16.5 mpg as checked on all fill ups on my new 2006 (1300 miles on it. I generally shift at about 6k rpm but don't stomp my foot to the floor when driving. Ocassionally, I'll redline it............but only maybe twice a day..........

My driving is generally congested highway with stop lights so its not stop and go, more more slow down and speed up with the occasional stop light tossed in.....

Frankly, I given up caring............))

 

Mine is an 05 and just turned 2000 miles. I've had the car 3 weeks, mostly to commute to work. One office is 42 miles, straight shot up the highway. I get about 23 MPG, and set cruise control to 68 halfway, then 74 the other half.

The other office is 185 miles away in Tulsa (I live north of Dallas). Oklahoma has a lot of poor cities and no tolerance to speeding - I still get 23 MPG on the road. I haven't run a full tank in the city but with a 50/50 mix of city driving I get about 19 MPG.

Rarely does it see over 5000 RPM. It seems like over 6000 RPM and a valve opens that pours gas out the back, or so the gas gauge seems to indicate.

Compared to the 350Z I drove for a while the 8 gets about the same mileage. Highway mileage for my 94 Corvette was 25 MPG as long as I didn't plant my foot. The 84 Porsche 928 I had years ago got about 15 city and 21 highway.

 

I've started to adopt the same analogy lately. For a car of this style, type and price, I'm not gonna nit-pick over gas milage. I do still keep track of my milage...just don't get all bent out of shape anymore like I used to when I first got my Cobra.

Life's too short to be pist off all the time.

Drive it like it was meant to be...and enjoy it!

 

My last tank consisted of 3-1/2 hours of barely moving, so I suppose that counted as being majority city. Took that long to go 15 miles. Some idiot decided to speed and fly across the concrete barrier and wipe out a cop car on the other side, which shut down the freeway, backed up the other ones as well as other routes, and had several "minor" accidents in all the stop and go traffic. Anyways, I'd say that tank came out to about 95% "city" driving and I got 18.43, which is the lowest my car has gotten since I got it (have around 2000 miles on it now). Otherwise, I get in the mid to high 23 range with probably 25%/75% city/highway with my job commutes. In all I am quite happy with my mileage. My expectation was to get about 20 MPG with my car.

 

What made me smile about this thread is that nobody really chewed me out about mentioning gas mileage...and pretty much everybody accepts his mileage as part of what comes with ownership of such a great little car! You folks have a great memorial weekend!!

 

Yep, not enough of them here..

Oh, lately been getting around 17 in city traffic. Not bad considering all the rush hour stop and go here (Atlanta) and my extremely heavy foot.

 

I drive all highway, I-10, to Loop 410, 80 miles a day at an average of probably 70MPH and I get an average of 17-18MPG. Period. Don't tell people get and what they don't get. Oh, and this is in 90 degree plus weather. I am sure in cool months this will go up a MPG or two. I am **** about tire pressures and oil changes (every 3k running mobil 1) and I never start cold and drive without the engine warmed up. I too have a somewhat heavy foot when traffic is really light. My car deflects Radar . I was doing 85 in a 55 passed, a cop hidden behind abarrier and he did'nt budge. Then yesterday I was crusing about 85 with a group and passed a bike cop on an overpass gunning us and none of us got pulled over. Weird. In my Civic I got busted doing 78 in an 80 in the same exact spot.

 

BS- you are not just cruising at a steady rate for a whole tank. there for you are not getting a "Highway MPG" calculation. you are still doinga "city" MPG calc. this is how you calculate "Highway" mpg.

1. fill up the tank
2. go directly to the Highway without any hard accelerations.
3. Acellerate on the highway to cruising speed and shift to the highest gear possible. this really should be just the Speed limit but anywhere under 80 will do.
4. Set the cruise
5. drive until you need to re-fuel being careful to avoid braking and accelerating as much as possible.

6. Go directly to a gas station. refill the tank. do your MPG calc.

Then and only then do you have a Highway MPG number that in anyway relates to the Rating on the Window sticker.

if you idle for more than 2 minutes before driving you are wasting fuel and your MPG calculations are not valid. if you make any short trips during the day(to lunch around the corner and back on a daily basis) your city mpg number will significantly effected.

 

This is very true but hard to over come, I thought I was being realistic thinking I would get 15 mpg when I bought the car. 11 - 12 mpg just bugs me especially since Mazda has told me this is normal. If the company would at least make an effort. I know this car is capable of better mileage.

Another thing we all must consider is there are different types of city driving. City driving in a small to mid-size town is very different from city driving in a large city. Even in a large city suburban driving is different then inner city. We should id what type of driving we are doing.

 

Can't say that I blame you for being just a lil bit flustered on that...I mean, even lambo's and high HP ferrari's border on the 11-12 mark. That's pretty gosh-dang-diculous I'd be starting to question more angles of that if I were getting THAT low...

 

Actually, accelerating hard to highway speed is more fuel efficient than twaddling your way up to speed. Seems counterintuitive, but it's true.

Even using the "twaddle method", I achieved 25.5 on a tank on the highway. Problem is that using a single tank isn't really valid, either, because of the variations of the point at which you stop filling the tank can skew the results... Unless you fill to the point of gasoline shooting out of your filler neck every single time.

After an extended road trip where there were several all-highway tanks with minimal time in traffic, I have averaged.... 24mpg, exactly what's on the sticker. Strangely, my highest-mileage tanks were in the hilly areas, and the lowest were on flat ground (though the lowest were also in the rain with intermittent A/C use for the defroster).

In town? 18mpg... Exactly what's on the sticker.

 

actually yes i read that recently as well. and i contradicted myself a little- in the past i have said "get to the highest gear you have as soon as possible". but i didnt want to give the impression that staying in first and 2nd at WOT until 62 would be best.

of course averaging the mpg over several fillings does give a cleaner result

 

Something that should ease the minds of the gas mileage, have any of you seen the british comparo test of the RX8 vs the 330ci coupe (Not the new coupe that hasn't come out yet)....well the RX8 beat it in just about everything accept for trunk space and gas mileage. Acceleration and breaking though TOPPED a top of the line bmw coupe that has that awesome inline 225 hp 214 pd torque. They clocked the 8 at 6.4 0-100 km and the bimmer 6.6. I'm sure you've all seen it but its a reminder to what kinda car you have. For 30 grand, you just can't beat that. You're saving about 10 grand on a car that is basically the same. So put that 10 grand towards mileage .

 

DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT...FORGET THE MPG AND JUST HAVE FUN WITH THE CAR!!


OH...AND STOP CREATING NEW MPG THREADS!!...are there not enough of them yet? Is it so hard to just continue one of the hundred or so other mpg threads?