Following are my first month's results for the 8, compared to long term averages from my last two cars. All travelling the same weekly route to work, which involves some reasonably clear 90km/hr roads combined with the usual stop/start Sydney traffic snarl, plus of course "normal" weekend stuff:

2.8l VR6 Golf : 11.8 l/100km - this engine is hardly a paradigm of fuel efficiency.
2.5l BMW 3 series: 10.3 l/100km ( best ever result 7l/100km on a tediously steady run down the 110km/hr 'new' Hume- or whatever they call it these days!)
RX-8 : 16.1l/100km

Yup - a staggering 56% more fuel consumed than the Bimmer, in a car weighing around 100kg less. I can only hope this will improve as the engine frees up further. No wonder all that black sooty gunk gathers on the lower side of the exhaust pipe tips!

Can't say I wasn't warned though.....

My vehicle has been averageing around 11l/100km with mostly city driving

Welcome to ROTARY :)

I believe in the old adage, "if you want economy, catch a bus".

Just wait till you buy a V8 or a turbo and then you'll see that the 8's economy's not too bad.

Or if you win the lotto and buy a Ferrari, prepare yourself to get 25-30L per 100km.... but if you had one, I guess you could afford the fuel bills. :)

I've had my 8 for over a month now and can't say that I am disappointed in the fuel consumption.

Believe it or not, I get 260-300kms from a full tank and I'm not the least worried or concerned.
Do the maths and you'll see you've got better consumption then me.

Originally posted by skc
My vehicle has been averageing around 11l/100km with mostly city driving


skc there's a flaw in your argument: Brisbane isn't a city, it's a country town mate, albeit a very pleasant and sunny one;) :D :D :cool:

Originally posted by nojooc
I believe in the old adage, "if you want economy, catch a bus".

Just wait till you buy a V8 or a turbo and then you'll see that the 8's economy's not too bad.

Or if you win the lotto and buy a Ferrari, prepare yourself to get 25-30L per 100km.... but if you had one, I guess you could afford the fuel bills. :)

I've had my 8 for over a month now and can't say that I am disappointed in the fuel consumption.

Believe it or not, I get 260-300kms from a full tank and I'm not the least worried or concerned.
Do the maths and you'll see you've got better consumption then me.

Yup that sounds like about 17-18l/100km alright. Mental note: I simply MUST try harder!:D :D

I got one of my better milages on tuesday when I filled. 512km out of 59L. I think that calc'ed to 11.5mpg. Nothing special, including traffic jams.

LS1 V8's are not too bad either. I find myself filling up with the same frequency as my SS (every 5 or 6 days), and the RX-8 is about $10 less each time.

Fuel efficency is one of the things you trade off to get an engine that is extremly small for its output, and allows the car to have a low CofG and ideal weight distribution. It is a total package. If I wanted more techno and less fuel, I would look at a Prius, and trade off performance.

Cheers,
Hymee.

Originally posted by NickG
skc there's a flaw in your argument: Brisbane isn't a city, it's a country town mate, albeit a very pleasant and sunny one;) :D :D :cool:

My 11.5 this week included a 1 hour traffic jam crawl to work. It is only a 30 minute drive.

Thanks for acknowledging the pleasentness of the place.

You mustn't have been here for a while. It is big enough. I wouldn't want it to get like Sydaney. :D

Cheers,
Hymee.

yes, the mass migration from Sydney has turned this country town into a proper city...with yuppie coffee shops.

I have noticed the roads have become busier over the last couple of years. My commute went from 45min to 1 hour.

Ofcause I dont complain much since the Rx 8 arrived.

Originally posted by NickG
skc there's a flaw in your argument: Brisbane isn't a city, it's a country town mate, albeit a very pleasant and sunny one;) :D :D :cool:


well then what's Adeladie ?

;)

Originally posted by skc
yes, the mass migration from Sydney has turned this country town into a proper city...with yuppie coffee shops.



Hope you've finally got decent beer then

;)

Hehehe - We adopted Bundy Rum!

(Back on topic - please!)

I got about 500km out of my first tank. which I think is fine I'm not going to complaining about it :)

I was running the car in changing under 5000 rpm and never full throttle. I was trying not to go past 1/2 throttle.

the engine is brilliant due to it's flexability. you can drive round under 5000rpm easily and it's as smooth as a baby :)

500km out of a tank is very good.

I drove like a grandma, kept it under 3000rpm at all times and I got 12l/100k

Hymee,

You used 59L! The tank capacity is only 61L. Hope that fuel was clean :eek:

Just carried out first refill at 350k's...low fuel light on, took 49 litres...or 14l/100k.

A 70 litre tank capacity would be handy....

Gomez.

Originally posted by timbo
Hymee,

You used 59L! The tank capacity is only 61L. Hope that fuel was clean :eek:

Actually, I am disgusted with myself :D I still had 2 litres left :eek:

I had a good friend when I was younger (he was killed mountain climbing in NZ, March 1992). Mark F. Jansen always used to say "E is for Enough". There are a few thing I still do "in the spirit of Jansen". I better stop. I am getting sad.

And funny you mention fuel and clean. I recevied a "secret" settlement from Caltex this week. I went down and paid my bill to Mazda (for diagnosis/cleaning etc), and to celebrate my windfall I popped by HJ's on the way home and spent the left over on a 40c cone.

If can get down to 9L/100km on my trip I should get 677km out of the tank. My goal, therefore, is to get 600km. I better take a jerry can with me, just in case :) I have only ran out once in the '8, and once in the SS (except the time when the gausge was subject to a recall). You just don't know how much is left until you run out. Ah, Hymee, always pushing the boundaries ;)

Cheers,
Hymee.

Does that 61L include the filler...?

Gomez

Hi Hymee, as we showed on our trip 9L/100km is feasible, but it probably requires roads with light traffic, speeds of no more than 100km/h, lots of 6th gear and cruise control, and slow acceleration to cruising speed. Does this sound like you?

I have a suspicion that the difference between 100 and 110km/h probably means and increase of at least 0.5L/100km/h.

I don't know whether this rumoured flash upgrade of the ECU firmware wrt fuel mapping will ever come to pass (or indeed whether it's dinkum), but an improvement in fuel economy wouldn't be bad. I mean, I'm not bitching about what I'm getting at present, but it might serve to reduce some of the whingeing on the forum.

I'm getting about 300km to a tank at the moment around town which sounds really bad!

But hey, you can't put a price on FUN!

I used to get 200-225km from 65litres on my old S14 200sx.
Admittedly, that car was modified to an inch of its life. :)

By comparison, the 8 is relatively frugal.

How do you expect us americans to understand you when you talk with foriegn numbers?

Originally posted by guy321
How do you expect us americans to understand you when you talk with foriegn numbers?

lol, from memory, 10l/100km's is 28mpg....but thats an Imperial gallon, not a U.S one...!!!

Good luck with the maths, suffice to say, our hi power cars are thirsty too....

Gomez.

Originally posted by guy321
How do you expect us americans to understand you when you talk with foriegn numbers?

LOL!

Get into line with the rest of the world!

1 kilometre [km] (1000 m) = 0.6214 mile
1 mile = 1.6093 km

1 imperial gallon [gal] = 4.5461 litres
1 litre = 0.2199 imperial gallon

1 US gallon = 3.7854 litres
1 litre = 0.2641 US gallons

Cheers,
Hymee.

those draining the tank to the max?
what happens when a rotar runs out of fuel? lean mixtures? I suppose this is most dangerous under high load.

Why would that be any different to the RPM limiter cutting fuel?

Originally posted by Hymee
Why would that be any different to the RPM limiter cutting fuel?

Because you can run lean towards the end. Think of it like fuel surge - if you're lucky the engine just cuts out. If you're unlucky the pump sucks both fuel and air and you say goodbye to your motor.

I've fuel surged my motor about 5 or 6 times without drama, but others have been far less fortunate.

BTW, I don't really get why you guys get upset over fuel consumption. Seen the latest wheels? Their long term averages from the test fleet:
Daihatsu Copen 10l/100km
Saab ?9-3? slurped 16l/100km

-pete

I'm not upset over consumption.

I just don't understand the difference between the "super lean" state my engine goes into when the RPM limiter kicks in?

Cheers,
Hymee.

Originally posted by Hymee
Why would that be any different to the RPM limiter cutting fuel?
because when the limiter cuts= zero fuel it knows the fuel is lean. no fuel in no bang.

when you starve the injectors the engine thinks it's getting 25ms worth of fuel but is only getting 10ms worth; lean mixture no timing correction bang!

just a theory but a plausable one :)

Another persepective ...

I believe the fuel productivity (its hardly economy so why should I pretend) is actually a ploy by Mazda to promote the RX8. My daily trip to and from Sydney is around 70-100km (depending if I go the fun or boring way) so I get to drop in to a fuel station (again, why call them servo's as they dont give any!) every 4-5 days.

Almost every time I stop I get someone wanting to chat about the car, whats is she like? , how does she go mate? .. any sub woofers baby? etc etc etcI feel like a mobile ad ...

And of couse .. I LOVE IT !!!!!!!!

BTW .. pre tax fuel is sooooooooooo cheap

Originally posted by pricer01
Almost every time I stop I get someone wanting to chat about the car, whats is she like? , how does she go mate? .. any sub woofers baby? etc etc etcI feel like a mobile ad ...

And of couse .. I LOVE IT !!!!!!!!


So do I mate!
Makes you feel like a rock star.

Quite an expensive ego trip, but hey, those type of people keep the car makers in business. :)

Back on topic, Mazda does claim a 30% reduction in consumption, and I'm not too sure that's right either.

A friend of my cousins has an imported Series 8 RX7 and that thing really chews through the juice quite quickly.

However only at a slightly more marginal rate then the 8 does, not at 30% more, maybe at 10-15% perhaps.

I suppose it's difficult to compare, but it makes you wonder whether Mazda's Technical department or the Marketing department comes up with these claims?