CX-5 Fuel economy

[pt00323i]

just finished my first tank, 30/70 city/hwy, got 31.8 mpg, still breaking in.

 

[zoomzoom1587]

My trip computer is saying that I am averaging around 28 MPG 60/40 city/highway. I have a light foot, so hoping to achieve better, but still better than my 18 MPG in my 09 Escape.

 

[HandA]

I used to own a truck (2007 Ford Explorer 4.6L V8 4wd, a BOF truck/SUV) and averaged 14-15 MPG in nearly identical driving condtions (apples to apples comparison).

On my commute my old 2.4l Toyota Tacoma regular cab would get 18-22 mpg depending on how I drove. The CX5 gets 27-32 depending on how much 'fun' I have on the same drive. Our old P5 got about the same as the CX5 on the same commute. 20/80 city/highway.

The mpg drops pretty quickly if I start punching it a lot to change lanes and jump into open spots on the freeway. The CX5 is sooooo much quieter than the Tacoma and has a way better stereo so I don't mind just cruising along in it rather than stressing over getting to my destination 30 seconds sooner. Especially since quite often when I get into the city area of the drive I'm right behind the car that was changing lanes like crazy in front of me 10 minutes earlier.

I was trying to see just how far I could stretch the range out to last week but ended up needing to make a couple lunch time trips to the mall for shopping and was impressed that all city driving for about 25 minutes each time didn't drop my range at all.

Trevor
http://Mazda.HandA.com/cx5.html

 

[pt00323i]

since our cx5 handle so well just don't slow down too much on the corners, let the speed carry thru the turns, just like Miata can carry more speed thru the turns better than those heavier track cars

 

[jamie94]

I don't know if there's a difference between CX-5 in different countries but I'm hoping to get around 50mpg with my CX-5 2.2 175ps diesel AWD 6 speed manual when it arrives next year. UK quoted data is Combined 54.3mpg, xtra urban 60.1mpg and urban 47.1 mpg .
With my current Mazda 6 2.2 185ps diesel, I average 45mpg which is around 5mpg lower than the quoted combined mpg

 

[xtrailman]

I think with the new way of calculating the fuel usage, only the urban figure is worth looking at.

Expect to get that figure in mixed driving. Whatcar got 47mpg in the road test.

Considering the power i think that's OK.

 

[xtrailman]

I think with the new way of calculating the fuel usage, only the urban figure is worth looking at.

Expect to get that figure in mixed driving. Whatcar got 47mpg in the road test.

Considering the power i think that's OK.

Expect the Mazda 6 with the same engine to top 50mpg, as its more aero with no 4x4.

 

[beergotmeripped]

New to the forums... so, whats up guys! This is my first Mazda, have had it for about 2k miles (AWD GT). I'm having the same issues with pretty pathetic fuel economy compared to what I expected. I'm coming from a '06 Acura TSX MT, and so far that car would dump on this CX-5's real world MPG. I've been keeping track with Fuelly... the best I've been able to get is 25.5 mpg with loosely 50/50 city/highway ratio. I goose the gas here and there, but 90% of the time I'm babying it and not accelerating fast. This sucks, because I bought this car solely based on accepting the fact that it's gutless but gets fantastic fuel economy. Now it seems I'm stuck with a car that is both wussy AND gets mediocre fuel economy.

 

[CX-SV]

Yes, beer and driving while beered-up can impact gas mileage (not to mention other problems).

 

[HandA]

This sucks, because I bought this car solely based on accepting the fact that it's gutless but gets fantastic fuel economy.

You have to go beyond 'accepting' it and embrace it to get better mpg. It is really too easy to try to pull more performance out of the little 4 cylinder and that sacrifices a lot of economy quite quickly. Reset the average mpg and drive smoothly for awhile and then step on it to pass a couple cars and watch the reading drop. It seems to be about a 9 to 1 ratio of how much you have to just baby the throttle to get back that one moment of not babying it.

I goose the gas here and there,

That will have a noticeable impact quick quickly on the mpg even it it is just here and there. I've done that and seen mine drop more than I'd like.

 

[beergotmeripped]

You have to go beyond 'accepting' it and embrace it to get better mpg. It is really too easy to try to pull more performance out of the little 4 cylinder and that sacrifices a lot of economy quite quickly. Reset the average mpg and drive smoothly for awhile and then step on it to pass a couple cars and watch the reading drop. It seems to be about a 9 to 1 ratio of how much you have to just baby the throttle to get back that one moment of not babying it.

That will have a noticeable impact quick quickly on the mpg even it it is just here and there. I've done that and seen mine drop more than I'd like.

Thanks, I am starting to see how much you really have to feather-touch the throttle. I think I'm mostly disappointed because I didn't think I'd have to basically drive like I'm hypermiling to get the EPA estimates. During highway driving, it's very hard to touch the pedal light enough to get a good current fuel consumption number while keeping the car going steady at 65mph. This is also my first AWD as well, so I'm sure that adds to lowering fuel economy more drastically during those times I want to have a little fun. I just wish it didn't require so much effort to hit those stated MPG numbers. Other than that, loving the car.

 

[MikeM.]

I just wish it didn't require so much effort to hit those stated MPG numbers. Other than that, loving the car.

I have the AWD w/automatic tranny also and I'm getting better than the stated EPA numbers without any real effort. In fact, my mixed driving exceeds the EPA HWY rating. I just drive with the flow of traffic and look ahead so I can get off the gas when needed instead of gassing it into a red light and then needing to brake hard. I consider this common sense driving, not hypermiling. And this is with full on winter driving (mostly in the mountains) and with snow tires. My mileage is actually better than that reported by Fuelly (below) because I enter the odometer readings directly without a correction factor - my CX-5 with 225/65/17 snow tires under reports the distance traveled by about 2.3% If your odometer is also under reporting the true distance you may be getting better MPG than you think. But a Honda Acura with a manual transmission will crush a SUV with AWD and automatic every time. SUV's have a lot of compromises when it comes to efficiency of motion and if economy is your number one consideration you should ask yourself why you "need" a SUV (and one with automatic AWD at that).

Personally, I'm super pleased with the real world economy I'm seeing under far less than ideal conditions.

 

[IHeartGroceries]

Just to update, my wife still sees right at 30 MPG in her Touring ATX FWD. I think she has a pretty front loaded foot too. I think I could do better than 30 if I drove it daily. I'd say she drives near a 50/50 mix. I checked the other day, and her average speed in 32 MPG. Average speed should be a decent indicator of on what roads her miles are spent.
Our road trip to AR in early Ocrober yielded 35 MPG.

 

[JC_hbg]

We just came out of a week long stretch where it did not get above freezing and it was typically about 10 degrees F in the morning when I would get in the car. I observed that that the fuel mileage was down about 2mpg compared to what I had been seeing with similar driving conditions. The temperature today was above freezing and it looks like the mileage is back to what I had previously seen. I have about 1600 miles on my AWD CX-5 and I'm seeing about 29 mpg in mixed driving, 27 mpg driving around town and have seen up to 32 when mostly highway.

 

[CXFive]

I'm getting 24.7 mpg according to the computer. My average speed us about 28mph and I only have 500 miles in my odometet. I'm mostly doing local highways and maybe 30 - 40 miles total in the parkway.I have the AWD GT with 2.0 lt engine. I would imagine that I would be getting a much lower mpg if I had the 2.5. Lt engine.

 

[CX-SV]

I'm getting 24.7 mpg according to the computer. My average speed us about 28mph and I only have 500 miles in my odometet. I'm mostly doing local highways and maybe 30 - 40 miles total in the parkway.I have the AWD GT with 2.0 lt engine. I would imagine that I would be getting a much lower mpg if I had the 2.5. Lt engine.

Sounds about right given driving conditions (obviously heavy traffic as low average speed indicates) and 500 miles on odometer.

I wouldn't expect much lower mpg with 2.5L, unless you consider 1-2 mpg to be much lower.

 

[ekcooper]

After two weeks with my CX-5, I'm finding the fuel efficiency on par with the Mazda3 GT I traded in. My first week was nearly 26 but that was all of the sitting with the salesperson idling the vehicle and going over all the workings. This week (the first full week of normal driving) was 26.5. That's what I would figure with my 3 in the type of driving I do. So, I'm ok with the fuel efficiency. Now, the buzzing and rattling that just started this week; not so much...

 

[JTNY]

I am attributing all the MPG issues to be related to winter fuel blends .

If you look at my fuelly record, you will see that my MPG's decreased in the fall. I drive my cx-5 daily for work and do errands on the weekend which involves mostly city driving. But I would expect to see better mpg.

 

[beergotmeripped]

I have the AWD w/automatic tranny also and I'm getting better than the stated EPA numbers without any real effort. In fact, my mixed driving exceeds the EPA HWY rating. I just drive with the flow of traffic and look ahead so I can get off the gas when needed instead of gassing it into a red light and then needing to brake hard. I consider this common sense driving, not hypermiling. And this is with full on winter driving (mostly in the mountains) and with snow tires. My mileage is actually better than that reported by Fuelly (below) because I enter the odometer readings directly without a correction factor - my CX-5 with 225/65/17 snow tires under reports the distance traveled by about 2.3% If your odometer is also under reporting the true distance you may be getting better MPG than you think. But a Honda Acura with a manual transmission will crush a SUV with AWD and automatic every time. SUV's have a lot of compromises when it comes to efficiency of motion and if economy is your number one consideration you should ask yourself why you "need" a SUV (and one with automatic AWD at that).

Personally, I'm super pleased with the real world economy I'm seeing under far less than ideal conditions.

To be honest, I drive with that exact same common sense driving. I am wondering if there is something screwy with my particular CX-5, because it doesn't make sense for winter fuel additives and temperature to affect the fuel economy this much. My commute is basically 2 minute back roads, 5ish mins highway. I just did a half tank test of babying the hell out of the gas pedal to get best current mpg's as possible on the meter... and came up with 23.5 mpg avg.

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/beergotmeripped/cx5

I expected at least somewhat near the EPA estimate... especially with the easy driving I do. Something is off if you are driving more mountainous areas and getting so much better than I. The fuel economy you are getting (and I should be) is what made me OK with buying an SUV, compromises and all (which I was well aware of when buying the car). Not many people "need" an SUV, I get that. I got it because my car was totaled, and getting married soon so it seemed like a fun yet sensible choice as a first family-ish car to easily lug things/future screaming kids around.

 

[ManMachine]

That's a pretty short distance you are driving - the engine probably just got warmed up from your 7 min commute (which I envy). If your average trip is 20 miles, you'd see better numbers. Plan a couple of longer trips and check the numbers. Winter additives can be an issue, and what gas do you use? I'd recommend top tier gas or costco.