RX-8 gas consumption
 

I purchased my RX-8 based on the reviews, comparisons and 3-test drives. I narrowed it down to G35 and RX-8, which I choose RX-8 based on the reviews (like the road & Track comparison). At that time, I was not aware of the HP issues, which I just found out last Friday. I am a little concern on this issue, but mostly on gas consumption. I know the engines runs rich, but 14-16 mph (City+highway)! Like one of your members said (it is not an SUV). Just wondering if others have the same gas consumption issue, and would the MPG get better after 1000 miles or so (I am on 600M). Would greatly appreciate inputs.

Fred...Lots of prior discussions/debates over this. All you have to do is go to search and look it up. I'm sure you'll get more than u can handle :D

I have about 3,000 km on mine now.
That is about 2,000 miles.

God awful gas mileage.
Up here in Canada we use the metric system.
Same as the rest of the world except the US.
Mileage measured in liters used per 100 kilometers.
So Lower numbers are better.
If you think about it for a minute, lower numbers indicate lower fuel consumption, so this actually makes more sense.

My Honda Odyssey gets 11.2l/100km
My Chev 3/4 ton truck with a 350 V8 gets 13.6/100
The Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V that I sold to buy this car made
190HP at the front wheels on a dyno ( two dynos actually,
I got it tested at two places as I di dmodifications to it)
and got 12.4/100
My buddy's pathfinder gets 12.7/100
My RX-8 gets 15.8/100

A friends RX-7 3rd gen, twin turbo, with boost controller, and Apexi computer, and lots of other mods makes around 350HP, and gets about 10% better mileage than my RX-8!

Re: RX-8 gas consumption
 

Some people hate the RX-8 and are going to return it (see post above). Other like it for what it is. I think fuel economy is not good - I get about 17mpg, but then I live in Houston and redline it all the time. On my last tank I 'calmed down' a bit and only hit 9000rpm about 20-25 times in 260 miles (most gearchanges were at 5000rpm) and managed 18.5mpg with AC always on. This is similar to my Acura MDX that is driven more sedately so it is not a good result, but better than some on this forum. My fuel economy during break-in was about 15.5mpg. Check one of the other 5+ page MPG threads for more info.

My car came with 200 miles on it (dealer drove it from NY to NH). During break in I got 20.1 MPG for one tank of 80% HWY. Other tanks have been about 18 MPG with more city driving. The higher tank was run with with 89 octane as well. I am now at 750 miles, so I am driving it harder so I expect my mileage to go down. I have a red GT (6 speed) model.

Mine seems to have gotten better. I broke 1K miles last week, and my last tank of gas went 265 miles before the warning light. Estimate I could have gone 285 miles safely. I usually shift 4-5K with occasional bursts of high RPM.

Not too bad compared to my old CL-S that held more gas, but only went 320 miles before warning light. RX-8 is much more fun to drive.

Thank you all.

Just filled up after a mix of suburban and highway driving and recorded 10.2L/100km, or 23 miles per US gallon. Under similar driving with my old Celica, I would have recorded under 8L/100km, say 29-30 mpg, but I'm not about to compare a Celica with an RX-8! I think it takes a while to adjust your driving style. At our pre-delivery drive day turned on by Mazda Australia, the driving instructor guy hired to supervise us as we went round the track said that he aimed for a totally smooth, seamless driving experience. Possibly that's where best fuel economy lies.