Ride your bike.

 

No. Rotarys love gas

 

After driving a '91 Explorer (6-cyl) for 17 years, the RX-8 gas mileage wasn't a shock. In fact it gets about 3 mpg better than the Ford, on average. I'm OK with it.

The 8 is honest. The mileage depends completely on how heavy your right foot is. Fast starts, hard accelleration, run up the rpms, and the mileage drops to around 15mpg. Ease-off, accellerate gradually, drive it like grandma, and you can sneak it up to 22mpg on the highway. But 15mpg is MUCH more fun!

 

there IS a fix, do what I do and stop keeping track of your gas mileage

 

Tricks to driving like a Granny

Either find a nice 85 mph road and stick to that speed so the meter reads at about 3 or keep it on 35-40 mph roads and keep it at a steady 2....It is the constant rotations that save gas

increasing rotations seems to waste gas...Let the rotations drop when going down hill - learn to coast a little.

You really can draft off of big trucks when you are going cross-country but use great care for you will die in a sudden stop!

Let the other guy pass you - let him burn up his gas!

Use a good quality gas and replace your battery with one with more cranking amps - the car will only take what it needs but a hot spark is a little more efficient.

Use your lights only when you need them- same with all the gadgets and air conditioning - any drag on the generator will increase gas usage - or so it seems

Fill often and Fill at half a tank - this will take less money per fill and more liquid evaporates slower???

Fill in the cool of the morning - you will get more gas into your tank than if you fill in the heat of the day -

Don't gun the engine at lights - the guy next door can't hear it and more revs is more gas going out the pipe

Make sure your tires are inflated, trued, the weights right, and the car well lubricated - less friction is less gas...

I think running it with the slide corrector on may take a little more gas - it always feels like driving with the brakes on.

Keep unnecessary junk out of the car - the more weight the more the engine has to work - lose a couple of pounds if you are plump....

Only speed near payday - and never speed on the last day in your pay cycle

 

Ask Learjet_Pilot

He was getting bad mileage and it turned out that his leading plug wires were disconnected... He said...
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/disconnected-spark-plugs-136122/
I wonder if his mileage improved?

 

research BEFORE you buy a friggin car.

 

Until the flashes come out there really is not a good consistent method for saving gas in the 8. The rotary uses as much gas idling as it does while driving so keep you idle time down. Don't drive like a granny cuz you will form carbon deposits that will hurt your engine. Make sure that you hear that shift beep every time you drive it.

 

Have not really tracked my mpg, have only 1,000 miles on it currently. Helps of course that my other ride is a highlander hybrid thus I tend to switch up to extend the time before I need to do fill ups again.

Some many post indicate you 'should' red line (hear the beep) at least once each time you ride but it is not something I do each time (maybe once out of ten rides). I too have an automatic and probably half the time keep it in manual mode so the revs are not floating down near 2k all the time.

Other automatic owners can tell you I'm sure if doing a complete tank of gas using only automatic mode would increase mpg or not. Even if it did I'm guessing most owners would say driving in auto mode is bad for the engine if this 'burn the carbon deposits' thing is a 'must do often' event.

Indeed, having an 8 as an only ride would burn up the $$$ for gas that is for sure. A guy at a local mazda thing they had recently in florida talked about using some sort of direct inject two stroke ? oil to feed oil when needed to the engine (instead of having it use the regular engine oil). He indicated that solves the carbon deposit issues thus maybe one would not need to red line unless they wanted to. I really don't know anything about what he did nor if what he said is true/fact but it was an interesting idea i would think. If indeed it works and was not expensive to do it would be a cool idea. Think he used his windshield tank fuild holder to store the oil in. Sorry, guess a bit off topic.
I would think it is a bit more 'mindless' to keep the revs down in an automatic then a stick so maybe that fact would add a .5 mpg increase to your car.

 

When I take the bus is when I notice the biggest gas savings...... I get to meet some really nice people and enjoy the fresh air as I wait for the bus....

 

Some how I can't picture you waiting for a bus, in fact I am calling on that. I'm not even sure the bus runs where you live. Now your kids taking the school bus is another matter. You may have had too many of those bottles that you pull our of your trunk durng meets . Fender vents still look good?

 

I think we need Myth busters on this one - I don't believe it ....

 

I get a solid 15mpg with a dose of redline everyday on the freeway.
You gotta feed the little guy(or guys) under the hood

 

Phil I am just kidding... If I want something good on gas, I would not have picked the 8....

The vents look great... Thanks for all your help.... I dont see how you get up so early.... I need a nap.....

 

all good except for these two : your battery has nothing to do with how much spark you have -unless it is totally discharged in which case you won't get it started in the first place

Debatable on the 1/2 tank idea : less gas in the tank ias less weight . Less weight is better MPG

 

Send them on over, unfortunally it's true at least on my 8. Can't speak for others but several others comment that they have a similar experience.

 

ya check the air filter maybe u need that replaced, also the plugs and coils and ignition wires too. if u feel like giving it more gas because of lack of power, it's probably an electrical leak.

otherwise, there's nothing else you can do with it. it's an automatic so changing driving style won't really affect mpg that much.

 

It might be true on your 8 because of the SC but for a N/A 8 I think it is a RX8club myth started a while ago that a few people seem to have perpetuated .
The theory defies any logic . For a start I know the air fuel ratio is the same at idle as it is at cruise so forget that argument .
Secondly at cruise you have your accelerator depressed whereas at idle your foot is off it - yes ? So if you agree with that but persist with the "more fuel at idle" argument then explain how you can be at the same AFR with the throttle open doing 2000 rpm more and not be using more fuel ....

 

You might have a bad muffler bearing....... Or a bent henway.....

 

Gee I never thought of the muffler bearing



The only thing that will help me is a four hour session with MM.