By the way has anyone got a spare rotary engine to pop into elise cos then you'll have some serious performance with such an improved power/weight ratio

 

Yep I did the below 3500 rpm thingy for half a tank and it certainly makes a big difference. 1 injector and good gas mileage! So folks all I can add for a cent is that it all revolves around the weight of our big feet! All the traction control aids off will make no difference except in the mind, the car SEEMS faster due to slip and sliding at full throttle.

 

How do i turn the dcs and tcs off, i have an automatic rx-8. Please reply or email me at qdog145@aol.com. i am very intersted and thankful that you mentioned this

 

2004 Manual 6 Spd GT ( no mods except a green drop in filter)

Hey Guys,

Responding to the poll question and wanted to see if I was not alone on this. I have learned a lot of great stuff from all the threads and this one here seems to be on of the most interesting. So I am trying this test! I switched off the dsc/tc system every time i got in to the car ( for a period of about 1 week) and wanted to see how far it would get me ....guess what I pulled of about 21.22 miles to the gallon! Which was great. I did not baby the car either on at least a couple of occasions I would redline it between 1,2-3rd, both ways to and from work. Prior to I have been averaging about 18-19 miles to the gallon. I use 91 premium, live here in Toronto Canada and drive about 60/40 split city/ highway. It definately seems to work and maybe I need to get the car dyno'd first but it sure seems to have a better punch on take off and gets through the revband a lot sooner. Also I was wondering with the traction system turned on does the computer retard the timing on the engine to prevent excessive spin, just curious.


Hope this helps.

 

There's a post in the beginning of this that mentions if a purchase took place before August 26th you could receive a refund of 500 dollars and maintenance on the vehicle. What year does that date fall in?

I purchased my 8 at the end of march of 05.

 

That year was 2003, so before August 26th 2003.

(holy dead thread batman, btw)

 

August 24th of 2003

 

Looks like being the new kid on the block finds me at the end here...Just bought my '05 RX-8 three days ago and noticed that the fuel indicator dropped more quickly than I had expected. It sounds as though keeping the shifting to around 3000-3500 probably ensures the best mpg when that is important?

 

Barry, don't worry about your MPG with this car. If you shift that early you could risk lugging your engine and causing more harm than good.

Besides you should be able to rag on it pretty hard and still get 17-18mpg. If not, check your tire pressures, or maybe you've got a bad apple. Have fun with your new car!

 

Dang, where do you get it? I am over here (US Military) and it's 95p / liter. Thankfully I don't have to buy it, since I just get my gas on base.

 

I love the car. And I hate the car. My only problem has been the mpg ( and the summer tires, but that I can change).

City driving, Brooklyn to Manhattan, 12mpg at best. I get 160 miles a tank.

Highways, NJ shore to manhattan during summer: 16 mpg at best.

I have driven the car *****-out, WOT, for two tanks, city driving: 10.9 mpg.

Driving style, tire pressue, revving hig or low. Nothing makes a difference. (I'll try diabling the traction control, maybe it will help...)

Mazda USA says they defer to the dealer when troubleshooting problems. My dealer said, " Nothing's wrong with the car. Fuel system etc is within spec. You have to live with it."

I don't want to complain anymore. This mpg issue has soured me on the whole car and is keeping me from spending ANY money on upgrades and performance parts. The aftermarket has lost me as a customer.

It can't be that people are getting 18mpg city and I get 12mpg, and both cars are "normal".

Something is wrong with my car. No one wants to help.

What do I do? Trade it for an '06 RX8 and hope it's better? Trade it for an Acura TL? Or a Jeep Cherokee with a HEMI engine? Or a BMW X5 4.6?


Such problems.....

 

Heh ... this is the first thread I ever read when I was a noob back in 2003.

Beefyjoe ... let me ask you something ... what's the traffic like in NY? My guess is stop and go, bumper to bumper with lots of idle. Then that's no doubt you're getting such crappy mileage. In that instance, it's not your fault. Maybe ask some of the local NY guys in your area that do similar drives to see what they are getting. Not sure what's going down with your highway driving though ... what RPM are you using?

 

Highway? I cruise along in 3rd....

All I can say is, my driving is normal. I shift to 6th as soon as practical.

The real burn is that when I drove WOT all the time, for two tanks, I got 10.9 mpg - only 10% off my normal city mpg.

So my car ranges between 12 and 10.9 for city driving. That really sucks.

 

Beefy,
Are you doing an extended warm-up before leaing home (Five or ore minutes)? My first tank was 13 mpg but all I did was drive it out of our building on mornings and drive it back in on evenings, letting it warm up 5 to 15 minutes for 2 weeks and taking it to my home on the weekend Now that I'm using it more, things have improved I just got 19.2 on my last tank that was mostly highway with some spirited stuff thrown in as well.
A general rule in the autmotive game is don't start your car and leave it idling to warm-up unless you have no option, like you live right next to a highway that you must use and merging requires heavy throttle input or something.
Paul.

 

Beefy I think you were making a joke (big smiley)... but if you're serious then for your highway, IMO 3rd gear is too low to cruise in. I don't know what the exact speeds you're travelling at but I know if were to go 100km/h or roughly 60mph (i think), my rpm would be near the top 1/3 of the rev range. At 100km/h in 6th gear, my RPM would be in the 3000 range. So perhaps this is where you're burning all your gas during highways.

OH, just thought of something ... how old is your car and how much on the odo? I remember when I first got the car, during the break in period the mileage was HORRID (12-13mpg). As the mileage accumilated the consumption improved.

 

I think everyone was saying around 3k miles there was a sudden large improvement in mileage.

 

I've had my car for a little over two weeks. I do about 75/25% Highway/city and have been averaging 16mpg. Usually average about 80-85mph, 6th gear @ about 400rpm... I have about 1000 miles on it and I hope it will get better as it breaks in. I'm in MI and we have snow.... So it will be a while until I can try disengaging the DSC.


Question: does it always reset when you turn the car off?

 

so by holding it for 5 seconds we can turn it off... but what about turning it back on? just hit the switch?

i'll be downstairs to test it out but what if it doesn turn back on again? haha

 

I live in a semi-rural area, so I don't have a lot of traffic lights. I do a lot of highway driving when I drive into town. I'm averaging 19mpg with about 1,000 miles on my car.

 

Turn the car off and back on again (I've actually done this while rolling down the road at 80mph when it started raining - I drive a manual).

Notice the manual never tells you how to fully defeat the DSC/TSC. It says something like if the TSC light stays on turn the car off, then turn it back on again -like there's a problem with the DSC/TSC. This is probably for legal/safety reasons.

After reading 10 pages of this thread I gave up. But the reason for the increase in mileage with the DSC/TSC off is most likely due to more conservative driving to prevent wheel slippage or sliding.

 

Should I let me car warm up or not? In the mornings when i go to work i hop in the car, turn it on and go. I average about 16.5 mpg (50/50 highway/street) no matter what i do. I can shift at 3500 rpms and get 16.5, i can drive like a 16 yr old in a ferrari and get 16.5 mpg, i can do 100% highway and get 16.5 mpg. It's crazy. My car loves the 16's. Yes yes, a few times i'll get 16.3, or 16.7 or something like that, but it always averages out to 16.5.

I've never once let me car warm up. I've come from BMW's and they say never let a car warm up by just idling.

 

I've read this same thing many times in car magazines, but I probably wouldn't take it to 9000 rpm until it has had a minute or three to warm up.

 

Oh I give the car at least 10 minutes to warm up before i get on it.

 

I dont drive it hard til it warms up for a minute or so