As many have said before, driving habits are the key part. My curretn tank I got 105 miles off the first half. Then I started to drive MUCH more moderatly, and have hit 65 miles and havent finished off the quarter yet. So if I keep at it like this, I might actually get near 100 miles for 1/4 tank vs 100 miles for 1/2 tank. Just keep the RPM under 4000 and it does miracles for milage.

Of course, car isnt as nice sounding at 4000RPM, but hey, if your in a bind, you CAN get some decent milage out of it.

BTW, I've hit about 450 miles so far.

 

As a 6 time rotor owner I am surprised by the low mileage and look forward to future results. Just for jollies here are my old figures for my rotor motored cars. Some figures taken over appx. 100,000 miles. NO I don't think it's ****, it's science!!
1972 RX3 4 door sedan.... 16.5 mpg
1976 RX3 coupe insufficient data ( a lemon) "Free for All" car
1977 RX3 SP ... 18.6 mpg , Great Car- RX7 without the body
1979 RX7... right under 21 mpg. over 100,000 miles. Then I
quit keeping records. Retired it at 221,000 miles.
1985 RX7 18 mpg +/- .5
1995 RX7... 42,000 miles and i check it usually but not always
averages about 18 mpg- not a lot of stop and go.

Use all the revs you need but i know you don' t need all the revs ALL the time...........I do , but you don't....lol

 

Not reving to 9K yet, but plenty of 7K runs.

3 fill-ups (1st one was partial fill-up)

-fill-up #1 = ~15 MPG
-fill-up #2 = ~17 MPG
-fill-up #3 = ~19 MPG

All mixed driving (about 50% city/50% highway). A/C blasting away, and running it to 6K-7K RPMs regularly.

 

Well here is our MPG so far, as reported by my wife. Car has 417 miles on it.

1st Fill up - not documented

2nd Fill up - 20.0 MPG - This is all city driving (Tampa). Wife has NEVER taken the car over 4500 RPM's.

Outstanding MPG for city driving. Better then the reported EPA. So to all the doubting Thomas's, this definately tells us that if you keep your foot off the gas (<4500 RPM's), and drive conservatively, you can at least meet the EPA. But of course you are missing out of some of the fun of taking this baby into the upper RPM's. :D

She'll be traveling to Ft. Myers, and back, this weekend (120 miles one-way) and this will be all highway mileage. She will report back when she fills back up after her trip.

 

1st: 230.9 miles using 12.194 gallons = 18.9 MPG.
2nd: 249.1 miles using 13.343 gallons = 18.7 MPG.
3rd: 255.0 miles using 13.439 gallons = 18.97 MPG.
4th: 251.5 miles using 13.671 gallons = 18.4 MPG.

The last tank she topped it off enough to begin to make me nervous...I thought I was going to have fuel on my car.

 

i had re-read a couple times and then realized i forgot that in jersey, someone else fills your tank! right?

 

Well this puts a damper on my potential purchase of the 8. What good is the practicality of the car if I have to plunk $20 for gas every 250 miles?

 

ozbot87,

Well, if you are worrying about "plunking" down $20 for every 250 miles of mostly city driving, then you are definately shoppiing for the wrong vehicle. Find something else to satify your "green" attitude, and let someone else enjoy the pleasure of owning and driving the RX-8.

As for the gas mileage, my wife got 20 MPG in all city driving, exceeding the EPA on the sticker. So look at the EPA rating for the next vehicle you want to own, and if it doesn't at least meet your expections, which obviously the RX-8 did not, then don't bother thinking about purchasing it. My 2 cents.

 

Toyota Prius is always an option... :D

 

He he, I didn't mean to offend you here. I think that the RX-8 is a great car and still is the car I want to own. I just thought that the gas mieage would be greater than 20 MPG...oh well, I guess that can be overlooked, no?

 

sheezzz what's with the serious defensive tone?

I happen to believe you shouldn't blindly disregard important factors like mileage when buying a very nice sportscar that was designed and geared towards an economical price range, primarily for folks who care about how much money they spend on a car.

I could argue your point further and say if you don't care about money, why bother with the RX-8 when you can go out and get yourself an M3, or better yet, an M5, ... or how about the an SL55 AMG?

Stop being blindly defensive about something that I think is important to almost everyone who would consider buying this car because of it's bang for the buck (as far as buying a very hot looking car for UNDER 30 grand).

 

That's Ok. I didn't perceive from your message that you were in a bad mood. Perceived as more of a dissapointment. But I wanted to assure you that if you drive in a conversative manner, like my wife has since we got it, you can meet or exceed the EPA rating.

As for getting over 20 MPG, if you are doing strictly highway driving, I know you can meet the RX-8's Hwy rating of 24 mpg if you keep from yourself from excessive high RPM shift changes. Again if you are looking for a vehicle that gets over 20 MPG in all city driving, the RX-8 probably is not the right vehicle for you.

As for me, I'm a lead foot, and I PLAN on doing aspirated driving (speed & shift changes). :D If I'm lucky to get 16 city and around 20 hwy, I'm satisfied. I've owned a few muscle cars, and some trucks, so the RX-8's MPG ratings are fine with me. Especially with the sweet looks, and performance. :D

 

What defensive tone? Look, obviously ozbot97 is looking for a vehicle that gets over 20mph in the city. And I just pointed out, the probably the RX-8 is not the right vehicle to meet his criteria. And I pointed out that the EPA rating is on the mark if you drive conservatively.

I'm not blindly disregarding important factors such as gas mileage, nor should anyone else. But obviously if someone like ozbot87 is expecting greater than 20 MPG in the city on the RX-8, then he is blindly disregarding the EPA rating on the sticker. Because ~18 MPG's is the expected city EPA rating for this vehicle, and it close to accurate.

In closing, ozbot87 doesn't have a problem with my rely, why should you? And my post was directed to him in the first place. This being your 1st post, you are the one with the attitude. Better harden your shell, and if you want to be a part of this forum, you're the one that needs to not take things personally. And if you can't accept that, leave this board and go back to Bikini Bottom to your friends SpongeBob & company.

 

ozbot,

You didn't offend me. What gave you that idea? You are getting defensive on me.


Also, why did you edit your post?

This is what your originally said:

No wonder I'm getting flamed from some tentacled cartoon character from Nikelodeon, for no reason. He never saw your "un-edited" post, just this "edited" one.

 

:D

Sorry, it's just a bad forum habit of mine that I do. I change what I mean to say after I post.

We're both cool, right?

 

Yeah, we're cool. You and I are not the ones having problems with our discussions.

By-the-way, get the RX-8. What's a few dollars of gas to spend a month, to have a smile on your face? :D

 

I am getting exactly 20MPG in the city, so it can be done, mostly shift at 3K rpms.

I'm thinking of getting an echo for work travel :D

 

The RX-8 is a sports car - not an economy car. Personally, I have been pleased with the mileage I am getting, as it is better than I planned. I budgeted based upon an average of 20mpg, coming from a 26mpg ride using regular gas (add'l $40 / mo) for me. That is less than 1/2 of one night on the town, and I am having lots more fun for my buck.

So far, 20mpg is the worst I have got, mainly averaging 22-24mpg.

The neat thing about the RENESIS -- drive it like a bat out of hell, and it will give you poor economy, but a blast in driving experience along the way. Drive it with revs that stay below 5K RPM, and it rewards you with better economy. The best thing about this car is --- you get to choose. It is like two cars for the price of one.

 

3rd fill-up netted me a little over 18MPG, mostly city driving.

4th fill-up netted me 24 MPG 90% highway driving (not neccessarily at the speed limit, but still staying under 90 MPH.

So, what the sticker says, I'm getting.

 

The mileage isn't too bad, it's the price of premium. With the increased mileage my cost almost doubles for my fuel per month but because of the price difference for premium now it's trippling!

Not good.

It use to cost me $40 a month for fuel. I've had the car 2 weeks and I'm over $150!!!!

I might be switching to regular, or at least I'll try mid and see if there is a difference. I'm not racing, heck I shift at 3k all the time!

 

I have driven 951 miles with an average of 13.9 mpg. My best tank was 18.4 mpg. However, consider the following:

1. The break-in period is the time to expect the worst gas mileage.

2. Most of my miles are around town. I did a tank, half on the road and half around town and that was the 18.4 mpg.

3. I drive with a lead foot. My miatia's gas pedal was usually operated as a two-position switch (off or full) and I still have a tendency to drive like that.

4. Because of the quiet engine I also have a tendency to forget and leave it in fourth when driving around town. I am slowly getting over that habit. This is probably the real killer when it comes to gas mileage.

If I can get the average up to 19/20 I'll be happy.

 

Two tanks so far, first for city, second tank for trip to far off family...

1st tank
19.4 Mostly all City

2nd tank
24.5 All Highway

I get to sixth gear pretty damn fast and am surprised how long you can keep it there. About at break-in, and boy, will my foot get a lot heavier. I'll be happy with 16 mpg at that time, and I won't care.

 

At what RPM do you upshift?

 

You guys are soooo lucky. A tank of fuel will cost us brits about £40 (60 dollars or so) when we finally get our 8's....

Enjoy your cheap gas while it lasts guys ...

 

Yeppers, and trust me I'd rather do it myself some times.

Anyway, 5th tank and the best yet! I've finally broken the 20 MPG point!!

1st: 230.9 miles using 12.194 gallons = 18.9 MPG.
2nd: 249.1 miles using 13.343 gallons = 18.7 MPG.
3rd: 255.0 miles using 13.439 gallons = 18.97 MPG.
4th: 251.5 miles using 13.671 gallons = 18.4 MPG.
5th: 265.2 miles using 12.971 gallons = 20.4 MPG.

SWEET!!! Of course, like I said the last tank was "overfilled" a bit, but only by < $1 worth of gas, which is less than a gallon. Even if I say I used 13.971 gallons this tank, my milage is still 18.9!

Oh, and I thought this tank was going to suck completely because of I was stuck in some stop and go traffic for quite a couple times...but I guess the mostly highway driving this time around made up for it.

Kudos to getting better and better gas milage!