops signs, a mile or two of 40mph driving. Someone else might be a traffic light every 1/4 of a mile going from 0 to 40 to 0 to 40, etc. this isn’t even referring to driving in a city.

That said, your mpg seems low for this vehicle.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#19 ·
Thanks

Thanks for all the input everyone! I spoke with my dealer and they have a bulletin to not check MPG on the 2021 models until they hit 7500 miles. My company moved locations and I am driving even more on the highway now and still cant get much over 16 driving under 65MPH and focusing on slow acceleration. I think something is definitely wrong but until I hit that mileage there is nothing I can really do.
 
#22 ·
Thanks

Thanks for all the input everyone! I spoke with my dealer and they have a bulletin to not check MPG on the 2021 models until they hit 7500 miles. My company moved locations and I am driving even more on the highway now and still cant get much over 16 driving under 65MPH and focusing on slow acceleration. I think something is definitely wrong but until I hit that mileage there is nothing
 
#25 ·
My 2015 v8 would get 16.5-17.5 and a bit more on the highway, I have a lead foot.
My new 2019 v8 is getting almost 21 on the highway (really babying it) and 18 locally.

I'd love to get over 20 mpg consistently, but then I didn't want a V6
 
#26 ·
I have 21 laredo with v6 and 5100 miles and I only get 15-16 mpg on avg. If I go on a road trip its just fine but around town and to and from work its terrible. Work trip is under 11 miles round trip so its a short drive and I am at over 4500 ft so no idea if that's impacting it.
 
#27 ·
When the Jeep is cold, it will run open loop until warmed. It runs better than when in closed loop but is far from fuel efficient. It takes a couple miles to warm up enough to switch to closed loop, which is a good percentage of your short commute. I'm surprised that you get as much as16 mpg. The lower average temperature at 4500 feet may extend warm up a bit.
 
#29 ·
Not sure how it would affect today's EFI computer-controlled systems and MPG, but air is thinner at altitude. Gasoline sold in higher altitudes perhaps provides less energy value to assist running leaner, certainly lower octane numbers are evidenced at the pumps, in any case.

What ticks me off is the modified (oxygenated) fuel that the EPA requires be sold in the winter months throughout the rocky mountain region. Supposed to counter smog from cold weather inversions, they say. In any case, my fuel mileage will take a hit of some 2 miles per gallon running winter fuel.

Most of my normal driving is from 6980 feet above mean sea level (at home) down to near "mile-high" in Albuquerque.

.
 
#30 ·
When we were spending several weeks in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton area a few years ago, I remember how the mpg on my old Chrysler went UP about 5 mpg vs sea level. I usually got 25-26 mpg highway back home and it was over 30 mpg while we were there. I figured it had something to do with the higher altitude and thinner air.
 
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