CRD vs XJ MPG comparison

mustang_gt_350 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:47 am **Posts:** 107

I have always been a fan of the XJ with the 4.0. I had a 95 and my g/f currently has a 99. I was wondering if there is anyone out there that would happen to have MPG data driving the same route with their stock XJ and the same with the CRD. I found one for sale at a local dealer. Its an 05 with 56k miles and i'm thinking about going to take a look at it. I have always been interested in the liberty CRD but have never been around any or even seen one up close. So if you have any data on MPG on the same routes comparing the 2 i would appreciate it. I can usually get right around 19.5-20mpg with both of the XJ's i had driving around my area to work and doing errands.

stoutdog · **Posted:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:13 am

Most people see, at worst 19-20 around town and 26-28 on the highway. But, with a few tweaks, you can make that 24-26 around town and 30+ on the highway.

litton · **Posted:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:31 am

Naturally, it all depends on your driving style but for comparison, my CRD would deliver 26 mpg at 75, flat road, AC on, light wind. Now with the GDE "HOT" tune it's 30 under the same conditions.

I've never tryed driving 65 but I would expect about 2 mpg better.

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 12:20 pm

I own both a 00 XJ Classic and a 06 CD Limited. I've owned a total of 4 XJ's.

There are no two ways about it, XJ's are good for everything but are gas hogs :SOMBRERO:

I've been reading this forum for 4 years and the MPG figures for CRD's are and always have been all over the place :shock:

As a general rule the 05 owners claim better mileage then 06 owners. Some 05's had mechanical fan clutch problems where they didn't move enough air and that maybe one reason. The two years have some data bus communication differences and the 06 also has traction control as standard. All three of these things may be why.

Some people live to get high mpg numbers, some just drive and some appear to need some basic math skills :BANANA:

With my GDE eco tune normal driving in town short trips with summer fuel I average 22-24 and my XJ getts around 15 for the same type of driving. When I take my CRD on the trip it is towing our 3500# camping trailer so I don't have good highway figures. Towing figures are 17-20 mpg. But I can tell you on one 600 mile round trip to GDE the eco tune got me 3.5 mpg better then the stock tune. Trip to Michigan was 25 with no AC. Trip back, same roads and speeds with AC on it was 28.5 mpg

But unless you do your own wrenching and are good don't even think about a CRD :banghead:

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 12:41 pm

mustang_gt_350 wrote:

I have always been a fan of the XJ with the 4.0. I had a 95 and my g/f currently has a 99. I was wondering if there is anyone out there that would happen to have MPG data driving the same route with their stock XJ and the same with the CRD. I found one for sale at a local dealer. Its an 05 with 56k miles and i'm thinking about going to take a look at it. I have always been interested in the liberty CRD but have never been around any or even seen one up close. So if you have any data on MPG on the same routes comparing the 2 i would appreciate it. I can usually get right around 19.5-20mpg with both of the XJ's i had driving around my area to work and doing errands.

Having owned over a dozen XJs and driving many of the same routes in both the XJs and the CRD I can give you a pretty good answer.

Driving one route in the XJ at 70MPH netted me 21MPG. Driving the same route in the CRD at 80MPH netted me 24.5MPG. I have driven the same route in my XJ at 75-80MPH(with more of it down at 75) and gotten 18.5MPG. At the same time my friend in his XJ driving the same route but at something more like 80-85 netted about 16MPG.

In the summer, around town, I will get about 16MPG in the XJ, the CRD will get about 21-22. My winter mileage is pretty low in the CRD because I drive very short distances and the CRD takes awhile to warm up.

mustang_gt_350 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:47 am **Posts:** 107

Thanks everyone. I had figured it would be a significant difference between, and i understand it has a ton to do with driving styles also. I figure that after learning the shifting of the trans and the speeds it likes to run, with a tune and some other small things i could get some pretty good numbers out of it. Most of my driving would be secondary roads with 55mph speed limits, and thats where my MPG figures of 19-20 are coming from for the XJ. When i do highway trips i usually do so running around or withing 5-6mph within the speed limit, so if you guys are getting almost 25 running 75-80 i should be able to get 28-30 driving in the limit which is about what i'm looking for. Thanks for all of the input.

As for wrenching on it myself I most definitely would. I Have never had any one of my cars/jeeps/trucks/bikes into a garage other than my own

I'm a tinkerer and have been sled pulling a 99 powerstroke for about 3-4 years now, but thats another post

Does the muffler delete mod gain any MPG? And I'm guessing a econo tune is the best for MPG gain, but what are the other cheaper alternatives other than tuning?

Thanks

railguy · **Posted:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:19 pm

I have a '98 XJ and an '05 CRD. With stock suspension, wheels, and tires, I could get 25 mpg out of the XJ on the highway, and close to 30 mpg on the CRD--if I kept the speed under 65 mph. 70-75 mph would knock about 4 mpg off of the KJ and 2 or 3 off the CRD. In a combination of backcountry and rough trail 4-wheeling, the XJ would drop to the 10-12 mpg range; the CRD would hold around 18-20. Driven conservatively, the XJ actually can get fairly good fuel economy--considerably better than a V6 Liberty can normally achieve. The CRD gets somewhat better economy than the XJ on the highway, but really outdoes the XJ in fuel economy under off-road conditions.

I have since modified both vehicles with more aggressive tires and 2"-3" lift kits. That cost the XJ about 20-30% in fuel economy vs. about 15-20% in the CRD. I just added the GDE Eco-tune to the CRD--it will be interesting to see how that affects fuel economy.

stoutdog · **Posted:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 4:09 pm

mustang_gt_350 wrote:

Does the muffler delete mod gain any MPG? And I'm guessing a econo tune is the best for MPG gain, but what are the other cheaper alternatives other than tuning?

Thanks

The muffler? Sort of... It will not give you a direct mpg gain, but you will see a boost in your overall mpg if you learn to use your newfound coasting abilities.

You can tune or do boxes. The general consensus on here is that boxes only fool your ECU by providing it will false numbers and messing with one or two parameters. Tunes, like the GDE Eco tune, are a more wholesale approach. The result: better performance and economy, without worrying about hampering the durability of your engine.

mustang_gt_350 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:47 am **Posts:** 107

Agree with the tune. I wouldn't even consider running a fooler box.

I loved my XJ for the MPG reason. If i took my time and drove decent with the header and free flow exhuast i could get good mpg from it for its size/shape. I'm just deciding if i want to just get another XJ and use the money i save by buying the older XJ for fuel, or splurge and play with a crd and have somthing newer. I won't really offroad it, well atleast anything hard so i'm not worried about lifts and so on.

Do you know if the dealer could print me out a repair log of what has been serviced through jeep? Are they open to handing it out or is that somthing they don't often do?

You guys have been a great help.

CRD Joe · **Posted:** Wed Jun 02, 2010 1:41 am

XJ's are great trucks but the body is weak and under real world four wheeling the body breaks down. Also that 4.0 liter is a strong engine but it sucks for mileage.

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Wed Jun 02, 2010 6:46 am

As for the exhaust/muffler question the flange between the CAT and muffler is a big restriction restriction and some have gotten good results leaving the muffler and cat intact but eliminating the restriction of the flanged connection :jester:

ZACH · **Posted:** Wed Jun 02, 2010 9:13 am

My brother in-law has an XJ that when he was daily driving it he would get 30 mpg.

But that is because it is a 2.1L turbo diesel.

Towing my boat with my CRD I was getting 24 mpg through the mountains.

mustang_gt_350 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:47 am **Posts:** 107

ZACH wrote:

My brother in-law has an XJ that when he was daily driving it he would get 30 mpg.

But that is because it is a 2.1L turbo diesel.

Towing my boat with my CRD I was getting 24 mpg through the mountains.

awesome.

yakers · **Posted:** Wed Jun 02, 2010 5:47 pm

I have a 98 XJ and get 16 MPG around town, 20 MPG max on road trips, BFG AT/KOs. Same tires on 06 CRD, 20-22 around town, 26 on last road run, this is just after adding GDE eco tune, not fast runs, mostly around 70. I'm sure the tires don't help, but I'm surprised when folks report 30 MPG. I haven't towed recently but before the GDE tune I was getting 20 MPG towing a 3,000lb travel trailer, very happy with that, maybe that will be better with the tune.

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Thu Jun 03, 2010 2:08 am

CRD Joe wrote:

XJ's are great trucks but the body is weak and under real world four wheeling the body breaks down.

We covered this already, driver error.

CRD Joe · **Posted:** Thu Jun 03, 2010 5:15 pm

Sir Sam wrote:

CRD Joe wrote:

XJ's are great trucks but the body is weak and under real world four wheeling the body breaks down.

We covered this already, driver error.

Ya hardly bubba. Ive wheeled my old XJ all over the place with many other XJ drivers. Wheel them hard and the unibody starts to crack! Sorry its a fact.

LibertyCRD · **Posted:** Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:19 pm

Never had a XJ but I did have a ZJ which of course is extremely similar except it had overdrive with the 4.0L unlike the XJs. And I got 14 MPG around town and 18MPG on the highway with the 31" tires. By comparison...the KJ CRD is getting low 20s in town and upper 20s on the highway. A spread of 7-9 miles per gallon adds up FAST.

The KJ is superior in EVERY way...with the exception of off road trails. My ZJ was slightly more capable on the twisty stuff.

railguy · **Posted:** Fri Jun 04, 2010 11:02 pm

CRD Joe wrote:

Sir Sam wrote:

CRD Joe wrote:

XJ's are great trucks but the body is weak and under real world four wheeling the body breaks down.

We covered this already, driver error.

Ya hardly bubba. Ive wheeled my old XJ all over the place with many other XJ drivers. Wheel them hard and the unibody starts to crack! Sorry its a fact.

My '98 XJ has around 120,000 miles, with some arduous 4-wheeling in there--the body is as tight as it was new. A guy I know has an XJ with 300,000 miles of almost nothing but 4-wheeling (on a ranch, etc.) and it has only been in the last year or so that he has started to have some body problems.

Of course, just seeing how fast you can bounce over stuff off road will compromise the body of any 4WD pretty fast.

The Jeep 4.0 also gets as good or better fuel economy that any other 6 cylinder gas engine of similar displacement that I've seen in a 4WD application. And they are pretty darned reliable. I've had zero issues with my 4.0.

kayadog · **Posted:** Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:43 am

There are a whole lot of seriously built xj's out there for a rig with a "weak body"! I beat the heck out of 3 of them for over 200k each. I like my kjs as family daily drivers and light duty 4x4s but they are half the trail rig an xj is in with both in stock form, mostly due to the weight and IFS.

I was considering a CRD because of my new longer commute but this forum has scared me away with all the issues. Looking into a wk crd instead.

mikey1273 · **Posted:** Sat Jun 05, 2010 10:55 am

I never owned any other Jeep but my CRD. I have a heavy foot so I'm told buy some, some think I need to go faster but those are fellow lead foots. I have been gettin 19.5 tp 21.2 around town which includes some short highway driving. last summer I got 28- 29 on a trip to west virgina and back doing 70 80 MPH the whole way with A/C on. no gde tune here just ORM

CRD vs XJ MPG comparison

Who is online