CX-5 Fuel economy and range all over the place

[yrwei52]

I had a chevy cruze prior to this. Great mpg but the miles starting getting high and along came the issues so I sold it. It was a 2013 with a auto 6 spd. Jump forward 10 years to this 2023 cx5 and it has a 6 spd while others are 7/8/9 speeds. Gearing and a transmission for mpg would help. My wife has a 23' Tucson and gets better mpg. Any guess why?

From my experience if your brand new CX-5 out of the dealership is getting poor gas mileage than others with the same model, it’ll be like that way almost forever. My theory is each and the same engine and drivetrain will be built a bit different with thousands of parts. Some will be more efficient and some will be less. The engine and the drivetrain of your new CX-5 unfortunately is on the less efficient side hence it comes with poorer fuel economy. My 2016 CX-5 GT AWD with a 2.5L NA unfortunately is also on the less efficient side and the gas mileage isn’t impressive since new. I can only get average 24.5 mpg on daily drive in the city, and 26 ~ 28 mpg on the highway. A recent 250-mile road trip from Dallas to Austin our CX-5 got 27 mpg driving at 70 ~ 75 mph, and 26 mpg on the way back driving at 80 mph. Yes once I drove strictly under 70 mph on the highway several years ago from Houston to Dallas just to test the mpg and the result was close to 30 mpg. But that is a dangerous way to drive on Texas highway with the speed that slow.

And discussing mpg without mentioning engine type (2.0L、2.5L NA、2.5T、2.2D) and drivetrain (FWD、AWD) on the CX-5 is meaningless.

 

[Snorting2.5]

I had a chevy cruze prior to this. Great mpg but the miles starting getting high and along came the issues so I sold it. It was a 2013 with a auto 6 spd. Jump forward 10 years to this 2023 cx5 and it has a 6 spd while others are 7/8/9 speeds. Gearing and a transmission for mpg would help. My wife has a 23' Tucson and gets better mpg. Any guess why?

More gears will literally make 1-2mpg difference
.

 

[Charmer383]

So over the course of years why have manufactures went from 4 spds to 7/8/9?

 

[Snorting2.5]

So over the course of years why have manufactures went from 4 spds to 7/8/9?

The closer gear ratios is a wonderful advantage, yes, but it's certainly not the only factor which will improve fuel economy.

 

[Charmer383]

Closer gear ratios are for acceleration, etc. When they started making 5-9 speeds those are overdrives which is strictly for mpgs. Heck, my 89 Corvette is a manual 6 spd. First year for it. Car runs 11s in the quarter and I can still get low 30's on hwy. A transmission revamp is needed esp. with gas prices here at $3.89 for 87.

 

[N7turbo]

Closer gear ratios are for acceleration, etc.

And for economy, by keeping the engine in an ideal range of efficiency.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

So over the course of years why have manufactures went from 4 spds to 7/8/9?

Technological advancement and improvements in design.

Used to be only three speeds back in the day.

 

[Freedom55]

Technological advancement and improvements in design.

Used to be only three speeds back in the day.

For old time sake...Even two speed was common in the '50s and '60S think of Ford-O-Matic and Chrysler had one too. GM famous Powerglide was still available in the '70s! My friend had a 1970 Chevelle with a 307 V8 and it would hit 60 mph before shifting to 2nd gear when floored. AFAIK the last two speed was the semi automatic Hondamatic used on a Civic in the early '80s. I've never had two speed trannies but I've had 3,4,5,6 and a couple of CVT. Not sure if I'll ever have 8,9 or 10.

 

[mutualcore]

For the lifetime of my vehicle, I've always been around 22mpg average. However, I do mostly city driving.

 

[JustThisguy]

In my (new to me) 2013 CX-5, so the 2.0 and I have a 6mt I have achieved 35.6 and 33.5 my last 2 tanks. The second tank had about 50mi of towing a lightly loaded 5x8 utility trailer. I use premium fuel, as it has noticeably more power under 2500 rpm with it. A family friend was the previous owner and he would get 29-31mpg pretty much regardless of driving city or highway. my driving is about 40% city 30%urban 30% highway by distance.
Hope you all find this data point useful!

 

[mutualcore]

In my (new to me) 2013 CX-5, so the 2.0 and I have a 6mt I have achieved 35.6 and 33.5 my last 2 tanks. The second tank had about 50mi of towing a lightly loaded 5x8 utility trailer. I use premium fuel, as it has noticeably more power under 2500 rpm with it. A family friend was the previous owner and he would get 29-31mpg pretty much regardless of driving city or highway. my driving is about 40% city 30%urban 30% highway by distance.
Hope you all find this data point useful!

Damn this is so unfair! Did Mazda improve fuel economy that much in 5 years?

 

[JustThisguy]

Damn this is so unfair! Did Mazda improve fuel economy that much in 5 years?

I drive like an old man and rarely take the engine past 2500 rpm, makes a big impact.

 

[yrwei52]

I drive like an old man and rarely take the engine past 2500 rpm, makes a big impact.

And it’s a 2.0L with a 6-speed manual, that helps too.

 

[mutualcore]

Yeah I guess the Turbo will always get the worst mpg.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

In my (new to me) 2013 CX-5, so the 2.0 and I have a 6mt I have achieved 35.6 and 33.5 my last 2 tanks. The second tank had about 50mi of towing a lightly loaded 5x8 utility trailer. I use premium fuel, as it has noticeably more power under 2500 rpm with it. A family friend was the previous owner and he would get 29-31mpg pretty much regardless of driving city or highway. my driving is about 40% city 30%urban 30% highway by distance.
Hope you all find this data point useful!

Damn this is so unfair! Did Mazda improve fuel economy that much in 5 years?

Improve in 5 years? Don't you have that backwards?

Keep in mind that JustThisGuy has a 2l engine with a manual trans. That most likely means that he's not in the USA and could possibly be using the Imperial gallon, which is 20% larger than the gallon we use here in the USA.

 

[yrwei52]

Improve in 5 years? Don't you have that backwards?

Keep in mind that JustThisGuy has a 2l engine with a manual trans. That most likely means that he's not in the USA and could possibly be using the Imperial gallon, which is 20% larger than the gallon we use here in the USA.

The first MY CX-5 in the US was 2013 (2012 MY world wide), and only came with a 2.0L engine. Mazda introduced 2.5L NA in MY 2014, and 2.0L with a 6-speed manual in basic Sport trim was available in the US until 2017 or 2018. Canada had it longer.

 

[Conrad 16.5]

The first MY CX-5 in the US was 2013 (2012 MY world wide), and only came with a 2.0L engine. Mazda introduced 2.5L NA in MY 2014, and 2.0L with a 6-speed manual in basic Sport trim was available in the US until 2017 or 2018. Canada had it longer.

Sorry, my, mistake.

 

[Highmiles]

I was shocked by my mileage on my new purchase cx5 NA. The first tank gave 27 mpg, and that included at least a half hour idling while the salesman did the delivery. The second tank produced 32 mpg, which was half highway and half around town. I’m sure the fact we live in a small town and don’t have stoplights or stop signs every couple blocks helps, but at this point I was shocked after hearing all the complaints about poor mileage. I just hope it stays close to these early returns.

 

[yrwei52]

I was shocked by my mileage on my new purchase cx5 NA. The first tank gave 27 mpg, and that included at least a half hour idling while the salesman did the delivery. The second tank produced 32 mpg, which was half highway and half around town. I’m sure the fact we live in a small town and don’t have stoplights or stop signs every couple blocks helps, but at this point I was shocked after hearing all the complaints about poor mileage. I just hope it stays close to these early returns.

As I said before, please specify if you have a FWD or AWD (my guess is a FWD with the gas mileage you observed). If you can tell us what brand of fuel you’re using that would be great. And those early returns on gas mileage is a great news to you, as your CX-5’s overall engine and drivetrain is manufactured more efficient than others, hence great gas mileage. And it should keep it that way for a while afterwards.

 

[Highmiles]

As I said before, please specify if you have a FWD or AWD (my guess is a FWD with the gas mileage you observed). If you can tell us what brand of fuel you’re using that would be great. And those early returns on gas mileage is a great news to you, as your CX-5’s overall engine and drivetrain is manufactured more efficient than others, hence great gas mileage. And it should keep it that way for a while afterwards.

It’s a Preferred AWD 2024 w/NA 2.5. BP, and it is Summer gas. USA gallons.