Is the mileage really that bad?
 

Within a week of buying, and the poor mileage of the RX8 is scaring me.

I'm not gonna be driving terribly far everyday, but a lot of city driving. And it gets bad city mileage.

So my question is....Should that be my primary concern?

Honestly...I'm leaning toward a 350z now, just because of mileage. But I love the RX8...dont know what to do :(

I have a very short commute to work.. just a couple of miles. That, coupled with routine errand running (no highway at all so far) and my average is 12.9mpg.

Of course, I use WOT as often as possible, not that i drive 100+mph everywhere, but i get up to speed as fast as I can ;)

So that's my experience.. to be fair, I seem to be on the really really low end of the scale...

:eek: :eek:

see, that scares me, lol.

i don't think you should be too scared about it. i have about 400 miles on my car right now, and only halfway through the second tank...somebody want to figure out the mpg for me? i think psylence's mpg is a special case.

If I was really concerned about mileage I probably wouldn't be looking at the RX-8 as a daily driver, its nice to have a cheap economical car for driving to work every day. If you are planning to use the 8 as a daily driver then you should prepare yourself to be stopping at the gas station often, it is a sports car after all, you really can't expect great fuel economy from it so if mileage is a priority maybe a different car would be better for you.

Well, if im not mistaken....even if it does have poor mileage...I will save on isurance right?

Also, it might be like 100-150 dollars more a year on gas than a 350z which is not such a big deal for me.

my 8 started at 13mpg
when i hit 2k on the car it jumped to 17
now I have6500 miles and average 18-19
It gets better

I have 980 miles on the car and get 13-14 in city driving. I hope that my future mileage will follow mikeb's lead! There is hope after all. Even if it did not improve the only down side to me is how often I have to stop and fill up. Also, oil consumption is only down about 1/3 on the stick.

highway mileage WAY better than city
 

first longish trip netted almost 24 mpg, and thats not trying to drive slow or save gas particularly. most of the trip back was in the rain on a twisty road, so speeds were under 70mph, which helped.

if i *really* pussy foot i can get 19 around town. so i think thats right on with the window sticker estimates.

on the other hand, i am loving this car so much i really dont care about the gas mileage. if i got a 350 instead id be paying WAY more in extra insurance cost.

james

the mileage is pretty bad. i cant break 18mpg and thats with alot of highway driving. no big deal tho since i dont pay for gas

My mileage has been around 13-16 around town, with a fair amount of stop and go/idling. I don't drive with a light foot either. My best highway run as almost a full tank highway, obeying the speed limit. That got me 23.5MPG. On the other half of the same trip I averaged 18.5 MPG running on average 80MPH, with runs up to about 130MPH.

Don't worry. There will be ECU upgrades that improve mileage and performance soon.

Have 500 miles on my car...let's see, filled up two and half times....have not figured out the mpg but it does not seem good at all! Anyone want to guestimate for me? Hmmm....around 13mpg? I'd at least want to get what the sticker says....18 city...or a mile or so under would be ok. Hope MPG increases with time!!! I drive medium.

That sounds good......don't do much driving on highway...mostly in town. I am not happy about mpg. Looks like about 13 mpg for me. 500 miles on car. Why does a car get more mpg sometimes after you put so many miles on it?

1st tank was great, on my 2nd now and my foot must be heavier cause im for sure getting less...much better than when I had the Cobra(9 mpg)

MPG is pretty shitty. I always end up on EMPTY light within a week of my daily routine

I am over the 1k mile mark and I just started getting better than 8-10 mpg. The dealership told me that it is like that until you get about 2k miles. I am averaging between 14-17 mpg this week so hopefully I will begin to see better soon. The sticker mpg looked good to me. After all I traded my BMW M3 in on my RX8 and it was doing about 17 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the hwy. And that was a high performance in-line 6 cylinder.

Hmmm, never considered MPG when I want a car bad enuff

same with me. highway over 20 easy. city 15-17.

then who pays:confused:

with an EPA estimate of 18mpg City/24mpg Hwy I do expect that or nearly so. Other cars I've had have been closed to the estimates. I'd love to know how the EPA got their numbers but nobody else can.

Is that an educated guess, or do you have a source? :)

The range is more of a concern to me than actual mileage. I am filling up every 210 miles (when the gas gauge warning light comes on, 2.8 gallons still left in the tank).

I do mostly city driving and this car does not like it. The best I have achieved was 260 miles to the tank which included 60% highway driving (80 MPH, 4,000RPM, 6th gear), that is 18.9MPG.

I would imagine for 100% highway driving one could achieve 22-24MPG and go over 300 miles.

I don't let this become a big deal for anyone since the car is a joy to drive and just pure fun.

i agree other than the city MPG no complaints. wait just 1 other the seat heaters suck.

I asked them to check the seat heaters since they were not warming up much. They came back and said the seat heaters shut down at 88 degrees.

Lets see, the body temp of most live people is 98.6 so this is designed for mild heating in really cold temps. You are right they suck and a waste of money.

there was a thread about the seat heaters and some people said they were hot some people said they didnt get that hot like us.

Ever see those "recommended" shift points? Who drives like that!!!!!! (hint: EPA testers)

Want to see EPA like numbers? Drive like a blue hair or some old guy wearing a hat... never go over 4000 rpms.

I've got over 5500mi on my baby... been drivin her like I stole her (after first 1000mi), and been loving it.... even with a 14mpg average since I've had her.

Want fuel economy? Think Prius/Insight (or any 2 two wheeler). Want to boast about 1/4mi times? Get a topfuel drag, I mean... a 350Z. Want fun? Get an 8. If having to worry about whether you get 14mpg or 18mpg will keep you up at night... maybe the 8 isn't a good idea right now.

peace

Cars are useful, but expensive devices (in the case of the RX-8, fun also). Depreciation is of the order of $3000 + per year initially. Insurance is of the order of $1000 per year depending on age, driving record and part of the country. The worst city gas mileage is about 10 mpg and the best we could hope for is 20 mpg. Assume that you drive 10,000 miles per year, then you would use 1000 gallons or 500 gallons, the difference is 500 gallons. If gas were $1.75 per gallon, then the extra cost due to bad gas mileage would be $875. This is significant, but not overwhelming for most of us, compared to the other car costs. So far, I haven’t seen any complaints about expensive short life tires.

Good analysis Ron.
Cost of ownership is based on insurance costs, where you drive, and how many miles you go annually.

TuPak - I suggest you figure this out for yourself. Since your other option is a 350Z, compare insurance costs, expected city mpg & number of miles/year.

Then you can decide which direction to take.

i use my credit card for gas and my mom pays the credt card

Does your mom want to pay my credit card also? :p

When I was still living at home (before I was 18) I got my mom to buy me lunch once...

I'm not complaining...

DATE...FUEL/GRADE.. ODOM.......MILES......GAL.....MPG

11/03/03 Dealer ............. 4 ...................15.900
11/07/03 Mobil 94......... 175.........175...... 7.093...24.7
11/09/03 Mobil 94......... 296.........121...... 8.983...13.5
11/11/03 Mobil 94......... 444.........148...... 7.550...19.6
11/15/03 Citgo 94......... 577.........133...... 7.617...17.5

AVERAGE: 18.8

I just can't explain the second tank showing only 13.5 MPG. Note that I'm using the automatic transmission. These numbers will get slightly better, no doubt, when I begin filling up when the tank is empty, instead of half empty.

lol, thats a sure thing. Thats all I could think of last night.

My question is now.........

I'm now leaning towar the G35C!! It's only 2-3k more than the RX8...and has the best of both worlds kinda. I'll have to test drive both though.

Man, I REALLY REALLY wanna get an RX8, I love that car. But I don't wanna be kicking myself later :(

You won't kick your self if you get the 8...I liked it 100 times better than the G35 and the Z when I tested them all....don't worry about the gas mileage....between the G35, Rx-8, and 350z I don't think there is enough difference for it to be the deciding factor...drive them all the same day if you can so you can really compare them....

Curious. And how long would it take you to spend $2K - 3K in extra gas for the RX-8?

And make sure you go sit in the back seats of that G35C.

Yep, I did sit in the back. Ouch! Bumped my head.. im 6'0. Bah, it don't matter, not a big deal. Read this:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=14705