LawFitz

Okay, just got my 8 this weekend and even though I luv the car, I'm pretty disappointed by the gas consumption.

I seem to be averaging about 13-15 MPG city and 18 Highway. Ouch.

I know it's a sportscar, but this is worse than i imagined.

Anyone have mod tips on how to make this better... K&N air filter? Cold-air intake? Different ECU program?

I like shifting between 3-6K RPMs in normal driving. I don't want to have to shift at 3K RPMs. If driving like a p*ssy is the best solution, then I shouldn't have bot the car in the first place.

Also, I got mine as a new '04 at a great deal, but it looks like it was built in 6/03; so even though it had only 400 miles, it's been around for a while. Is there anything I should be concerned about?

Bl/Bl, NAV, GT - $28,400 out the door. Good deal? Not sure anymore.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions... This forum is awesome!!!

rx8wannahave

OK, that comment was a little dumb...sorry, go search newbie...

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

Congrats on your car, nice colour combo!

Not much you can do for the mileage, the good news seems to be that it doesn't get much worse, no matter how hard/fast you drive it! :D

We do have enough data to tell you that a K&N is not the answer, and the car already comes with a well designed CAI. There is a lot of hope for e retune of the ECU, but so far no-one has cracked it.

S

m82492

You are gonna get killed for this question since there are so many posts about it. Do a search for " gas mileage " and you'll find tons of info. I just got my 05 on Friday last week and got 14.4/mpg 90% city driving like a dweeb the entire time. From reading posts I can tell you - 1. make sure you have the most up to date flash "N Flash " done by Mazda 2. you are in the break in period so it should get better after you are able to open it up a bit. 3. Not much you can do to improve mileage on your own except switching to 89 Octane fuel. You will get better mileage by 3-4 / tank but will most likely give you knocking.

I learned all that by reading not from experience so take it with a grain of salt. I feel your pain believe me but I knew these things before I bought the car. The look and drive of the damn thing makes it worth it!

Blah

Take it easy on the guy...He just got the vehicle and he has concerns. You had concerns too when you got yours so don't be the pot that called the kettle black!

Anyway, here's some advice, if you don't like the gas mileage that you are getting it's best not to have the X as your primary source of transportation because it will eat gas up and there is nothing you can do about it. But just keep in mind that it's a sports car and all sports cars, regardless of which, will eat gas up so that should ease your worries a little. Now when the car was made is correct. They started coming out with the '04 model in '03 as so the '05 in '04. You can't change that either. Just enjoy the car man and take care of it. If your worried about the gas then don't drive it as much. I hope I was of some help. As far as rude boy calling you newbie, don't pay him no mind...Congrats dude and welcome to the club!

rx8wannahave

I did not take issue with his concern..., I took issue with his comment that shifting in the 3K's regulates you to driving like a P......please read correctly before you start telling me I'm being judgemental....

It's a little imiture to generalize a driver by his shift point....

fredw1

Welcome as well. I knew what to expect and bought the 8 anyway. it was a shock at first, coming from a Civic Si whose worst mileage in mixed driving was 26. Now I get about 17. On mostly-highway tanks, I get 20.

Despite the poor mileage, I find more excuses to drive my 8 more than any other car I have owned. In fact, I found a new 20-mile route which I regularly take for the 3-mile drive to and from work.

m82492

I agree with Blah that people need to take it easy on new people in here. Not everyone knows the wealth of info that exists here and the excellent search feature available. Most other boards search function get you nowhere.

rx8wannahave

I'm all for understanding he/she is new here, my only issue was with THAT comment...

m82492

I think Blah took issue with calling him a newbie and telling him to search without offering any type of info. For the record...I shift at 3,000 and feel like a dweeb doing so....no a p*ssy but a very large size dweeb! Unfortunately that is the way I need to drive till 600 miles.

khtm

Sounds like you just want to argue...are you trying to say that regularly shifting at 3000 RPM makes you an aggresive driver? If not, then it's obviously the opposite. If you have a problem with the term "p*ssy", then maybe you're too PC to be using the Internet. :p

(personally, I shift at low RPS more often than not when driving in the city, mostly to save gas, so yeah, I could be called a p*ssy sometimes, no big deal...)

rx8wannahave

I shift in the 3.5-4.25K (with normal driving)and be mad at me if you wish, but being a new member to a forum and proclaiming people that do this or that are (INSERT INSULT HERE) is not the way to start things.

Gosh, this seems like it's easy to understand but I guess I"m just so sensitive...

Don't get me wrong, I can care less what some people call other people or myself (it's just someone on the other end of a computer)...but I just did not like that comment.

Am I free to dislike a comment?????

Lawfitz I apologize for filling up your thread with this little spat, don't mind me....hopefully someone will be able to help you out.

rx8wannahave

Oh...and I guess you ment that I might think that people who shift over 3K are aggressive drivers right....your statement did not make sense???

I do think that people who cruise around in 7K or shift at 7K each gear are aggressive drivers and apparently don't know what traffic is or have great roads where they live.

czr

iTrader: (3)

Relax people, make nice and move on :o

LawFitz

My apologies for offending with the "p*ssy" comment. It was a generalization b/c this car has such a great rpm range... I think the car actually yearns to be driven at the higher RPMs and will actually last longer if opened up regularly.

The car luvs to eat gas, but at least it burns fuel more efficiently I guess. It's a partial concession to know that even though my wallet will be hurting, the environment is not being abused as much.

Maybe I do need to find a cheap beater car to split the drive time.

Oh well, I still luv her, even though she's an expensive, high maintenance b*tch!

Whoops, no offense with the "b*tch" comment either.

Take care.

rx8wannahave

The fuel economy will go up with time, I too was VERY worried about getting 10-13mpg from what I heard from members here but I am AVG 19.2 since owning the car and I have not driven like a grandma or anything...

I hope your 8's thirst will go down, just make sure you watch that oil level at every other fill up...per Mazda.

I check it once a week since I'm new to the rotary engine.

khtm

I was just using simple logic. If you don't think shifting at 3K is driving like a p*ssy, then you must think it's driving the opposite of a p*ssy: aggressive. Now if you don't agree with my previous sentence, then you're basically admitting that you don't agree with yourself.

Well there you said it. If 7k is aggressive, then 3k is p*ssy. Get it now?

You're the one that jumped on the new guy for stating his opinion; now you're getting all defensive.

<HUGS ALL AROUND!> :D

Rhawb

I'm getting up to about 2000 miles on mine and I'm starting to see some vast improvements in my mileage (and trust me, I don't drive like a p*ssy, if I did, I'd get run over leaving this place). I wasn't able to go a week before filling up when I first got here, and now I'm pushing into a week and a half on my current tank. Driving style/conditions/frequency are all pretty consistent, so obviously something's going right. Just stick with it, I think you'll see some improvement after you get it broken in a bit more.

rx8wannahave

I was just using simple logic. If you don't think shifting at 3K is driving like a p*ssy, then you must think it's driving the opposite of a p*ssy: aggressive.

Logic...lol, why can't I think shifting at 3K (which I don't do) is just normal driving? Why does it have to be p*** driving or driver? It must be Canadian logic...lol

Now if you don't agree with my previous sentence, then you're basically admitting that you don't agree with yourself.

Yes...that's it....khtm...you doing OK? Logic...lol....

rx8wannahave

Welcome to the club...there is a HUGE amount of great information, and a few running feuds...sorry, hopefully you will ignore the sometimes testy relationships on this website.

khtm

If anything, you should be doubting your American logic, as it seems to be less in agreement with the rest of the world than my Canadian logic :p

booya.

Anyways, enough of that...this isn't going anywhere and definitely has nothing to do with getting better gas mileage.
Yep, I also noticed improvements after about 3k KMs. Used to get 16-17 and now get 19-20.

rx8wannahave

booya...I never heard a Canadian say that....LOL LOL LOL

MX6_2_RX8

The price we all put up with for a good ride.


It's not that the gas mileage is that bad but the tank is small so it makes it look worse. To make matters worse, the gas gague drops the fastest when it is full. You pull out of the gas station and before you are 15 min away it looks like it is down a quarter!!!

I get 20-21 on the highway running 87 octane. No knocking but it is cold here now. I've read quite a few gas mileage posts (because it is imposible to avoid them) and most people worry about knocking but I don't know that many have actually experienced it. The owners manual (Which is recommended reading by this fourm more often than not. :p RTFM ) clearly states that if you are using an octane below 87 you need to worry about knocking.

The bottom line is that you will love driving it so much that you won't care about the mileage. I had my concerns when I saw the needle drop the first few tanks but I still take the long way home and just make sure I stop and fill it up so I can do it again the next day.

Enjoy!

therm8

If your regretting your purchase over the mpg. You probably would not have purchased it had you researched a little. The best mileage you'd probably see is 18-20 (still pretty low in today's market). A little ecu tuning will probably help out if your mileage is really low. Search "canzoomer."


Oh yeah, welcome.

LawFitz

No, not regretting... just getting used to it.

I luv her too much to let the mileage get to me.

Thx for the tips!