I'm asking for your guys help here in the form of information. I am in my final stage of an on going battle with Mazda to address poor fuel economy. I know this issue has been beat to death but I do mostly city driving and my mileage ranges from 11.5 to 12.5 mpg. I drive city streets through outer Chicago to Norridge, I get up to 30 to 45 mpg for 3 to 6 block then hit a stop light. never stop and go.

I ask what is your city mileage so I have a local point of reference. Please include what kind of city driving you are doing. The more specific the more helpful this information will be.

Thanks in advance.

 

I have heard that complaint before from customers who do very short trip driving and stay at fairly low speeds. Do you drive an automatic or a stick?

 

its a manual. look under his username

 

Thats about the mileage I get with a combination sububan (multilane road) & tollway driving. When I took the car into Wisconsin for the weekend I got over 20 mpg.
Come to the meet on Saturday if you want more information.

 

I get around 15-16 mpg currently. I pretty much just drive back and forth to work, and around town a bit. Mainly stop and go. During the semester I would drive on 53 a 4-5 times a week for class after work rather than driving around town and I was getting 16-16.5.

 

In town, I get about 16 mpg. This comes from an average drive of about six to eight miles distance in stop and go traffic (depending on either hitting red or green lights). Hope that helps. I also drive a 6MT.

 

Even in my current state of tune, boosted and in cold weather I still get at least 15 or 16 MPG.
I top out at 21 or so on the highway.

 

Thanks guys this is really helpful and gives me a little more back-up.

Mazda Maniac did not know your from our region, nice to know.

 

I'm not. I just spend a lot of time there.
Sometimes I feel like Tom Hanks in "The Terminal" - I have eaten at every resturant in O'Hare this year!

I live in the Southwest.

 

My heart goes out to you, O'Hair is a pain to fly in and out of yet alone din at all it's fine establishments. If you're ever looking for something a little better drop me a line my company is right next to the Airport and I believe I could find us something a little better to eat. Of course you'd have to suffer through my myriad of questions.

 

I used to get 17-18 mpg with a 50/50 mix of highway and city.

 

I get 17.5mpg, that's 50% highway and 50% Loop/Near North/Lincoln Park driving. If I were just in the city it surely would be a lot less than 17.5mpg but I've never done any calcs for that.

 

i used to get 18-20 city and 20-22 highway.

since the recall i am down to 15-16 city and 17-19 highway.

but i usually drive a mix and average around 16


hope it works out for you raptor ... keep us posted!

 

I average 15 mpg mostly 50mph or less.

 

I've tracked the last 10,000 miles on an excel spreadsheet and my average is almost 18 mpg

 

BTW - Don't forget that its not Mazda you are fighting on mileage issues.
The EPA makes a "recommendation" and Mazda is "allowed" to place that on their sticker.
Their disclaimer for the entire vehicle is that they do not guarantee performance in any way.
Their only requirement under law is "suitable merchantability" - the thing must basically do what an average consumer would expect it to do based on the nature of the product class as a whole.
In other words, it only has to function as well as the least common denominator in its class (which is the set of ALL vehicles available for sale in the US).

 

I don't have my RX8 anymore but I remember this very well. I think OPEC designed the rotoray engine...its good for their crude oil sales.

I read somewhere on here that the earlier 2004's (which mine was, a Grand Touring 6 MT) got worse mileage than the very late 04's and the later models.

My "city" driving was a close-in suburb where you're driving 1/2 a mile or more at a time at 35 MPH and then stopping, at a sign or light, etc. and some more dense urban type driving than that. Also, I'm not a lead-footer, probably average maybe a little slower than RX-8 driver average. My "in town" mileage usually ran 14-14.5, once in a while, if I took a short highway hop or two on that tank, it would go over 15. I can imagine that in the Chicago city, with a little heavier foot to the gas, my RX8 would have gotten 12. It did get 20 - 20.5 in pure highway driving. Bottom line is, these earlier models are guzzlers.

Not to mention that when it wasn't slurping gasoline, it was munching down motor oil. I loved it anyway.

I would stop trying to fight Mazda - you won't get anywhere, and Ford is practically bankrupt anyway, so they don't have any money to give you to make amends. Trade in the '04 on an '05.

 

i have an 04 gt, 6sp MT and do a combination of city and highway. I do about 4 miles city and 8 miles highway every day and get about 14.5 mpg. It sucks. but i still love my car.

 

Raptor: What's the point of this "fight". Are you actually suing Mazda over fuel mileage??

 

To answer a few questions here, I own a late model 05 so it is not just the 04's that gobble gas.

Why am I doing this: Well for one I was expecting 15 mpg based on a lot of research and since I'm not getting it I'm the type that wants to know why. I have learned that the RX-8's mileage is all over the map....why. I understand how aggressive driving, weather and driving conditions effect gas mileage but no one has ever been able to explain why similar driven cars can have up to 5 MPG difference. As was pointed out with modern machining process the cars should be very similar in performance yet they are not. I'm at the bottom rung of the mileage ladder and want to know why. This could be a simple fix or require a new engine, my bet is it is an expensive matter to fix otherwise Mazda would not be ducking out on its responsibility. Many here are content with sticking their heads in the sand and accepting below average fuel mileage while saying "it's a sports car", "I don't care", "if I wanted good mileage I'd bought a Civic". I consider these people imbicles, why would anyone justify a improperly performing car unless they did not have the brains to realise their car is malfunctioning.

I want to know "Why" and fix it.

 

you will notice that most that get really bad mileage are in cali... it is like a city but bigger...

you live in a city.. short trips, and lots of idling... go figure...

why dont you reset the ecu and burn a tank of gas on the hiway... i mean like take a trip. see what happens...

you are not going to get the 21mpg that i average, but it will give you a clue...

good luck..


beers

 

You write "...Mazda would not be ducking out on its responsibility...." I my opinion, they don't have any responsibility. Maybe they're responsible to sell you a car that's doesn't become a molotov cocktail in a fender bender, but that's about it. You bought the car, its now your car and your responsibility. I'm You seem to be under the influence of our society's need to blame anyone for anything.

Just don't ever buy another Mazda if you don't like it. But there's no way a car company can be responsible for gas mileage for every driver in every location and every set of driving conditions. That's like blaming the dirt because you're allergic to peanuts.

Excuse my libertarian rant, its not anything personal on you - I know it sounds that way. And I do hope you get it figured out...but I just got my wankel spinning over the idea that they're to blame.

 

Actually on the high way I have gotten any were from 17 to 21mpg, I also believe with cruse control I could hit 23 mpg. Which adds to the confusion, this is why I am digging. Maybe when all is said and done my car is working normally and 12 mpg is just what the RX-8 delivers but based based on a lot of other reports I don't think this is the case.

 

I for one happen to be one of those such people who bought this car without regard to fuel mileage. I know better then to drive a car with a 9,000 rpm capacity and sit there and worry about if I'm getting close to what the EPA thinks the car should get. Mazda has no say in what the EPA puts on the stickers. Hmm... and they call ME the dumb one...

 

Honestly I think your car is normal as you say it might be. It's too bad for you that you live where traffic sucks, but.... stuck in traffic means 0 mpg. When you add that time to whatever else mpg-wise you get it looks like it's adding up to 12mph

If you can get 17-21 on the highway that's absolutely normal... even better than normal. I think a majority of us get 16-19 mixed travel conditions.

Not knowing more of your situation or how you drive, etc. I'd personally say it's either time to cut bait and sell it if it bothers you so much and get on with life. There are lots of fun little cars that get good mileage even in stop-n-go traffic

I've found that it's generally easier to go around rather than thru many of life's problems, stressing out over sueing Mazda, how you think you 8 sucks gas that you don't feel is worth it, that kind of thing is generally only causing you bad karma, hardening of the arteries, sleepless nights, general unpleasantness

Take the path of inner peace....