I had an RX-7 years back so I knew all about the relatively inefficient rotary engine.

But it's all about compromise. EVERY car has good/bad points. I'll trade the "poor" gas mileage for all the other plusses this car has. And If you compare it to other sports cars in its class, its not that terrible.

 

I look at it this way....

Car Payment: $500
Insurance: $100

Scenario #1: Fuel @ 22mpg: $184 (15K/year @ $3.25/g)
Scenario #2: Fuel @ 18mpg: $225 (15K/year @ $3.25/g)

Total Monthy Expenditure:
Scenario #1: $784
Scenario #2: $825

A difference of just 5%. Less than that if you've got a mod budget. With my mod bodget of $300/month, the difference between a car getting 18mpg and 22mpg is just 3% more expensive.

5% is a small price to pay for a car that you'll enjoy a lot more. I can pay for that by not going out to lunch about twice a month. And frankly 22mpg in any 'sports car' isn't going to be easy to find outside of perhaps an MX-5. I was just being generous to illustrate the point.

 

I heardly ever get less then 17mpg and thats mostly suburban and some sport driving too.

 

thank god we got a mileage thread going - I haven't seen one in almost 2 days. whew!!!!

seriously, we should screen new threads that have the word "mileage" in the first post, and then ban the thread starter.

 

We should also ban members that constantly post replies telling us "not another milage thread" as this is just more of my time wasted reading it...

 

The only thing that can save ya gas is your right leg.

Teach your right leg to do the right thing.

Keep this in mind

"This IS a sports car, but that doesnt mean you have to drive it like u steal it"

I do that most of the time tho .....

 

dgs-please buy something other than an RX-8. You obviously have something else in mind anyway. I'm not sure i could take another wannabe owner who starts by whining about bad mileage, low torque and H.P. The rx-8 IS A GREAT CAR FOR PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND GREAT CARS!!!

 

Thank you all for you replies. Very helpful. Everyone seems very happy with that car despite the mileage. That's the kind of feedback I was looking for.

 

If I may ask, what kind of mileage are you averaging that the car is not worth owning because of it? Are you getting much worse than the EPA estimate (which I think is flawed to begin with)?

The RX-8 is still the #1 contender for me right now, as the only negative I can find with the car is the gas mileage. The car just seems to be so perfect in every other aspect, it's a little frustrating. I'm not purchasing until the end of the year, so right now it's just illiciting feedback.

 

I love my car and I am happy with my mileage. I kept reading about the people that were getting 15-16 mpg all the time. Although, I still didn't care because at the time I ordered it I would have only used about a tank a month. Now, I have to actually go in to work instead of at home so I put on 350 miles a week just going to and from work, not counting other stuff I have to do.

I am pretty happy with my low 23 mpg I seem to get pretty consistently. If I don't then it is at least mid to high 22 mpg. With all I kept hearing about the low mpg my goal was 20 and I have exceed that, so in all I am not disappointed with my mileage and the car is a lot of fun.

I only put Chevron Supreme in my car if I can help it. I was calculating out the difference between my mom's vehicle which gets comparable mileage on regular versus mine that takes premium and it would have been less than $2 a week.

I do mixed driving that is at least 25%/75% city/highway but now with other stuff I have to do and rush-hour traffic it equates out to closer to 35%65%.

I did just recently manage to get 25.61 mpg in mixed driving.

 

Wow, that is great news BunnyGirl! That is actually very good mileage, I could certainly live with an average of 23 mpg or more. I do about 200 miles of driving a week (includes weekends), so not as extreme as you.

If I may ask, do you drive a 6-speed or an auto? I would only consider the 6-speed. That is what I test drove, and the clutch/shifter were fantastic. I have never driven a car that spins up the tach that easily and so little drama, it was freaky, but every exhilirating.

 

The size and weight of the rotary engine is what allows the car to have such great handling and weight distribution and to have 4 seats, without it becoming a huge car. Another way I look at it is that it puts out a lot of power for its size/weight, so it has to get that power from something besides displacement...

 

I just got rid of my 04. The bad gas mileage and all of the other issues (non-fixable squeaking brakes, poor performance in high temps, various annoying interior rattles, lousy a/c...) not to mention less than great experiences with Mazda Service finally pushed me over the edge. The car is fun to drive, but not fun enough to ignore all of that stuff. The RX-8 also has a very poor resale value, so you should consider that as well. It will be painfully expensive to part with if you get it and change your mind. And after I read what is going on with the Mazda customer satisfaction surveys and the RX-8, I couldn't be more relieved that I let it go when I did.

 

I'll take a wild guess and say anyone who obtains 23 mpg range drives the car like a grandma: shortshifts; probably doesn't exceed 65 mph on the highway; accelerates with little or no ferocity.

If the roads and traffic dictate your (snail's) pace then one is surely shortchanging themselves of the experience of this car.

 

Hell no. Harvard's definitely not a hippie tree-hugging school, especially when their B-school churns out ****** like Dubya. Even their undergrads are corporate raiders.

-P23

 

I have a manual. I don't completely floor it when I drive and I don't drive it like grandma either, since I saw that mentioned. LOL

I do try to shift reasonably close to the recommended speeds in the book, but usually are higher up. My lower gears into second and third (I have been paying attention to this lately) are close to 3500-4000 RPMs and the other ones are around 3000 RPMs. I will rev it higher but I don't think that is necessary to do all the time. On my freeway driving I usually set my cruise control around 60 since the speed is posted at 55. Although most of the time on my commute the speed ends up being more like 45-50 since traffic starts getting heavy that time of day. I have a 35 mile one-way commute to and from work.

 

I suspect that's not the case at all. I got over 25mpg just today, driving mostly 75-85, up and down the mountains of western NC. And ask anyone who's been to a meet with me at the Tail of the Dragon or VIR if I drove like a granny- I drive this car about as hard as a non-professional driver can. I consistantly get 20-21 mpg in everyday mixed driving. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which car gets good gas mileage and which doesn't. I've never had the opportunity to drive anyone else's 8, so I don't know if I do something different, but I suspect it depends on the car.

 

Two of my friends in different states also have RX-8s. A friend in Virginia has a yellow 04 GT and she says she has never gotten below 20. She usually gets 21-23. She let her husband drive it when she went out of town for something and he only got 18-19. It had to have been the way he drove it since they drive the same route everyday as they work at the same place, just slightly different hours.

My other friend has an 06 red GT with all the same features of mine. He gets around 21 consistently. His uncle has an 04 and gets 18-20, and they work for the company and live within a few blocks of either other in the same neighborhood so they pretty much drive the same roads also.

I just think the cars much be really sensitive to some sort of tiny internal differences that account for the differences in mileage, as well as driving style to some extent. As with Elara, I have never driven someone else's enough to see if the way they were driven made the difference or not. I did drive my friend's uncle's car a tiny bit to see if I really did want to finalize my order (dealership doesn't let you drive their cars without a driver's license, LOL).

I figure I will get better milease if I take it on a long trip where I don't have to keep stopping and starting or driving extremely slow due to traffic conditions. I just haven't had the opportunity to do that.

 

I get 17/23. The EPA estimates are still the best available tool for comparing mileage between cars.

 

Hi there

Is the RX8 really only a 1.3ltr Engine?

If it is, its really amazing how mazda managed to get so much HP out of such a small little engine?

ciao
fred

 

The ONLY car that saves you gas are Hybird cars. and some can even Beat an Enzo in 0-6 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing else is good.

So stop whinning.

 

I think HolyCross05 was talking about Holy Cross.

 

Well that stinks.

I guess not everyone will have a good experience with a car purchase, no matter what kind of car it is. But what I'm trying to gauge is the percentage of people who are very happy with the car despite the issues, compared to the people who are very unhappy. So far it seems in this thread at least far more people enjoy the car then don't.

And just like the other gas mileage threads I've researched here, it seems like people are getting vastly different gas mileage in the same car. I can only imagine that equates to two things:

1. The driving style of that individual

2. Efficiences in engineering from year to year.

I would not enjoy driving a car like the RX-8 like a grandma all the time, but it's nice to know that it does return fairly decent fuel economy if driven in such a manner; at least as good as the EPA estimate. Thanks again for all the feedback.

 

And it traps 95 mph when it should trap 100

For fuel efficiency comparisons.

My M3 with a 3.2L I6 and 5spd tranny got about 21 city, 25 mixed, 28 highway

My S2000 with a 2.0L I4 and 6spd tranny gets about 23 city, 25 mixed and 30 highway

My RX8 with the 1.3L Rotary and 6spd gets about 18 city, 21 mixed and 24 highway

 

dgs,

i have only had my 8 for 3 months, and i get about 15 mpg regardless of how and where I drive it. That being said, I couldn't care less based on the satisfaction I get from this car. And thats coming from a young, idealistic, tree-hugging college student who originally said "I'd like something that gets 30 mpg on the highway" when I started looking for a new car.

I attribute most of my shitty mileage to my driving style (I'm new with a manual and think my inperfections with shifting contribute) and the fact that my commute to work is about 10 minutes in the car going 2 miles down the road through 5 traffic lights.

I suggest reading the thread on "The Little Things" - it helps understand the love for this car that people have.

Tom

P.S. - got my first "group stare" at a Rita's water ice last night, had about 6 heads swivel as I left.