RX-8 Zoomster

I think billy is not the one that needs to calm down.

I don't know how other people are driving, only they know. But, my wife has gotten 20MPG in all city driving, during our break-in period. She did not take the car over 4500 RPM's during this time. Others have gotten similiar city MPG. During a 50/50 city/highway, she got 22 MPG. We are waiting to see with about 25/75 city/highway MPG with her next fillup. It IS possible to achieve the EPA rating on this vehicle. Why are people overestimating the MPG on this car? It is performing as advertised. Let it be.

RX-8 Zoomster

I don't know if that was the actual estimate on their site. It was too long ago, however figures are subject to change. They note that on their page.

I DO know however that the mileage we have gotten with our vehicle matches the EPA rating on our window sticker. See my previous post to astrlsrfr. Contrary to some doubters here, it is possible to achieve the MPG rating advertised for this car. People need to realize that with an occasional heavy lead foot, your gas mileage will suffer.

RX-8 Zoomster

Not to doubt your 12.62 mpg or whether you are figuring the mpg correctly, but is their a possiblility that you are driving more aggressively (high RPM shift changes and quick acceleration) and doing it more often than you realize?

We have gotten 20 MPG in all city driving. I'm satisfied with our MPG, as advertised.

MVCalypso

Sigh - ok let's step thru it -
Yes I can do simple math, divding miles by gallons is not hard - I'll bet I can even still do it long hand, on paper, with a pencil.

I am very aware of my driving habits - a few posts back you'll find where I described a full tank of driving as conservatively as possible while still getting the car to actually move - and that only resulted in the 15 range. Fact is I'm getting 13 or lower with 80% highway driving.

Yes I realize that cars do vary within a model - but that variation should not (IMHO) result in only achieving 50% of the advertised milage. My engineering bckground would let me accept a 10%-15% variation - but 50%!?

I would expect the data in the mileage poll thread (as the response sample gets larger) to have a mean response between the 18/24 EAP numbers - but that does not seem to be the case to date.

TJRX8

Our's must be from the same batch!!
How about the suggestions to shift between 3-5k!?!? Why the heck did I buy this car then? I could keep driving my Eclipse and get as good or better performance nailing it every time I hit the gas. And still get better mileage to boot. By no means do I dirve this car HARD a lot but I don't baby the pi** out of it either.

I do LOVE this car but if I would have thought 16 MPG was the best I would get I am pretty sure it would still be a dream and not sitting in my garage. I got rid of a 97 Camaro (that was just a bit faster than my 8) because of the horrendous gas mileage and it got 17 around town and 25 on the Highway. And yes it was the Z28 with a 350.

TJRX8

I know I sound like a broken record with the number of cars I have owned. It is relevant that I have something to compare too though. Most people I would bet this is their 4th-5th car maybe. But of all the 26 cars I have owned this is the first to not get even the "City" estimate yet. I'm pretty damn sure my driving style hasn't changed in the past month. I still work at the same place I did for the past year so my driving conditions haven't changed. It is 31 miles each way and it takes between 40-45 minutes. I would consider that about 25% City since there are a few stop lights on the way.

If anyone is getting 20 or more than something is wrong with mine period. But it seems that more of us are on the low side than even in the range.

Zoomster, Buy the wife a calculator :D
I'm getting very sad

RX-8 Zoomster

I'll have to see what I get when I start driving my car. I'm quite sure that it will be lower than what my wife is getting. I'm much more into aspirated driving. :D But, I'm not really concerned about the MPG I'll get, since I didn't consider that a factor (good MPG) in my decision to buy this car in the first place. I loved the way it looked and wanted the fun factor of driving it.

TJRX8

I know what you're saying Mark. The car rocks...But dang a weekend of driving was $25 and I didn't go anywhere. BTW my girlfriend lives in South Tampa 30 miles in the opposite direction of work. So I simple day of go to work and out to dinner is about 125 miles and almost 15 Bucks in PREMIUM gas! It adds up quick, hence the reason I only have 1500 miles in one month. Still driving the Eclipse most of the time.

Quick numbers based on 20,000 miles per year driven and the current cost of gas in my area:

20,000/25mpg=800 gals * $1.48 (reg) = $1184 per year (Eclipse)
20,000/16mpg=1250 gals * $1.68 (prem)= $2100 per year (RX8)

Wing

Cry me a river Man try living in Canada where your gas price is almost DOUBLE what your paying!

I am not flaming or anything I understand your concern, as I went from a car with excellent mileage to the RX8 that is pretty bad too. But ....

From the numbers you just gave I did a little comparison.

Right now the price for regular is 78.8 cents a liter! So premium is 10 cents more or 88.8 cents a liter.

Ok so this means nothing to you I'm sure.

Well: 1 US gallon = 3.7854118 liters
And the exchange rate is approx: 1.4 right now from US to CDN $

So at $1.48 (reg) a gallon you are only paying 55 cents cdn a liter!
at $1.68(prem) a gallon you are only paying 62 cents cdn a liter!

Man I ONLY WISH! We haven't seen prices that low for 2 years or more!

Ok, so lets go the other way to give you a better idea.

If you came to Canada, heck Ottawa is one of the cheaper places to get gas, some places are up to 10 cents more a liter, although I know it's similar in the US.

Ok so here's the break down. If you drove up here to get some gas.

Regular would be $2.13 a gallon and premium would be $2.40 a gallon.

Now just be glad you aren't paying that!

Oh wait, is someone from the UK going to chime in? Man they pay like $2 a LITER maybe more!

lefuton

if i were from arizona i'd say "atleast you have gas!" but i'm not so... i'll just say my mileage has steadily been improving. i'm at 1500 miles now and i started off at 13mpg and now im at 18.8mpg was a non linear gain tho, after that first tank i got 16mpg, then 17, then high 17, then 18

TJRX8

Congrats!

I lived in the U.K. as well as Germany and Japan. Japan had the most expensive gas of them all.

EAST MOON! how much is it now?

Anyway I live in the good ole US and my prices are what I based it on just for comparison. The thread is based on MPG not $PG.

Cry me a river...of gas that is, looks ike I'll need it.

Edge

MPG is annoying at this point, even when averaging around 18. we actually broke the mythical 20 on the last tank that was 95% highway.

What drives me absolutely crazy though is to own a vehicle that could get as little as 200 miles to the tank! Regardless of actual efficiency, no car should get less than 300 miles to a tank. It's incredibly annoying to have to fill up so often. There are places in the western US where I will have to think twice about whether I want to drive the next leg or short tank it to make sure I can reach the next gas station. That's just rediculous!

This was my biggest gripe in the Miata. It's now my biggest gripe with the RX-8. I want a car that can get 300 miles per tank with some reserve so I don't have to panic about gas at the 250 mile point.

I was very hopeful when I figured it had a 16 gallon tank and looked to be able to average well over 20 on the highway. Now I'm happy when I get over 200 before the last 1/4. Very depressing! If it was going to be this thirsty, fine, but put in a BIGGER gas tank to compensate.

Hercules

Edge to state the obvious...

Gas = heavy.

Idea of RX-8 is lightweight sports car.

Thus.... :D

Genom

ALso, I personally am seeing a twice repeated 365 miles to a tank with 95% highway cruising (80-90 MPH range) and 5% city (just to get on the open road).

Also, the more I drive it (at just voer 1000 miles now) the betetr it's getting overall. My lowest was 13MPG with a lot of AC/city driving, and have gotten that up to 16 so far.

RX-8 Zoomster

You should be able to reach or exceed 300 highway miles with your "mythical" 20 MPG's. This has a 16 (15.9) gallon tank. Even if you figured 15 gallons, @ 20 MPG's, it will get you to 300 miles.

Hercules is right, this is a lightweight sports car. This is not a touring sedan. Add a 20 gallon tank, and more body length to support it (if you don't want to decrease back seat or trunk room), you are talking about much more weight. Hence you have less performance, because you have to haul around all that extra weight with the same size engine. You'll end up getting less MPG's then you have now

Honestly, and this is not directed specifically to you Edge, people knew about (or should have known) the EPA rating before they bought the car. If they felt it was not economic enough for them to drive and be satisfied, then they should have looked at other vehicles. Myself and others have gotten MPG's equal to the EPA rating. Although it was not all aspirated driving, it still was obtainable. I am perfectly happy to have a vehicle I can drive agressively and be fun, even though my MPG's can drop to 15. If I decide to take the car out and want to travel a long distance, I can drive more conservatively and know that I can get around 24 MPG's, as advertised.

Edge

Hate to restate the obvious (can we beat this dead horse to death more please) I bought a GT (last I checked that stood for Grand Touring). In other words I expected a package that would allow me to cruise with my kids in the back for loooong distances.

Second obvious point, gas aint that heavy. 4 extra gallons would add no more than 32 pounds. Yes I know we need some extra tank to go with it, but is it really that much heavier? I doubt it. An empty 5 gallon gas can doesn't weigh much. Maybe make that muffler a little smaller and steal some of the room and weight. It certainly won't have near the impact that the sun roof addition had.

Last obvious point, the idea of the RX-7 is a light weight sports car. The RX-8 can't really lay claim to that title any more IMO. Yes it's amazingly light for what it does, but they didn't come in at 2900 like they wanted. 3000+ is significantly fatter than some cars i've driven that also carried 4 people comfortably.

TJRX8

"365 miles to a tank twice repeated"?
"close to 24 MPG on the Highway"?
"300 miles to the tankful"
"MPG equal to the EPA rating"
on and on and on

Fact: we as a group are not "averaging" between 18 and 24.
Fact: no one has hit 24 mpg yet
Fact: we knew about the EPA of 18-24 not 13-20
Fact: something is not right

I am open to suggestions and learning new things like "driving". Please please post the steps I need to take to get 18-20 miles to the gallon without towing it.

I am tempted to go fill up to the brim then head south on I-75 at Midnight with the cruise set to 55 until I run out of gas. Then I'll call my Mazda roadside assistance to tow me to the nearest gas station (I won't count those miles either). Then fill it to the brim again, write down the gallons and mileage numbers. I'll post them here for you math wizards to crunch and please pelase tell me I got at least 18.88 MPG.

Any takers? You have to promise to put down the pipe though. :D

RX-8 Zoomster

Tom,

LOL! You just might have to do that. Do it when I get back and you can call me. I'll bring you a gas can full of gas, and meet you down in Naples or somewhere on that god-forsaken alligator alley.

And I promise to put down my hookah which I bought over here.

pelucidor

I just finished my third tank of gas and got 253 miles (mostly city driving) and filled up with 14.8 gallons. The first 150 miles was before break-in so I changed gear typically between 3000 and 6000 rpm. The last 100 miles and half a tank was after break-in so I revved the nuts off the car - all gearchanges up from 1st and many from 2nd were done between 7000-8000rpm (perhaps exceeded 7000rpm over 30 times).

So I averaged 17.1mpg without trying too hard in mostly city driving and always with the air-con on. I think 20-24mpg is easily attainable - not that I care. Once I hit 1000 miles and my first oil change I will be hitting 9000+rpm pretty often...

RX-8 Zoomster

Welcome to the club. :D

TJRX8

I don't even wanna know

BTW: Alligator Alley does suck but can you imagine what driving to Miami or the Keys must have been like back in the day?!

And with this bad gas mileage....never mind :D

crazydrifter

i live in LA and am about to buy the RX-8 unfortunaly though this might make me very reluctant to do so...gas in LA is over 2.20 a gallon if you go to 76 for 91 octane...are 16 gallons thats 35 bucks a fill. and i drive about 500 miles to 800 miles a week and if i get like 250 miles a tank well thats almost 100 bucks a week in gass and that comes out to over 5 grand a year in gas...hell i should start to drive my old expedition with that i can fill it up with 89 octane and get 400 pluss a tank...

but no one has made any points about how the car is missing about 20 hp and about 4 mpg....something should be brought up to mazda...heck i might just buy a rx8 now just to bitch at mazda for making the car slower than the new dodge neon and have the fuel consumption of a ford 4.8l v8 supercharged...cause my friend with his harley edition f150 is getting about 15.3 mpg

r0tor

iTrader: (1)

can the people getting good mpg please check out what their exhaust tips look like?

First tank was 15 mpg - ok I'll concede I did spend a good 2 hours practicing start on that tank so I didn't think much of it. Now I just got 17 mpg driving like a complete granny, 1-3-5 or 1-3-6 shifting all the time, never getting above 4k rpm and doing most shifting around 3k... ok, I did nail it one time to run with a Stang GT but that was like 5 sec of fuel usage. You know what - its making me start to hate the car with a passion driving it like a 90 hp kia rio.

I only have 300 miles on the car and my exhaust is completely coated something fierce with black soot. This thing has to be running as rich as a top fuel dagster for gods sake to develop that amount of soot. LoL... and I was going to shell out $300 for exhaust finishers - I'd have to clean them every frikkin day just to be able to see them on my black car

RX-8 Zoomster

They do now. LINK HERE

loco4rx8

I got 18.97 on the first tank and 23.2 on the second. I've got a little over 600 miles on the car. My exhaust looks like someone spilled toner all over the inside of it.