I just purchased a 2004 Mazda RX-8 with 26k miles, and even with keeping the RPMs down Im only getting 200 miles out of the 16 gallon fuel tank. The Mazda dealership is at a lost (And doesn't seem to care in the least), and I'm not sure what to do. Has anyone had this problem or have any suggestions?

 

No, you are the only person on this board getting bad gas mileage.

 

Okay, That previous post was just cruel.

There are many folks that have had gas mileage issues. Search the board for some appropriate answers and ideas.

Also, to achieve best fuel mileage, shift at the manufacturers recommendations for shift points (read the manual). Loosely translates to shifting at 3000rpm. Also great if you like shifting, as you'll shift 4 times to get to 40mph.

 

That's just mean dood! =)

 

wow...thats deep...there are several of us that get this kind of mileage....at best i have gotten 240ish out of a tank with mixed driving.....if you search out this forum there are plenty of threads that deal with this....you are not alone and mazda will do nothing about it....it is after all a sports car so just enjoy it and drive it like you stole it.....do you know if your flashes are current and if the car has had its maintenance done?....that could help some....there are some abnormal cars out there that have also brok 300 to the tank but they are pretty rare....

 

where are you located. at or mt? what fuel do you use

it is NOT abnormal to get more than 300 per tank- thats just highway driving

 

16-17 here..

 

~20 mph here.

 

So do you drive EVERYWHERE at that speed???


I'm getting 20-21mpg out of my 06'. I even squeezed 314 miles out of a tank once. I feel for your 12 though....that sucks. Almost sounds as bad as driving my Jeep that has a 360 V-8........ it ranges anywhere from 7 to 8 mpg.

 

Love the car! Would just prefer the 18-24 MPG that they advertise. Thanks for the help though.

 

I float between 220 and 240(250 once) per tank(14-15+ gallons)...

it would be nice to have a 300 mile range

 

It's a MT in eastern PA north of Philly. I've been trying to shift around 3k RPMs.

 

How much gas did you fill up when you got 200 miles on your tank?

If you do the math, at 200 miles, you are putting in approximately 16.67 gallons in your tank. By my estimation, that is practically bone dry.

More realistically, if you put about 14 gallons in your fillup, at 200 miles you are getting 14.3 mpg. Still sucks, but sounds a little more realistic.

I am almost always north of 17mpg, closer to 18mpg most times. Only a couple of times have I dropped below 17. I'm guessing that is closer to the "norm". On a "full" tank, that is about a 220-230 mile range, and a 13-14 gallon fillup.

 

I filled it up with 15 gallons last time. I purposely let it get really low to see my MPG more accurately. Every 50 miles it goes down a quarter of a tank. Maybe I'm getting 13, but no more than that. It has been serviced recently, and doesn't need a tune-up yet. I put 93 Octane in it, and the air filter and housing is clean. The tire pressure is good, and I haven't been using my A/C either.

 

get it out on the highway and FLOOR it. Keep it in 3rd if you have too and run it over 7K for a while.

change gas stations. use quality gas.. the cheap **** is just that. 87 gets me better milage. good 87 is better than cheap 93.

I'm a good 50/50 of city highway and I always get about 22 mpg, more on the highway, but you really have to run the car and keep it happy.

if you still have crummy gas mileage one more thing to try.. after driving. park, go into nuetral and rev then engine, hold it steady at 5k or so until the car gets hot, you want the temp gauge to start moving, or to hit the too hot fuel cut. make sure your thermostat is working. if it's sticking it can kill your milage.

 

Welcome to the club!

 

First thing you need to do is use 3rd grade math to properly determine your MPG.

Reset your trip every fill up, then take the miles you've made and divide it by the number of gallons you put into your car when you filled up.

By doing this A) you get the proper MPG (which will be higher then 12), B) you dont have to drain the tank completely to find out your MPG, C) You stop making threads about 12mpg when you're really getting better then that.

Example, 250 miles on my trip, i put in 13.5 gallons when i filled up...

250 divided by 13.5 = 18.52mpg

 

First of all, I said I put 15 gallons in it. I only got 200 miles from it. I am on extreme E and have used between 15 and the max of 15.9 gallons of fuel. Hence around 13 MPG which I previously stated the correction from 12. Thanks for your input though.

 

use my simple 3rd grade forumla on your next fillup, let us know what it says.

 

And all that is with me purposely driving like a granny. Can't imagine if I almost redlined it alot, lol! Probably get like 10 or 11. Oh well, I still love her.

 

I know very few third graders who are driving enough to calculate their gas mileage.

 

this car NEEDS to be redlined... frequently. driving it like a ganny WILL kill it.

 

So what is good gas? Mobile, sunoco, hess?????????

 

I remember there's a topic somewhere here that has a list of "certified" stations. Included were Shell, 76, and a bunch of others. The suppliers of those gassolines supposidly meet a certain set of standards. Anyways, just search for that topic.

 

wow... didn't realize these 3 pages were all from 3 hours