says Mazda claimed 20% better fuel efficiency then the RX-7. What was the gas mileage of the RX-7?

 

I just finished a 950 mile round trip from Orlando, FL to Winchester, VA. My average highway mileage for the trip was about 22 MPG (I checked on every tank). Some were a little more, some a little less, but the avg. was 22. This was with driving with cruise control on at about 78-80 MPG pretty much the whole way. The drive home was much worse because of HEAVY traffic on I-95. It took almost 10 hours to go 430 miles. I saw mileage actually increase on the last tankful due to the insanely slow highway speeds. I wonder what I'd get if I ran an entire tank at 55 MPH on the highway (haven't been able to keep it that slow so far!).

 

That's one reason I'm trying to stay out of prison!

 

There have been complaints about guages that don't show exactly what is happening with what they are supposedly measuring. For example, fuel guages that indicate you are about to run out when in fact there is another gallon or more in the tank. And oil pressure guages that show steady pressure, when in fact that are frequent variations, within the safe and normal range.
Manufacturers -- all or at least most of them -- make guages this way to suit the needs of the majority of owners, people who know little about how their cars work, and don't pay much attention to them. With dead accurate guages, those people would occasionally run out of gas, and would keep bothering their dealers about fluctuating oil pressure readings. So, for those people, the current calibration of guages is a good thing. They fill up in time, and don't worry as they drive.
Now how about the rest of us, those who carefully monitor everything about our cars? What harm does fiddling with the guages do to us? Next to none, IMO. Just a little trial and error lets us know exactly what the readings on our gas guage, and the timing of the yellow light, really mean. We're smart enough to make the mental adjustment without having the pointer aligned with a particular marker. And to treat the oil pressure guage as just a more decorative version of an idiot light.
There are really important things to gripe about, such as low mileage. Let's spend our energy trying to make Mazda do something about that.

 

I've started a thread about the low mpg and contacting Mazda officially about it. Please visit this thread.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=17649

 

That's just BS. The posted EPA number is an "average" number. In smaller font they post a range. I have had a whole string of cars where I would achieve near the top end of the highway range by driving carefully and setting the cruise. I go to a lot of trouble in these test runs to do the last fillup using exactly the same pump parked in exactly the same place and using exactly the same shutoff as the initial fillup, and they always have enough miles (>500) to make error negligible. This is the first car that I have ever owned that comes in at the bottom of the range, well below the bold font number.

Following various threads on this forum that study the fuel mapping in the 8, I'm inclined to believe that the ECU is not driving the engine as lean as it should, and that the posted numbers do not reflect the configuration delivered to the American market. In the long run it would have cost Mazda less to put in a sturdier cat that can tolerate more heat than it will to fix this problem post delivery - and if we all make a big enough stink they probably will have to do something. I for one, will write NA Mazda. See this thread...

 

lol :p

 

Bumped for an update

 

Look, for all of you who keep telling me it's BS, I'm not the one who said it, Automotive News did, in the November 24th issue. And if you guys disagree, that's fine, but that's your prerogative. And honestly, I really am not all that concerned anyway, since I get the stated MPG.

 

How about anyone who's filed a complaint in this way let us know on this thread. I complained (informally) back in August and they said "No one else has complained yet." Are they still saying this? Let's keep track and catch 'em in a lie.

 

can i just ask??? what you think Mazda can do about it now??? or maybe for the next ones right?

 

Not sure who your question is directed, but if its towards me, I guess I don't know what they can do about it. What I'm hoping for is a response from Mazda to atleast recognize the problem. From there maybe they can offer up solutions. Oh, and yes, for the future RX8's maybe they can post accurate mpg or modify the vehicles to get the stated mpg.

 

Good info

 

Update.

Los Angeles to Sequoia National Park and back on Christmas. Shell gas getting there and also coming back (there is a Shell in Exeter, which is the town at the base of the Sierra Nevadas about 20 miles before the Sequoia entrance and before the road becomes inclined).

The mileages are just between LA and the Shell station at the base of the Sierra Nevadas before the mountain comes into play (~235 miles one-way). There is however one prolonged hilly obstacle just north of LA known as the Grape Vine that may have adversely affected mileage.

Averaged between 65 and 70 miles per hour. On the way there: 22.322 mpg. On the way back: 23.576.

 

I did a 180 mile trip over the hoilday, averaged 73 mph using the crusie control, 55 degrees. 20.8 mpg. I just turned 1000 miles at the end of the trip, so it should, I really hope, get better. And I use Chevron supreme 93 octane.

 

skagen, good effort but i dont think it would do anything for us at least, perhaps in the future mazda will rerate the MPG for the car, but thats all i can see happening.

i will write to them, not like the mpg really bothers me, i am more worried about the flooding. I enjoy every minute I spend in the 8 and can not see myself complaining about it except well my REAL PROBLEM WITH THE CAR: everytime i drive cars around me seem to be driving TOO SLOW!!! i dont understand it are they too busy looking at the car or i just bump into slow people with the RX8?

overall i am very pleased with the car. more then complaints the mpg and floodings are issues i am concerned about.

 

I'm not going to sticky this ...

 

Got back from my road trip new Years Eve. It wasn't a huge one: Atlanta to Columbia, Columbia to Charleston. Charleston to St. Simon's Island.

Filled up at a variety of gas stations throughout the trip, and got mileages varying between 19 mpg and 22.5 mpg. Overall I averaged about 21.5 mpg though I would estimate.

 

I think everyone who feel there are any kind of problem with their car SHOULD write/call to file a complain. If you really wanted the car manufacturer to do something about your problem, you need to let them it is a big problem and it is affecting a lot of people. This is how you get the attention of the big bosses so they will allocate some cash to investigate your problem and find a way to fix it.

Bottomline is you have nothing to lose by letting them know you are not completely happy about their product.

 

isnt it illegal for a manufacturer to lie about the mpg for a car.... i remember when the H2 was new because it is more of a comercial directed vehicle and not consumer directed they were not required by law to post the MPG which led to people getting mad when they only got 11/15 MPG (or something close to that)

 

Car manufacturers are required to put the EPA results on the window sticker, yes?

If anybody thinks that the EPA is lying about their fuel economy testing results of the pre-production RX-8s or has kept quiet about their fuel economy testing results of production RX-8s, they should complain to the EPA.

This topic was covered a little bit about a month ago at the below thread:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=15454

Brian

 

From that thread itself, the EPA suggests contacting Mazda and complaining. So I guess that's the only course of action with our probs. Oh, and don't get me wrong, I do believe the flooding issue is a problem as well, most definitely. For myself, in my letter I complained of both.

 

Have you flooded your car?

 

I did; it's at the shop right now. Details are in the other flooding threads. But I didn't shut down cold; that's what puzzles me. I drove 500 miles, parked overnight, next day it grinds but not starts. Maybe it's something other than flooding; I will post the results when I hear from the dealer.

 

my car flooded, but I did the procedure and got it to start again. hey wannabe, you drove it 500 miles, shut her down and then it ate it on you the next day? That's definitely disturbing since its not characteristic of flooding, plz do keep us updated on your situation.