You're forgetting that the "stick" has about 40 horsepower more than the Auto... Of course it's going to get less MPG

 

bigfatpop,

Jeff,

Thank you for the apology. It is accepted and appreciated.

Steve
sp767

 

Guys,

It doesn't matter how I drive. I am very experienced with manual trans. I can double clutch, heal and toe and all the rest. I know how to calculate fuel mileage. I'm a Boeing 767 Captain for UPS.

I have tried the grandma approach, the aggressive approach and somewhere in the middle approach to driving style. This dang car consumes fuel all the same. I think that i have a hole in my fuel tank!!

The scariest thing, is that with my highway tests, I cannot break 14mpg!!

I live in a rural area near a highway, so I don't have city driving!! I'm getting 10mpg with my rural 45mph driving!!

I've got serious problems with this car. And a dealer who doesn't care to service their customers once they have a sale.

Steve

 

SP767, there are several people who describe similar situations as you. Those are not normal, and really need to be fixed by Mazda, it's unacceptable.

The thing is, most people are getting somewhere in the range of 16-22 mpg in mixed driving. Those people don't have any reason to complain.

 

yes,..

if you got the m.. then you have everything before it...

 

in most cars the Auto is heavery takes more power to get moving.. and shfits not as mpg friendly as a human can.... "but wont heheh" but in the 8 you are right.. the auto 8 is lighter and does if we can belive Mazda get better mpg..


So slap my *** with a ....

 

Yep.. mine shifted to about 16-23 after m flash.. most of my City driving.. is in the 16-17 range.. if i go out and granny in 6th on the freeway i may see 22-23... I just cant keep my foot out of it

but yes... Find a Dealer with a Service Department that will work with you.. I think you need to call MAZDA and give them a heads up.. Tell umm that your going to have to get a Dealer with a Service Dept that Cares about you... They should direct you to one and let that new dealer know your comming.... Shees For the $27,000 and above we spent on these cars i would hope they could do that much for you.


Anyway.. dont take no.. Get that baby fixed... You dont want to give it up becaseu you get disgusted with the service Dept.

Also Dont forget to try Ford Dealers as well.. some of them can service the 8 .

 

Thanks.

 

Update for my 8 - last tank gave me 18.8 mpg (95% city- 5% highway). AC on / Sunroof open nearly the whole time. I just filled up with the Chevron 93 Octane - can't remember the name but read something here that it is better gas with better results. We will see.

 

Yeah, something is wrong with your car if can't get above 14 MPG... most people report 15-18 city/20-24 highway (I get 16-17/22-23 with a mix of spirited and conservative driving and lots of A/C using 91 or 93 octane. My car was manufactured Feb 04, has 4800 miles and the L flash).

My suggestions:

• Keep all your fuel receipt and a detailed log
• Go to a different dealer and confirm M flash
• Call MazdaUSA and explain situation to them (ph# is on their website)
• Call lawyer about your state's lemon law (just in case)

Make sure you do all of that ASAP so that you can take advantage of the lemon law if needed (if you do this you can buy another 8... just go to a different dealer).

Good luck!

 

Last tank = 14.6 mpg, 95% city driving, the second half of the tank I shifted my auto (paddles) at 3K RPM for each gear. 14.6 is actually quite an improvement from my usual 12-13 range.

I guess for me (and my 8), I need to keep the RPMs really low to get some "decent" gas mileage.

With this new tank, I'm going to shift the entire time below 3k in the city and see how the mileage turns out.

 

that is way low, need to seriously get that addressed.
spec are comming from the Dealerships fast facts book

 

I've discussed it with two different dealerships; well, one of them (Santa Monica Mazda) was a waste of my time. They were clueless. The other, Galpin Mazda, has been somewhat helpful but the service rep said that it's really tough to say the mileage is bad unless there is a code tripped when they scan my car's computer. I've talked with other rotary owners (pre-RX8) and they are not surprised I'm only getting that mileage BUT that I might seem some improvement as I pass 5,000 miles. I'm right about 5,500 miles now.

I'd take mid-15 city if I could. I have been keeping a log for about 4,500 miles. My average for this is 14.9 mpg (city and highway). I will say that about 4,000 of the logged miles is city driving (to and from work, surface streets).

I love everything about this car except for this one thing... and it's pretty significant since it hurts me in the wallet to keep filling up. Oh well.

 

My average is 18.4 at 11,000 miles.

 

just for grins can you take off your K&N and replace it woth Stock.. check the milage after that

 

Why, does a freer flowing air filter help mileage?

steve

 

Amazing turn around in my mileage.

Guys, get this...my mileage has taken a turn for the better. Amazingly, all that i did was change my fuel grade from 93 octane to 87 octane! Yes! I went to the lowest grade fuel, four tanks ago, and my mileage has increased substantially.

I still have not gotten my next dealer visit, which will hopefully include the M flash.

Can anyone explain how I can go from 10mpg city/ 14mpg highway to the following with a lower octane fuel?

13.18 town/rural
15.90 town/rural
20.75 100% highway
17.62 75% highway/25% town-rural

Steve

 

Steve - I have heard before going to a lower grade may improve mileage. Hell, even AutoWeek mag has an 8 in their long term fleet and guess what their biggest complaint is? Yep, gas mileage. They even mentioned going to a lower grade to see if it improves mileage. I went two tanks and didn't see any change.

thew - My mileage didn't change with the addition of the K&N; in fact, I had the intake sitting in my home for almost two months before installation - I was waiting to deal with the dealership(s) about my mileage problems and I didn't want the intake in my car when I took it to the dealership. It's been the same before the intake and afterwards... below estimated range.

 

good to know

 

How's the performance with 87 octane? Is the difference noticeable?

 

Performance seems to be same as with 93 octane that I was using before

 

how do you calculate your MPG? Unless you drive the car until stalls, you really have no idea how much gas is left in the tank. If you are using the car's gauge as a guide you only get a poor approximation of MPG unless you do this calculation over several fill-ups.

I find my RX-8s mileage more sensitive to how I drive than any other car I have owned in the past

 

I fill up the tank until the pump stops. I then set my odometer to zero and drive until the low fuel light comes on. I then fill it up until the pump stops. I take the miles driven and divide it by the amount of gallons added to the tank on the re-fill. It really doesn't matter when I re-fill just that I do the same steps for my calculation.

 

For the best results use the same pump and same (notch) fill speed.