The picture is of the Atima gauges. It appears that the gauge on the left deals with the electricity generated. "SQUINTING"

Marianne, Post some pictures of your new Altima! Drive it in good health.

It's the same system as the Camry, licensed from Toyota.

I'm still getting around 36 with mix of local highway and city, four days into driving.

Ok, then you might try the following.

If you have a regular commute route that you can drive at different speeds, see if you can measure for a week, the mileage with these target speeds each week:

38 miles per hour
42 miles per hour
47 miles per hour

It takes a week at each target speed to normalize the daily variations. Also, it is best if the temperatures are approximately equal and the MPG testing covers Monday-Friday so the weekend mileage won't be part of the testing. If your Altima gets similar performance to my Prius, the ranking should be:

best - 38 miles per hour
next - 47 miles per hour
lowest - 42 miles per hour

The key is to try and vary only one element, the target speed, over each week.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Bob, you are really right on. There are a lot of variables that will need to be considered to optimize our driving. The Altima hybrid will actually be my husband's car. I'm currently driving a Honda Pilot SUV. I love it, but I've been bitten by the hybrid bug and will soon be trading it in for either the Civic hybrid or the Prius. I've already driven both cars and I love both. I think the experience of drivig the Altima hybrid will really help me come to understand my own hybrid driving style and better pick which car will be best for me.

One a side note too - we test drove the Honda Fit this weekend. It isn't a hybrid, but it gets 34/40... which is amazing for a non-hybrid vehicle... especially for how nice it handled and looked. It is also very inexpensive. I think it will become a very popular car.

I will try to get some up. It is gorgeous. We got Pebble Beach with the conveniene package. It really is a great looking car.

It'd be great if we could all post dashboard shots like the one you put up. That way we can trade information on how to use the features. (I'm going to read the manual cover to cover this weekend.)

I think there is some confusion here...

The manual for the NAH shows recommended fuel is 87 AKI (91 RON). But 87 AKI and 91 RON are the same grade of fuel. In the USA, we use the AKI rating (anti-knock index), or better known as the R+M/2 method (check the gas pump next time you fill up). Canada uses the RON method. So you only need the 87 octane regular fuel, not the 91 octane premium fuel (which would be 95 on the RON method).

I believe you are wrong there. I don't know for sure what the metric is called, but our pumps are labelled 87, 89, 91 (and at Sunoco, 94).

I asked a couple times about the gas... and the manger was adamant that high octane was required. (They had their own pump on the lot, and he told me they only used high octane for all their cars. This may just be because they only had space for one pump.)

The Nissan 350z requires 91 octane premium and it is recommended in the other Nissan cars that use the 3.5L V6. But for the 4cyl. cars, only 87 is required (except SE-R). So I think your guess about just using one pump for all vehicles as a matter of convenience is probably right. But the manual shows 87 AKI...that's all you need.

By the way...a sales manager or a technical manager?

About Canada using RON...thanks for correcting that. I've not seen RON method used anywhere in US...maybe just Europe & Asia now?

Some more info from ASTM:

ASTM D-2699 (Research) Standard Test Method for Research Octane Number of Spark-Ignition Engine Fuel
ASTM D-2700 (Motor) Standard Test Method for Motor Octane Number of Spark-Ignition Engine Fuel

The octane number is a measure of the antiknock performance of a gasoline or gasoline component, the higher the octane number, the greater the fuel’s ability to resist engine knock. There are two types of octane number, the Research Octane Number (RON) and the Motor Octane Number (MON), which are based on different engine operating conditions. RON simulates low speed (idling), which affects low to medium speed knock, and MON simulates higher speed (acceleration), which affects high-speed knock or ping.

Both RON and MON are based on the knocking tendencies of pure hydrocarbons; n-heptane has an assigned value of zero and isooctane a value of 100. The octane number of a fuel is the percentage of isooctane in a blend with n-heptane that gives the same knock intensity as the fuel under test when evaluated under standard conditions in a standard engine.

Antiknock Index (AKI) is the average of the Research Octane Number (RON) and the Motor Octane Number (MON) or (R+M)/2, and this number is posted on the pump.

So 87 AKI is recommended...according to manual...and 87 AKI is (R+M)/2 method on most pumps.

And remember...octane rating isn't a measure of fuel quality or energy content, just a measure of anti-knock characteristics. If the engine doesn't specifically require it, it doesn't really benefit you at all to use it.