chrism

i kinda like it....i feel almost ike a celebrity now

buzzard

Drive like a grandma & your gas consumption might go up to that of a Hummer!

Low Fly'n 8

Ummm... you lost me there with the "points good" comment

rotor_head

also check you air filter and make sure its not clogged.

rotor_head

ohhh and also when your on the highway, get very close to the car in front of you so to avoid drag and accelerate as fast as you can and slingshot yourself woooweeeeeee!! i learned that from the movie taladega nights!!!!


CAUSE IF YOU AIN'T FIRST YOUR LAST!!

Torchmonkey

buy a Jetta TDI

jdos2

Mine was getting 15 or so in the city, and 19 at 55-65 highway (US-20 from Gary to Toledo), which I didn't think was right. The dealership didn't either, so...
Found a bad spark plug (one of the leading) and they replaced it and now I get about 21 for similar runs. Once over 20 I stop worrying about it. My faster R1200RT motorcycle has gotten 56, so it all averages out over the course of a year to something acceptable.

tuj

Turn off the engine down hills and draft about 2' behind a semi. You will be amazed how much fuel you save. Also, shift up to 6th at 7 mph.

In all seriousness, I get 13 and somehow I've learned to cope.

fredw1

I get 17 mpg most (80%) of the time. Once in a while, for an all-highway tank in the summer, I will get 18 or 19. The good news for me is that the worst has been 15 for an all-city tank in winter. All the things that would save me gas would make this car no fun to drive, which would defeat the purpose of having an 8.

Long live 9000 rpm redlines.

Raptor75

I did exactly what he said and got 13.5mpg, I challenged him to get 18 mpg on my RX-8......no response.

The only way my car gets good mileage is rolling down a hill.

The rotary is a gas hog plain and simple and some are worse then others.

By the way my car usually gets 11 to 12 mpg and Mazda says this is completely normal for the RX-8 in city driving.

Zoom-Zoom-Doom

User24

iTrader: (1)

Just checked my 3 air filters. The 2 in the cabin glove compartment had a few small leaves and twigs, which I removed and vacuumed. The 1 in the airbox engine compartment was absolutely clean on the inside (pink side of the filter) with no debris nor dirt. The white side had small black dust in the far edges, but had no buildup to vacuum out at all.

My hunch is there's nothing wrong with my vehicle. I do spend the 5 or 6 minutes to warm it up fully on cold starts, so this is a factor compared to those who drive around slowly to warm up. Yet, I also use engine braking all the time. The only time I use the brakes is for emergegncies on the freeway, and below 1000 rpm at the stop light. I even shift to first gear at around 9 mph to further slow down before having to use the brakes.

Normal conservative driving nets 13.59, while spending the tank on the freeway above 6000 nets 11.9 to 12.1. I can conceive myself topping out at 14.3 mpg, but that would be driving in such a high gear all the time as to be dangerous.

13.59 is the sweet spot. Belive it, learn it, strive for it.

KimiFelipe

Wow. I cant beleive this is how you drive. I'm sure if you use the brakes, and leave it in neutral as you slow down, your mileage will improve dramatically. Also, warming up your car for 5 minutes or more is not good, according to everything I've ever learned or read. You can significantly improve your mileage, and your engine life, by changing these things.

But that's JMO. Hope it works out well for you.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Where the hell do people come up with stupid ideas like this............

Your fuel economy won't improve...the fuel flow is essentially zero with your foot off the gas.......

And it is dangeroug as hell............

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

OH....and brake pads are $60 + 5 min labour to replace....and clutches are $350+ and about $400 labour to replace.............

What's your first choice

hoosier

Ohhh! I used to have one of these as a manual. 50 mpg, 600 miles per tank. The car would go much longer than my bladder could. At least I now have a car that matches my bladder frequency!

hoosier

OK, I give, why is it dangerous?

encorez

Did anyone talk about the octane of the gas used? Does it matter on gas mileage?

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

No control. You don't have power on as an option....and you can't use engine braking as an emergency measure.....and you have to shift when you are task loaded if something happens.

Hell......why would you want too??

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Use the lowest octane the car runs properly on....that will give you the best mileage. My car runs good on our 87 Octane...but poorly on 87 octane in other places.

Probably want to use good 89 for the best bang for the buck in the US

They way you drive will effect it the most. Short stop/go driving where the car barely warms up is the worst on this car.....followed by the above plus a really aggressive right foot.....that's why I don't complain about mileage

encorez

What about 10% Ethanol, verse no Ethanol?

dbb

http://www.mazda.com.au/articleZone5...8#Article-2612

* Ethanol is an oxygenated fuel. E10 (which is oxygenated gasoline) may reduce fuel economy by an average of 2 - 3% because oxygenates contain less energy than non-oxygenated petrol. As such, there may be fewer kilometres per tank of fuel when using E10.
* Ethanol has a high affinity for water. Therefore, ingress of water could result in ethanol blends of petrol to break down into separate water/ethanol and petrol layers. This could create driveability concerns as there is the possibility of water/ethanol slugs reaching the engine.

User24

iTrader: (1)

Your MPG almost exactly matches mine within one tenth of a gallon. Requesting more info on your vehicle. Mine is built in 05 / 05, 6-spd, with spoiler and sunroof. No engine problems ever. I would describe the engine as strong, real strong. It was built by good hands.

With an automatic, freeway speed is modulated with the brake pedal. In my manual RX8, I am modulating freeway speed through the gas pedal, using a mixture of gas and engine braking to compensate for the vehicle ahead. If movement is getting back up ahead real quick (20 mph) and I'm going 70 mph, I am usually able to let gas off for a few seconds, shift into 3rd gear, then 2nd gear to slow down to 20 mph speeds without using the brake pedal.

cjkim

i can't believe there are so many people who coast in neutral.
but anyways, i'm sure it won't improve. in fact, it'll probably get slightly worse.
i don't know. all city driving, i can get around 16-17. i usually get around 19-20 mixed. highway, i'm sure i can get 20+

don't shift at 9000, but don't lug it.
obey the speed limit
a lot of people say shift before 3250 (i think it was this)
use your overdrive gear asap.
stay in gear!!!!!!!!!!
breathing mods, shed unnecessary weight

h0rde

Now that it's winter and I allow my car to warm up a little before I get in, my MPG is worse than normal. I went a scant 185 miles before my last fill-up, which required 13 gallons. That's 14 mpg, combined highway/city.
Bottom line, the fuel economy of the RX-8 is unacceptable. That's the only word I can use to describe it. I love everything else about the car, but it's not even close to fast enough to look the other way on 14 mpg. I'm pretty sure 6 liter corvette engines do better than that, and you actually get some torque for your money.

New Yorker

You don't get it: the deal with the rotary is NOT the deal you get with other gas-guzzling engines. Other gas guzzlers give you torque and/or horses in exchange for their thirst—the Renesis gives you sublime feel and handling, courtesy of a tiny engine that, because it's about the size of a bowling ball bag—not even 14" tall—sits much lower and further back in the car than an ordinary engine. So that's the deal—a thirsty engine in exchange for feel and handling—not power.