Unless its hard for you to get to a dealer, I would take it in, this is part
of what you're paying for when you buy the car. Understandibly, with a new
car, you wouldn't expect wear-out problems with the spark plugs, 02 sensors,
etc,. but you might find that something is defective. Some new Chrysler
owners ran into problems with defective spark plug wires on their new cars,
for example. Also, you might try different gas stations, with the high
price of gas, some stations might be selling crappy gas.

SRg


"daagar" > wrote in message
om...
>I have a new (< 3000miles) 2004 Dodge Neon SXT (auto trans.). The
> sticker said the car should be getting 25-31 MPG. Unfortunately, I
> have yet to get anything above 22-23 regardless of my driving
> (city/highway/etc).
>
> Being a new vehicle, I don't expect it to be a problem with spark
> plugs, O2 sensors, tire inflation, etc. Is there anything else that
> can be checked? I fear a trip to the dealer would turn up empty since
> 22mpg is "close" to 25... however, a previous car with the same rating
> easily did 28-30 on average with the same useage and I'd like to
> regain something close to that.
>
> Could this really be something as simple as 'heavy-footing' it? Or is
> there are potential underlying problem? This car is a bit more
> powerful than the last (a 2001 Saturn), so I suppose that could be it
> (my wife is quite the lead-foot from a stop..)
>
> Thanks.