MPGs????
 

Guys...

Just running something by you - I know this car aint the best for MPG...but shouldn't I be getting better than 10mpg?

I dont beat on it constantly, I pretty much only redline it every 2 days. I have 72,000 with a new engine installed at 64000....2005 shinka 6 speed.

Any advice would be much appreciated and any diagnostics...thanks again!

Another new engine

depends on where you are at. On the interstate, I average 22-24. Driving around chicago suburbs, traffic, etc, I average 11-13, I wouldnt just go and assume something is wrong. Buy some fuel injector cleaner on your next tank and see if that helps.

you should not be getting 10mpg.

take it in for a reflash at the dealership. complain loudly about your faith in mazda if they want to charge you for it.

Injector cleaner first then if that doesn't help back to the dealer

84,000 original engine, no problems. no matter what I get 21-22 mpg except if I do a long highway trip and keep the speed down. I've gotten 26-27mpg on long roadtrips. Best tank was 360 miles to the gas light. I usually average about 240-260 to gas light. and another 40-50 miles after that.

Ive always done 11-15 in town and 21-23 on long road trips. Difference in driving habits perhaps?

BTW, done this for 2.5 years on engine #1, so Im pretty sure my results are normal.

you should be seeing in an MT approx 17-19 MPG on a great day and if your in a ton of stop and go traffic...10 MPG easily...depending on how great of a clutcher you are...

if your out of warranty i would recommend you get the Cobb Access Port via MazdaManiac...the reflash boosts the MPG by not running things so pig rich all the time...

i get about 24 MPG consistently now...but thats just me...

damn thats some good mpg wish my 04 with 70k 6 speed would get the same...i get around 200 miles then the light will come on i wont drive it for more than 20 miles that way all city though

do you have an early model automatic? the taller gears definitely help on the highway.

^ I have gotten 25.5 all highway...filled up till it clicked three times, drive .1mi to interstate on ramp, set cruise at 70, get off and go right to gas station .1 mi away, fill till 3 clicks. Did this four times this past summer and got 23.8 to 25.5 every time.

'04, MT, No engine mods, 48K, Sports Pack

10mpg?????????? wtf. LOL, that's insane. I'd prefer to bl0w goats than pay for that fuel usage. Go for a highway cruise and see if you can anything close to 21-23mpg for that leg. If you can, then your'e simply a leadfoot around town to get 10mpg!! If you can't get decent highway figures (as above) then defintely get it checked.

04 6 speed

I got 22mpg all highway (70-75mph) and 17mpg driving around town to and from work, if I baby it I managed 20mpg around town .. something must be very wrong if you're getting 10mpg, unless you drive in 2nd gear to everywhere? ;)

my gas mileage is similar......very bad...gonna run some cleaner and hope for the best

What do y'all shift at for optimal mileage?

holy huge sig. batman!!!!

back on track, gas milage sucks, but thats not why i bought this car:lol:

I "shifted" to a Mx5 to get better mileage. :lol: Just got back having done 35.6mpg on a 95% highway trip. That's 430miles in 12gal's, with 1 gal to spare :)

I get much better gas mileage with my AccessPort. I used to get 17 mpg no matter where or how I drove it. Now I get about 21 MPG no matter how I drive it! If I baby it I could probably get more but I just can't see why anyone would buy a sports car and just granny it. I never got anything as low as 10 mpg though.

i get 11 average on mine, all city driving....maybe it's also the way i drive haha.

About 3k if I'm trying not to burn gas. But I wouldn't want to do that all the time.

15 mpg is average for us but it really like everyones saying depends on how you drive and where you are,If its not to hot where you live try driving with out ac roll the windows down,I have a mitsubishi test car I drive now for that reason (MPGS) and its a big difference almost 12mpg different,of course when its hot we run ac but if you limit yourself to ac use you should see a change try it to see what kind of difference you get.

My best mileage so-far was a little over 27mpg on the highway, my worst 15.8 combined city/highway. Average these days is about 18.5 combined, it gets slightly better when it cools down and I don't use the AC.

10 Mpg could be very normal depending on driving habits. I would go telling people their cars arent right becasue theyre getting bad gas mileage. Now if he was getting 10 mpg on the highway, sure I would agree. But Ive gotten as low as 11.2mpg and as high as 23.8 on the highway. And I beat the absolute piss out of my car, so I would say he's okay.

my worst 15.03 and best 17.52 04mt gt. It doesnt matter drive hard soft same mileage. so I drive hard. My best mileage actually came when my car sat for about 3 weeks in the garage while working on it :lol:

I know how you get 10 mpg. All you need to do, is get out of 3rd gear all the time on freeways. Use 4th, 5th, 6th. Can go from 10 mpg to 14 mpg like magic over a few tanks.

^ha ha yeah that would prob drop the mpg also

Short Trips
 

In my experience

3-5 mile trips (With no real warm-up)
Track days
1 Flood
Driving it hard
Testing (Not moving)
Air filter done

My car after 4.5 years and 97800 miles, has a lifetime average of 17.8 MPG
9 MPG Low
22 MPG Hi

LA Traffic (LB to BUR + Local mostly) 17-18 mpg
9 long trips 19-22 mpg
2 Track Days 9-12 mpg
5 Club runs 16-17 mpg
Local (3-5 mile lunch’s at work, 5-10 mile trips from where I live) 12-14 mpg

I too have been getting pretty poor mileage out of my RX-8 and have done everything under the sun to improve it. Let me share what I have learned over the last 3 years.

- The RX's mileage is heavily depended on the traffic you encounter. I drive Chicago City driving. If traffic is light I can get around 14mpg, if traffic is heavy that can drop to 11mpg.

- Winter temperature will hurt the mileage by 1 to 2 mpg depending on how cold. I have hit 10mpg in winter.

- Keeping the revs down will help the mileage considerably. Reving it out will drop your mileage by 2mpg.

- Highway I have gotten as good as 22mpg but with spirited driving I average 18 to 20mpg.

- Octane of the gas has no effect on mileage or power.

- Higher inflated tires, high performance air filters, synthetic oil all produced no increase in mileage.

- The best way I found to increase my mileage was to in install a scan gauge. It is a $100 device that lets you monitor a various of readings that the RX would normally not show you. You can monitor exact engine temperature, fuel consumed, ect... The most useful gauge is the MPG trip gauge. This will tell you what your current MPG is for a trip, you can watch it fluctuate with different driving and it has shown me how to optimize my MPG. With this device I have watched my MPG increase 2 to 2.5 MPG.

Hope this helps, also if your interested I have tracked my mileage at every fill up and would be happy to share this with anyone who wants it.

Final word the RX-8 is a gas hog, it will consume gas at 2 to 5 MPG more then any of its competitors depending on the type of driving, so always keep that in mind.

I get between 10-12 in the city and 20-22 on the highway.

I drive my car like it was meant and designed to be driven....like a sports car!

When I want to save on gas I switch over to my Suzuki DL650 V-Strom which gets @40-45mpg in all conditions.

Anyone considering an RX8 should know going in that the MPG is poor. Worrying about and trying to eke out as high as possible MPG by NOT driving the car like it was meant to be driven seems silly to me. That said I will not complain if I see some improvement when I get an AP, but that is not why I am going to order one. :)