I spent the first few hundred miles like many on this forum wondering why the MPG was less than steller and read what seems to have been hundreds of threads on the subject. When my "break-in" period passed about two weeks ago and I opened the 8 up on road I finally came to the conclusion, who cares. I'm having an absolute blast driving it whether on the street or freeway which is more than I can say for the Pontiac Grand Am I traded in.

Perhaps their should be a thread for true 8 lovers of who has gotten the lowest MPG because they are driving the hell out of the car.

No offense to those who actually care about MPG but I would have gotten a Hybrid Toyota that goes 0 - 60 in two minutes and looks like a box on wheels if it really mattered. And what a head turner that would be.

 

I agree. Personally I am happy with the car and do not wish to waste time in my life worrying about saving a few more pennies on gas.

I do wish the car had a little larger gas tank tho :p

I don't care how much I pay when I fill up, I just don't want to have to do it more than once a week

 

What Fan said. I use mine as my daily driver, about 70 miles there and back, plus I drive it whenever possible on the weekends. Less than 6 months old and over 11k on it, and I am so tired of getting gas two to three times a week. I know a bigger gas tank would add weight and throw off the 50/50 weight distribution, but the constant refills is old. When everything is said and done though, I still drive spirited with the rpms always over 5k and available for the quick darts, unless I'm totally cruising in very light traffic. So, as much as I despise the constant fill ups, I am not willing to try to lessen my number of fill ups per week by driving granny style. FWIW, my last tank was just under 15 mpg, and that is very typical. I typically get about 200 miles per tank, so with 11k miles, that's been about 55 tanks since 8/25/03. 55/26=2.2 fills per week. Sucks, but I am not going to change my driving style.

 

If you're having fun, that's what it's all about. I plan to do a little zoomin in this car myself but not that much until I'm really used to the car. I'll probably keep it around 17-18 mpg if I can but since most of my driving is highway, I can probably do better than that.

We'll see.

I don't really mind getting less gas mileage as long as I'm having fun in the car.

 

ok the reason i'm not happy is because the sticker says 18 city 24 hwy. now i dont expect to get exactly those numbers every tank but i have never gotten those numbers no matter how i drive. i used to keep a log and gave up because my MPG started to get worse as time went on. right after break in i started to let her go more so that may have something to do with it. but still when i go back to conservative shifting i get 10-12 MPG on 93 octane all city driving. if the sticker had said 10 city 18 hwy then maybe i wouldnt have a problem with it. add this to the fact that some 8 owners are getting respectable MPG. why? driving habits? auto vs MT? ECU/engine differences? i love this car otherwise inside and out.

 

I'll add an amen on the traded Grand Am. I disposed of my '95 SE 4-door V6 this week. Got a shiny new Titanium Silver GT to replace it.

 

Same deal here Pavehawk, '95 Grand Am 4 dr V6 (oh did I forget to mention the warped heads and what in the oil?). $650

 

I'm definately NOT a mild-mannered driver and that is not just the RX-8 bringing it out.
I drive the same now as I did with all the various car combinations I've had.

That said, the fact that my monthly fuel costs have DOUBLED is a bit troubling. It will be more of a problem when gas prices reach the $2.25 to $2.75 per gallon range this summer.

I'll actually have to drive one of my other gas-guzzling cars to keep my fuel costs down!

 

Check out many of the newer cars on the boards. Most people are getting much worse mileage than EPA and are complaining bitterly. Also, due to EPA2 emissions standards the mileage has dropped.

Your tax dollars at work.

 

I really wonder what the difference is between the 8's getting bad mileage and the one that come close to sticker MPG.

I get an adverage 17-18 with mixed highway and city driving. When I do mostly highway I get 23-24.

 

MrDave,

I am not trying to offend anyone here including yourself and I certainly do appreciate this car. If you read my posts you will know that I love driving my car. Realize that I didn't trade in my Grand Am for it. I traded in my M3. This car is nice but it has some deficiancies. The first of which is MPG, my M3 did better and it was an inline 6 3.0L fairly well tuned engine. Second is the lack of hp which in my opinion is directly related to the MPG issue (I won't post it again). And thirdly is the lack of any ability to upgrade the sound system with an aftermarket head unit without shelling out buko bucks in custom work.

I understand your point and I love the car. That is no excuse for MNAO to choose an enviromentally irresponsible way of dealing with the EPA 2 standards. And I in no way intend to give up hp without a fight! With some more money spent and some better engineering a better cat could have been designed for the car. I just can't stand behind the choice I see that MNAO has made. I will bitch about it until I see it change in my favor.

And you better believe that if my warranty is voided for putting on aftermarket electronics in an attempt to get the car back to original stock configuration then MNAO will hear from some pretty damn fine attorneys.

*steps down from soap box*

 

I get horrible gas mileage and very very rarely it bugs me.....but of course I've put 6k miles on the car in 2 months....so go figure. All it takes for me to forget the mileage is a little trip down a few curving roads and I say "it's worth it". Of course I would love it if I did get better mpg but It's better than my other car used to get so I'm actually feeling pretty good about it. (every car I've owned before this one has had a 351 cleveland in it).

 

Give 'em hell Tim! Really!

It's pretty bad that when they claim the mpg to be something that makes some think twice about getting a car and then some who think 18 in the city isn't all that bad then wind up with high 13s and that is with a fairly conservative driving style of a car that's not really meant to be driven that conservatively. Well, there is a BIG difference in that figure.

My last tank was 75% highway, 25% city and I couldn't even reach the estimated city driving of 18 let alone above it. What's most frustrating is the span in gas mileage over the identical models where as some have reported mileage that mine couldn't get going down hill all the way in neutral.

Worse thing is, as 93rdcurrent said, some of us will probably deal with this by deciding to install aftermarket parts and electronics just to get what we should have gotten in the first place and end up spending a lot more money than we should have to begin with.

It looks like my first real money costing mod is probably going to be some ECU device that remaps the fuel mixture such as Canzoomer's. Best thing is with what has been reported with his is that under 5K rpm, you get better mpg. However, it might take a while to see that after installing it because you know you have to take it above 5K just to try it out...again and again and again...

 

First off I don't understand why people are complaining about gas milage, I mean ya did buy a sports car. Second can anyone explain to me why the gas prices are continuing to rise instead of going back down. Third I totally enjoy driving my RX-8, and it's a hell of a lot faster, and more fun to drive compared to my 2001 Monte Carlo that I traded in.

 

Those guys who are getting much less than advertised mpg have every right to complain. What if you bought the latest cellphone with an advertised standby time of 10 days, and you only get 6 days, wouldn't you be aggrieved, although it may be the best phone you've ever had.
Just the fact that you have to visit the gas pump more often than expected could be frustrating.

 

Actually there is no right to complain because if they read the window sticker it states by Mazda's own words

Actual Mileage will vary with options, driving conditions, driving habits, and vehicle's condition. Results reported to EPA indicate that the majority of vehicles with these estimates will achieve between 15 and 21 mpg in the city, and between 20 and 28 mpg on the highway.

So if you have a Mazda RX-8 fully loaded you are going to get less mileage then my RX-8 which is a base model with NO extra options. And again you did buy a sports car, I do agree that it would be nice to have a larger tank, but with a larger tank it would cost more to fill up. I feel it's a simple sacrifice to make for owning one of the best sports cars on the market right now.

 

No one should complain- I just read that a cruise ship gets about 100 feet ( or was it yards) per gallon. We are certainly doing alot better than that. Of course a cruise ship can take more passengers than the 8, and the 8 does not have a swimming pool, sauna, etc.

Seriously though-

I was getting 11 MPG in Manhattan nightime driving in the 8 I bought in AUgust. I was pissed!!! No matter how I drove it was always around 11, and I had the car for 4 months before doing the buyback. Even tried different gas octanes, different shiting, did a few tanks turning off tracktion and stability...... Nothing made a difference.

Right before the buyback, I did a highway trip with crusie control on- the first time I used cruise control, and got about 19 MPG on that trip- so I think the engine was actually- but the buybcak was in progress so I figured I should go along as planned. I think perhaps as others do- short trips and stop and go traffic is where this car is loosing it's MPG- any car does, but this one much more so.

I just got a december built one less than 2 weeks ago- I am just at the bottom of my first tank and seems like I will get about 15 MPG in true city driving- which I am happy with!!!! Of course I am driving not over 4500 rpms for break in, so maybe that has something to do with it. We'll see as time goes on and I will post when I have a few tanks of data.

If I end up with another 11mpg car I will be pissed- at myself!!! since I knew going in it was a possibility. The guy from Cherry Hill NJ- I feel for you man- ans I'm sure your traffic is no where as bad as mine.

The good think is I don't commute with it- so it's just a pleasure car for night and weekend use so I wont get too slammed on gas, (though I do about 6,000 miles per year- which is alot considering the car leaves the island only a few times a month) and of course using cheaper 87 octane makes it more economical- on my first 8 I stared using 87 eventually and found it to be just fine. Since I am getting a Canzoomer unit- I'm not sure if I will be able to use 87- well have to see.

 

So what does the lower limit represent? I reckon driving a fully loaded car in the worst conditions, isn't it?
They should have quoted between 11 and 21 mpg in the city, and between 16 and 28 mpg on the highway. Then, no one would be able to complain.

I am averaging 16.75 mpg with 80% highway, and I can live with that. But I can understand that those getting 13-14 mpg would be pissed off. I am pretty sure that many such owners would have thought three times before buying the car had they known of the true mpg.

 

I get 12 to 13.
I'm on my 26th tank of gas and I've never gotten more than 13.

How do you rate my attitude now? :p

 

As happy as one can get driving one of the most fun cars to drive in the world. So, I guess there is a price to be paid for having fun and that is the price one pays to the gasoline industry.

Don't get me wrong, I love my car, will stand by it, but, cannot understand whey there is such a varience in mpg between car A and car B when both are driven in the same conditions.

I would love to see one of the cars reported by owners to have decent gas mileage be tested along side of one of the cars that have been reported to get the crappy mileage like mine or like the one emaillists sold back, then that would be the end of anyone's bitching about what it gets or what it should get because maybe then Mazda could see what it is that is causing this varying degree of gas consumption and do something about it.

 

Maniac,

I would take your car in for service and insist on getting the latest PCM re-flash. I just did it yesterday and it appears that my rough idle when the car is warm has subsided quite a bit. And I am seeing what appears to be better gas mileage. I am going to keep an eye on it and I will be posting my notes.

Cjsfastss,

Oh I do have a right to bitch if I want. Notice the message above to Maniac. Do you think that this re-flash would have happened without me and others complaining regularly on forums such as this and to the dealers? Canzoomer has checked this re-flash out and he can see that they leaned out the idle, 2-5k rpms, and the 5-7k rpms. Then as RX8Friend has noted it looks like they enriched the fuel above 7k rpms? My car feels a bit more peppy just in my drive yesterday but this is my butt dyno talking so don't take it as anything yet. And my car won't see a dyno until the end of April. I am hoping for everyone that they are adressing the hp and mpg issue with this re-flash. I love the car and I want it to stay in production but with the mpg issue I don't see it doing as well as Mazda predicted and that would cause some problems for future 8 owners and for us alike.

We don't want the 8 to go the way of the 7 in a couple of years. And Mazda is really so close on this car. Let them re-issue a better cat and thin out the fuel. Let us have fun with the CZ stages 1 & 2. Let all roads roads be windy & twisty with no traffic or Bambi. May we get forced induction through MazdaSpeed. These things will help keep the 8 in production.

 

i agree as well....man i cant wait until my break in period passes...i really want to open it up....all the way.

 

I too used to be obesessed with MPG which probably was a function of reading this board too much. I used to save all my gas receipts and come and plug the info into a spread sheet I had.

To heck with that now, I just fill it up when the needle is low and who cares how much gas goes in or how many miles I've gone :p

My new obesession is trying find that dang rattle coming from the right side of the cabin :p

 

I am a new member but I've been lurking here for the past 2-3 months. I'm thinking about picking up an RX-8 when I finish graduate school.

The economy issue bothers me. I read the arguments that it's a sports car, expect bad mileage, etc.

One point that nobody brings up is that the RX-8 may be a sports car, but 238 hp /159 lb-ft isn't exactly a lot these days. The Accord V6 makes more!

With that kind of mileage in a new car, I'd expect 350-400 horsepower. The GM LS-1 motor makes a crapload more horsepower that the Renesis, has a *much* bigger displacement, and gets far better fuel mileage.

I would expect the RX-8 to get mpg roughly equivalent to other cars in the 240 hp range. It doesn't.

For those of you who are happy with the mileage issue, I'm really glad that it doesn't bother you. I have not driven this car yet. I'm sure that its fun factor compensates for its problems.

I for one don't want to have to refill 3 times per week again. I had to deal with that in my old mustang, and it really cut into the fun factor of the car.

I hope that the 2005 RX-8 can either have more horsepower proportional to its fuel economy, or can have fuel economy proportional to its horsepower. Or more of both.

I don't know if the mileage issue would keep me from buying the car or not. I still *love* the things. But it does give me pause. There are a lot of fantastic cars out there in the $30k range.

Matt

Edit: Spelling

 

If anyone at all over at Mazda is listening to this whole gas mileage thing, they'll put a much taller ratio on 6th gear on the '05s and that'll be the end of it. My 3gen at 3k rpm results in 78 mph (accurate), which in turn yields gas mileage respectable enough that I don't bother to calculate it.

That said, the lower overall mileage in my 8 is not enough to change my positive opinion of the car one bit.