'07 Caravan - very poor gas mileage

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John61 - 29 Dec 2007 17:02 GMT

This summer I bought a new 2007 Caravan base model with Flexfuel. For the
first tank of gas, I got about 18mpg in town, a little below stated mpg.
Then the mileage kept going down. In cold winter now, it only gets 14mpg. I
exactly followed the advice for break-in, and get services on time. This
never happened to our other new cars. I used to own a '94 Caravan, even
better mileage than this one. I know there are some additives to gas in
winter, but that should not cause so much loss to efficiency.

Thanks.

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Dan C - 29 Dec 2007 18:59 GMT

> This summer I bought a new 2007 Caravan base model with Flexfuel. For the
> first tank of gas, I got about 18mpg in town, a little below stated mpg.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> better mileage than this one. I know there are some additives to gas in
> winter, but that should not cause so much loss to efficiency.

Bummer. Have you talked to your dealer about it?

> Thanks.

For what?

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Gyzmologist - 02 Jan 2008 00:54 GMT

> This summer I bought a new 2007 Caravan base model with Flexfuel. For the
> first tank of gas, I got about 18mpg in town, a little below stated mpg.
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Thanks.

Could have something to do with the FlexFuel capability, which your '94
Caravan did not have. Fuel blends do not have the energy density (BTUs)
of gasoline, which causes a drop in MPG when they are used. For example,
propane is about 85%, and CNG is about 60%. Don't know about blends like
E85. Based upon your experience I would guess 78% (14/18).

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