I get the best gas mileage when I push my RX8 down the road.

 

You are the one who said you don't shift past 3.5K rpms. If I believe you (and I don't), you might as well sell it. Any shift below 6K, except for the 4th/5th/6th at highway speed, is lame. Burn the gas, Dude, there's tons of it underground!

 

OP, how many miles do you get to a tank?! So we can tell you if its normal.

 

FUUUUUUHHHHH!!!!


ok this it the situation i have two jobs mon - fri...

one full time job (7am-4pm, mon-fri.)
and a part time job (530pm-1030pm)

i drive 10 miles from my house to my full time job, and 10 miles back.

i carpool for my part time job...so my car is left at my house...so my F**Kin' dad drives it around while im gone!!!!

cant tell him Sh*t cuz i live "under 'his' roof" n stuff...

this is gay.

 

wind resistance is main factor when on highway, do 55, put on the cruise and enjoy the 8 for what is was meant to do.....cruise.....wait..no dont do that!!!

 

if you do the math in his original post its 80miles per tank.. but now he said his dad drives it.. so you must be getting more which puts you more or less in the rx8 range.

 

yeah i filled up today and set the trip odometer...so imma see wats up...ive only had the car for a month and a half...so we"ll see.

 

 

????

 

Man you are the first person ever to ask this question.

 

just dont hit the breaks hard or accelerate fast unless you have to and i promise you will see a difference

 

dont buy an rx8.

 

The truth is you cant out of these cars. I'm happy to get 14mpg since I do floor it and zig zag like nuts. I would recommend you trade in the 8 if fuel economy is a bother.

 

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that one. Engines are not for braking - brakes are for braking. Engines are for accelerating - and braking with them wears them out faster (and doesn't slow you down that much anyway). What would you rather replace - a pair of brake pads, or new rotors?

 

You don't live far enough away from work to get your mpg up.

You'd have to live 50, 100, or better 200 miles from work to break through.

 

Bullcrap.

Braking with your brakes wears down your pads, your rotors and makes brake dust.

Using your engine to decelerate cuts off the fuel flow completely and just turns it into a glorified air compressor since it doesn't need fuel to keep it turning, the wheels are doing it for you.

Putting it in neutral and using your brakes means the engine is idling and using fuel to make it keep turning at idle.

I would imagine that an engine running on fuel is getting more wear than one that is just turning and not experiencing the burn. Not to mention you're saving on gas.

 

You're an idiot. Braking with your engine has hardly any braking power at all, so your engine is running at high RPM for a much longer period, and wearing it out that much quicker. And you're worried about dust - give me a 'brake'....if you're braking with your engine, you're just going slow. Get a grip - engines make the car speed up......brakes make it slow down.

 

im sorry i down shift to slow down. ive driven that way for many many years. my father drove that way.... his farther drove that way... how is it wrong?

 

You save your brakes though. I dont think that downshifting to slow down will cause your mpg drop any big difference

 

So the problem is your Daddy........ Get rid off him or hide the keys , or maybe you need to pay that loan you took from him to buy the car

Or move out , on your own........................

 

I have always had horrible gas mileage, I believe now that this is due to a combination of my driving route, style and the fact that the RX-8 is an absolute gas hog. As time has gone on and I have had the opportunity to try numerous methods to improve my millage I can tell you the following.

Tire pressure, gas octane, windows not opened, oil type, air filters, have had absolutely no meaningful effect on mileage.

What does help keeping the revs down and avoiding stop lights as much as possible.

What I have found that real helped was when I installed a Scan Gauge II. This is a simple plug in piece of hardware that does nothing to improve gas mileage but lets you better understand what your driving style is doing to your gas mileage. Since installing it I have found my self getting about 1 mpg better mileage. No this my not sound like much but when you were averaging 11 to 12 mpg and extra mile is a meaningful difference. I would assume if you have better mileage to start you would do even better.

This devices lets me monitor MPG, Gallons per Hour, and combined mileage for my various trips. The "current trip" is most useful for monitoring your mileage and modify your driving style. You can still hammer the car at times but you become more concise of keeping the car on simmer when your just cruising down a road.

This device really helps me modify my driving along with providing a lot of other information which I find useful....like the true coolant temperature.

Hope this helps.

 

but ours has a latch...you can tell if someone pried your gas tank open.

 

I get combined 21.5 mpg if I shift before 3k rpm in the city and keep it at 3.5 k rpm on the hyw. but it drops in the cold season. Last long ride I was getting around 320 miles to tank reserve. that seems about average for this car.

 

I would kill for anything over 210 miles to the tank.

 

I have to disagree that it "hardly has any breaking power at all". I often downshift my fiance's Mazda3 auto and notice a significant increase in braking. I do it in the 8 all the time too, just let your foot off the pedal when you're cruising at 4k RPM and you'll feel the added drag. Put the clutch in and it'll free up.

I don't know if it actually is likely to damage the engine though... More than that I would think it will wear your clutch more because you're downshifting more often (thus your total number of shifts increases)