Ok guys, maybe it's because fall is almost here, maybe i'm just grumpy but this whole MPG issue on the forum is beginning to drive me crazy. I know, i could stop reading this forum but i don't wanna do that because in many areas i learn alot.

So please.... this car drinks a lot, OK ? It's not an economy car, never was intended to be and never will be. The rotary is expensive to drive but IT IS FUN. So can we get on with other subject and see in a few months if it's improved or not.

Ahhhh , i feel better now !! :-)

mine was 13mpg and after hitting 2k I am now recieving about 18mpg. You said it yourself, its not a cheap car to drive

It must be that the cars are way different because Wing and myself get close to or above 20 mpg most of the time. Sure i drive easy most of the time but with cops all over the roads here it's impossible to go fast unless you're VERY lucky. My Passat had 150 hp and drank 9.0 L per 100K . My Rx-8 is at ( let's be conservative for those who think Madza lies about HP ) 225. That's 50% more power for about 30% more fuel... i'm ok with that.

And i'm not looking to have poeple complain about it, it's already in many many threads.

the rotary is VERY thirsty when driven hard but estimates by the govmt is always at low speed and low RPM. this car is at a big disadvantage compared to normal cars in my opinion.

sorry, forgot to say i'm at 6200 KM .

If you're looking to squeeze every drop of gas don't look at a rotary. This is a great little engine in so many ways, but the gas mileage is probably the single reason you only see it in one car worldwide. One car. (too bad no one's thought about a rotary-electric hybrid: the car for greens who LIKE to drive)

This rotary is an out and out technical marvel, elegant, small, powerful (yeah, mine's powerful), but it likes to drink a bit. It's not for everyone. You have to shift gears (I'm happy). You have to watch the oil. And if there's a problem, the kid at the next gas station probably can't fix it.

But I love it. It's enormously fun to drive. It's power comes on clean like electricity. It's smooth as silk. And the sounds it makes are absolutely captivating to me. So much so that I rarely even turn on the stereo. The car feels light and balanced, but never twitchy. But that freewheelin' little dynamo under the hood does encourage the kind of driving that hurts fuel economy.

I would like to point out the fine print under the epa fuel figures on the window sticker. The big black number everybody quotes is actually at the center of a surprisingly wide range. The actual numbers I'm getting are within the bottom of that range. Knowing my driving style and that I live in the heart of a big city, it's about what I expected. The rest of the range is what that 6th gear and cruise control will get you.

So no complaints from me. Just a little realism.

RM

Originally posted by rotarymotory
(too bad no one's thought about a rotary-electric hybrid: the car for greens who LIKE to drive)


RM

oh but they have! Mazda has already shown a rotary-electric hybrid powered vehicle as a concept several years ago at the car shows. they have also shown a hydrogen burning rotary prototype and i have read or heard or perhaps just made it up on my own, but i am sure that they have/are currently mating the hybrid system to the hydrogen rotary! how's that for Green :D they are also mentioned in the yamaguchi book.

3000 miles and lots of hirevn,19.2 mpg 60/40.

Why does this still come up? This is a sports car and will not get the MPG of a Hybrid car.

I run my RX8 fast and hard and use alot a gas. The car was meant to be run like a sports car...so run it like a sports car.

The people who tell me to quit bellyaching about mileage because the car's nice and rotaries are thirsty don't get the point. I know all those things. So did Mazda, and spent a fortune redesigning it so it would get much better mileage than peripheral rotaries. And they succeeded, or Ford wouldn't have let them build it. As the EPA figures proved. And as some of you are enjoying, in engines that seem to work as designed.

Many of us -- more of the early builds, I suspect -- have cars where something is wrong. Probably the tough things to build, new seal designs made with new production machines never tested on an actual production line, were sub-par. Bad enough they are hurting us at the gas pump; maybe they won't hold up.
So, if everything is fine with your 8, I envy you. But when you tell me to lie back and enjoy what Mazda's doing to me, I say, back off.
Mitch

Originally posted by Mitch Strickler
The people who tell me to quit bellyaching about mileage because the car's nice and rotaries are thirsty don't get the point. I know all those things. So did Mazda, and spent a fortune redesigning it so it would get much better mileage than peripheral rotaries. And they succeeded, or Ford wouldn't have let them build it. As the EPA figures proved. And as some of you are enjoying, in engines that seem to work as designed.

Many of us -- more of the early builds, I suspect -- have cars where something is wrong. Probably the tough things to build, new seal designs made with new production machines never tested on an actual production line, were sub-par. Bad enough they are hurting us at the gas pump; maybe they won't hold up.
So, if everything is fine with your 8, I envy you. But when you tell me to lie back and enjoy what Mazda's doing to me, I say, back off.
Mitch

I have to agree with Mitch. I'm not getting the horrible mpg as others are, but I'm getting tired of people making excuses for everything that's wrong with the car. If the window says I'm to get 18 in the city and 24 on the highway... that's exactly what I expect. If the sticker stated 15/19 mpg, nobody would be explaining. This issue here is that our expectations are set by the literature and, in some respects, the cars are not meeting them.

I have to agree with Mitch. I'm not getting the horrible mpg as others are, but I'm getting tired of people making excuses for everything that's wrong with the car. If the window says I'm to get 18 in the city and 24 on the highway... that's exactly what I expect. If the sticker stated 15/19 mpg, nobody would be explaining. This issue here is that our expectations are set by the literature and, in some respects, the cars are not meeting them.

My sticker says "Results reported to EPA indicate that the majority of vehicles...will acheive between 15 and 21 mpg in the city".

I believe the majority are between 15 and 21, although most appear to really be between 15-18, and some are in the 13s. I'm not convinced that EPA is inaccurate. My first several tanks were mid 17s until I hit 600 miles and it dropped to 15s from my high revving. I've decided not to recheck until I'm tired of playing. Right now I'm having fun pushing the car and don't care about MPGs. When the newness wears off, I'll check again. Also, the sticker estimates annual fuel cost to be $1,200. That's 100 per month or about $25 per week. In dollars, is anyone spending more than 25 per week? I'm not.

Originally posted by red_rx8_red_int
[..]In dollars, is anyone spending more than 25 per week? I'm not.

OLD thread, revived..

With the new gas prices, sure. 100 miles to work
19 mpg ..
$2.40 per G

100 / 19 * 2.40 = $12.60 a day.

Add non-work related driving to be added :-(

wow you drive 2 hours to work every day. not to sound mean but perhaps you should look into getting an electris, or hybrid car for work and keep the rx8 for weekend fun driving. pretty much any vehicle besides a hybrid or electric is going to cost you a heck of alot for gas. I know your not looking for suggestions, but you did reopen this old thread....

Originally posted by ibfubar2000
wow you drive 2 hours to work every day. not to sound mean but perhaps you should look into getting an electris, or hybrid car for work and keep the rx8 for weekend fun driving. pretty much any vehicle besides a hybrid or electric is going to cost you a heck of alot for gas. I know your not looking for suggestions, but you did reopen this old thread....
oh btw with the new gas prices im spending about $25-$30 a week on gas. but I do get great gas mileage, last time i followed it I got 20-23mpg! no complaints from me about anything with this car

Can you tele work?

Some of us are just annoyed by waste, and the 8 in original North America delivered form does seem rather inefficient with fuel for its level of performance (a level which I happen to think is fan-damn-tabulous).

For instance: My daily driver (the RX-8 is der Vife's car) is a mildly modified '90 Miata that pretty much matches the 8 in performance. It gets outrun in some areas, does the outrunning in others. It regularly returns double (24-40) the fuel mileage of the 8 in similar circumstances. Granted, it's less massive by a third, but is far from a model of clean aerodynamics or fuel-stingy tuning. It's a real sports car, and gets driven as such; and by the way, is FIFTEEN YEARS OLDER!

Mazda did a wonderful job with the RX-8, but I feel that they could and should have done quite a bit better in this regard. It appears at least that they're trying, as the latest ECU code seems to bring My Dear Wife's car a tad closer to sports car performance while simultaneously addressing the fuel wastage. Good on ya' Mazda, but it would have been more professional to figure this stuff out before selling the car.

{{{{

well, yeah, I reopened it because I saw this "$25 a week".

2 hours? Usually the street looks like this (see pic below)

In February, after I got my 3rd ticket within 13 months, I decided to buy a second car. I've mentioned it before. It's a 1992 Festiva, with a Mazda 1.3l engine :-) No speeding tickets in that car, at least not on the freeways, I hope.

Even though it has 206,000 miles on it - typical Mazda quality engine - it still gets a combined 47 or 48 mpg on my commute. (Yes, including that traffic)

Someone asked about telecommuting - yes, i do that once or twice a week.

I take the Festiva to work. It gets me there in the same time that it would take in the RX-8.

After 2 days of Festiva I suffer serious RX-8 withdrawal, so about once a week I drive the RX-8 to work.

Weekends traffic is not much better. Why again did I buy the RX-8? To drive in stop-n-go?

A few times I got out at 10pm or midnight and would take my 8 on a night drive through the mountains. I still think it's the best car I've ever driven but traffic and cops sure can ruin the driving experience.


-Peter



Originally posted by ibfubar2000
wow you drive 2 hours to work every day. not to sound mean but perhaps you should look into getting an electris, or hybrid car for work and keep the rx8 for weekend fun driving. pretty much any vehicle besides a hybrid or electric is going to cost you a heck of alot for gas. I know your not looking for suggestions, but you did reopen this old thread....