Fuel Economy

[ken]

Hey, I have also been keeping tack of fuel consumption figures for the past year on my 3 sedan gs auto. During the summer I can get 7.1-7.5L/100km, and for the winter it is about 7.5-7.8L/100km. 60-70% of my driving is on the highway, and I have been putting regular gas from shell. I am fairly satisifed with the fuel consumption of this car, considering I was driving a jetta before.

[majic]

Originally posted by ken


Hey, I have also been keeping tack of fuel consumption figures for the past year on my 3 sedan gs auto. During the summer I can get 7.1-7.5L/100km, and for the winter it is about 7.5-7.8L/100km. 60-70% of my driving is on the highway, and I have been putting regular gas from shell. I am fairly satisifed with the fuel consumption of this car, considering I was driving a jetta before.

your numbers will be lower b/c you have a 2.0L whereas PiCASSO and I have the 2.3L (0.5L/100km worse results in theory)

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by majic

Originally posted by ken


Hey, I have also been keeping tack of fuel consumption figures for the past year on my 3 sedan gs auto. During the summer I can get 7.1-7.5L/100km, and for the winter it is about 7.5-7.8L/100km. 60-70% of my driving is on the highway, and I have been putting regular gas from shell. I am fairly satisifed with the fuel consumption of this car, considering I was driving a jetta before.

your numbers will be lower b/c you have a 2.0L whereas PiCASSO and I have the 2.3L (0.5L/100km worse results in theory)

If only I was getting 0.5L/100km worse... I would be very happy. If I averaged 8.5L/100km with my current driving style, I wouldn\'t be complaining. But anything higher really puts a down the ownership experience in a worse perspective.

By the way, I appreciate you keeping my name spelled with the appropriate capitalization.

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by majic


man.. you keep bashing my good numbers :p

--maciej

Nie nie... I\'m just a little jealous when you have a few good numbers.

[majic]

Originally posted by PiCASSO

If only I was getting 0.5L/100km worse... I would be very happy. If I averaged 8.5L/100km with my current driving style, I wouldn\'t be complaining. But anything higher really puts a down the ownership experience in a worse perspective.

Yeah.. what i meant that the theoretical differences are about .5L but anyway.. i\'d be happy to keep it in the low 8s for mixed driving.

Originally posted by PiCASSO
By the way, I appreciate you keeping my name spelled with the appropriate capitalization.

I know what you mean, it\'s a nick name, so it\'s not like i would get offended if someone wrote \'majic\' i hate the way \'Majic\' look like and i prefer all lowercase

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by majic

I know what you mean, it\'s a nick name, so it\'s not like i would get offended if someone wrote \'majic\' i hate the way \'Majic\' look like and i prefer all lowercase

Does this include your first real name, \"maciej\"?

[PiCASSO]

Here\'s a quick update. With mainly 80% city driving, and the remaining 20% of highway driving, I\'ve averaged my WORST fuel economy to date: 12.724 L/100km. I couldn\'t even get close to 400km before the low-fuel light came on. With this fuel economy, I have a pathetic theoretical range of 463.92 km. Mind you, the past 381.1 km I managed to travel using 48.491 L of fuel wasn\'t on the race track or anything. Sure, there were times when I floored it, but I\'m being more and more disappointed in the fuel economy. If things don\'t shape up for spring, I\'m going to bring this to the dealership and if necessary to Mazda of Canada.

[majic]

Originally posted by PiCASSO


Here\'s a quick update. With mainly 80% city driving, and the remaining 20% of highway driving, I\'ve averaged my WORST fuel economy to date: 12.724 L/100km. I couldn\'t even get close to 400km before the low-fuel light came on. With this fuel economy, I have a pathetic theoretical range of 463.92 km. Mind you, the past 381.1 km I managed to travel using 48.491 L of fuel wasn\'t on the race track or anything. Sure, there were times when I floored it, but I\'m being more and more disappointed in the fuel economy. If things don\'t shape up for spring, I\'m going to bring this to the dealership and if necessary to Mazda of Canada.

wow that does suck.. have you tried shifting at say 2-2.5K? it\'s really weir b/c my worst mileage in pretty much all stop and go traffic was 11L and i was almost crying then..

my last 2 fillups (with much less - 50/50 maybe - city driving are ginging me low 9s) once again i tend to cruise at 110kph

YYYY | MMM | DD | FILL | ODOM | TRIP| L/100 | mpg | STATION| ($/L) | Cost
2005 | Jan | 10 | 38.63 | 5799 | 414 | 9.33 | 25.21 | Sunoco | $0.699 | $27.00
2005 | Jan | 15 | 49.39 | 6340 | 541 | 9.13 | 25.76 | Esso | $0.689 | $34.03

keep us posted and i wish others would contirbute to this thread

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by majic


wow that does suck.. have you tried shifting at say 2-2.5K? it\'s really weir b/c my worst mileage in pretty much all stop and go traffic was 11L and i was almost crying then..

Hehehe... I think I will have to begin shifting BEFORE 3,000 RPM. Problem is that I\'m usually late for everything. I dunno why, but I tend to have something hold me back till the last second. Always in a rush...

[PiCASSO]

Well, folks... here are my updated numbers for my fuel economy battle with my Mazda3:

--- | Date | Distance | Fuel | -------- | mpg | Fuel Left | Distance | Total Range
--- | -------- | (km) | (L) | L/100km | (US) | (L) | Left (km) | (km)
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
01 | 10/17/04 | 400.0 | 43.932 | 10.983 | 21.416 | 11.068 | 100.774 | 500.774
02 | 10/24/04 | 468.7 | 42.484 | 09.064 | 25.950 | 12.516 | 138.086 | 606.786
03 | 10/27/04 | 257.8 | 26.870 | 10.423 | 22.567 | 28.130 | 269.889 | 527.689
04 | 10/27/04 | 271.4 | 28.370 | 10.453 | 22.502 | 26.630 | 254.754 | 526.154
05 | 10/31/04 | 518.4 | 46.354 | 08.942 | 26.305 | 08.646 | 096.693 | 615.093
06 | 11/07/04 | 397.4 | 40.874 | 10.285 | 22.869 | 14.126 | 137.341 | 534.741
07 | 11/14/04 | 214.6 | 23.105 | 10.767 | 21.847 | 31.895 | 296.242 | 510.842
08 | 11/16/04 | 199.5 | 18.775 | 09.411 | 24.994 | 36.225 | 384.930 | 584.430
09 | 11/21/04 | 500.0 | 45.855 | 09.171 | 25.648 | 09.145 | 099.716 | 599.716
10 | 11/22/04 | 515.0 | 46.639 | 09.056 | 25.973 | 08.361 | 092.324 | 607.324
11 | 12/06/04 | 379.3 | 37.234 | 09.817 | 23.961 | 17.766 | 180.981 | 560.281
12 | 12/09/04 | 141.7 | 13.777 | 09.723 | 24.192 | 41.223 | 423.989 | 565.689
13 | 12/11/04 | 378.5 | 39.604 | 10.463 | 22.480 | 15.396 | 147.141 | 525.641
14 | 12/13/04 | 161.8 | 16.611 | 10.266 | 22.911 | 38.389 | 373.929 | 535.729
15 | 12/16/04 | 275.0 | 28.081 | 10.211 | 23.035 | 26.919 | 263.620 | 538.620
16 | 12/20/04 | 397.5 | 42.846 | 10.779 | 21.822 | 12.154 | 112.758 | 510.258
17 | 12/23/04 | 278.7 | 29.231 | 10.488 | 22.426 | 25.769 | 245.692 | 524.392
18 | 12/31/04 | 387.1 | 39.340 | 10.163 | 23.145 | 15.660 | 154.092 | 541.192
19 | 01/17/05 | 381.1 | 48.491 | 12.724 | 18.486 | 06.509 | 051.155 | 432.255
20 | 01/27/05 | 200.6 | 29.372 | 14.642 | 16.064 | 25.628 | 175.030 | 375.630
21 | 01/31/05 | 448.2 | 47.829 | 10.671 | 22.042 | 07.171 | 076.520 | 524.724
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
--- | ------ | ------ | Average | 10.405 | 22.887 | ------ | ------ | 535.617


You can see the cool 14.64 L/100km (16.06 MPG) that I got while driving mainly 90% in the city under -10 to 0 degree weather, where shifting took place at 3,000 +/- 200 RPM (as per Maciej\'s suggestion). \"WTF? \" I asked myself... so I brought the car into Avante Mazda (Richmond Hill, ON), where it was diagnosed left and right. And what did they find? Nothin. The car operated within the allowable specifications. My guess is that it\'s probably on the borderline of being acceptable, especially given my Hummer like fuel economy. So I\'ll continue to drive it and see just how bad it gets. Now, with approximately 8,500 km on the odometer, I am getting some 10.405 L/100km, or 22.887 MPG. Let\'s compare that to the ratings from Mazda:

Canadian EPA state the following numbers (www.mazda.ca):
City: 9.2L/100km (25.6 MPG)
Highway: 6.7L/100km (35.1 MPG)

And the USA equivalent (www.mazdausa.com, US gallons):
City: 25 MPG (9.4L/100km)
Highway: 32 MPG (7.3L/100km)

At the worst (USA) city rating of 9.4L/100km… I am off by 5.2L/100km or 56% from my #20 fill-up.
At the worst (USA) average rating 8.35L/100km… I am off by 2.042L/100km or 24.5% on my 3.5 month average.

Theoretical range by using every last litre in the (55L) tank has averaged 536.16 km. As a comparison, my 2002 Honda Civic Si coupe did average: 7.71 L/100km or 30.51 MPG (US), and a maximum theoretical range of 652.16 km (with a 50L tank). Now, I\'ve been driving that Civic for 3-years, just as hard as the Mazda3. But to consume another 2.68 Litres for every 100km with a 0.5L larger engine? That doesn\'t really make any sense! This extra 2.68L/100km works out to an extra 1929.6L for the 3-year 72,000km or $1,543.68 CDN in gasoline.

If this continues, I will be seriously reconsidering my first Mazda choice and might revert back to a Honda after my lease expires in October of 2007.

P.S. January 27th, 2005: Difficulties starting the car from time to time. Thursday, January 27th at 6:00pm, the car couldn\'t start after 3-4 seconds of cranking. The temperature was -15 degrees Celcuis and the tank was 1/2 full. Half-way mark on the fuel gauge came at approximately 150-km. Shifting was done carefuly on average around 3,000 RPM (normally it\'s 4,500 RPM). Fuel economy is the worst yet at 8,000 km. So how many more kilometer\'s required for a till the engine has \'broken\' in???

P.S.S. Formatting an Excel chart is a PAIN in the ass in these forums. I had to adjust the columns about 15-times before it came out the way it did (which I assume for most of your computers is looking okay).

[SwooshICE]

lol don\'t feel so bad
i get 12+litre/100km almost ALL the time from about 95% city driving
and i have a 2.3 litre AT

i don\'t even push my car that much

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by SwooshICE


lol don\'t feel so bad
i get 12+litre/100km almost ALL the time from about 95% city driving
and i have a 2.3 litre AT

i don\'t even push my car that much

Hehehe... well, you know what they say, \"Misery loves company\".

[kl7402001]

okay guys .. i have the CAI .. so far my consumtion is around 10L/100km .. but alot of stop and go driving tho .. i guess CAI helps abit ...

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by kl7402001


okay guys .. i have the CAI .. so far my consumtion is around 10L/100km .. but alot of stop and go driving tho .. i guess CAI helps abit ...

What kind of accelleration do you do (percentage of throttle) upon starting? And what RPM do you normally shift at?

Here are my recent figures (from my trip to London and back):

distance: 311.6 km
fuel: 32.044 L
economy: 10.284 L/100km
speed: 130 km/h (average on the 401, with another 20% city driving)

distance: 186.2 km
fuel: 14.460 L
economy: 7.766 L/100km
speed: 105 km/h (average on the 401, with all 100% highway driving)

This is my best fuel economy to date (which matches my Honda Civic\'s overall 3-year average)... which shows that you have to drive this Mazda in a vacuum (zero resistance) in order to get the claimed 6.7 L/100km through the Canadian EPA ratings.

[rene]

Hi everyone!

I am new here. I have a 2005 Mazda 3 Sedan, GT, Leather, Auto.

My last two pumps were on:

1/26 ------- 25.5 Li ------- 180.3 km
1/31 -------25.787 Li ----- 183.7 km

Both averages a little bit over 14 Li / 100 km. Not that good.

My wife drives the car and never on the Highway. Her work is 6 km away from our place and she picks me up at night ( 10 km. one-way).

I appreciate your advise, Thanks.


Rene

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by rene


Hi everyone!

I am new here. I have a 2005 Mazda 3 Sedan, GT, Leather, Auto.

My last two pumps were on:

1/26 ------- 25.5 Li ------- 180.3 km
1/31 -------25.787 Li ----- 183.7 km

Both averages a little bit over 14 Li / 100 km. Not that good.

My wife drives the car and never on the Highway. Her work is 6 km away from our place and she picks me up at night ( 10 km. one-way).

I appreciate your advise, Thanks.

Rene

Hmm... you have 2.3L automatic, with approximately 90% city driving. With what I see with my own car, I would have expected about 11-12 L/100km... since it hasn\'t yet \"broken\" in. Give at least 1,000 to 1,500 km before the engine itself breaks-in, but if you are like me have the transmission shift at 4,500 to 5,000 rpm on day-to-day basis, expect the fuel economy to suffer large.

Post more of your results as the weeks go by, and welcome to the forum, Rene.

[kl7402001]

Hey .. I usually drive to work about 10km away everyday and 2 of the days I drv for sauga to ryerson for school .. so most my driving is in the city ..i shift quite early and I try to drive on 5th in the city right after 60 .. and plus my CAI helps cos we run quite rich ... don\'t get me wrong i don\'t baby my car .. on the hwy i often downshift to third and blast thro traffic ... this car is just so fun to drive....

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by kl7402001


Hey .. I usually drive to work about 10km away everyday and 2 of the days I drv for sauga to ryerson for school .. so most my driving is in the city ..i shift quite early and I try to drive on 5th in the city right after 60 .. and plus my CAI helps cos we run quite rich ... don\'t get me wrong i don\'t baby my car .. on the hwy i often downshift to third and blast thro traffic ... this car is just so fun to drive....

Well, I\'m getting to the point that I should capitalize on the 2.3L engine and live with the poor fuel economy. I would certainly consider investing in a Cold Air Intake, but the problem is that after another 33-months, I will return the (lease) car and have spare CAI. Is it worth it? Perhaps not, but it may improve both fuel and peformance, as it is in your case.

Food for Thought:

Just imagine if you had a base Mazda6 with this engine? Guess what fantastic figures you\'d compain about with another 98 kilograms (or another larger person) strapped to your current Mazda3? Mazda\'s webpage advertises the same hwy rating of 6.7L/100km for the 6, while a slight bump to 9.6L/100km (from 9.2) in the city. I would be VERY happy if I could average 9.6 with my current Mazda3. Unfortunately, that can only happen if I began driving on the far right side of the highway, at near the speed limit. Oh well...

[Eric]

Originally posted by PiCASSO
I would be VERY happy if I could average 9.6 with my current Mazda3. Unfortunately, that can only happen if I began driving on the far right side of the highway, at near the speed limit. Oh well...

Well..., The EPA figures, pretty much assume that you are driving at or under the speed limit (90 kph I think for highway).

I have had one tank where I averaged 8.01 l/100km (554.2 km on 44.364L of gas). That was 2/3 highway, driving in the right lane at the speed limit (either 90 or 100kph). In city traffic I am in 4th at 50kph, and in 5th at 60kph. Of course if I am going to accelerate or go up a hill I have to drop back a gear. If you want to get close to the EPA figures, you have to drive like a granny.

[everfeb]

13.88 mpUSgal/16.94L/100km 13.88mpUSgal/16.94L/100km
151.62miles on 10.92 USgals/ 244km on 41.32 litres
This has got to be the new alltime WORST mpg record. This was however all city miles/km in very cold (-20 to -40C daytime temps) on quite slippery streets so didn\'t expect very good mileage but this is highly disappointing. Under the same conditions my 225HPAcura 3.2TL is getting better mileage which upsets me even more. Is there some reason why my Acura should get better around town mileage than my 160HP Mazda 3. I don\'t get it.

Over most of the life of my car I have been tracking my percentage of Town/Hwy miles travelled.
To date...on 39%city/61%hwy miles travelled I am averaging 22.58mpUSgal/10.42L/100km. This is ridiculous. At 39%C/61%H the book says I should be getting 27.99 mpUSgal. Even if we discount this by 10% I should be getting at least 25.19mpUSgal--not 22.58.

BTW I am 57 years old and absolutely do not have a lead foot. I think there is something wrong my car. Any suggestions for improving my mileage. Anyone out there been able to improve their mileage after having some kind of work done at the dealership.

everfeb

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by everfeb


13.88 mpUSgal/16.94L/100km 13.88mpUSgal/16.94L/100km
151.62miles on 10.92 USgals/ 244km on 41.32 litres
This has got to be the new alltime WORST mpg record. This was however all city miles/km in very cold (-20 to -40C daytime temps) on quite slippery streets so didn\'t expect very good mileage but this is highly disappointing. Under the same conditions my 225HPAcura 3.2TL is getting better mileage which upsets me even more. Is there some reason why my Acura should get better around town mileage than my 160HP Mazda 3. I don\'t get it.

Over most of the life of my car I have been tracking my percentage of Town/Hwy miles travelled.
To date...on 39%city/61%hwy miles travelled I am averaging 22.58mpUSgal/10.42L/100km. This is ridiculous. At 39%C/61%H the book says I should be getting 27.99 mpUSgal. Even if we discount this by 10% I should be getting at least 25.19mpUSgal--not 22.58.

BTW I am 57 years old and absolutely do not have a lead foot. I think there is something wrong my car. Any suggestions for improving my mileage. Anyone out there been able to improve their mileage after having some kind of work done at the dealership.

everfeb

Hi Everfeb,

First off, I\'d like to let you know that I feel better. Why? Because I don\'t feel left out anymore, with most of the people getting less than 10 L/100km. My average, is now 10.304 L/100km (which includes my record 7.7L/100km with 100% hwy driving), done in the past 8,800 km.

I can\'t remember if I mentioned it (in all the previous posts), but bringing the car to the dealership did nothing. They did a diagnostic with the engine sensors and computer, and found \"everything to be operating within normal parameters\". My guess is that \"normal\" is so wide, that getting less than 20 MPG is considered normal.

Secondly, I couldn\'t agree with you more about getting better fuel economy with a LARGER and more POWERFUL car. My dad\'s 2002 Buick Regal LS, with a 200hp 3.8L V6 burns about 12.5L/100km on a city cycle. On the highway, he can average a 8.5 L/100km doing some 120km/h. The only time I can get close to that is by driving another 15km/h slower, with my 1.5L smaller 4-cylinder engine.

Is there something wrong? Sure there is. Mazda simply didn\'t do a decent calibration of the engine to provide proper fuel economy figures to match their EPA ratings. In theory, you can get those figures... but the average joe-shmoe will be 25% or beyond those figures.

Will I buy another Mazda? We\'ll see what the market holds in October of 2007...

Cheers,

PiCASSO

[keving]

Well, I\'m just gonna add my fuel economy numbers here. I drive a sedan GT 5-speed, all city driving (to and from school). I only redline about 3 times a week, and 80% of the time I shift before 3000 rpm, with the other 20% of the time shifting at 4-5k rpm. I also revmatch when I downshift, usually revving up to 3000 rpm in the gear that I want to downshift into (I don\'t know if that should affect mileage at all, but oh well).

1) 11.48 L/100km
2) 13.21 L/100km
3) 11.64 L/100km
4) 14.14 L/100km
5) 12.11 L/100km
6) 11.40 L/100km

As you can see I\'m averaging horrible numbers, and I\'m pretty sure on #4 or #5 I actually drove like a granny, shifting at low 2k rpms, just to see how much I can squeeze out of this tank. Not much. Maybe driving like a granny is even worse. I\'ll have to keep keeping track. Oh yeah, I have over 4500 km on the odometer, so the engine should be more or less broken into. I don\'t know what\'s going on?! With these numbers I should be paying for a gas guzzler\'s tax!

kevin

PS. PiCASSO, you format your gas mileage with excel right? Can you teach me how to input formulas into columns of cells, so all I need to do is enter the kms and litres filled up, and it will automatically calculate L/100 km for me? Thanks.

[PiCASSO]

Originally posted by keving

PS. PiCASSO, you format your gas mileage with excel right? Can you teach me how to input formulas into columns of cells, so all I need to do is enter the kms and litres filled up, and it will automatically calculate L/100 km for me? Thanks.

Hey Kevin,

Just send me a PM (private message) along with your e-mail address and I\'ll send you the Excel file that contains all the formulas for calculating feul economy in both L/100km, mpg (US), and mpg (UK). Yes, there is a difference between the US and UK gallon.

BTW, I\'m glad that my figures are better than yours! Hehehe... just kidding.

[keving]

Thanks!

PM sent (hopefully). It\'s my first time using it.

Kevin

[everfeb]

PICASSO...yup, misery loves company. Question...when they did the diagnostic with the sensors and computer did they just hook it up and scan it or/and did they download the latest update and reflash the PCM?? I hope I\'m using the right terminology???
everfeb