I assume that to get the best economy from a CX5, you want steady speeds and minimal braking. But what speed is best for a diesel manual version to get that economy? Is it cruising at 70mph (ie up and down motorways) or going at 50-60mph (rural inter-city roads) or perhaps going at 30-40mph (suburban roads)? Has anybody published figures? Or has anybody experimented with this?
economy for diesel CX5 manual
- Thread starter ashdale
- Start date
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- 2023 CX-5 2.5 Turbo AWD Auto
RIP 8/23:2013 CX-5 Sport FWD Auto 120k
You lose fuel economy at speeds over 55-60 mph. Steady as possible at 55 mph with a light touch on the accelerator. Air starts to drag on the car and reduce mpg at speeds higher than that. Accelerate slowly from stops. Think big toe on an egg type acceleration. Engine break as much as possible. Brake dust is lost fuel economy. You can do better than cruise control as you can anticipate slight drops or rises. Cruise control accelerates too harshly up hills and it cant anticipate drops either.
Thats about all there is to it. Look up hypermilling if youd like to learn more. Its not much fun but its absolute best case scenario if maximum mpg is your goal.
Credentials: used to do this in my 98 diesel Jetta. Best I got was 60 mpg over a tank. 55 mpg if I was trying somewhat. 45-50 mpg if I didnt care.
Thats about all there is to it. Look up hypermilling if youd like to learn more. Its not much fun but its absolute best case scenario if maximum mpg is your goal.
Credentials: used to do this in my 98 diesel Jetta. Best I got was 60 mpg over a tank. 55 mpg if I was trying somewhat. 45-50 mpg if I didnt care.
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Most cars get their absolute best mileage in the range of a steady 40-45 mph. This is the "crossover point" where the increase in drag overcomes the inherent losses of the engine running at very low power levels. It's also the point where most cars will shift to their highest gear and you want the engine turning as few RPMs as possible for a given speed to get the best mileage. But the peak is very flat, so anything between 30-mph and 55 mph will be very close..... it is only when you start going over 55-mph or so that drag starts to rise enough to seriously affect mileage.
As previous poster mentions, the big key is to avoid using brakes and accelerate lightly so the car stays in a high gear without having to downshift. If terrain is rolling, then letting your speed bleed off up hill and speed up downhill is better than trying to maintain a steady speed. Again, avoid braking at all costs.
- Mark
As previous poster mentions, the big key is to avoid using brakes and accelerate lightly so the car stays in a high gear without having to downshift. If terrain is rolling, then letting your speed bleed off up hill and speed up downhill is better than trying to maintain a steady speed. Again, avoid braking at all costs.
- Mark
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It also helps if the car has an eco mode which can disconnect the gear box, effectively running in neutral at tick over.
And having extra gears so the engine is always running at its most efficient.
Speed wise ironically I've found an average higher speed (but still low) can return better economy, my car has an app which shows each journey (VW).
And having extra gears so the engine is always running at its most efficient.
Speed wise ironically I've found an average higher speed (but still low) can return better economy, my car has an app which shows each journey (VW).
My cars tend to like cruise control at 52mph in terms of max mpgs to real world usable speed ratio.
