Will Barger

Since day one, 3,900 miles and 3 months now, I have averaged 10 to 12 MPG in the city and 17 to 19 on the highway. Mazda claims 19 and 24, respectively.

Dealer says it is normal, but I just don't buy it. They say there is nothing they can do about it.

Anyone else getting terrible fuel economy? Any suggestions?

Last_D8

I have ~800 miles on my 6MT. 1st 3 tanks of mostly city
driving gave these results:

1. 18.4 MPG
2. 18.6 MPG
3. 19.1 MPG

I've not been on an extended freeway drive yet but suspect
it'll get a couple MPG better.

Rgds, Mark

amartin

Do a search on here for "gas milage", you'll see that TONS and TONS of people are getting ~12mpg city. I get ~11.5-12mpg in the city also.

There are a few threads which recommend contacting the NTHSA and a link to their site to complain.

-- Aaron

WHealy

Will,

Lots of posts already on this subject. Keep in mind the numbers on the sticker are the goverments, not Mazda's. not defending poor little Mazda, just trying to clarify. My milage numbers are close to yours, but have you added in the fun factor? Always makes that issue go away for me!

geffy

Not to be mean or anything but if you did your research before you bought the car you should have known about the gas mileage issue. It has been talked to death on this forum. I personally knew about this issue and I still bought the rx-8 knowing what was in store with gas mileage.

Will Barger

I realize that rotary engines are typically gas guzzlers, but the whole point of the Renesis engine was to have much improved efficiency and power over the last series used in RX-7's...at least that's what I've been reading and hearing.

Premium gas around here is $1.80 these days. That coupled with 10.5 mpg (last fill up) is breaking the bank!!

Granted, the fun factor is nice, but there just aren't that many opportunities really enjoy it, thus, my conservative driving habits around town should give me better results than 10 to 12 mpg...shouldn't it???

bunglega

Conservative driving is relative...I average 18 MPG - 60% city / 40% highway. Traffic keeps me from driving too hard so the majority of my shifts are at 4 - 5K RPM. I cruise in 5th or 6th gear and don't hold revs too long.

This car hates idling at red lights more than anything...

Will Barger

I did a ton of research and the places I checked out all quoted Mazda's claim and said that the claim was fairly close according to their tests. Unfortunately, I did not find this forum until months after my purchase.

Will Barger

Does yours vibrate at idle? Man, mine sure does. It's very irritating to say the least. It just started this and seems to have gotten progressively worse. I'm thinking fouled plugs. Oil level is right on the mark. (I check it at every fill up. I've added 3 qts. in the first 3,500 miles.) However, give it just a tiny bit of throttle and it's smooth as silk and remains so up to redline.

I haven't had time to paruse all the threads, are there any threads on this subject?

Sea Ray

3 qts in 3500 miles!!! That sure sounds like a lot, are you driving it fairly hard? I'm at 2200 and have added less than 1/2 qt.

Maybe a trip to the dealer for a check up wouldn't hurt.

Will Barger

Doesn't it though?! The service mgr. told me to expect it to use 1qt/1000 miles. Reason he says; because there are 4 oil injectors that inject oil directly into the combustion/intake area to lube the wipers against the rotor wall. He claims that there is no other way to get oil in this critical spot and because of where it is going, naturally it will be consumed over time.

For the most part, I drive "normal"...just staying with the traffic flow, not a lot of high revving. But being what the car is, one can't help but put their foot into it from time to time! :-) I've heard the rev limiter "buzzer"...well, more than once, but certainly nothing to warrant excessive oil use.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

am on 4th tank.

tank 1 18.4mpg
tank 2 20.2mpg
tank 3 20.8mpg

about 70% highway

tank 4 is not going to be pretty just hit the 1000mile mark and drove very very hard yesterday. this car is awsome and the brakes are increadable.

beers

zoom44

what the service guy said is correct about what,when, how and why of oil usage in the renesis engine. however on the quantity he is way off. no one on this site has ever mentioned using the amount of oil you are. most people i believe are adding about 1 quart per 2,500 miles. if that much. your oil consumption is wrong. have them check it out. period. also you need to have them re-flash whatever they have to, to try and fix your mpg. if you are simply driving like a normal everday driver just around town (sort of "granny driving") there is no reason for you to have had 10.? mpg unless you can't calculate it correctly or there is something wrong with your engine and/or its computer. hell i ragged the crap out of my car for a full tank recently and got 12.2 mpg. there is something wrong with yours.

Will Barger

Zoom44,

I agree with what you are saying. I certainly do not want to come off as "bad mouthing" my dealer service mgr., but he admitted to me that neither he nor anyone else there is up to speed with the RX-8 in general. They constantly compare the '95 (9 year-old) RX-7 to the 8, which is just wrong. He claims that they have no way to modify the 'puter nor anyway to read engine data...as of yet. ??????!!!! To be such a great dealership and the largest Mazda dealer around, you'd think they'd be state-of-the-art.

When I park in my garage at night, the entire garage overwhelmingly smells like raw gas. Smell the exhaust tips and there ya go. I mentioned this to them along with all the other symptoms and they said it was normal. BS!!

...and BTW, Let's see...I drove 125.7 miles and put 11.9 gallons 'til you can't sqeeze another drop in and if I am correct, that comes out to 10.5630252101 MPG...hehehe ...oh, and at 1.799/gal, that cost me $21.41 ouch! We engineers have to know a little math :-)

swoope

iTrader: (5)

will barger,

what is the build date of your car????

just curious.

beers

JeRKy 8 Owner

Wow soyou guys w/12 mpg city cant even get 200 miles out of a full tank? I thought I hadit bad. I at least get 240 in 100%city driving. Will Barger is your car auto or manual? I havethe idle problem too go and read this entire post https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=17611

zoom44

sorry, no slight intended. we have seen a few people who have not calculated the mpg correctly so it helps to ask. is there another dealership close to you? if so go there. tell them everything that you told the other service department and make sure they know they are the second to look at it. tell them everything the first guy said. if there is or isn't you need to escalate this to a regional service rep. get someone to make the call because if first service guy doesn't have the means to flash your comp he should. plus you need to get someone in on this that has actual knowledge and training. also check the tsb's in the sticky up above this one and print them all out and take them with you so you can make sure to have whatever work is required done.

Will Barger

Not exactly sure...do these photos tell you?

Will Barger

swoope,

the photos were for you...

Will Barger

Absolutely none taken.

zoom44

yep those will do. your car was born in august of '03 and you can your vin there against the vin ranges for the various tsb's to see if your car is affected by any of them.

Will Barger

6 speed man.

Thx for the link!

swoope

iTrader: (5)

yep,
and the build date was given correctly. has anyone looked at the idea of the eairlier build dates tend to get bad gas millage.

i also notice that the west coast tends to be worse.

i guess i have been lucky i knew about the gas mileage going in. and it is close to what i hoped.

i do find shifting before 4k helps.

my build date was 10 03

beers

Sea Ray

Do a search, there is a thread that included details of each persons car and avg mpg. It did appear that vin#/date of mfg had little to do with mpg.

Sea Ray

That thread is called " Lets compare Vin# and MPG" I don't know how to post the thread link here.

How do you do that?