Average MPG less than 20mpg, am I alone?

Another consideration, if you drive much in Sport mode your mileage will usually take a big hit. It effectively locks out 5th and 6th gear so rpm is high, increasing consumption.
Yes, big hit on mpg. Doesn't effectively lock out 5th/6th at constant highway speed, but it does knock down the trans 2 gears so you'll find yourself in 2nd in stead of 4th sometimes
 
My car is considerably lighter than your CX-5, and in doing the metric conversion (I'm in Canada), I'm only getting about 21-22 mpg's right now. All short trips in the middle of a Canadian winter. It gets better in the summer.

On a side note, I checked my oil last week, and it was considerably over the high mark on the dipstick. I changed the oil last summer and have only driven about 2,000 miles since then. Could not smell any gas, but it still concerned me. It was also a lot darker than I was expecting.
I changed it again yesterday.
 
2019 CX-5 Signature Turbo, always use Costco premium 92 octane.

As title says, I'm only getting 18-19 mpg average. I tried to get some decent mileage, intentionally driving like an old man. Well, I'm an old man but it's just too far below the EPA rating. I usually drive 5-10 mile distance on surface road, in small city not much of traffic, occasional freeway driving to 25 miles or so. I expect more than 20 mpg or close to the EPA city rating. The CX-5 has 15,500 miles on it, am I still in break-in period? No other complaints. Oh, once drove 130 mile one way, I got just under 27 mpg on that trip.
We have similar poor mileage, but only drive many short trips, to grocery stores or whatever usually under 5 miles one way. Pandemic has severely restricted mileage accumulation because we hardly ever go anywhere now. But similar to you on a longish 100+ mile trip, the mpgs were acceptable.
 
Frequent short trips are the reason for low MPG. Even combined with 20-30% of freeway driving, not so short trips of 20-30 miles one way, won't improve MPG much. Low MPG isn't really a concern to me, but the possible accumulation of fuel and moisture in oil is. Direct injection engine makes it even worse.

As many have noted, pandemic has effected driving habits for many of us, especially older people who doesn't have daily driving routine. Skyrocketing gasoline price doesn't help either.
 
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Modern engines run the oil much hotter than in the past, this to “boil off” any water and gas which accumulates in the oil. Twenty years ago, oil temps were in the 180-200*F range, but today it’s often over 215*F. IME it doesn’t take 20 minutes to reach this temp, but trips of only 5-10 miles in winter may not reach the required temperature. Low oil temps reflect the actual engine temps and the Mazda ECM will still retard timing if the temp is too low, so mpg suffers.

DI engines are hardly new tech, my 2005 BMW was DI and there were no issues of diluted oil etc. - in fact the synthetic oil change interval was over 10,000 miles. The 1/4 mile times for the car were within 0.10 seconds between 4000 miles and 30,000 miles.
 
2019 CX-5 Signature Turbo, always use Costco premium 92 octane.

As title says, I'm only getting 18-19 mpg average. I tried to get some decent mileage, intentionally driving like an old man. Well, I'm an old man but it's just too far below the EPA rating. I usually drive 5-10 mile distance on surface road, in small city not much of traffic, occasional freeway driving to 25 miles or so. I expect more than 20 mpg or close to the EPA city rating. The CX-5 has 15,500 miles on it, am I still in break-in period? No other complaints. Oh, once drove 130 mile one way, I got just under 27 mpg on that trip.

I run a Scangaige II because I tow and want to watch my temps. Without the trailer, my cat takes at least 7 miles for the water temp to get to 180F (185F is normal). The trans takes another 20 miles to get to 180F (normal is 180 to 205 depending on speed).

At 5 miles your drive train is still "cold" and will not get good fuel mileage. Even at 10 miles, the tranny is still cool and has increased friction over fully warmed up. Your fuel mileage is not surprising.
 
2.5L NA. 1100 kilometers on the clock -- 12.7L/100km (18.5mpg) average. Calculated at the pump (but the trip computer is accurate too) I drive calmly most of the time.
70% city, 30% highway. If I do 100% city I get 14L/100km (16.8mpg) and 100% highway gets me 9-10L/100km (23.5-26.1mpg)
It's quite cold where I live nowadays and as I park outdoors the engine takes quite some time to warm up.
17" winters, 34psi all around.
Even a Corolla Hybrid (rental) didn't do above 24mpg in Montreal during winter, so I am not too surprised. Hopefully, things will get better in summer.
From my experience, all SUVs in this class (unless hybrid) get similar MPGs in the city, but we do lose a little bit on the highway due to having only 6 gears.

Even at 10 miles, the tranny is still cool and has increased friction over fully warmed up.
And you can feel this while driving if you listen to your car and look at the rev counter. 100% true!

PS: Just came back from a 400-kilometer road trip and I averaged 7.5L/100km (31.3mpg) on the highway, mainly at 65-70mph.
 
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Average MPG less than 20mpg, am I alone?
2019 CX-5 Signature Turbo, always use Costco premium 92 octane.

2016 CX-5 GT AWD 2.5L (non-turbo) with 90Kmi+, here. 87 octane.

20-21mpg, if almost entirely city driving with many short trips. (I also tend to push a bit on initial acceleration, which doesn't help.)

23-24mpg, if I'm doing about half and half (city and highway).

29-30mpg, if almost exclusively highway and using cruise control at ~65-70mph.
 
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I bought the signature/turbo not to save gas but make sure I have permanent wrinkles as I age from smiling. I average 14-21mpg because a majority of my trips are locally (2 kids, 1 school, 4 sports and a half dozen hobbies between them).

Having said that I just got 28mpg on a 98 mile trip. Set cruise to 72 and just took it easy. Zero fun, but saved a few $.

I’ve decided my driving enjoyment is worth more than cruise control. Makes me hopeful there will be an all electric CX-5 turbo in the future.
 
What helps me get better gas mileage is the display to the right I set it on the current gas mileage.
I accelerate get it to a sweet spot where I’m getting the best current gas mileage possible.
I don’t live in a extremely cold climate but it gets pretty cold.Try using that setting it might help.
I average 25 mpgs.
 
2019 CX-5 Signature Turbo, always use Costco premium 92 octane.

As title says, I'm only getting 18-19 mpg average. I tried to get some decent mileage, intentionally driving like an old man. Well, I'm an old man but it's just too far below the EPA rating. I usually drive 5-10 mile distance on surface road, in small city not much of traffic, occasional freeway driving to 25 miles or so. I expect more than 20 mpg or close to the EPA city rating. The CX-5 has 15,500 miles on it, am I still in break-in period? No other complaints. Oh, once drove 130 mile one way, I got just under 27 mpg on that trip.
Not alone. I had the 19 touring got 20 mpg at best. Usually 18-19.

Got the 21 GTR turbo figuring if I’m not getting close to the stated mpg might as well get the turbo. I currently get 20 mpg with the turbo. I don’t believe these cars get anywhere near the 22/27 etc. I understand all the conditions apply but this is my experience. I’ve accepted 20 mpg
 
I have a 2021 GT-R. Since new, around 8k miles ago, have averaged 23.8 mpg, per the car's trip computer, but not verified at the pump. Mix of maybe 60% around down and 40% highway miles. I do use cruise control a lot on the highway, probably set a little higher that it should be. I can't complain about the mileage I get, esp for a turbo. I drive it like I drive my 911. And it's a lot of fun to drive!
 
I have a 2021 GT-R. Since new, around 8k miles ago, have averaged 23.8 mpg, per the car's trip computer, but not verified at the pump. Mix of maybe 60% around down and 40% highway miles. I do use cruise control a lot on the highway, probably set a little higher that it should be. I can't complain about the mileage I get, esp for a turbo. I drive it like I drive my 911. And it's a lot of fun to drive!
Enjoy it. It will drop down. Mine started like that too on both cars.
 
I got gas last Saturday and checked my mileage. It was an honest 30mpg. This surprised me because it was all around town driving. I find that if I drive the posted speed or very slightly above I get wonderful mileage. My only hate is that the tank is so small. I guess it's so that the weight of the extra gas doesn't effect the mileage. However if it had another 5 gallons it would only add 30 lbs. Oh well!
 
My take is that there is an issue with the car. Mine prints the exact EPA mileage advertised. Mostly around town driving, but some pure highway driving (78 mph cruise) about once per month. 23 city, 28 highway all day long.
 
I’d have to be towing one of my utility trailers with a load to drop down into high teens… my 80/20 Hwy-City is normally around 27-28 MPG
 
There’s a honeymoon phase for mpg?
My first few months I got 23 mpg but this winter I've been getting 26.5. It might be because now that it's cold I only slam the gas once a trip, maybe, but in the warmth, with the na engine, I love flooring it just to get to speed limits then cruise and that probably got the 23 ha.
 
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