CX-9 Real MPG

The motor seemed to take awhile to break in at least as far as mpg goes. I changed oil the first time at 3500 miles and after that the motor settled in to a pretty consistant range of 17-18 in mixed driving with heavy city component and 20-22 on highway trips. We have a 2011 Touring / AWD. Latest long trip was to Southern CA, so about 700-800 miles and including climbing over a few mountain passes and some stop and go in the LA area and it got 21.x mpg for the trip, and I was cruising at 75+ most of the way. I was pretty happy with that. It's about the same as I get in my '03 M5, but the kids wanted to take the bigger car, which was OK by me although would have prefered the drive in the BMW!!
 
my mileage has increased to 22 mpg, up from 19 mpg when new. Bought ours 1/28/12 with 187 miles and as of today it's at 7920 miles on the odo. using the scanguage, i immediately saw the mileage increase to 21 mpg after the first oil change. Just had the oil changed again at 7700 miles and since then has stayed at 22mpg. I run 5-20W full synth oil. We live in the rural mountains and drive 90% of the time on the highway. Since the motor is now broken in and everything has seated, i don't expect to better 22 mpg.
 
I noticed that my MPG indicator on the dashboard does not change eventhough I drive on the highway everyday or drive in the city on weekends. It doesn't move from 16.2 or 16.3 no matter what type of driving I do.. Has anyone noticed the same?
 
I noticed that my MPG indicator on the dashboard does not change eventhough I drive on the highway everyday or drive in the city on weekends. It doesn't move from 16.2 or 16.3 no matter what type of driving I do.. Has anyone noticed the same?

Not sure if your system is the same as mine (2009 Touring AWD) but you need to reset the MPG and Avg MPH the same way you might reset the trip odometer. If you've never reset it, then the 16.2 and 16.3 readings are over the life of the vehicle and you're not going to see it change very much. On my car you reset it by pressing the Info button until you get to the number you want to reset and then hold then hold the Info button for a couple seconds until it beeps. I reset it every time I fill up and do my own calculation based on the gallons filled and odometer reading. The trip computer is surprising accurate...usually within 0.5 MPG or less...which is unusual as many cars have trip computers that overestimate efficiency.
 
Thanks for the detailed explanation, I will reset both indicators next time I fill up.....Thanks!
 
I noticed that my MPG indicator on the dashboard does not change eventhough I drive on the highway everyday or drive in the city on weekends. It doesn't move from 16.2 or 16.3 no matter what type of driving I do.. Has anyone noticed the same?

I normally reset the trip computer after every fillup. If you have not reset the trip computer, it might be showing the same data since the computer would average out your mileage based on the trip length.
 
Would love to know if there is a way to reset the trip computer. Wife drives our CX-9 AWD 90% city and 10% highway and we are getting a measly 12.5 mpg overall since we have owned it for almost 2 1/2 years now. Also average speed overall since purchase is only 17 mph. Regardless of the horrible gas milage we love the car
 
Would love to know if there is a way to reset the trip computer. Wife drives our CX-9 AWD 90% city and 10% highway and we are getting a measly 12.5 mpg overall since we have owned it for almost 2 1/2 years now. Also average speed overall since purchase is only 17 mph. Regardless of the horrible gas milage we love the car

To reset AVG MPG, you hold down the INFO button on the dash while the trip computer shows the AVG MPG. It will reset after a few seconds. Same goes for any info displaying on trip computer that is an avg--like avg speed.
 
To reset AVG MPG, you hold down the INFO button on the dash while the trip computer shows the AVG MPG. It will reset after a few seconds. Same goes for any info displaying on trip computer that is an avg--like avg speed.


Tex, thanks for the information!
 
Just did my first fill up on my CX-9 GT AWD. Avg Speed = 20mph, 75/25 Hwy/City driving pulled 19MPG combined. It's about what I expected. Hoping that might go up as the engine breaks in, do the first oil change, etc...
 
5W-20W synthetic oil, all wheel drive, stock low tread Bridgestones, 40 PSI in tires, summer blend gas, me wife and 2 kids and about 150 lbs of luggage, mostly flat, results to Virginia from NY.
Driving down we hit some stupid traffic, maybe 60 mins worth, so that was stop and go, A/C on whole time=20.02 MPG no higher than 70mph at times
finishing driving down and local driving (not much stop and go), A/C on whole time=22.20 MPH 35-65mph
driving home, mostly hwy about 15 hwy traffic lights, A/C on about 70% of time=21.22 80-85mph for 150 miles
All driving was done with fuel economy in mind, not driving like a grandma, yet she would be proud if she was in there. Maybe floored it twice and left it in automatic mode.
 
5W-20W synthetic oil, all wheel drive, stock low tread Bridgestones, 40 PSI in tires, summer blend gas, me wife and 2 kids and about 150 lbs of luggage, mostly flat, results to Virginia from NY.
Driving down we hit some stupid traffic, maybe 60 mins worth, so that was stop and go, A/C on whole time=20.02 MPG no higher than 70mph at times
finishing driving down and local driving (not much stop and go), A/C on whole time=22.20 MPH 35-65mph
driving home, mostly hwy about 15 hwy traffic lights, A/C on about 70% of time=21.22 80-85mph for 150 miles
All driving was done with fuel economy in mind, not driving like a grandma, yet she would be proud if she was in there. Maybe floored it twice and left it in automatic mode.

We have a 2011 touring AWD and get about the same on road trips - 20-21mpg generally.
 
We haven't reset the MPG reading since we got our CX9 a little over a year ago. We're at 25K now, and MPG is 20.4.
 
Sadly, that will never happen for me. When I head north and keep driving, I end up where I started 2 hours later. ;-)
 
It has been about 1900 miles on our 2012 CX-9 AWD Sport: 19-20 mpg without AC 75%highway, 17-18mpg city, with AC reducing the mileage by about 2 mpg in either case. I would say, this is about what we had expected when purchasing the vehicle. We use it for occasional trips and have a Mazda3 for regular commuting, so mileage on the CX-9 is not an issue.
 
Would love to know if there is a way to reset the trip computer. Wife drives our CX-9 AWD 90% city and 10% highway and we are getting a measly 12.5 mpg overall since we have owned it for almost 2 1/2 years now. Also average speed overall since purchase is only 17 mph. Regardless of the horrible gas milage we love the car

Amen, my wife does the same type of driving and we also get horrible gas milage on our 2012 CX9 but we love everything else about the car.
 
The fuel economy rating is not generated by Mazda or any other car company, generally testing is done by a third party to a specification set by the US Government. The auto companies don't and cannot "inflate" this number, the way fuel economy is advertised is a legal requirement, if you want that test changed take it up with the EPA not Mazda, GM, Ford or whoever. Also, real world results as always may vary. The window sticker number is supposed to give you a "reasonable" estimate of what an "average" driver might find in those conditions. Incidentally I have always found that I do better than the advertised value. For instance my previous daily driver, a RWD V8 Cadillac STS had an EPA rating of 22mpg highway, while I got 26-27mpg highway.

So far in the 2011 AWD CX-9 we are getting 22-24 highway and 20mpg combined (I get better city mpg than the Cadillac but worse highway, combined is about a break even). But I'm on the east coast, at low altitude, use mostly high-end gasoline (Shell, Exxon, BP etc... Shell/Exxon are generally the closest formula to "lab" gas)

If you live in a mountainous region, or at high altitude things will be much worse. The EPA numbers are just an indication and are best used as a standardized comparison for shopping. A window sticker difference of 1mpg is negligible, but a window sticker of 5-10mpg will give you an idea that one vehicle will be more economical than another.

Also, unless your version of highway driving is maintaining 75-80mph while driving through the rockies I'd be concerned about 17mpg... You might have some sort of mechanical problem!
 
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