Great MPG so far on 2023 CX-5 Turbo

[N7turbo]

There's a button on the drivers side bottom panel. At the time I didn't have my glasses on, and I asked my son what did it say. He said it looked like a traction control logo. So I went with that. Just now I looked at it, and I was wrong. It's the lane assistant crap. Sorry for misleading info.

It does look misleading. I think the only way to disable TCS is to use Off-Road mode. Which isn't supposed to be used full-time.

 

[RedBaron]

Car fuel tanks are vented to atmosphere.

Just a note here, modern car's tanks are NOT vented to the atmosphere. There is a closed EVAP system that prevents fumes from escaping into the environment. That's why you get a CEL if you leave the gas cap loose after a refill.

Now I'm sure that race cars are different, and so your other points would apply there for sure.

 

[jadmt]

Road and Track quoted EPA that it looses 3% or about 1 MPG if the car gets 30 MPG e free. The economies of a gas treatment will not work. That is only part of the equation. Storing e fuel will absorb water faster than e free fuel.

I have an alcohol burning race car. We test our fuel for water with a hygrometer. More than 2% water in the fuel, we dump the fuel. We don't store the car with alcohol in the system. We drain the fuel and flush with e free pump gas. We are very careful not to leave our fuel tanks open to atmosphere and where we store the fuel drums.

Car fuel tanks are vented to atmosphere. Water condenses in the tank as the tank cools off at night. Less fuel in the tank more water can condense. The e in the fuel will absorb the water and hurt fe. It doesn't mater if the water is absorbed or not, the engine has less btu's and fe suffers. ICE engines won't burn water. LOL

Water will shorten the life of our DI engines. It's well documented in the diesel world how water shortens the life of injectors.

My gas generators instructions said to store with the fuel tank full or empty to reduce condensate. I store it with e free fuel with Sta-Bill for insurance. The smaller gen, I turn it on it's side and pour out the fuel. Then drain the carbs.

I agree, I buy fuel at high volume stations when ever possible. I live a few miles from Barber Motorsports Park. I see track prepped cars buying fuel at the Buc-ee's station less than a mile from the track when I fill up.

Our Mazda's have great fuel mileage meters. I'm curious if e free fuel or fuel additives is cost efficient. It's easy to see a difference...

Post in thread 'Report after 2300 miles on pure gas (2023 CX-5 Turbo)'

Aug 3, 2024

Non ethanol fuel was more of what i was interested in seeing if there was any real difference, just happened all the non ethanol happened to be 91.

• jadmt

 

[AL Cx5]

Just a note here, modern car's tanks are NOT vented to the atmosphere. There is a closed EVAP system that prevents fumes from escaping into the environment. That's why you get a CEL if you leave the gas cap loose after a refill.

Now I'm sure that race cars are different, and so your other points would apply there for sure.

Thank you for the clarification. I was thinking about my tow pig diesel that vents to atmosphere. I'll correct my post....

 

[jadmt]

we have ~30,000 miles and have done many road trips using several tanks of pure gas and mpg really has not been any different. going in for new tires tomorrow Michelin cross climate2's. be interesting if they have any affect.

just did a 363 mile road trip and took 12.3 gallons so the new CC2's did not kill my mpg so far.
super happy with CC2's so far but time will tell.

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[cxha]

After completing a 500-mile trip down to Monterey and back our 16K mile Signature averaged 27.4 MPG. Traffic through the Bay Area freeways moves right along on off-peak hours if you use the FasTrak lanes... 80-85 MPH, so efficiency suffers at those speeds. Short trips with the 2.5T kills the mileage, but this CX-5 replaced a 2.5 for the advantages it has on the highway, where the NA engine lacks oomph. The Miata gets over 30 MPG even in the city which means the CX-5 can be reserved for the cross-country jaunts where it shines.

 

[N7turbo]

I'm getting 21 mpg after the turbo inlet pipe and tire upgrades. Hoping that a tune will bring that back up.

 

[jadmt]

I'm getting 21 mpg after the turbo inlet pipe and tire upgrades. Hoping that a tune will bring that back up.

is that with your foot in it all the time? seems really low for those upgrades.

 

[N7turbo]

is that with your foot in it all the time? seems really low for those upgrades.

Several tanks so far and it's been pretty consistent. Has to be running rich because it doesn't make sense to me. Need data to know what is going on.

 

[AL Cx5]

Mazda Edit software will log all your engine pids to your laptop.

The module connects to the obd2 port to a laptop comes with DRTuned package or buy it separately.

Then you can see how it's running.

Have you pulled a plug? #4 is easy to get to. It will give an idea how rich it's running or not.

 

[AL Cx5]

Our 2.5lT is loving the cooler weather. FE is up about 1.5 MPG. Temps are in the 70s F vs 90s...yeah

We got 24.8 MPG hand calculated, all intown driving. My wife put on 90% of the miles going back and forth to the hospital to stay with our grandson. I TRIED to follow her the other day. She accelerates much, much faster than I and was about out of sight!

This tuned for daily driver turbo makes great power right in the DD sweet spot. So I don't blame her....

The hospital is less than 5 miles from the house and she has to deal with downtown traffic and parking garage. Her head is not into FE but to get to the hospital quickly. Not ideal for FE

I'm going to add 2 more ground cables to the car: Throttle Body and Trans. Then observe if these make a difference. When I've grounded throttle bodies in the past it improved throttle response. Trans ground helped it shift quicker and smoother.

"We" don't need more performance so these grounds may come off if it doesn't help FE...

EDIT: I grounded the trans. It is shifting SMOOTHER. And down shifts are quick, no hesitation. I was surprised. On Sport mod, it's real sporty now. I removed the air filter box and attached the ground to the top of the trans and to the body. 30 min job even with the variable flow damper attached to the air filter box.

Throttle Body is another story! I'll have to learn how to take the inlet tube off to get to the bolts. I landed a ground on the EGR cooler until I get the throttle body apart. WOW someone worked hard to make the throttle body connections complicated. Maybe Mazda hired a BMW engineer!

 

[AL Cx5]

Has anyone tried a fuel additive?

I'm on our 2nd bottle of Sta Bil. YES it's a fuel stabilizer and it has helped with FE. Marine grade costs $0.10 per gallon.

Today we filled up before leaving. This tank was all short trips around town. Hand calculated, 26.9 mpg.

We drove 408 miles from Birmingham, AL to Summerville, SC. As we got out of hilly AL, GA or FE increased about 1 mpg. Mazdas 2 trip logs are nice for spot checking.

We had a slow down in Atlanta and a 2 more minor slow downs. We drove between 65 and 70 mph. Light wind and temp increased from 55 to 78 F.

Hand calculated was 34.0 mpg over 408 miles. We know Mazda EPA highway is 27mpg. Folks pften beat this. 7 mpg over EPA blew me away.

I hope some others will try Std Bil and post up

Here is when we got into flatter terrain.

 

[vrsick]

On my 2024 CX-5 "non turbo", I get 27 MPG. Now that it's winter, I'm now getting 25 MPG. I'm impressed your getting 34 MPG. I fear using any kind of additives on a vehicle.

 

[AL Cx5]

On my 2024 CX-5 "non turbo", I get 27 MPG. Now that it's winter, I'm now getting 25 MPG. I'm impressed your getting 34 MPG. I fear using any kind of additives on a vehicle.

I read only 2% of Mazda owners modify their rides and most of them are Miata owners.

I've been modifying EFI cars since 2007. Several ended up as race only cars. I've been careful to STOP the mods on the CX 5 so it's a dependable DD.

We are adding 1 oz of Sta Bil per 10 gallons. That is next to nothing. I've been adding all kinds of fuel additives to my 2006 Cummins diesel. It has 270K mi on the clock. Many of the additives were to extend the life of the injectors. Most guys go about 150K mi on injectors. Mine are at 270K and going strong. We add all kinds of crazy stuff like ATF and 2 stroke oil. Guy on the Cummins forum made all kinds of predictions how the ATF would kill the engine. My friend just passed 400K on his truck and changed the injectors out.

I might be blazing a trail for the CX5 guys. I've modified the air inlet pipe, added a variable flow CAI to the stock air filter box, grounded the head and trans and add 60 HP with an ECU tune. Then lowered the car with coilovers. Add changed wheels out that are 30% lighter.

I can read the PIDs of the ECU and log the if the mods help or not.

I hope some other brave sole tries this additive and confirms or NOT if this worked for them.

 

[ruthrj]

I read only 2% of Mazda owners modify their rides and most of them are Miata owners.

I've been modifying EFI cars since 2007. Several ended up as race only cars. I've been careful to STOP the mods on the CX 5 so it's a dependable DD.

We are adding 1 oz of Sta Bil per 10 gallons. That is next to nothing. I've been adding all kinds of fuel additives to my 2006 Cummins diesel. It has 270K mi on the clock. Many of the additives were to extend the life of the injectors. Most guys go about 150K mi on injectors. Mine are at 270K and going strong. We add all kinds of crazy stuff like ATF and 2 stroke oil. Guy on the Cummins forum made all kinds of predictions how the ATF would kill the engine. My friend just passed 400K on his truck and changed the injectors out.

I might be blazing a trail for the CX5 guys. I've modified the air inlet pipe, added a variable flow CAI to the stock air filter box, grounded the head and trans and add 60 HP with an ECU tune. Then lowered the car with coilovers. Add changed wheels out that are 30% lighter.

I can read the PIDs of the ECU and log the if the mods help or not.

I hope some other brave sole tries this additive and confirms or NOT if this worked for them.

1 oz of Sta-Bil per 10 gallons isn’t bad at all. I think the bottle says to do 2 oz for 5 gallons (got some more ethanol free gas just in case for the generator).

You’re right about diesel additives too. I was using Diesel Kleen religiously with my old 98 TDI Jetta. The fuel pump on that was its Achilles heel, and supposedly the additive restored the diesel’s ability to lubricate the fuel pump properly (ultra low sulfur having lost its “slippery-ness” from the manufacturing process).

 

[N7turbo]

On my 2024 CX-5 "non turbo", I get 27 MPG. Now that it's winter, I'm now getting 25 MPG. I'm impressed your getting 34 MPG. I fear using any kind of additives on a vehicle.

I get 34mpg on some trips. I get 22mpg on others.

I don't believe fuel additives can improve fuel economy. Sorry. Not saying I couldn't be convinced with scientific rigor.

 

[jadmt]

I get 34mpg on some trips. I get 22mpg on others.

I don't believe fuel additives can improve fuel economy. Sorry. Not saying I couldn't be convinced with scientific rigor.

this. I imagine if there was scientific proof they would really be advertising it as a mpg booster.

 

[AL Cx5]

1 oz of Sta-Bil per 10 gallons isn’t bad at all. I think the bottle says to do 2 oz for 5 gallons (got some more ethanol free gas just in case for the generator).

You’re right about diesel additives too. I was using Diesel Kleen religiously with my old 98 TDI Jetta. The fuel pump on that was its Achilles heel, and supposedly the additive restored the diesel’s ability to lubricate the fuel pump properly (ultra low sulfur having lost its “slippery-ness” from the manufacturing process).

Marine StaBil is consentrated, 1 oz per 10 gallons.

 

[AL Cx5]

I'm not surprised at the push back. The Cummins guys have been pushing back on how aft in the fuel is harmful and does not help for over 10 years. Mean while the ATF burners fuel injectors going to 400k mi vs their 150K mi. A set of 6 injectors is over $3,000.00 PLUS 8 hour labor.

I'm suggesting others try this and report back. I have a friend who is trying this in his has gas burner truck. If its a bust, okay. I'm willing to experiment at the risk of being wrong. Taking risk is how we advance.

My last 2 tanks, +26 mpg intown and 34 mpg highway indicate this is worth $0.010 per gallon. Sta Bil says this will increase FE up to 1 MPG as well as stabilize the fuel.

The bolt on mods I've added don't have rigorous scientific verification but my FE and WOT logs confirm they work. Items like grounding, turning vane, variable flow CAI have shown a small bump FE and power per mod. I've reported for others to follow if they are looking for better FE and performance. I'm not promoting or selling anything. I've mistakenly assumed turbo owners are interested in optimizing their engines performance.

I'll drive anther 400 mi trip in a few days. If its a clean trip, no major slow downs, we will see how it works. I'll report back.

If there is no interest, so be it. I'll keep doing what works for me whether this community agrees or not.

 

[chickdr]

My computer MPG has stayed right around 23.6MPG combined since I got my GTR in 21. 30k miles so far. Most of my trips are not highway. On Highway trips when I reset one of the trip ODO's I get 26-27 max running 80MPH or so most of the time.