Squidward

I've gotten 12mpg before.. give it some time, I think it will get better, now I get 14.8mpg avg. but no worries, the car is fantastic! the car is a steal for what you're getting. so drive it like you stole it

f1michel

Got 24 mpg last week, 95% HW at about 80 mph. the Reflash i had 1 month ago made a big difference IMO

M

Other_Dave

Not true, each of the 50 states has a different legally mandated recipe for gasoline. I had a '91 miata that had to have premium, due to the factory tuning being too aggresive for my-state's regular. Within a state, however, gas will pretty much be gas.
--Dave,

thew

no Oil sweep .. then you dont have the reflash !! simple as that..


take it back ... tell them it has lost power and now is hard to start !!! "other MAgic words"

Tell them you demand to see the Computer spec code on your INvoice. IF it does not say "m" there still messing with ya.

thew

and you will feel a diffrance.. we all did.

playdoh43

He should be upset because other cars with similar performance gets way better mileage. Its a lot easier to flame someone when you are not the one forking the gas money. Im sure he can afford it, but it does not mean he should.

as for sp767, hope things get better for you. the M flash might help, but my friend said he didnt get any noticable improvement after his manual rx8 was reflashed. But hes always been doing a lot better even before the flash, he still gets about 16 mpg doing 70% highway 30% city around DC and VA after the M flash.
It seems some cars gets better miles while others just cant seem to get over 15mpg no matter how conservative they are being driven. Hope Mazda do something about it. (see it it makes any difference if you shift below 5000rpm)

In the main while... at least you can brag to your friends that your car gets around the same milage as a Ferrari Enzo... (except its not a v12 and its missing about 400 hp :p )

Photic

Third tank, 880 miles. only mesured the last 2 tanks, 17 and 18 mpg
about 70% highway. Had some flash a week after I got the car that was listed for june. all it mentioned was "Lack of power" I assumed it was the "M" but the dealer said it had all of the recalls done to it (but when do they know exactly what has all been done since its not really their department, or it could have been a misunderstanding)
All of the threads on flashes it's been hard to keep up.

playdoh43

ohh and btw, i dont know how you drive style is, but be easy on the brakes if you can.. a lot of braking can cause mad gas milage, good luck

Dlrosie

Definitely bizarre. I have an AT with 3000 miles on it. I also drive about 70/30 (town/hwy) with AC on and sunroof open. Have never been below 18. Am averaging 21.3.

EatMyBanana

Dlrosie , When was your build date ? Your AT is operating as mine. I never get below 18 and up to 24. I purchased mine 5/29/04. Number 30000.

ezrider55

I have an Aug 03 MT. I get 16-18 city and 21-22 Hwy ( Hwy could be better but car seems to like 88 mph. I hope the m flash will help you.

SP767

Thanks guys.

Well, my dealership knows about the problem now. This problem has been escalated due to my "jumping up and down". It takes a lot these days to get anyone's attention. I have to wait until August 8th though to have the car serviced. My latest is 14mpg highway driving in 6th gear.

It is a documented problem now though. So it will be interesting to see what problem they come up with. Hopefully there will be a resolution and I will have something to share with those that encounter the same thing in the future.

Steve

SP767

Hey guys, I have posted my problem of very poor fuel mileage in a previous post.

This thread is intended to document my trials with the dealer to solve my fuel mileage issues.

I am getting 14mpg on the highway and 10-12 mpg rural, mixed driving.

I bought a 2004 RX8 about 10 days ago with 2800 miles on the ODO.

Steve

mysql101

what was the build date

ptiemann

It gets 13mpg and the dealer is probably not able to do much for the owner.

Do you have any idea why the previous owner sold it?

There have been a number of people here on this site (maybe representing only 1% of all owners, who knows) who got milage under 15 mpg. I'm just lucky I am not one of them since my 8 is just as old (built in july 2003)

To those who throw out phrases about 'affording fuel money'... that's simply beside the point. I can understand that he's disappointed.

ptiemann

I responded in your other thread assuming that you bought a used car. Somehow your post doesn't make this clear. Can you elaborate?

SP767

Build date is august of 2003 and yes, i bought a car from mazda dealer that bought car at auction. it had 2800 miles on ODO. Service history shows only one service, a brake adjustment. have no idea who first owner was.

steve

thew

it only takes less than 20 min to reflash your car.. make them do it tommrow!

stickman

First M flash didn't do much for mpg for me; however, second flash for more recent tech service bulletin made a definite difference. I do combined highway/city with mostly city in hot climate with air on and get 18 to 20 mpg now. My shift points are between 4500 and 5500 rpm.

Elara

Threads merged- we have enough threads on gas mileage that we don't need two on the same car. Don't take it personally, please.

beachdog

Mileage is very sensitive to technique/rpm. The rotary is so smooth that many people are tempted to drive around in lower gears than necessary. The secondary fuel injectors kick in at 3750 rpm, so when your're upshifting at 4-6k around town, remember to upshift to get under 3750 once you're at a steady state speed. As long as you're over 2500 rpm you're not going to lug.

ptiemann

I don't think (believe) that driving in unnessary low gear explains his 12 mpg.

I used to drive always in highest gear possible (6th gear at 50 mph) and got 20 to 22 mpg.

Then I changed to keeping the revs at 4000 half the time, mpg has not changed more than 1 mpg.

There's definitely something wrong with his car, and I'd just try to get rid of it ASAP to minimize $ damage.

mpt_yellowRX8

My mileage is around 19-20 mixed and 24 highway, I got the car in November 2003 and have 14000 on the Odometer. I have never had the car reflashed or dropped below17.5 mpg. I would say that you need to keep on the dealer about this, mileage that low seems a bit too much for me. There must be something wrong with the car if you get 12 consistently. Good luck with the dealer though, most want to pull your chain and get you out of the place when you have a problem.

VikingDJ

I tend to think it comes down to driving habits more then the actual car. I believe different cars get different gas mileage, but this car is very picky when it comes to MPG. If you rev it, it will guzzle gas. I have yet to reach the 20mpg mark, but my driving is only about 60-70% highway. 16-18 is roughly what I get. 12mpg will occur in pure hard high rpm driving in city. If you stick cruise control at 65mph on highway and still get like 12-15mpg, then there is def somewthing wrong. If you get close to 20mpg or better on pure highway then it's your driving habits. Pure City driving and the rx8= gas guzzling no matter how you drive.

EatMyBanana

Maybe its because i have a AT , but i have found that if i use the paddles to gear up to 5000 to 6000 rpms MY gas MPG is better?