MarkW

I think we discussed this before ages ago, but there are now more threads from the US relating to poor mpg.

It seems unless you drive like a granny, the mpg is fairly poor, and I intend to be visiting the warning buzzer on a regular basis once run in :D

US are getting as low as 13/14 mpg which in UK terms is 15.5/17 mpg. I would think that with mixed driving I will most likely average under 20mpg.

Us thread here.... http://www.rx8forum.com/showthread.p...e&pagenumber=1

Im used to poor mpg anyway, and I dont mind if I am getting he performance. This remains a question until my test drive.

However I guess there are many people who are used to 25/30+ mpg in their current cars and Im wondering if people are prepared to make this sacrifice for the RX-8 and the rotary engine?

If the americans are concerned at their fuel prices, I would expect this will put off some people over here.

rael

Yes, it does concern me as this is what one would expect from a heavy V6 or 12. In my TTC 225 which I red-line all the time I average 26 mpg.

I am presuming that we are all getting the 8 for its performance free reving engine (hence all the gripes about loss of hps) so we will all be suffering. As you said it all depends on how good the actual drive is.

rael

c170673

I currently have a Golf TDI (please don't abuse me)

It does around 50mpg so I suppose there is a slight concern about the difference in the two vehicles but FFS the RX-8 is a sports car so I can live with it.

I think someone hit the nail on the head when they mentioned Smiles per Mile.

Chris

AndyPearce

For someone who does a daily commute of 138 miles mpg is now my major concern (since I've satisfied myself to a certain degree that my two big passengers will fit ok.) My last 2 cars have both been 0-60 under 7 secs and 145mph+ top speeds but I've never averaged worse than 28mpg. I think this is because my miles are predominantly on the motorway. When I put my deposit down I expected to own a car that I could average around 24mpg if I was in 'commute mode'. If it turns out to be significantly worse than that then I'll have to look at other options (but I don't want to do that.)

morganrogers

Yep , big problem here also.
I do 22K commuter miles.

My TypeR gets ~32MPG average (pretty damn good for a car of that performance).
I am actually expecting to be able to get 25 out of the RX8.
Most of my miles are on the M1 at 60mph, so I see no reason why not.

If it is significantly worse than this , I have a problem....

The Ace

Well, not that my opinion should matter anyway, but I used to get 10-11mpg out of my -modified- TII, so anything above that is fine by me !! :D

However, I do agree that 15mpg is very bad mileage. Didnt Mazda claim around 23mpg while on the highway ? :o

Edo

Also have a 225 TT, and with a commute on the M4 from London to Bracknell, after 15k I am averaging 30.5 Mpg!

As has been said - I dont mind sacrificing economy for performance - but it better be as quick as the TT or I will be very peed off.

Bear in mind if we do end up averaging under the 20's you are dangerously into the territory of some very quick machinery...

Jon Brittan

I'm not quite sure...

I'm used to getting around 34mpg with most of my previous cars.

However, I'm not averse to driving a car with significantly worse mileage, as long as it's worthwhile. Having said that though, when you factor in fuel costs alongside the purchase price of the car you have to start looking at what else you could look at buying when looking at the long term costs of the car...

RobDickinson

I'm buying a new car.

Depreciation costs are way more than any extra fuel costs will be.

I'm also buying a car to drive, so I wont baby it if I dont want to.

sixspeed

Dangerously into? Dangerously past you mean!

The 996 Carrera manages mid-20s.. even the Tuscan will run in the mid to low 20's quite happily. On a motorway run it's more economical than the Polo thanks to the rediculously long gearing..


-andy-

jimbobjoe

I currently get 36mpg, cos I have a honda POS.

I wasn't going to consider anything that couldn't get 30mpg, as I do care about how often I have to fill up. Officially Mazda stated that 31mpg was possible on steady motorway driving, with a combined of around 25-26. That I can live with.
Less than 20 is a major no-no for me.

I am assuming that there has to be some correlation between the advertised fugures and what we actually get ?

For reference I have always been able to get the advertised figures out of every car that I have owned (i.e I can get 40mpg out of the honda if I drive like a granny, and 30mpg if I drive like an idiot, which is exactly the advertised range)

AndyPearce

Unfortuntely there's very little you can do about actual milage vs advertised figures from a legal standpoint. The manufacturer has a nice little loophole in that driving style affects the MPG and they can simply say that our driving style does not meet that required for the published figures. It's almost impossible to counteract that argument with any proof.

The Ace

Guys, remember that the advertised mileage is almost NEVER achievable thourgh normal means. This is measured with the engine on a test-bench, and NOT in a real car

In direct contradiction with jimbobjoe, I have NEVER been able to match the advertised mileage of any of my cars. In most cases, I manage to get close to 75% of the advertised (like in, if 20mpg is advertised, I usually end up doing 15mpg)

AndyPearce

That's not true in all cases now. I was on a manufacturers website a few weeks ago and they were explaining how their MPG figures were established and it was using test tracks to simulate the different driving conditions. I remember a few years ago that there was a push by the government to get more realistic mpg figures so maybe this is why.

I think it was Honda's testing of the new Accord IIRC that I was reading about.

Jon Brittan

Well, in contradiction with you, The Ace, I've always achieved greater than specified economy in every car I've owned and I'm pretty heavy footed too.

sheylen

My current car (Alfa 156 V6) has in my opinion a drinking problem. I do about 20-21 mpg with hard revving. If the RX-8 is worse, I will cancel my order.

ChrisW

Did anyone else notice the mpg figures from the recent AutoExpress group test? The new Alfa GTV 3.2 has an official combined figure of just over 21 mpg (i.e. 3 mpg worse than the RX-8). However, Autoexpress actually get worse test mpg from the RX-8.

westie

Hello from Toronto:

Don't know if you still monitor this thread, but we have been getting terrible mileage with our 6spd GT. Combined city/highway commuting (25/75%) has been giving us an average of 16.5L/100km. I'm not sure what that is in mpg but I know it's bad and we pay just under $1 /L here. I shudder to think what it is costing you in Europe.

The mileage we are getting is exactly half of what was advertised. Mazda Canada and the dealer have told us that this normal for these cars and the mileage should improve by the time we reach 5000 km, but of course will not put this in writing.

The problem I have is not so much the extra cost of fuel for this car, but the lack of range. We are only getting 350 km per tank which is worse than anything I've ever owned and not great if you are exploring the great Canadian wilderness where gas stations are not as plentiful as let's say Europe.

To put this in perspective, when I use a Chevrolet Suburban with a 5.7L V8 gas engine to tow a 4000 kg boat I get better mileage than our RX8. And we have much better range as the truck holds 150L not 60L like the RX8.

My feeling is that Mazda has shipped this car to market before they have worked out the problems with the engine. Therefore after almost 2 months of ownership of a car we have grown to love we are sadly sending it back to Mazda to take advantage of their full money back offer. The missing HP I could care less about but the lack of range is a critical defect in this car. We are replacing it with an Infiniti (Nissan) G35 coupe which is more expensive but will cost half as much to operate, offers 280 verifiable HP, higher top speed, and many more options.

The Ace

Well, although I did used to get a lot worse mileage in my -modified- TII, I guess I agree with westie

If you are getting half the advertised mileage, and since you said that the gas stations are a rarity up there in the open country, then I would say that returning the car is the most logical solution.....

RobDickinson

I dont mind the extra cost (if the performance is there) but I would like at least 300miles on a full tank, motorway driving.

Dunno about Canada, but here I'd be cruising at 80-90mph for the best part of 280 miles quite frequently, I dont want to have to stop to fill up that often.

Felix

as long as it does the same as my Peugeot Boxer van which I'm currently using (about 20mpg around town) then I'll be happy .
I'm going to be able to go around corners as well!

JamesRX8

MPG is a concern for me as well. I think if this was the only factor then it wouldn't as much of an issue, but the Autocar performance results, combined with a predicted 3yr loss of 52% make a sub 20 mpg average a little hard to swallow.

Don't get me wrong, the RX-8 still looks very tempting and I don't see anything else to be released soon that looks as good and offers 4 seats.

James

AndyPearce

I wonder how many of the USA and Canadian owners have the aircon on constantly? I know that it has a noticeable affect on my MPG in my T5 and think that it's fairly common for americans to always have it switched on. Maybe with our more moderate climate we will see better MPG if we don't use the aircon 90% of the time.

Murphy

Yes, I'm worried but I'm willing to wait and see what kind of millage I actually get.
Some of the figures being quote on the US forum are bad and seem quite extreme but it's impossible to tell what the persons driving style is, if the air con is on continually, etc and what affect the ECU changes for the US market have had.

My current car (BMW 318Ci) claims 36mpg from a mixed urban/ex-urban millage so if I'm down to the low 20's with the RX8, my wallet is going to be a bit thinner at the end of each month

RX8BoiUK

Yeah, I must admit that it worries me too.

But, you have to remember a US Gallon is 0.83 that of a UK Gallon.

so, 18mpg in the US would be 21.6mpg here.

also as Andy said the yanks are likely to run the AC a lot more. so more mpg and power for us most of the time.
Wish I had the option of no AC really. Usually an option of about £1200 on most cars.