Just bought a new RX-8 last night. LOVING IT! Fully loaded -- pearl white, rear spoiler, grand touring package, 6 disc changer, black leather, Nav etc...

The one thing that caught me off guard though, was the Miles Per Gallon. Is it REALLY 18 mpg city? Is this due to the engine design?

 

If you're lucky. If you do a quick search you'll see THOUSANDS of threads on the subject. Ok, maybe not thousands but lots.

Welcome to the club and congrats.

P.S. Beware the flamers.

 

Congrats and welcome!!!

Yes, the mpg sucks, but the car is awesome and you'll love it anyway!!

 

Get used to it.

Many of us get less than 15 on average. This is particularly if your driving includes lost of low RPM and idle or sustained stints above 4200 RPM.

 

it should improve over time. I get 20+ .............

 

Yup -- most of my trips are short 5-10 miles hops, to work and back. Oh well... I guess I don't mind polluting the environment as long as I look cool doing it. :D

I just went to the dealership to LOOK at the car as my lease on my Acura CL wasn't up for another 4 months. The dealer said he'd buy the lease out from me, if I wanted to go ahead and get the RX-8. Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to do all the research, and get all the numbers yet. Checked out the Z, the Mustang, CTS against this car, and fell in love when I finally saw it. Couldn't resist the urge to splurge on the spot. Either way, love the car!

 

It's a Rotary so forget what you know about your previous cars and learn. After you read the owners manual and please do. You take it easy for the first so many miles(600-1000), keep the revs down and enjoy your gas mileage. After its broke in your mpg will improve as much as 4mpg if you take it easy but you wont because its to much fun to rev-it-up. I get 17-23mpg but if I get reving too much its less. If I do 65mph with cruz in slow lane I have got 27.5mpg on the hwy tank after tank with the air on or off! But I usually get 23mpg on hwy because it's fun to rev-up. If you drive it hard check your oil more often as it is oil-injected. This is my 7th rotary and they just keep geting better and better!!!

 

12-13 mpg here.

 

The gas mileage in the 8 isn't any worse than the 350Z or the G35 coupe- nothing to get excited about unless you somehow thought you were buying a 40mpg car, in which case you need to have a serious talk with your dealer.

 

And don't forget: put the car in gear AND set the parking brake when parking the car :D

Dennis

 

congrats on your purchase. got any pics you can share with us?

 

haha, 18mpg! last tank i got 12.7, welcome

 

The Renesis is a very low emmissions engine. You're putting out less pollution that most cars on the road, with the possible exception of CO2, if you consider that a pollutant (greenhouse gas).

 

I'll take a few and put em up!

 

i am a new owner. the mpg is somewhat dissapointing to me but i still enjoy the car. is it okay to put 87 octane ? anyone out there tried it before ?

 

If you have not already done so, read the owner's manual on their fuel recommendation - page 4-2 in my book.

I run 87 octane Shell and have done so since my 2nd tankful. I have 16k miles. Others run 87 octane also with no problems. Some have tried it and were not happy with the results. Others will tell you that you are nuts for putting 87 octane in your car.

If you're going to try it, start with 1/2 tank - that way if you don't like it, you can go add premium.

If you drive your car hard, I'd suggest not using 87 octane.

 

^didnt' mazda just come out and say that you can run it ..you'll just lose a lill bit of performance from the engine (like 5%). i'm retty sure i read that on one of the gas threads...sorry but i forgot which one...and there are so many of them out there:p

by the way i'm kickin' it at 16.5 mpg:D

 

My advice re gas mileage: Don't measure, feel the pleasure.

 

It's on the window sticker, but I am sure that you noticed that eh?

 

Welcome dude. Enjoy it. Too bad gas prices won't be going down any time soon. :o We aren't really polluting the environment more, we're just consuming more gas and if you can afford the exta few bucks per year, no one should have a problem with it. I think we're lucky the EPA didn't test a majority of bad gas mileage 8s and hit us with the gas guzzler tax. :D

Window sticker says 18 to 24 then it says the majority of drivers will range between 12-29. Just got 18.9 50/50 mixed driving on 89 octane from Shell. Never broke 20 yet, but never over 50% highway either. Elara's right: My friend's G35C gets 1 only mpg better. Both 6 spd.

 

Don't worry, you will get much better milage once she is broke in-we all got the 13-18 mpg when new, but after about 4000 mi- she will shoot up to the mid- 30's. It's great- Why just this weekend, I drove to LV from Pasadena- only one fill up! By the way I have some great ocean-front property I'm trying to sell in Scottsdale, anyone interested?

 

Actually it is just going by personal experience. I have 2 friends with G35s. They get 20mpg mixed driving (and are disappointed by it). I get 16mpg mixed driving (50/50 city/highway).

If you get 18mpg city... jump for joy. Some people DO get it - the jury is still out if it's driving style or just car differences though. Some people are convinced it's driving differences (but the ppl that think that all have "high mileage" 8s).

As for polluting the environment, I think emissions are really low on the car if you didn't mess around with it - I remember the sticker saying the 8 had REALLY low emissions if I remember correctly. For the mileage though, it sucks especially with rumors that gas will be $3.00/gallon come summer (I've seen a place in downtown Los Angeles selling regular gas or 2.67, premium for 2.87!). But eventually you stop caring.

But yeah, if mine got 18/24 as advertised, I'm definitely buying it after the lease is up (provided we don't learn the engines fall apart after a few years). As mine gets more like 15/21 I'm iffy about it. The car is fun enough to drive that you don't care that much. I'm not sure how long that'll last though when gas prices really start to climb.

 

This must have been a typo. Twenty-nine seems high. Do you mean 12-19?

I get 20 mpg when highway is 75% or more of my driving, but closer to 15 in mixed driving, at least during the winter. I've only had the 8 since December, so cannot speak to any possible improvements which might result from warmer weather.

 

I have 5,000 miles now and ever since break-in I get 20.5 MPG consistently. I drive in mixed city and highway about 50/50.

 

Welcome and congrats! You'll get used to the gas mileage because you LOVE the car.

Make sure you read up on engine flooding, as well.... it's not an issue if you know what and what not to do.