Fuel Economy

[Ghost]

Hey Ghost, Did it start out much higher and when did you notice that it decreased to its current average of 8.5L/100km?

What i noticed was that it started out poorish, then got better as time went on and the engine broke in. Then it stayed steady (a bit higher than what it is averaging now) while i learned the car, and it learned my driving style (or something) and got a bit lower, to around an overall average of 8.5L/100km.

First 3 months were the highest, and the next 2 after that should moderate improvement. From the 6th month onward, the economy has remained consistently better than what is rated in the summer time, and nearly exactly as rated in the winter time.

I forgot to mention any mods i have, in case it matters...

I've got a Mazdaspeed CAI that I run all year round and clean once a year, and I run Mobil1 Synthetic only 5w-30 as recommended. I've had 2 ecu reflashes since I've had the car. I've had the car from new, 2007 Mazda3 GS Sport. My range is typically over 600km per tank and I've seen as high as 709km on a roadtrip.

[Go_Habs_Go]

I've had 2 ecu reflashes since I've had the car.

How come you had 2 ecu reflashes done on your car? I'm assuming it was done by the dealer under warrranty?

What was the issue that made the dealer decide to perform an ecu reflash?

[Ghost]

They did one all on their own saying that there was a new update available and so they just did it. and the other was because i was complaining about throttle response.

[ZoomBoom]

I have a 04 mazda3 and I have read some people getting 500-600 kms a tank thats crazy I do drive my car a little harder then normal but I only get 390-450kms per tank absolutely no more then 450 thats forsure

it is an auto with sport shift and i always use the sport shift when i just put it in drive ill get like 420-450 in sport mode 400-420

does this sound right or not

[3DEE]

That definitely sounds reasonable. I was expecting the same out of mine, but we'll see after the oil change.

[mbd]

I am a ridiculous mileage watcher. I have been keeping track of my mileage over several cars for years. For the past 3 years, I've kept my mileage on google spreadsheets. Now that I've had my Mazda 3 for about 3 months, I thought I'd share some of my data.

I have a 2009 Mazda 3 GS (so 2.0 L 148 hp engine) MT. I do a combination of City/Hwy/Country driving.

My numbers. My goal is to try to get 40 mpg consistently. As you can see, it only happened once on Dec 14.

6-Nov-2008 - 542KM, 41.38L, 7.64L/100km, 37mpg
10-Nov-2008 - 516KM, 39.99L, 7.75L/100km, 36mpg
15-Nov-2008 - 585KM, 42.14L, 7.20L/100km, 39mpg
21-Nov-2008 - 500KM, 40.77L, 8.15L/100km, 35mpg
27-Nov-2008 - 547KM, 41.52L, 7.59L/100km, 37mpg
1-Dec-2008 - 528KM, 40.75L, 7.72L/100km, 37mpg
7-Dec-2008 - 584KM, 44.38L, 7.59L/100km, 37mpg
14-Dec-2008 - 615KM, 43.20L, 7.02L/100km, 40mpg
19-Dec-2008 - 516KM, 39.63L, 7.69L/100km, 37mpg

[Flagrum_3]

I am a ridiculous mileage watcher. I have been keeping track of my mileage over several cars for years. For the past 3 years, I've kept my mileage on google spreadsheets. Now that I've had my Mazda 3 for about 3 months, I thought I'd share some of my data.

I have a 2009 Mazda 3 GS (so 2.0 L 148 hp engine) MT. I do a combination of City/Hwy/Country driving.

My numbers. My goal is to try to get 40 mpg consistently. As you can see, it only happened once on Dec 14.

6-Nov-2008 - 542KM, 41.38L, 7.64L/100km, 37mpg
10-Nov-2008 - 516KM, 39.99L, 7.75L/100km, 36mpg
15-Nov-2008 - 585KM, 42.14L, 7.20L/100km, 39mpg
21-Nov-2008 - 500KM, 40.77L, 8.15L/100km, 35mpg
27-Nov-2008 - 547KM, 41.52L, 7.59L/100km, 37mpg
1-Dec-2008 - 528KM, 40.75L, 7.72L/100km, 37mpg
7-Dec-2008 - 584KM, 44.38L, 7.59L/100km, 37mpg
14-Dec-2008 - 615KM, 43.20L, 7.02L/100km, 40mpg
19-Dec-2008 - 516KM, 39.63L, 7.69L/100km, 37mpg

Awesome numbers!! I've only managed once to get 36mpg with my 2.3L, 5sp, mixed driving...Usual average is 32-34mpg, but in winter it drops to 30-31mpg.


_3

[mbd]

Awesome numbers!! I've only managed once to get 36mpg with my 2.3L, 5sp, mixed driving...Usual average is 32-34mpg, but in winter it drops to 30-31mpg.


_3

Yeah but you got a bigger engine - those numbers seem pretty good considering you have the bigger engine.

I plug my car in with a block heater so my numbers are pretty consistent in summer & winter. I live in the country & have to drive 80-90 kph right out of my driveway so want the poor car to be warmed up.

[Paulski]

I hope some of you can help me out.
I bought a 2008.5 M3 GT in early November '08.
It had 10,000km as it was a demo. It's got 11500km on it now. Is it past the break in point for the good gas mileage? The best I've got is 378Km on 47 litres of gas. My CRV gets better mileage than the M3.
I do 95% city and I drive like a granny to see what I can get out of a tank. So far I'm not impressed! I dont drive it in the snow I use the CRV for that.
I've been reading through the the postings and people are getting 600km on a tank.....only in my dreams!!!
I took it back to the dealership, they ran some tests and they said it was running perfectly. Whats up?:

[x_o_k_x]

I hope some of you can help me out.
I bought a 2008.5 M3 GT in early November '08.
It had 10,000km as it was a demo. It's got 11500km on it now. Is it past the break in point for the good gas mileage? The best I've got is 378Km on 47 litres of gas. My CRV gets better mileage than the M3.
I do 95% city and I drive like a granny to see what I can get out of a tank. So far I'm not impressed! I dont drive it in the snow I use the CRV for that.
I've been reading through the the postings and people are getting 600km on a tank.....only in my dreams!!!
I took it back to the dealership, they ran some tests and they said it was running perfectly. Whats up?:

Try unplugging your battery for 10-15 sec. Also driving like a granny, meaning longer/unconstant accelaration, which is why your milage is so bad. Try to accelarate on average and roll to red lights. Also how is service and maintanance on this car? I still get 550+/-km a tank avaraging 9.7l/100km(winter). Hope this helps!

[b.rabbit]

I still get 550+/-km a tank avaraging 9.7l/100km(winter). Hope this helps!

Is mileage supposed to be better warmer weather?

Right now, I'm avg'g 9.48L/100km since I got my winter tires in October, and from April to October, I've avg'd 8.61L/100km, when I'm on all-seasons.

[x_o_k_x]

yep, during cold seasons your mileage drops, due of having cold engine running and warm ups In the summer I ran 7.2/100km or nearly 700km, winter is tottaly different, but oh well i dont really care, I just enjoy my car

[b.rabbit]

yep, during cold seasons your mileage drops, due of having cold engine running and warm ups In the summer I ran 7.2/100km or nearly 700km, winter is tottaly different, but oh well i dont really care, I just enjoy my car

Ah, that's nice to know. I've been wondering why the mileage has been up.

Thanks!

[Paulski]

Try unplugging your battery for 10-15 sec. Also driving like a granny, meaning longer/unconstant accelaration, which is why your milage is so bad. Try to accelarate on average and roll to red lights. Also how is service and maintanance on this car? I still get 550+/-km a tank avaraging 9.7l/100km(winter). Hope this helps!

I guess disconnecting the battery will reset the trip/fuel economy computer etc.?
The maintanance is up to date, I just got it from the dealer.
My granny driving may be overstated. but my car averages 12.3l/100 on the computer at the best of times.

[Flagrum_3]

Yeah but you got a bigger engine - those numbers seem pretty good considering you have the bigger engine.

I plug my car in with a block heater so my numbers are pretty consistent in summer & winter. I live in the country & have to drive 80-90 kph right out of my driveway so want the poor car to be warmed up.

Latest fill, did mostly city with a little fun in the parking lot at work, (had to relearn how this car handles in snow right?)...lots of holiday traffic too, ...friggen people don't know how to drive!!....anyways; 404 km driven, 36.005 litres used, works out to 8.9l/100km or 31.7mpg ....not too shabby!


_3

[Flagrum_3]

I guess disconnecting the battery will reset the trip/fuel economy computer etc.?
The maintanance is up to date, I just got it from the dealer.
My granny driving may be overstated. but my car averages 12.3l/100 on the computer at the best of times.

Actually unplugging the battery is used to clear any programming in the main computer! These vehicles will set paramaters based on your style of driving over the base ecu hard memory, this is what you want to clear.It's not for your trip/fuel computer!!....(which you should not be basing your mileage on!)You should really do it the old fashion way, based on your own figuring; litres used vs. kms driven....as mentioned before disconnect the battery for a time 20 minutes is more then enough ( you need time to drain all capacitors, you could try stepping on the brake pedal witht he ignition on, to help with this), re-connect the battery and drive the vehicle in your style of driving for say 1/2 hour; this will reset the parameters and hopefully show you better mileage....(I would suggest doing this at night!!~ less traffic= smoother driving!!) ...If not you may want to consider switching your oil to full synthetic~this should definately show an improvement especially in cold temps.

12.3l/100km is way too high, even for city!



_3

[jsbola]

Wow, I have the exact same car as you and your mileage is far better than mine, same kind of driving, I think I avg something like 460-475km. I dont think Ive ever done 500km. I dont know what Im doing wrong.

I am a ridiculous mileage watcher. I have been keeping track of my mileage over several cars for years. For the past 3 years, I've kept my mileage on google spreadsheets. Now that I've had my Mazda 3 for about 3 months, I thought I'd share some of my data.

I have a 2009 Mazda 3 GS (so 2.0 L 148 hp engine) MT. I do a combination of City/Hwy/Country driving.

My numbers. My goal is to try to get 40 mpg consistently. As you can see, it only happened once on Dec 14.

6-Nov-2008 - 542KM, 41.38L, 7.64L/100km, 37mpg
10-Nov-2008 - 516KM, 39.99L, 7.75L/100km, 36mpg
15-Nov-2008 - 585KM, 42.14L, 7.20L/100km, 39mpg
21-Nov-2008 - 500KM, 40.77L, 8.15L/100km, 35mpg
27-Nov-2008 - 547KM, 41.52L, 7.59L/100km, 37mpg
1-Dec-2008 - 528KM, 40.75L, 7.72L/100km, 37mpg
7-Dec-2008 - 584KM, 44.38L, 7.59L/100km, 37mpg
14-Dec-2008 - 615KM, 43.20L, 7.02L/100km, 40mpg
19-Dec-2008 - 516KM, 39.63L, 7.69L/100km, 37mpg

[maats]

I have an 08 MZ3 sport and I usually get about 530 Km / 42 L of gas. It has dropped considerably since the fall. I am now getting 428 Km / 42 L of gas. I believe this has to do with running the defrost cycle. The air conditioner is running when the vehicle is in defrost. This happens automatically. The AC light doesn't illuminate. I usually heat the vehicle with defrost constantly running. I am using the floor heat selection button to see if this makes a difference in fuel economy. It would make sense to me to have lower fuel economy if the AC is constantly running.

[Jeff0]

You should really do it the old fashion way, based on your own figuring; litres used vs. kms driven...

Car trip computer fuel consumption calculator is almost same as the manual computation as long as you reset it every time you gas up. I monitored mine for almost a year now and it has only a difference of 0.2 lesser than manual calculations.

Flagrum you got a nice numbers on your consumption, my average is 10L city driving and I got best when I drove fr Mississauga to Ottawa 7.2L and still have 1/4 gas tank remaining with my 2.0L AT GS '08.

[notoriousb]

Do some of you drive like grannies or something? I don't get nearly the kinda the fuel economy as you guys do. I get 250 Miles on every fill up.... (400km). About 40% highway, 60% streets.

I wanna know if it's my car or my driving style???

[Paulski]

I'll try to diconnect the battery to reset my parameters but I do figure out mile milage the old fashioned way of Kms/litre used. I'm not sure if the resetting is really going to make any difference in the consumption!
My dealer says its still breaking in.wtf, It's got 11500kms on it. What is the break in on this car (2008.5 M3 GT 5door, 2.3)? the best I've got 378kms on 47litres of PREMIUM gas! I even try to Hypermile. Why can't I get 600km on a tank? I'd be happy if I broke 400km at this point. 600km would be utopic.

[mbd]

Wow, I have the exact same car as you and your mileage is far better than mine, same kind of driving, I think I avg something like 460-475km. I dont think Ive ever done 500km. I dont know what Im doing wrong.

Yeah but maybe you are still getting good mileage. The trick is to see how much consumption you are doing by getting all the numbers to figure out your final l/100 km or mpg. Even if you only got 300 in a tank, you may have gotten 40 mpg which would be good fuel consumption. It's not just about how far you go on a tank because it depends how much was in that tank to begin with.

[mbd]

Do some of you drive like grannies or something? I don't get nearly the kinda the fuel economy as you guys do. I get 250 Miles on every fill up.... (400km). About 40% highway, 60% streets.

I wanna know if it's my car or my driving style???

Not me....I try not to do jack rabbit starts or brake hard unnecessarily but I do enjoy the spirited drive every now & then because I do enjoy driving my car. If I was more conservative, I'd have even better fuel economy.

[Flagrum_3]

Not me....I try not to do jack rabbit starts or brake hard unnecessarily but I do enjoy the spirited drive every now & then because I do enjoy driving my car. If I was more conservative, I'd have even better fuel economy.

Same here, I average 130kph when I'm on the hwy and don't granny it, ...it's called smooth driving .


_3

[Paulski]

Do some of you drive like grannies or something? I don't get nearly the kinda the fuel economy as you guys do. I get 250 Miles on every fill up.... (400km). About 40% highway, 60% streets.

I wanna know if it's my car or my driving style???

I'm in the same boat you are.....is it me or the car? I get 378km on 47L of Premium all city drive and the dealer says its running at its optimum level. I drive smooth and hate to jack rabbit. When is the break in point of this car?