If people were selling their cars because of the bad fuel mileage and not live up to their expectations. the market would be FLOODED with SUVs....
I'm getting like 11-13mpg in the city with my SUV but I try to make up for it by usuing it to its potential like going light offroading and stuff.
So I'm SURE RX-8 owners would think their car's handling and performance way more than makes up for their "bad" 18-21 mileage.

Funny thing is, if you go to the Edmunds.com sports car shootout (which the RX8 won handily, if you haven't read it yet), you'll notice that the 350Z they were testing is one of their "long term test" vehicles. If you look at that long term test, you'll notice that they were getting between 14 MPG and 19 MPG in their 350Z track. That's about dead on what we're getting on average with the RX8.

I would think the G35C would get worse MPG in the real world since it weighs several hundred pounds more than the 350Z.

Gang: why all the fuss about gas mileage? This discussion seems to go on and on, and I frankly don't get why.

This is a PERFORMANCE car. That's what you bought. If you want high mileage, go and buy an econobox instead. That's what they're for.

Rotaries are thirsty. Always have been. I don't doubt for a minute that the side-port motor is more fuel efficient than the peripheral port version, but it's still a thirsty motor.

The driving characteristics of this car encourage you to rev it. That's fine and is one of the most fun things about the 8. But revving it - any motor - consumes fuel like crazy. I rev my 8 way higher than either my second gen or my third gen. The power was always on tap with the turbocharged 3gen and the 8 is way more responsive that the 2gen. It's the way Mazda designed the car. If you want better gas mileage, shift up at lower rpms.

Frankly, I wish 6th gear was taller so it would be more like a true overdrive for better mileage at freeway speeds.

But the 8 gives what is to me acceptable gas mileage for what the car IS, and for the reasons I bought it. And yeah, I get the same 18-21mpg that everyone else seems to be getting.

The market IS flooded with SUV's.
:D

still averaging around 21. Doesn't seem a big penalty compared to the s2k, G35, 350Z or any other similar car. The 2004 Prius will get nearly around 60. Get both and you'll average about 40 if you drive both equal miles.

Mazda told me they are selling me a performance car that gets 18/24 mpg. Instead I got a performance car that gets 12/20 mpg.

Well it's not Mazda it's the EPA get mad at them

My relationship with the EPA is non-voluntary and therefore I have no expectations of them.
But I do expect Mazda not to lie about the products I am buying. They know the EPA numbers are not true for US production cars.

The point of my post is that the gas mileage of your 8 - indeed, ANY car - is determined to a large extent by how you drive the thing. If you flog it, your mileage will be lower. Granted, Mazda clearly engineered the 8 to be more responsive without forced induction by gearing the car differently aqnd giving up some fuel economy in the process. But they're clearly not fibbing when they (or the EPA) rate the mileage on the sticker because those numbers are achievable. The car companies came up with the ubiquitous phrase "..your mileage may vary.." for a reason -- because people drive their cars differently, thus leading to sometimes wildly varying gas mileage figures.

I'm sure that 24 mpg is easily achievable in an 8, but you won't get it driving the car in the fun way that virtually all of us have adopted.

This is the smartest post in this thread.

I said it before, I will say it again..keep the rpms around 2900 and you will get the EPA's gas mileage. it will just be boring.

my FD with twin turbos runs on the highway at 2500 in 5th around 70 MPH, 3000 RPM=80 MPH. In the Rx8 you are at 4000 RPM at 80. Which do you think will burn more fuel?

This car was meant to drive and you cant help but to rev it. First time I got 15 MPG, 2nd time I got 17 in city driving.

Who cares already? we know other cars get better gas milage. They dont have rotaries in them.

Keeping RPMs at 2900 I got 20 MPG on a 800 mile highway trip on cruise control.
My daily commute is 60% highway 30% parkway 10% city. I am getting 14-17 MPG.
Based on my own experience and confirmed by other posters here driving style seems to have very little effect on the 8's gas milage.

Some people here took the time and effort to collect and analyze data and on the evidence it is pretty clear that the new ECU map did affect the gas milage.

After EPA testing Mazda modified the car in way that is expected to affect gas mileage, and unsurprisingly it did.

I like the car and I would have bought it even it I knew about the gas mileage. What upsets me is the fact that I am being lied to so shamelessly. Doesn't that upset you?

i got over 21 mpg on a freeway trip cruising at 80, with a short spurt to 110mph. first half of the next tank i was over 150 miles before it dropped below 1/2 tank. around town its more like 17mpg.

mileage went up after 4K miles. great car though!

james

Have you looked at the data? Yes, you're getting 14-17 mpg, but many others of us have posted (several in this thread) that we get 17-24 mpg. That's my range, the very worst I've ever got is 16 mpg, and on the highway I've regularly got 22+ mpg (US). YOUR car is one of the ones at the low end of the range - MY car seems to be at the high end of the range, but please do not presume or state that ALL RX-8s are getting 14-17 mpg. They're not, just some of them are.

Quote:

---

After EPA testing Mazda modified the car in way that is expected to affect gas mileage, and unsurprisingly it did.

I like the car and I would have bought it even it I knew about the gas mileage. What upsets me is the fact that I am being lied to so shamelessly. Doesn't that upset you?

---

Mazda's changes affected high rpm, high throttle operations, richening the mixture in those areas ONLY. Their changes would have absolutely ZERO effect on the EPA rating, since the EPA test cycle includes NO high rpm, full throttle operations. I would not expect any change in rated gas mileage - if you expect it, then you don't understand what changes Mazda made and you don't understand the EPA test cycles.

You should do some reading about how the EPA tests fuel economy, and then try simulating their test procedures in your normal driving. You'll probably find that you can't drive like that, or won't want to.

Again, Mazda didn't lie about the mileage, and not all RX-8s are down in the 14-17 mpg range. The EPA conducts the tests and publishes the results, plain and simple.

Regards,
Gordon

Does anyone know what the unmodified cars in the non-USA countries like Japan are getting?

I'm confused as well. What's EPA? Mazda made changes? Does that mean all most modern RX-8's are better for good mpg's? Is this country specific? What about europe? :/

Whenever I think how the Corvette
 

gets better gas mileage. I just think about how much gas the $15000 savings is :D

....... =P

Maybe some of you are calculating MPG by dividing total miles driven on a tank of gas by fuel tank capacity of 15.9 gallons? That would surely give you MPG down in the 13-15 MPG just about everytime :p

EPA= Environmental Protection Agency. Nothing to do with Mazda. They're the guys who determine mpg, among others.

Then how do you propose doing it?

You're not implying that this is what you've been doing are you?:eek:

Oh no, here we go, MPT :o

LMAO! I hope you are not serious. But it wouldn't suprise me.

Just a little foot note. If I were Mazda. I would include a new set of plugs, a socket, and rachet as a spare. In every 8 and put in the manual the procedure for a plug change in case of a no start (flooding).
Of course that would be admittance to the problem but if it has been around since early rotaries, then its obvious they won't or can't fix it. But they could prevent people from getting stranded or whatever. This is what'll I'll do should I buy this car. Why? becasue it seems that I am always in a hurry. And The last hing on my mind is waiting for my car to do something special like warm up. lol. I have owned many turbo cars and was never a fan of turbo timers or sitting in the car for a cool down either. My solution was Fukk it. Pay to upgrade should it go bad!

Why not explain this than post the third useless 'lol' post? It makes sense to divide tank by how far you got to get an overall average (that is, if you know exactly how much you filled in and allow your car to run dry). It's clear, that it entirely depends on how you drove the car, so average the averages again as well over a year ... but why is this so funny?

But back on the topic: Did the previous postings mean, that Mazda gave EPA a car, that was toned down and would provide nice numbers (despite the posting above saying it only affects high revving) and then later modified it and released the normal, planned version with more power, but had poor mileage?

Or did it mean, the EPA had the original, 'bad mileage' car, and yet, still produced nice numbers, and after that EPA modified it to act even nicer?

I'm a bit confused how people, who both claim to drive their 8 hard and sporty, reach 18-24 mpg, while others get 13-18 .. did above postings indicate, that this is due to changes by mazda to improve the engine .. or is it just amixture of how people drive their car, where (city/Highway) and other differences. I can't believe there's simple a broad distribution of engines, producing better or worse mileage...