I thought some might be interested in this bit of data because my driving record was neatly divided between city and highway.

I live in the city and for the first 850 miles of the car almost all of my driving was on city streets under pretty bad conditions: starting cold in cold weather, driving without a warmup for trips of only a few miles (usually 3-10). For these trips I had to stop at almost every block for a stop sign or a traffic light. Occasional idling waiting for passengers.

I then did a 575 mile trip of almost all highway driving with no idling. Maybe 5-10 miles of city driving total.

Results:

City: 12.5 mpg
Highway: 19.8

Notes:

- I think I drive moderately.

- The numbers are the result of dividing odometer miles by (US) gallons purchased.

- The city figures include one 10-mile trip during a snow storm on stock tires.

- I had one very bad city stretch when I was ferrying people around of about 50 miles when I averaged 9 mpg. But I hasten to say that even then I was very happy with the car. So all this should be regarded as informational, not as a complaint. Far from it.

 

I normally get between 18 and 19 mpg and generally use the RX-8 for an 18.5 mile one way commute to work. The route is 54% highway.

My only real Highway mile test was a 170 mile roundtrip of which 14 miles was city (i.e. 92% highway). This one-stop trip represnted 69% of the total miles driven on the tank. The remaining 74 miles consisted of the work commute making the overall tank 80.3% highway, 19.7% city. On this tank, I got 23.4 miles per gallen.

My theory is that once the car is warmed up, and running at normal highway speeds +/- 15mph... that it will get good mpg.

Note: I do not worry about shift points. Downhill, or giving little juice, I may shift under 4500. Uphill, or keeping in front of traffic off the line, I may shift at 6K to 7K. I just feel what the engine is communicating and do it (circumstance based, of course).

 

STOP TALKING ABOUT THE F_ING MPG !!!! ENOUGH!!!

 

Thanks for the courteous note.

Care to supply a reason?

 

This subject has been addressed and address and discussed and discussed.

Knows are...

1. MPG are not what Mazda said.
2. They are not going to get better.
3. low RPM = little savings.

If MPG was so important in a car purchase, you should have gotten a honda.

 

If you look through the postings, you will see that many different issues get discussed, no single one of which necessarily makes people go to Hondas. The fact that people discuss this issue means that it remains of some importance to them, even to people who have no intention of giving up their cars. If you don't care to read the posts you don't have to click on the subject headings. Telling people what they can't write about seems a little strong handed to me.

 

I did a search on....

"mpg" and received 712 post options

" fuel economy" and received 434 posts

"mileage" and received 914 posts

I bet your topic has been covered at nausium.

And might want to take your own advice. If you do not like my post, ignore it. "Telling people what they can't write about seems a little strong handed to me. "

Moving on......

 

Matt,

I believe it would be et nauseum.

 

You are correct. My bad

 

Since I am looking to purchase a new car to become my daily driver, gas mileage is very important to me. Even if it was just a weekend car, I think knowing that I'll be getting 11mpg when I stomp on it would take some of the fun out of it.

This is actually the first time I have read about anyone getting near the 24mpg on the sticker so I am glad he posted that. I think an average around 20 would be acceptable to me. It's mainly city driving but I tend to avoid traffic.

However, there is another post where someone was complaining that he got 15mpg after an ECU on a complete highway trip.

That is a huge range that is unacceptable in my book. What if I buy one and I get the 11/15 car instead of the 16/20? I would really like to have the 18/24 that's on the sticker and no one seems to be getting that.

In fact, most cars I have driven tend to be a little better than the sticker. Maybe after the magical 400,000 mile break in period these cars have, we'll see some real numbers.

 

Matt - at first, I wanted to SCREAM at you for telling people what they can and cannot post. But then you went and added some value by providing statistics. I think the stats you posted underscore the value of this issue to owners.

JDWK - Face it, at 76 posts now - you have been officially bitten by the RX8 bug. I suggest you order exactly what you want, make sure they call you when the truck gets in, and inform them that you don't want to see any odometer reading over 5 miles. Then, break your baby in before feeling the urge to race M3's and the like.

selmeralto - Please, post whatever you feel will add value to this board. If I'm interested, I'll click on it. Thanks!

 

I am bitten no doubt. I have been bitten for a long while now.

For Christmas of '01, my gf gave me a subscription to R&T. The first magazine I received was April '02, and it had the yellow RX-8 pre-prod on the cover. I was in love, and still am. But I have held out this long.

I know as soon I order one, Mazda will solve the cat-life problem by simply putting two cats on the 2004 model. It will have 247hp and get 24mpg just like it was supposed to.

And then I will be stuck with a decision. Void the warranty or except as is. Maybe Mazda will offer an upgrade that won't void the warranty. They could make you sign an agreement stating you will have the cat replaced at 60k or something like that, but that is a long shot.

 

matt, you saw the topic's name. Next time, I recommend that you just choose to NOT OPEN IT instead of telling people what they can or can't discuss.

 

I drive 100% city all the time anddont use the highway b/c its always congested here and everythings close by. I take the highway maybe less than twice a month. My city MPG ranges from 12 to 17. When I drivelike an ******* my MPG ends up being 12 or 13. The way I drive I usually get 14 or 15 mpg b/c I cant help but crank the Rx8 from time to time. One week I got around 17 because I wasnt going above 4000 RPM and did not drive the car hard once at all. Idont expect it to ever get better than that unless I start taking the highway more often. Im at 3900 miles now.

 

I also think that we need to be in Mazda's face about this. I have no idea how EPA estimates are arrived at, but they sure didn't drive a car configured the way mine is to get them. I've got later VIN numbers so the ECU re-flashing probably won't do anything for me.

I have never had trouble exceeding the highway epa miles. I get 29 mpg on my '94 Miata which is better than the 27 claimed. I also exceed the EPA on my Expedition and, when I owned it, my GS300. This weekend on an Orange County to Vegas run - nice and gentle, on cruise the whole way - I got 20.1. I could probably do a little better if I were driving Kansas instead of going up down the 3 grades to 4000 feet, but I don't brake on the way down so I don't lose that much. Besides, that's the same run where I benchmark my other cars.

Now, I didn't buy an RX8 as a cheap car to operate. I'm just annoyed that Mazda plainly lied. For the 99.8% of us who never take the car to the track and don't have accurate butt dynos, this is a bigger lie than the HP issue because it's something tangible, something that we can measure and something that costs us dollars. Mazda needs to own up to the problem and make it right.

 

bernie, see my post labeled "Please help."

This is exactly the point I was trying to get across. Unfortunately, the car is so damn fun that no one cares.

I think Mazda will fix it in the next model year. It will require some serious work to the exhaust system, but it will be done. As for the '04s, I am not sure what will happen.

But I agree, it is BS. The sticker says 18/24, and no matter how fun it is, it should get 18/24 or better. Every car I have owned has.