I haven't been one to complain about my fuel economy (and I hate to start yet another thread on the topic), but I have to speak up. I just refilled this morning, did my usual check on the fuel economy, and this was the lowest ever -- 12.9 mpg! I usually get about 15 mpg (around town driving), which doesn't really bother me. I didn't buy this car for its gas mileage, and I tend to drive it as it was intended to be driven

Of course this was the tank on which I flooded my engine, which probably accounts for the extremely low mileage.

 

Congratulations, jtimbck2. Looks like you got a good one there. Pick of the litter. The question now is: "Can you produce 10 mpg?"

 

Heh. Probably -- by using 87 octane (I normally use 89), driving it "like I stole it", and making sure I flood the engine a couple more times!

 

Don't feel bad jtimbck2, I drive mine pretty hard too but have never seen 12.9.. I've never had the pleasure of flooding mine though..

 

12.9 ouch, I am hoping to break the 17MPG barrier this fill up, hopefully it keeps getting better as I get past my first couple thousand miles.

I can't even give people who drive SUV's crap anymore...

 

I am more and more convinced that temp has an effect on MPG.
My last 2 tanks were run after a cold front in the area. We went from averages in the upper 60s down to everages in the 40s.
My MPGs before were about 17 MPG, the last 2 tanks were upper 14 to low 15 MPG. Same driving style.

THe temps are slightly warmer now, I will see if my MPG goes up a little.
It is pretty bad that my last tank , I hit the warning light at about 190 Miles on the odometer.

 

Of course temperature has an effect on MPG. The engine has to work harder to get up to operating temp., so it has to burn more fuel.

I hit the warning light this morning with 167 on the trip meter

 

Wow.. 12.9? Join the club. The best I have gotten yet is about 13.2mpg!

Never flooded mine, dunno how people do that in the first place. However, I get notoriously crappy mileage in whatever I drive.. prolly has something to do with my right foot!

I have company gas cards, so I'm lucky in that regard.. that said, I'm going to see just *how bad* of mileage i can get next tank. Any takers for sub-10mpg?

 

89 Octane? I think you should use 91 Octane or else ... according to Mazda... not good for the engine.

 

I got 8.6 mpg in my FD (93 RX-7) once..

My fast two fill ups have been the worst as far as my RX-8 goes: 11.95 mpg and 11.52mpg :D

 

I've noticed my mileage gets worse when taking more short trips. If most of my driving is around town and it happens all at once, it's still better than staring, going somewhere, stopping for a while, same thing back to home.

 

Excuses, excuses. We have a marvelous piece of engineering at our disposal. And STILL no one can produce 10 mpg? UNACCEPTABLE. No more talk. Someone needs to go out there and just walk the walk.

 

Wow! I also did not buy my 8 for the MPG but I get 19.5 to 22.5 consistently. A bit higher on the highway. Maybe it is our elevation, (5000 ft). BTW I don't "drive it like I stole it" usually but I do romp on it on occasion. I like to hear the buzzer once in a while!

 

I get 11 mpg city consistently- no matter what gas, outside temp, shift points, throttle, etc. I figure the milage every tank since about the first few weeks of owning it.

It is going back soon.

I did however about a month ago do a highway test of about 150 miles, in 6th gear with cruise control, and got a little over 19MPG.

I was hoping city MPG would improve, (it did from 10mpg to now 11 consistantly for last 2 motnhs)

 

13.9 mpg is the best I gotten in 2,000 miles. It's usually around 12. Not a good thing.

 

I have finally read through all 28 pages in the Tech thread about canzoomer's ECU fuel mapping modification device, and I'm very hopeful about it helping with mileage as well as power. We'll see!

 

The engine doesn't "work" harder because it's cold, more gas is used because the air is more dense when it's colder. Of course this also gives you more power