i just got my 05 8...full tank gave me 150...never went above 5k rpm....great car but crapy mpg....(T.T)

Don't know yor driving habits, but shifting gears at lower rpm's and skiping gears will help. No rotory gets good gas milage. So accelorate as if you had an egg under your gass peddle.

Yeah, same problem (i guess it's a problem) here as well. My mpg reading seems to just be different almost everytime (though my daily driving habits/routine are the same). Two tanks ago, I got around 21 mpg. Just the last tank I get 17 mpg. Figure that one out!

where do you live?

well im going through this tank shifting at 3500 or below, and the milage issue is still here. I skip gears all the time and usually dont go into 2nd or 4th. I have tried everything with this. And for the people that say it is your driving habit, thats jsut bull shit. If i was the only one getting the problem then yes maybe, but im not. Im not even driving the car like it was meant to be driven just to try and get above 13mpg in the city. i have necver gotten higher then that as far as i remember. There is an issue out there with certain cars, the is no way around that point. Just because other cars get 18-20's for gas milage does not mean that automatically that, oh it is cause they drive bad. sorry thats not a issue at all. My mustang that was a 347 stroker with an 8-71 blower on it and two 700's pumping fuel into it got around the same milage... go figure, and that had 700 horse to the wheels.
robert

When it was new 23.5mpg was the best I could get. Now with 16k+ I have improved all the way up to 29.5mpg. It will keep geting looser.

This will cover two subjects at once: MPG and accuracy of gas gauge.

This is the third weekend that we drove to the lake - it is about a 1 hour 45 minute drive. Each trip gave the following results:

1. Quarter of a tank - 62.4 average miles traveled.
2. Half a tank - 126.8 average miles traveled.
3. 3/4 tank - 218.3 average miles traveled.
4. First two trips - filled up and had an average 23.8 mpg. I haven't filled up from trip # 3.

First and last 20 minutes of the trip was city driving; about 35 - 40 mph average. Rest of trip was highway; about 75 mph average.

No complaints from me (knock on wood).

Just had my first fill-up. Put 13.33 gallons in and I got 18.64 MPG that's 246 miles for a full tank. Not too bad, that's as good as my Ford Ranger and it has a 2.6 liter V6.

I'm still breaking it in so I don't shift past 4k RPM though.

Mostly city driving, sometimes reving it, I get about 12-13 MPG. A/T

Not happy at all about it.

i can get 225 driving at 90+, so theres something wrong w/his mileage

i get about what everyone else is getting..but i had one trip where i averaged about 95+(really racing it) for about 5 hours.(2 refuels i believe)....and i got the best gas mileage yet...by far.. 24-26mpg... what gives? is the rotary more efficient at high speeds? this beat my grandma driving best of 21mpg....by alot. hmmm

mine is 250miles to the tank highway miles

I'm wondering if the problem is the drive-by-wire. I'm wondering if the computer is giving the wrong signal to the throttle. It's as if I press on the gas a 'little', but the throttle opens a lot, causing the injectors to release more fuel.

I have an 05 with 7400 miles.
I just did a full tank test (full to warning light).
It was torture, but I drove as gently as possible for testing purposes.
I got 17.3 with 95% highway driving.
Next test is normal driving.

shift under 3750rpm........at any condition? How about the factor of load at these low rpms? anyone have any thoughts? I've seem posts about staying under 3750 hundreds of times, but I still havent seem anyone speak about load in that rpm range.

I've got a 6 Speed 04 RX8, and I'm planning a vacation...

Just trying to get a rough idea how many miles I can go on a full tank :)

Thanks!

around town? 200-220. I've heard stories of ppl getting well over 300 on the freeways, however.

My low fuel light always goes on at 260 in mixed driving. So I usually get to 285. I was able to make it to 290 miles before the light came on during freeway only trips. The most miles I have ever dared before refilling was 310.

I get around 200 on daily drives (no highway) and I got around 250 on a road trip, cruise control set between 75 and 90.

Side note: If this is your first road trip, don't count on your mileage to gage fill-ups. Aim for 1/4-1/3 left in your tank and look for a station. On my last trip I was forced to fill up at 1/4 tank because there was no station for 3 hours and I wouldn't make it with what I had left.

Second Side Note: HAVE FUN!

230 city.
280 highway.
311 73mph, 6th gear, all highway.

180 city driving.

210 - 220 City/Hwy mixed driving.

FWIW, my mileage log since 8/2003 is available online (http://www.5cats.org/rx8/). (http://www.5cats.org/rx8/)

I've fallen behind on the graphs, but my MPG is clearly bimodal (city v highway); the highlights:


City: ~16 mpg
Highway: ~25 mpg
Oil consumption rate: ~ 1/3 q per 1000 miles.
Cross-country highway driving with cruise control @70 yielded my best, 27+ mpg.
Autocrossing resulted in 13 or less...

Cheers,
-jd.

with dsc turn off 230-250.thats 75%city driving

Here's my mileage chart in case anyone's interested or wants to use it. I also kept track of anything I did that might effect the fuel economy..., puting in oil, m flash, whatever.

http://www.hingemedia.com/chris/MileageLog.xls

I used to get about 220 miles per tank in my 8 with 75% highway driving.

Now I get the same miles per tank in the Cobra.

260-270 in mixed driving. It's gone over 300 twice now, and one of those times the light still hadn't come on at 315.

So far on my first 3 tanks I've gotten:

252 (19.75mpg)
260 (19.34mpg)
254 (18.98mpg)

With 90% city, 5% highway, and 5% PLAY...

I have not taken it on a road trip yet so all highway miles I don't have a clue...

Note: Sorry I forgot, I got the low fuel light only on the 260 mile tank

I Have Gone Over 320 Miles On All Highway Before The Light Came On. Nemisis8 Is My Witness:) I Could Have Gone 340 On That Tank. I Started Thinking About Gas Stations At About 300 And Was Starting To Worry When The Light Stayed Off For So Long. I Got 23.99 Mpg That Tank(and The One After) While Kevin Got 24.x- He Had Filled Up At A Little Under Half When The 7s Needed To. I Was Trying To Show Him That Well Over 300 Is Possible:)

oh yeah the DosDog was there too:D

I get about 180 all City and about 220 mixed, and 250 mixed mostly freeway. Probably could be better but I always find myself cruising the freeway at 80+ in 4th, and 6th is rarely used :D

19 MPG - 50% city / 50% Highway (summer)
18 MPG - 50% city / 50% Highway (winter)

23 MPG - 100% Highway, cruise on 75 mph

Why another thread on this topic...do the search...there is already alot of info out there. :(

Man, my low fuel light typically comes on at around 160 miles. I don't think I drive that hard. It's mostly city driving but still....

I'm lucky if i get 180 out of a tank. Driving styles aside, how can one person get 160 and someone else get 280? I take it easy when I drive and I can't even get 200 miles out of a tank.

I'm lucky if i get 180 out of a tank. Driving styles aside, how can one person get 160 and someone else get 280? I take it easy when I drive and I can't even get 200 miles out of a tank.

I think that's the whole point of this and other threads like it -- you *can't* set driving style aside, because that's the single most important factor in what kind of mileage you get with this car.

Yup, but getting 160 would alarm me...

I think once my 8 is broken in I'll be getting like 240 per fill up but 160 would ALARM me big time!

I get a constinet 170-180. daily driving with consistent 9k revs' I love driving this car. but it costs me tons of money to supply it with gas.

I allways get around 240-250 on a full tank. When I went to ket west i got 323 miles on the round trip.

I get 250 per tank in mixed driving. Fuel light comes on around 240 mile mark.

I've been averaging 206 miles/tank for the last five fill-ups and 15.6 MPG. Just about all city driving.

If anyone thinks it ALL about driving stlye, well there absolutely nuts. People would have to swap cars to really find out.

Anyways I've been getting <200 per tank most of the time with, 90/10 city/highway.

My best ever was in the mid 17's mpg, but I've been seeing alot of high 12's lately.:(

MPG has been all down hill for me since the M flash. It temporarily comes up if I do a reset though.

265 on a tank (80% highway, 10% city, 10% my way..lol)

I had a trip from Portland Oregon, to Seattle. Exactly 200.39 miles. I got there in 2 hr's and 15 minutes. and i still had 1/4 tank left.

If you get good mileage post it here. All of the mileage threads are people complaning and I am wondering if this is a case of the squeaky wheel, but the majority get decent mileage... I'd start a pole if I knew how.

BTW -- I get about 19.5 in the city and 23 on the highway.

I get about 15 MPG city.

I forgot to mention... I travel for business and wind up in a rental every week. My 8 gets better mileage than pretty much anything I rent, except of course when I get stuck in a Corolla or something like that.

Be prepared for very few replies!! :D

- Irish :cool:

I get 17mpg around town and as high as 29.5mpg on the hwy with the trucks in the slow lane. Thats my worst and best, most of the time 20-24, its to much fun to rev-up.

I forgot to mention... I travel for business and wind up in a rental every week. My 8 gets better mileage than pretty much anything I rent, except of course when I get stuck in a Corolla or something like that.

Are you mostly renting Hummers and Lamborghinis?

Wow, I had to do a double-take when I saw the thread title. This one's got to be a first!

Since I've started driving less aggressively lately (speeding tickets will do that to you), my gas mileage has gotten much better. I think the last tank I got made around 280-285 miles. That's with almost all shifting below 3750 rpms and keeping my speed under 80 mph.

Haha I was about to say the samething. 8 gets pretty good gas mileage -- yea - compared to a Ferrari or Viper. Even the Corvette gets better mileage than this car.

Last year I always got between 16 - 17 city mpg. Lately its been 15 - 16.

I forgot to mention... I travel for business and wind up in a rental every week. My 8 gets better mileage than pretty much anything I rent, except of course when I get stuck in a Corolla or something like that.

Do u have the 4 speed auto

How to find out how much miliage you get? All i know is i have to fill up my 8 every 3 days. and it take me 15 minutes get to school. Why i use gas so fast.....

I usually rent something in the Ford Taurus class. But ones that come to mind immediately are the small Jag, a Hyundia, an Explorer, Lincoln town car, a mustang and the Corolla.

The only car that got better was the Corolla.

I drive the 6 speed. I think a lot of people on here drive like bats outta hell and then complain about it. Granted, my mileage is not what I want it to be, but everytime I rent a car, I get out suprised how crappy the mileage is in them too..

Any other business travelers experience this?

And I bet if I didn't go 85 MPH on the highway it would be much better than 23. (When I pass someone I pass the hell out of them --- don't just ease by.)

16-20 mpg depending on mixture of city and highway driving on the tank

18-20 city, 24-25 strickly highway.

19.5 city? :eek: Wow. How? I've been keeping a little journal, and with mostly freeway driving, I get 18 to 19 mpg. My last tank was mostly city driving, and I got 12 mpg.

how that possible i get about 15 city and like 17 hw. So how fast u going though?

I get 230 miles before lite comes on in city driving. Twice I got 371 when the fuel lite came on and I had the cruz at 65mph those times. It then takes aprox 13.5 gals to fill it.

18/22

(I'm not sure if you'd call that good.)

240-250 miles mostly.

Haven't broken past 15 mpg. Although lately I've been doing a lot less joyriding in my RX-8, which let's me stretch a tank to a week and a half versus just a week. I always fill up with 1/4th left though.

19 to 22 on country roads 70 miles round trip to work.

Any people out there that rent cars regularly have comparison stories?

Keep in mind I only have 930 miles on my 8 (about that) and I've only filled up 3 times and have never gone over 7K while breaking her in....

I avg so far 19.35mpg (90% city, 5% highway, and 5% fun)

I shift at 3.75K normally in gear number 1-3 then shift at 3.5K in 4-6 (6 there is no shifting at 6...wink wink...lol)

I drive 17.5 miles daily (to and from work)

I'll post once I get more fill up's!

20-23 hwy 17-19 city above 40 degrees outside temp. The gas mileage drops drastically below 10 degrees temps. I have MT 6 speed. I mostly drive her below 4k rpm. I like short shifting. Feels sportier then winding her out in each gear.

18/22 generally. As far as I'm concerned, that's pretty darn good. No complaints here. My other two cars generally get about the same - Acura 3.5RL and Eagle Summit (2.4L) - and are about as much fun to drive as a broom handle. I always wonder why some complain so much :confused: :)

I get 23 in town, 35 on the highway. 8th Grade math was the best three years of my life, by the way ;)

:)

Any people out there that rent cars regularly have comparison stories?


yup. I rent 2-3 cars a month, and have a good relationship with the company's in-house Hertz office. As a result, he usually hooks me up with Mazda 3s or 6s, and sometimes an ultima.

The 3 gets way better milage -- like my old integra used to (94 LS). The 6s, especially the v6, doesn't do as well as I thought it would, maybe 10-20% better than the 8 on the highway.

I get 15-17 city and 20-22 highway. Fine by me...the fun's worth it. :)

Usually 18 city / 23 hwy, same as my last car (a Volvo 960). I do have to fill up more often because of the size of the tank but the mpg is the same. I can only scratch my head when I hear of people getting 12-15 mpg. Are you guys running to the redline every shift? :confused: I avoid jack rabbit starts, but I do drive it.

220 on average with the occasional 240-250.

There is a poll

Speaking about the 8 getting pretty good gas mileage, how many miles do you guys get on a tank during aggressive driving? I filled up my tank and have been revving my engine slightly higher than normal (i.e., to merge with highway traffic) and I only got 60 miles on a half tank! That's over 80 miles less per tank than usual! How pathetic is that?!

I love this car, but there are some things I just absolutely hate about it...

Does the stick do that much better than the auto in terms of MPG. I have the auto and with about 75% city, 25% freeway, I got 13MPG. I don't rev it all the time. Usually there's too much traffic.

I get like 14 with 100% city if I drive it like I like - with occasional revups.
I get 15 if I drive below 3500

wtf?

I think that's the whole point of this and other threads like it -- you *can't* set driving style aside, because that's the single most important factor in what kind of mileage you get with this car.


I agree that it is an important factor. The fact remains that I baby my car, shifting gears at about 3700 RPM. It's got 5600 miles on it. My driving is 60/40 cty/hwy. Does 180 MPT sound righ? There are others with similar driving habits who post much higher MPT numbers. Don't get me wrong here, I love my car, I cant' imagine driving anything else. I'm just trying to figure out how the numbers could be all over the board with same engine, same fladh level and similar driving habits.

I am not sure about this but maybe the PCM flash has something to do with either very good mileage or very bad mileage...

I have read about people getting their car reflashed and gas mileage going down..

Right now I calculated a rough estimate of my gas mileage... 16.25mpg... 450miles on my 8 so I hopefully will see this number go up. I do 90% highway driving and I have not reved over 4k... only rev to 5k 3 times by accident... didn't even realize it.

I will see how many miles I get out of a full tank.

I get like 14 with 100% city if I drive it like I like - with occasional revups.
I get 15 if I drive below 3500

wtf?

You'll have to do a search for this, but I recall the reason for better gas mileage below 3500 rpms being that the manual tranny has a 6-port engine, and if you don't rev above 3750 rpms, you only use 4 ports. My terminology may be incorrect with that explanation, but that's the gyst.

Also, budebaker, I drive an auto, so I don't know if the manual is better than the auto. All I know is that my gas mileage is way, way down as a result of my normal driving (as opposed to my conservative driving as of late). How frustrating!

I am not sure about this but maybe the PCM flash has something to do with either very good mileage or very bad mileage...

I have read about people getting their car reflashed and gas mileage going down..

Right now I calculated a rough estimate of my gas mileage... 16.25mpg... 450miles on my 8 so I hopefully will see this number go up. I do 90% highway driving and I have not reved over 4k... only rev to 5k 3 times by accident... didn't even realize it.

I will see how many miles I get out of a full tank.

That's weird--I was told the M-flash was supposed to improve fuel efficiency.

That's weird--I was told the M-flash was supposed to improve fuel efficiency.


Yeah, I heard the same,, but some people are reporting a lower mileage with same driving after the flash...

I will see how mine works out once it is broken in..

Kinda funny how this was moved to "issues and problems", when I don't have an issue or a problem with it.

BTW -- -If I drive like a animal I can get as low as 14, but the same holds true for many of the cars I rent as well.

Well, the irony for me is, I bought this car to be able to drive it with some spirit. I don't mean I'd rev it all the time or anything but if I am going to have to keep it below 3750RPM's in the hope of not having to go to the gas station all the time, then I guess I might as well drive a Mazda 3.

because while you 60% city miles might only take 10 minutes per day anotehr persons 60% city might mean sitting in traffic going 5 miles in one hour- idling most of that time. idling uses a crap load of gas.

How to find out how much miliage you get? All i know is i have to fill up my 8 every 3 days. and it take me 15 minutes get to school. Why i use gas so fast.....

ask your math teacher

I have a new 2005 RX-8 and after 2 tanks I am getting around 12 mpg. Don't really drive at high revs since I am still in the breakin period. Called Mazda Service and they said it usually takes about 3000 miles for the mileage to get up to 18 mpg. Looking for other opinions on this.

I don;t know what about the 3000 mile thing but 2 tanks is certainly not enough ot raise the white flag yet. Are you in a cold climate, drive short distances etc.? I am currently getting 13 in the NEast but only drive 5 miles each way to work. On average after 12,000 miles, i probably average 17 all said and done. Give it some time.

I know you're in the break in period, but you wouldn't believe how your RPMs effect your mileage. I used to barely get to 200 mpg shifting around 6k-6.5k all the time. Just for giggles, I shifted just before 6k for a whole tank. My mpg improved to 220 mpg. I'm not saying drive like a granny, but be aware of where you shift when you're just out running errands and stuff.

I know you're in the break in period, but you wouldn't believe how your RPMs effect your mileage. I used to barely get to 200 mpg shifting around 6k-6.5k all the time. Just for giggles, I shifted just before 6k for a whole tank. My mpg improved to 220 mpg. I'm not saying drive like a granny, but be aware of where you shift when you're just out running errands and stuff.

wow, you get 3,000+ miles per tank?

I live in SoCal, the weather is nice about 72 degrees and sunny today. Warm the car up for about 30 seconds in the morning. The 12 mpg is a combo of city/freeway about 70/30. I called service at Browning Mazda in Cerritos (L.A.) and got the 3000 mile info from a guy at the dealership that bought a new 8. He said he started to get better mileage after around 3000 miles.

it wont get very better. still getting 12-15 depending on how much highway. thats from my experience. i wish we had a bigger thank so i didnt need to refill as much :)

I've had my 8 for a week. Three tanks of gas so far and it's gone up .05 MPG everytime I fill up. I now get 19.8 MPG. I've been shifting around 3500-4000 RPM. I've gotten WOT a few times but try to be disciplined. Yesterday I got 265 miles before the low fuel light came on.

"How many miles do you get on a full tank?" - this depends on if I fill up at 1/4 tank, when the low fuel light comes on, or driving 20-30 miles after the low fuel light comes on. However, I usually get 20 mpg in the summer time and 18.5 mpg in the winter time with Shell 87 octane.

I know you're in the break in period, but you wouldn't believe how your RPMs effect your mileage. I used to barely get to 200 mpg shifting around 6k-6.5k all the time. Just for giggles, I shifted just before 6k for a whole tank. My mpg improved to 220 mpg. I'm not saying drive like a granny, but be aware of where you shift when you're just out running errands and stuff.

I shifted about 5-6K on the first tank and got about 12 mpg. Then I started to back down to around 4-5K to see if that would help, no improvement. On my 3rd tank now, let's see what happens

^^^good luck no matter how i seem to drive i am getting between 16-17.9mpg...soooo close to 18 i can almost taste it...but alas i've never gotten there:p

Getting around 20 mpg in mixed driving with the 6 speed. Of course I don't hear a beep every time I shift either, which seems to be a common theme with the low fuel economy people.

Speaking about the 8 getting pretty good gas mileage, how many miles do you guys get on a tank during aggressive driving? I filled up my tank and have been revving my engine slightly higher than normal (i.e., to merge with highway traffic) and I only got 60 miles on a half tank! That's over 80 miles less per tank than usual! How pathetic is that?!

I love this car, but there are some things I just absolutely hate about it...
Markd, you've got to at least finish the tank before you judge what kind of mileage you're getting. The fuel gauge always goes down quicker during the first half (there's a couple of threads on this phenomenon).

I would guess that there is even some slight error possible when just calculating mileage after one fill-up. Only multiple data sets would truly indicate exactly what kind of mileage you get (there are a few "geeks" out there that keep spreadsheets). That's why I get a little suspicious of people quoting one number for city and one number for highway. It just doesn't work that way in real life usage.

After 7,000 miles I average 16 mpg with mostly city driving and relatively short trips.

I have 15000 miles on my car and my last full tank of gas I ran it all the way to the fuel light and only had 184.3 miles on the tank. Im not quite sure on the mpg, but usually im getting 10-12 mpg no matter how i drive. I just had the 15,000 mile service done on the car from wayne mazda and their response is that the car is not "fuel efficient." Now im pissed because im wasting way too much money on filling the gas tank. I think its complete BS that some are getting the quoted EPA mileage and some aren't. I am going to attempt this way, but I am also bringing it back to the dealer. If Im still getting the same response I will be contacting the lemon officials. Thanks for the info skagen

please keep me updated on what your find with reapect to the lemon laws. i have doubts that we will have any rights ... but would be excited to find out otherwise.

I was having an issue with gas mileage in my honda civic before I got my 8. I noticed that my car always got WORSE gas mileage in the winter. A friend of mines parents own a gas station and said that gas in the winter seems to do that. I didnt get an explanation, and as an engineer, I should have...but I noticed that my mileage went up towards the spring and into the summer. Does anyone have a better explanation of this?


Reformulated gas formulas are changed from winter to summer. Why I don't know. Has something to do with emisions. I seem to get better performance and gas milage in my cars and motorcyle during the summer. Again I don't know why.

Just an update--I regularly get 21 MPG with super or premium and 20 MPG with plus. My gas light usually comes on around 240 miles and I usually fill at around 250 miles with 12 or 13 gallons. This is a mix of mostly highway with stop and go city driving. If the difference is around .10 per gallon between Premium and Plus, Premium is the way to go. This is all cooler weather meassures and might change as the weather warms up. I now have around 29K on my '04.

On my way home from the movies tonight, I just realized that my car is claiming I went through "1/4 tank" in 20 miles...That's JUST over 5 MPG - somehow I doubt it's actually THAT bad. I haven't even been driving hard.

Don't mean to sound rude but we need to keep fuel economy scientific. Set your trip meters at the point of filling up (To 0) and at whatever point you next fill up check how much fuel you are able to put in (To fill to the same point), check what distance has been covered and do the divsion. Amount of miles divided by amount of gallons as an example provides miles per gallon.
As an important side note: Always fill only to the point that the pump clicks off. DO NOT OVERFILL THE SYSTEM.
It's obvious that our rotary engines are thirsty, but let's not make it seem worse than it actually is to our piston powered cousins or to those who are considering purchasing this fine car.

I have 2700 miles on my Rx8. I started out getting 13 mpg no matter how or where or for how long I drove the car. The temps were mostly in the 70s. Now the temps have been mostly in the 60s and 50s and for the last 3 tank fulls. I have been getting 10mpg. I don't really care what the EPA ratings are this is ridiculous. Before this I owned a Bonnelville SSEI Supercharged and got better gas milage. I am sure I have owned forty or fifty cars in my life and this is the worst milelage I have ever gotten. I got better milegage with my 1970 Dodge Charger 440 RT weighing what twice as much and twice the horse power. I do mean twice the horsepower. It dynoed at well over 500. I have had LTDs, Chrysler New Yorkers and even a Lincoln Town Car a couple of years ago that got better milage. It got 16mpg in town. I have owned other sports cars and thet got better milelage. I go in to the dealer this week a but I am not expecting they will fix the problem. If you are getting horrible gas milage like 14 or below then please send me a private message. I am going to start compiling a list of RX8 owners in case it comes neccesary to contact MAZDA dirrectly or maybe an attorney. I will make this list available to who ever wants it. I like this car a lot and I can't afford to take the several thousand dollar loss I would take by selling it or trying to trade it in. I am frustrated and becoming more so when I see there others with this same situation. Those getting a little under the EPA like 16 to 20mpg are really not the kind of thing I am talking about.


There is something wrong with your car. Call MNA, see what they can do.

Well I have owned my 8 for about 3 months now. No complaints whatsoever. Anyway, I know the car is known to get crappy gas mileage, but for some strange reason, the last time i filled up I got 230 miles to the tank, alot of mixed city/highway driving. Before then I was only able to get like 200-205. Well when I got 230 I drove the car alot harder, chirping 2nd alot and just driving harder. I usually fill up as soon as the light comes on, so it is not like I filled up later than usual this time. Im going to continue to drive hard and see if the numbers stay consistent. I will let everyone know.

I got real decent mileage for my very first tank full. After that, I was only averaging around 14 mpg. Don't know what happened between first and subsequent tank full's but I'm hoping my mileage goes up when I get my car out in April. I only have 1500 miles on my baby so maybe things will be better as the engine loosens up. I drive fairly aggressively too. Love to hear that engine rev!

Interesting. I don't know that it makes any sense that aggressive driving = better gas mileage, but you never know. Keep in mind, too, that your gas mileage will improve the further out you get from your break-in period, so that might have something to do with it.

On a related note, I know it's been said here that you should shift around 3500 rpm if you want to save gas, but is there a point on the lower rpm range where it becomes counterproductive to shift as early as possible? I mean, sometimes I shift at 2500-3000 rpm thinking my gas mileage will improve even more, but it seems to be worse. What's the absolute lowest rpm at which I should shift (I also have a/t, not sure if that makes any difference) and still see beneficial gains in fuel consumption?

bump

I did an experiment for this tank of fuel. I usually shift at 3500-4000 and cruise at around 3500. I decided to go grandpa styles and shift at 3000 and cruise below 3000 (very similar to the shift points that Mazda recommended in the manual). I found that I got an additional 50km (~31miles) out of the tank. It was really boring though.

Hey boconnor....good luck with your ride. I have had mine since Nov. It was a Mazda showcar, loaded with 3,200 company miles. I have had some issues with oil seals etc. but am holding my own cause I love the car. As far as you gas milage concern let me tell you...I average around 14 miles per gal and now have around 4,700 on it. So as you can see milage has not really improved much from your car. What I have been able to pick up from our fellow RX8'rs is that there is sucha a thing a Flash card update for the computer gas settings. As a matter of fact Mazda sent out service instructions for cars to be updated if they were manufactured before such and such a date.(you will have to look this up) One of the RX8 members posted it recently. Now the catch is that some drivers have had good luck while other say they use more gas. Your call....now as far as optimal for myself, I will be glad if I can get an average 19 city and hwy. Keep in touch

I as well have had bad luck with the 8's gas mileage. Sadly, I drive an automatic. But with that besides the point, here are my figures:

using 91 octane

mileage total----mpg---------Manual shift
1748-------------13.28-------------No
1908-------------12.57-------------Yes
1988-------------12.66-------------Yes
2159-------------15.07-------------Yes
2348-------------15.48-------------No
2402-------------13.25-------------Yes
2559-------------14.48-------------No
2717-------------13.18-------------No

Also, I drive about up a hill about 10-20 times a tank, which is about 6-12 miles of revving up it. I usually shift it or get it to autoshift at 3-3.5k rpms.

It is sad to watch my fuel needle move down so fast, probably wont get over 200 miles on the tank.

Experiment: Basically on this tank I am manual shifting at about 4k. According to the needle it seems to be about 10-11 mpg, but we all know how accurate that is. I will provide my data after my next fill. I want to find the cost of mileage for having some fun.

How much of a gain in mileage would a lower octane provide?

Hello, this is my first post to this forum, new reg user etc.

I have recently purchased a 2007 A/T RX8 (52K Miles), doesn't appear to have the DSC or TPMS or the cool stuff you know? But it is a lot of fun to drive. I previously owned a '79 RX7 for about 6 years, so I have some of the basic knowledge of owning and maintaining a rotary engine, but I wonder if there are a few things I may not know about this generation of the Renesis engines that may relate to my MPG problem.

I have filled about 3 times since I bought the vehicle, first tank I pulled about 15mpg, second tank I pulled around 12mpg, and the third I average about 14mpg. I have been reading about all these owners that routinely acheive 17-18 or even 19 mpg, driving hard and/or driving granny style. (I realize that some of these are M/Ts which would naturally get better mileage than an A/T)

I have tried to use the M to control shift points, I have driven in fully auto mode, stomped the gas, rode it like a tricycle for one tank, and I haven't seen anything make any difference in my MPG. I also premix 2-3 oz of 2 cycle oil with every fill, as I always did with the 7.

I have been reading these forums for a week now, and have learned much about this topic, (great site!). One thing in particular I read was that a drop in MPG can be the first symptoms of fouled plugs or possible a clogged cat? As I was not the owner of this car until two weeks ago, I have no idea what happened during the break-in period, or if the plugs are originals, or what.

Can I get some opinions on whether or not anyone thinks this may be happening to my car? Again, there is no way to tell if it was getting better mpg before recently, so I know without that info it is difficult to tell.

I live in Orlando, FL, which is basically flat, so elevation isn't really a factor. Are these numbers common for other AT owners (2007 model)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I love my car, but I certainly believe it can do better than 12-13 mpg. Thoughts? :dunno:


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I have seen some other users that also get 12-15 mpg so this may just be normal. Still would appreciate any thoughts. :)