Ok, after some delay I am pleased to now submit the following four charts for your review:

 

Here's the second

 

The third:

 

And the fourth:

 

Ok, a couple of notes before turning it over to your comments:

1. A track day really plays havoc with your fuel consumption stats :P -- fuel consumption that trip, which included 100K drive to the track was 23.5L/100K . But it was great fun :D :D

2. I had the "E" Flash just before the track day -- so I have decided not to comment on any fuel economy benefits it may give

3. I had the "G" Flash about 1,500K ago. It *appears* to give slightly better fuel consumption based on the data -- indeed, I have achieved my best -- 9.7L/100K -- and that was over a 450K cruise. But I reckon it's too early to tell.

Let me know what you think

Timbo

 

Mate, those charts are a work of art.....well done.

Here's hoping that the "G" is all we wish it to be.....looks good so far. I know Kas is happy with his figures and I've seen him chirp the tyres into third. If he can get can get an improvement out of the "G" flash, the signs are good that it will reduce consumption.

But what else does it do?

Gomez.

 

Timbo

Nice charts ,i can tell your driving moods in relation to your fuel consumption .

30,000km driving around camberra under 1 year ,you certainly get around .

Timbo Have you worked out total fuel consumed and its dollar value ???

cheers
michael

 

Yes, I must admit the track day plus getting the Hymee cat-back has changed my style a bit -- odd big rev :p

FYI, I generally drive Cbr-Syd-Cbr at least 3 times a month. That explains the loss of licence points
(well, only 4 so far touch wood)

Since 15 Aug 2003 I have consumed 3,629L of fuel (mostly Ultimate) at a total cost of $AUD3,662. Wish you hadn't asked that

 

From the graphs, I calculate he used 3628.7192 litres.

DDD

(29768 km @ 12.19 l/100km)

BTW - Timbo's fuel costs shows his RX-8 costs him 12 cents per km in fuel.

Timbo - well done. Thanks for putting such an effort into keeping all your recipts, and entering them all into Excel to give such high quality measurements. Although I agree with your statement that it might be too early to tell about the "G", the data seems to suggest it has improved.

Post of the week!

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Timbo, I'd like to get some info on two particular tankfills......Tank 52, your best economy on the "D" flash at the 20K mark....you recorded 10.5l/100k's. The following tankfull was a shocker and you got 13.5l/100k's.........As there was a big swing in economy b/w these refills, I am hoping you can recall the driving involved during those weeks. A lazy Sydney trip followed by a week of curb crawling the Canberra red light districts, perhaps !!

In particular, I'd like to try to ascertain whether this tank 52 and your best economy on the "G" at tank 80, involved the same sort of trip on the same brand of fuel......Is it possible to make a direct comparison b/w the two flashes with regard to economy. I understand that you had Hymee's catback fitted during this period, that's a variable......but it's one I've got too! And this variable hasn't adversely affected economy to any degree, obviously (your change in driving style, aside!).

Are you now running on 50psi tyres or do you use a new polish..:p ........you get the drift.

I studiously await your reply,

Kind Regards, Gomez.

 

Crikey Gomez, your assumption that the rest of mankind has as good a memory as you can be quite challenging....:p

But, as it happens I do remember the circumstances of the sudden hike in consumption... it was a trip to Sydney, this time taking a colleague. His first time ride in the 8, it was clear early morning, so some 'testing' was done. Said colleague is a gentle giant, all 140Kg of him, plus I think we had some hardware as well, so I will call that whole trip 'load testing'. May also have hit the early peak hour traffic into Sydney, if I recall. BTW, my colleague didn't fit very well -- said the 8 is too small (he drives a Fairlane but coverts the idea of small sports cars :p)

The tank before was a return trip from Sydney on a Friday afternoon, just me in the car. My risk management process identifies high and severe risk of plod for such a trip, so lock the cruise control onto 110, pump up the stereo and sip on a diet coke.

Both trips were on my original "D" flash.

The 9.5L/100k figure achieved on tank 80 was under similar conditions to tank 51, thiough it was 2 up (the delightful better half, a mere slip of a girl though) and some luggage). There is the slightest possibility that with better half aboard I may tend to use lower revs when going through gears to reach legal cruise .

I mostly use Ultimate, so don't think that is a factor. I run my tyres at 40psi -- any higher and I'll just end up donating money to AMG :D

IMHO, the key to fuel economy in the 8 is never to use more than 3,250rpm --- which is really, really, boring driving.

The "G" flash may be slightly better than the earlier flashes in terms of fuel economy.

But a big variable in this (I think) is the way the ECU 'learns'. I presume there is a 're-learning' exercise after each flash, in which case my ECU with the "E" flash learnt almost immediately that I liked to drive around Wakefield Park in second and third at redline, with the odd full throttle run in fourth down the main straight. I reckon that may explain the relative deterioration in fuel economy after that point through until I had the "G" flash.

Truth is, there are lots of variables -- even with a fairly consistent driving pattern such as mine.

Cheers

Timbo

BTW, Gomez, you should come and check out Canberra's "red light" district sometime. It's in a light industrial area, so curb-crawling is hardly a worthwhile pastime

 

Thanks for the reply, man.......it adds another brick to the wall of knowledge of info being built up about the "G" and fuel economy in general.

Interestingly, I saw a post last night where Polak reported over 30mpg with his car. He claims a slight anomaly with his MAF sensor voltage of .2-.3Volts means his car runs a little leaner than most 8's. He's doing work with Canzoomer on a program for the Stage 1 to improve economy on other Zoomer 8's.....

And I don't think most guys go to red light districts for the scenic view....not of the landscape, anyway.......!

Gomez.

 

I just filled up. Last tank for this set of tyres, getting a new set tomorrow. So I haven't been that gentle

She took 59.42 litres to cover 501.7 km. So I am doing OK I guess. No long trip, just driving to work and back.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Wow.

Driving to and from work in Sydney (30k round trip), I get 300klm to 55L. Just.
And thats 'beeping' maybe 3 times a tankful...

I'm only 6000klm old, must it's still 'loosening up' :p

 

Grunt! groan...stretch.... :o

Let's haul this one back up, since fuel prices and economy are copping a bit lately....

Here are charts of my fuel consumption covering just under 50,000Km and just over 2 years of ownership.

My long term average fuel consumption is 12.39 L/100Km, which is less than the 12.6 figure claimed for consumption in the original Australian RX-8 brochure.

Perhaps of more concern, and unrelated to the car, is the increase in fuel prices over the period, and its impact on the cost of ownership.

Since August 2003, fuel prices (premium unleaded) have risen almost 45%. This has resulted in the cost of ownership per Km for fuel alone rising from $0.11 per Km to almost $0.18 per Km. Perhaps we all ought to think about walking to the shops next time

Your faithful **** retentive

timbo

 

Not just our faithful **** retentive, but our favorite one too! Thanks for the update.

Gomez.

 

Can you get banned for calling yourself AR? :D

Great post, Timbo. 45% is absurd. And it doesn't matter if it is RX-8 or whatever. 45% increase in cost. Like the lady last night at the servo who filled her scooter up for $5. She must have been really pissed when it broke through the $3 to fill-er-up barrier! Funniest thing was she then bought a pack of smokes, and the bill went up to $15. I wondered how much tax/excise etc in that transaction!

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

OMFG - I always knew I was being wasteful chucking out my fuel receipts! :D

Going back to an earlier comment in the thread, unless I'm on the highway I'm rarely under 3,250rpm :o . Maybe I should learn to cruise a bit more - just addicted to that revving sound I guess .

Have no idea what my fuel economy is??

 

:quote
Originally Posted by timbo
Your faithful **** retentive,

timbo




Timbo at least you are up front and honest about your condition :D but you definetely not alone theres lot more **** and more retentive than you but you would be in the top ten so dont threat

B...free
michael

 

Thanks Michael, I just try to produce information of some tangible value for my fellow 8 owners from time to time

 

And thats why we put up with your grumpy old bastard type of moods , that come about that time of the month :D.... ROFLMAO

B...free
michael

 

Thanks Tim that is great info....

 

Great work on your fuel economy charts Timbo. I have all the records, but never get round to working out the consumption. Fortunately, the lease company does - but I can tell you my petrol consumption is pretty poor. Mostly, around 15l/100km. I have got around 10.2l/100km on country trips. I do too much sitting in peak hour traffic, short trips and rapid acceleration do really get good consumption.

 

Hymee 500KM/tank with a supercharger in there???

It'll be a good excuse for me to get one, surely. :D

Best I've done is 400KM before light came on.

 

In a couple of months I'll have 30,000km data to add to this, but so far I'm about the same as Timbo, 12.15L/100km averaging from each fill-up. Overall cost /km = $0.13 but comparing cost / km at each fill-up I can see it going from $0.11 - $0.13 depending on how hard I'd been driving and now it's at $0.13 - $0.17 and that's with fairly constant L/100km.