Edo

I played with AC on or off in my TT, and found it made bugger all difference. After 17k miles pretty much always with climate control on, I am at just over 30MPG.

The initial lower cost of the RX over say an equivelant spec'd TT (about 4k) means I can cope with low 20's.

If it averages under 20 (with a gentle 60 miles on motorway every work day) Mazda will be buying it back off me!!!

beavis

In a way (and don't take this wrong - I like the RX8!!!) I wish there was a 'normal, non rotary' engine option for the RX8, e.g. 0-60 in 8 secs or so, decent mpg, some engine from a Mazda 6 etc and the combination of the good looks and design would make a mass market seller. My main sticking point regarding the car is the fact it's a 'thirsty rotary'! At the end of the day everybody would prefer to pay less money for petrol and that's my main sticking point!

Cheers all.
B.

rotorian

Hi guys,
For what it's worth,
I have about 5500 km on my car (3400 miles) I can report that the gas mileage is getting better. Has been as low as 16-18 mpg (imperial btw) I still convert it, not used to litres per 100 km.
My last tank was over 21 mpg. (Mixed city and highway)I drive the car relatively hard. Lots of runs up to 8-9000 rpm, and a few burn outs as well!

I'd suggest that most of you will drive the car the same way, it's too hard not to, soooo sweet!

Any how I hope this helps.

morganrogers

beavis -

Well , I am the opposite to you I am afraid.
Without the rotary , there would be no RX8.
Only the compact size and positioning makes this possible.

For me , I have been following the development for years and it is because I have always wanted another rotary. When the RX8 price was announced that was it. A new rotary , and it looks pretty good too - sold.

If the RX8 were piston powered , I would not have even considered it. I mean it is pretty and all , but without the engine the magic would be gone. The looks alone are not enough for me - I want to drive it , not look at it all day.

It is not just you , many of the others seem to have similar misgivings - but what I would like to know is this.
Does anyone who has prviously owned a rotary have any misgivings about the engine at all ? I suspect the answer is 'No'. They just cannot wait for another one ! !

The Ace

If there was no rotary engine under the hood, there literally wasnt going to be a "RX8", because the name itself contains the "Rotary" word

It could be a "PX8", as in "Piston eXperiment" :o

rael

Mr Morgan - I have never driven a car with a rotary engine but would buy the 8 if it had a normal engine because I love the shape, 4 seats, price etc. The engine is a mystery to me and most new buyers but you, others rotaryheads and the media have good things to say so I am willing to take a chance.

It is however a bit worrying that Mazda alone are going along the rotary route and both mpg and oil usage sound excessive.

Whats the worse that can happen?

rael

beavis

Interesting discussion and Rael, I completely agree and think Mazda would have sold even more cars if it wasn't a rotary as the look, price and concept is so good with little or no alternatives in the market. The only car I'm comparing it against is the TT which I believe you own and that's where my main sticking point is as the TT seems quite economical for such a fast car and as I have said previously, everybody wants to spend less on petrol (especially after the recent announcements this week on petrol rises!).

Will probably make my mind up when I see an RX8 in the flesh and eventually get to drive it!

Cheers all

B.

oilman

Not buying the car for its MPG, if I were, I probably wouldn't be buying it in the first place.

Cheers
Oilman

rael

Oilman - Presumably you have a 'deal' with your local garage considering you are in the same sector.

I am getting high 20's out of my TTC 225 and that is driving on mixed roads and quite hard. For a sports car (and I realise there are many TT bashers on this site) it does great mpg plus 4WD.

My XJS 3.6 did about 15-18 mph but that was one big heavy luxurious cruiser.

I do believe the mpg is a major negative which will impact on sales, all depends if the other positives can override this.

rael

beavis

Rael - side issue here....have you had any problems with the TT? I've had a few people mention the recent reliability surveys..a little unfair as I suspect the majority are to do with the coil pack problems which should be sorted now. Are you changing to an RX8 for the extra seats at the back?

Cheers
B.

rael

5p per gallon increase from 1st Oct.

Beavis - No problem at all except for the coil pack. Had first service yesterday after 18 month and 13k miles, cost £275 all in.

Changing because I always preferred the look of the 8 even when I ordered the TTC in July 2001 (delivery March 2002), 4 seats now more important but also I think the TTC has obtained a negative image and it's no longer the car I was once very proud of. Also, because of the eye-catching shape there seems to be more on the roads than there actually are.

But the 8 will have to go some to beat the TTC which I always found fun to drive and still look forward to getting into each morning.

rael

westie

Hello again from Toronto:

Read your discussion after my post. My main concern is the range of the car. I don't think it's acceptable for a modern car to have a sub-400km (240mile) range. As I said I get the same mileage with the Suburban towing the boat but it can go 1000km (600miles) on a tank of cheaper regular 87 octane gas. Of course, I don't tow a boat back and forth to work every day and I don't want to spend every other day at the gas station. There was also the matter of the lack of available rims and snow tires, and the missing block heater for our Canadian winters.

In answer to Murphy in Glasgow, the mileage is the same whether we use the A/C or open the windows and sunroof. It's also only marginally better if I drive it like a granny. I figured out the conversion for the metrically challenged. As I stated we are averaging 16.5L/100km which works out to 17.1mpg imperial or 14.25mpg american. I'm sure you'll all agree that is not acceptable in this day and age no matter how much you like the car. When we were presented with the buy back offer, our acceptance seemed a matter of common sense.

By the way I gave the dealer opportunities to fix the problem. I realized from the beginning that the soot at the tailpipe was telling me the car was running rich. The dealer doesn't know why, but suspects the ECU's were changed at the port of Vancouver due to emissions problems. There was an unexplained 1 week delay after they landed. They can't fix it because they haven't had a technical bulletin and if they replace the ECU it contains the same program as the original.

I discussed the buyback with the Mazda Canada executive in charge of the program and he told me they realize that all the Canadian cars are running rich and it has been reported to Japan. He assumes they will write a new program for the ECU but it will take 8-12 months to implement due to the various goverment emission issues, etc. This also explains where the missing HP has gone. There seems to be a pretty clear link in my mind.

Like I said it would foolish not to take the buyback and complain for the next year about the mileage.

Good luck to all of you, I will continue to follow the forum while we enjoy this new Infiniti G35 coupe which I believe is the Nissan Skyline in Japan and other markets.

westie

Well guys, here in Canada we had until Oct 1 to advise Mazda whether we wanted "hush money" ($500 and free service) or a full refund of the purchase price (in our case $48,780 CAD). Since they haven't been able to provide a good reason for the incredibly poor MPG we reluctantly told them to take the car and give us our money back. Too bad because we grew to love the car after only 2 months of ownership. On a positive note however, better to have loved and lost, than never to have..........The good news is that it's apparently going to take them another 2-3 weeks to figure out when to take the cars back so we continue to drive this great car for free whilst we delay picking up the new car we ordered from the Nissan/Infiniti dealer.

For those of you interested try monitoring our forum in Canada, we have one member, canzoomer, who has decided to keep his 8 and has turned it into a project to develop a chip to increase HP and MPG. Last I saw he had already found an extra 24HP and he may market something through his company.

Things we noticed on our Hi-Power 6 spd and to watch for when you finally get your 8's

1. Oil Consumption- 1L per 2000KM
2. Fuel Consumption- combined city/highway (30/70) 16L/100KM or 17 MPG Imperial
3. Leaking gaskets and stress fractures front and back lights allow moisture inside lenses
4. Oil light comes on at high speed (above 130km/h) due to faulty baffle design
5. Aircon problems-when heater is set to "feet" only with Aircon button off (ie. to introduce fresh outside air to car) Aircon compressor turns on and cycles anyway with Aircon light out. No way to bring fresh air to feet without Aircon coming on!
6. No frost plug on engine or way to install block heater (for colder climates)
7. Hard to find steel rims and snow tires.

Anyway, good luck with your cars when you finally get them. I thought you all might appreciate a report from the field so to speak.

Westie in Toronto

Edo

Now I am worried.

westie

One more thing I neglected to mention, after reading some of the US threads re MPG we tried using several tanks of unleaded regular 87 octane gasoline but encountered even worse mileage than we got using super 91 octane or premium 94 octane gas. I read somewhere that this has to do with the ECU settings.

Westie

rael

Wonder if its worth approaching Mazda on this issue. If we buy the car and the mpg is half that advertised can we return the car or is this information now in the public domain and we therefore should know better.

Some scary information out there. The drive better be worth it especially as I may have sold my TTC a test drive is possible.

rael

Edo

The drive is worth it. I dont mind getting low 20's, but with my commute on the M4, 20 or less, and they will be buying back under the trade's description act.

I have the UK spec document in front of me.

Uk 230Bhp;

Urban - 17.9
Extra - 31.7
Combined - 24.8

mr_digital_uk

1. About right for this kind of car
2. A bit lower than I expected, but I'll live with that
3. Worries me, but should be covered under warranty
4. Fixed by Mazda already
5. Can't see why I'd want to do that
6. Doesn't matter here in the UK
7. Same as 6

So, not too worried really

hairyfrog

Recent reviews I hace read where they have actually measured mpg rather than just go with mazda figures have come out low 20's which I don't think is too bad considering reviewers were probably lead footed. Makes you wonder if

a) us / canadian cars higher hp makes a difference to consumption
b) these guys have a problem with their cars...

Read a review of the new 3.2 Audi A3 the other day (which I was considering). Audi claim 27mpg, reviewers got 17... Ouch.

ChrisW

Mazda recently revised these figures upwards (see UK website). The new figures are:

Urban - 18.1
Extra - 32.5
Combined - 25.2

I guess they must be confident that the figures are correct if they are revising them upwards. The question is how this relates to everyday driving. If the test procedure doesn't involve much use of high revs it might not be very relevant to the RX-8.

MarkW

I noticed that last night when looking on the website. Seems strange they have slightly increased them though after the bad fuel reports in the US.....

westie

Notes from overseas to those EC owners concerned about MPG:

some things you might want to consider while waiting to pick up your new Rx8's. Pay close attention to the MPG right off the bat. I think you on the right track Rael. See if you can get something in writing from Mazda UK or your dealer acknowledging that you are expecting mileage within a variance of say 10-20% of what they are publishing, especially now they have published revised numbers. If then the car can't achieve that, you then have the option of returning the car for a full refund after a reasonalble test period, say 30 days. This is probably not as hard as you think since Mazda has created a precedent in the US and Canada for full refunds, albeit for lack of HP. You must have some solicitors amongst your owners group, they might be able to offer advice. Personally, I would hold Mazda UK's feet to the fire on this issue, but from reading earlier posts you know where I stand on the MPG business.

BTW, now that it's getting colder here (0-10C) the MPG is getting worse, last tank was 14-15 MPG (imperial). That is without exceeding 5-6000 RPM and of course we know that's no fun! Lucky for us that Mazda is buying back the car within the next few weeks.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I don't trust Mazda now in regards to this issue. They have likely provided special cars for the goverment MPG testers and the car mag reviewers. I mean why not if they can get away with it? At the very least the renesis engines are not consistent in their build quality. There are too many of us getting very poor MPG for this to an isolated incident. Check the Aussie forum, some of them get poor MPG, so it's not limited to the US spec cars.

We KNOW there is something wrong with this car (and the others), but the most annoying thing is that they won't officially acknowledge that the mileage is poor. Their approach seems to be that the cars are being driven too hard. They won't even look at the engine again until it's broken in with more than 5,000KM. In our case with 4,800KM on it in almost 2 months, that would have taken us past the buy back deadline. Common sense then to turn it in and cash the cheque.

Some of your fellow owners seem to think it's crazy to expect good mileage out of a sports car and are willing to excuse this critical flaw in an otherwise outstanding car. This is not a 500HP Viper or a 6,000 lb. Bentley after all, but that's the kind of mileage we have put up with. They seem to think I am expecting VW Golf diesel kind of MPG. I am not, I am using Mazda's published MPG as my guide, and we are barely achieving half those numbers. This is clearly not acceptable and they don't seem to know the cause or how to fix it. Be relentless with Mazda and hold them to accounts. If gas prices continue to rise you will be very sorry.

Good Luck, Westie

Mitch Strickler

The advertised figures in the US are EPA figures on the sticker: 18-24 for high power, 18-25 for auto (we don't get the 5-speed). Many of us don't come close. Like you, I always matched or exceeded EPA highway figures. Not close so far (less than 2,000 miles) with my auto RX8, driven about the same way I drove my Acura GS-R and others. To be more specific, I recently filled up after about 170 miles on the road. The first half was done mostly with the cruise control on 80, a/c off, with a fair amount at speeds around 60 on slower roads. My estimate, based on the gas gauge, which has been consistent, was low 20s. On the way back, I drove mostly around 90, high 97, with more a/c, and redlined in first a couple of times. Overall, just short of 19 mpg. Temp in 70s, not humid.

morganrogers

I wasn't concerned - I am now Westie ! ! !

I am expecting 25mpg (imperial).
Sounds high I know , but I have achieved published figs from every car I have had , and this should be the same.

80% of my miles are at 60-80mph on the M1 , hardly stressfull....

Edo

I with you on this Morgan... I averaged 30Mpg in the 225 TT, over 20k - that was 50% motorway, and 50% everything else.

It's simple - the combined high power figure is 24 - with a commute on the M4 from west London to Bracknell every day, I'd better get over 20, or Mazda will be buying the car back - simple as that.