First Oil Change and MPG - 2020 CX-5 Signature

[JYTX]

Hello,

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read my post. I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe.

I just had a question regarding the first oil change and oil change intervals after. This is my first car and I want to take proper care of it as I plan to keep it for a while.

I purchased my new 2020 CX-5 Signature at the end of August (2020). I have only driven about 1600 miles in 3.5 months cause of the pandemic and working from home. My trips are usually about 20 minutes for errands or grocery. A mix of city but mostly highway driving. I am sure I will be driving regularly once the office opens up.

The dealership where I got the car from suggested to come in and change the oil in 4 months (January) and already made me an appointment. Seeing as this is the first oil change and I haven't been driving much, should I get the first oil change in 4 months as the dealer suggested or wait? Any thoughts or recommendations?

After my first oil change, I plan on changing the oil every 7500 miles or 12 months (schedule 1), whichever comes first according to the manual. Is this right?

I recently moved to Austin TX and I was wondering those who live in similar weather conditions, do you follow schedule 1 or schedule 2?

Since owning the car, the dash is showing I am getting around 20.7 mpg and I typically fill up on Costco premium gas. Is anyone else experiencing the same mpg on a new cx5 with the turbo engine? I don't drive with a lead foot but I was hoping to get close to the 22 city / 27 highway as suggested.

Thank you again for any thoughts!

 

[bluegrass]

The dealership where I got the car from suggested to come in and change the oil in 4 months (January) and already made me an appointment. Seeing as this is the first oil change and I haven't been driving much, should I get the first oil change in 4 months as the dealer suggested or wait? Any thoughts or recommendations?

After my first oil change, I plan on changing the oil every 7500 miles or 12 months (schedule 1), whichever comes first according to the manual. Is this right?

The most important takeaway...
Completely ignore anything the dealership tells you with regard to routine service.
Their goal is to get you in the door as often as possible in order to maximize their profits.

Just follow what the manuals says. It's that simple.
For the first and all subsequent oil changes, just follow the schedule 1 manual, so every 7500 miles or 12 months.

 

[wlong01]

Gas mileage should get better as you put on more miles. You usually see an improvement after 5,000 miles.

 

[markjenn]

As said, don't put much credence into what the dealer says - their main motivation is to keep their service bays full. In general, follow Mazda's service schedule and Schedule 1 is probably adequate for your usage. I would do a calendar-based annual oil change if you don't get to the mileage limit in a year.

Premature first oil changes (to remove the oil that has likely become more-than-usually-contaminated during break-in) are controversial. I believe they don't hurt anything and might convey some marginal benefit if you're planning on driving a car well beyond 100K. I'm probably going to do one around 2K. But I have no hard data and there is absolutely nothing wrong with just leaving the factor fill in for the first 7.5K interval like the rest. I'd always use synthetic.

Your gas mileage is a bit low, but probably explained by your short trips. The only way to really assess gas mileage is to gather a few tankfuls of data over longer highway trips. I doubt anything is wrong.

- Mark

 

[onerpm]

JYTX, I too have a 2020 Sig w/1600 miles. Purchased early June, 2020. My current driving trips are just like yours. I have also been wrestling with when to get the first oil change (many will argue get the first one at 1000 miles), and have decided to get it at 9 month mark. My MsPG have averaged just over 25 since purchase. I also use Costco gas, but I only use Regular. What climate are you in? My MsPG will drop quite a bit in the winter here in MN...perhaps you have a hot summer effect?

 

[yrwei52]

Hello,

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read my post. I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe.



I just had a question regarding the first oil change and oil change intervals after. This is my first car and I want to take proper care of it as I plan to keep it for a while.

I purchased my new 2020 CX-5 Signature at the end of August (2020). I have only driven about 1600 miles in 3.5 months cause of the pandemic and working from home. My trips are usually about 20 minutes for errands or grocery. A mix of city but mostly highway driving. I am sure I will be driving regularly once the office opens up.

The dealership where I got the car from suggested to come in and change the oil in 4 months (January) and already made me an appointment. Seeing as this is the first oil change and I haven't been driving much, should I get the first oil change in 4 months as the dealer suggested or wait? Any thoughts or recommendations?



After my first oil change, I plan on changing the oil every 7500 miles or 12 months (schedule 1), whichever comes first according to the manual. Is this right?

I recently moved to Austin TX and I was wondering those who live in similar weather conditions, do you follow schedule 1 or schedule 2?



Since owning the car, the dash is showing I am getting around 20.7 mpg and I typically fill up on Costco premium gas. Is anyone else experiencing the same mpg on a new cx5 with the turbo engine? I don't drive with a lead foot but I was hoping to get close to the 22 city / 27 highway as suggested.


Thank you again for any thoughts!

Read your owner’s manual for maintenance schedule. You don’t need to worry about Schedule 1 or Schedule 2, just use Mazda recommended Flexible oil change interval which is applicable to either normal or severe driving conditions. The on-board computer will calculate the OCI with oil life monitor, and notify you with the wrench indicator and oil change due message. The maximum Flexible OCI is UP to 7,500 miles or 12 months.

Go to your Maintenance Monitor app making sure your maintenance schedule on oil change has been set for “Flexible” which is the default setting from factory unless your dealer changed it.

For your first oil change, I’d stick the maximum Flexible OCI on duration which is 12 months as your miles should be less than 7,500 miles for the first 12 months of driving now at only 1,600 miles. Again, check your Maintenance Monitor app from infotainment screen and see how many miles of your oil life left.

More important issue is you want to make sure your Mazda dealer use correct oil and oil filter for your 2.5T. Always consult the server advisor in advance making sure the dealer will use 5W-30 full synthetic oil, and 2.5T specific 1WPY-14-302 / PY8W-14-302 oil filter. You don’t want to experience the dilemma of oil change like this guy:

0W20 for 2020 CX-5 GTR?

Finally the MPG. From my personal experience your current MPG won’t change much in same driving style and environment even after several thousand miles driven. Each engine efficiency is different from factory. Your 2.5T unfortunately could be less efficient hence use more fuel than other 2.5T’s. You can try to keep up other maintenance items such as keeping the tire pressure at 39 psi cold. Yes check your tire pressure the first thing in the morning. Also check your oil level making sure the level is at “Max” mark.

And you don’t need premium gas for your 2.5T unless you keep revving your engine over 4,000 rpm. You can try some other top-tier brand gas such as Shell regular 87 octane and see if gas mileage changes.

 

[Mazdiod2]

I'm afraid to say if my dealer called me and told me they'd made an appointment as described I might change my phone number.

The 22/27 mpg is what the car can do on the EPA test cycle, not necessarily what everyone gets routinely.

Make sure you don't let the tires get soft because of lowering temperatures. I bought this tire pump that you program and it fills to that pressure and stops.

 

[Buzzman12]

I'm a bit old school when it comes to the first oil change.
I've always done them early on new cars. Usually within 2,000 Kms.
I've never had a car with engine problems doing it that way.
After that, I usually follow a standard (for me) interval.
I usually did oil changes every 6,000 kms or six months, but now that I drive a lot less, I'm doing it yearly, no matter how low the miles (kms) might be.

 

[Sig cx-5]

I'm a bit old school when it comes to the first oil change.
I've always done them early on new cars. Usually within 2,000 Kms.
I've never had a car with engine problems doing it that way.
...

I've always gone by the manufacture's recommendations for the past 35 years. Some wanted it changed at 5k miles, while others 10k. I've never had engine problems doing it that way, either.

 

[DwightFrye]

With all respect to yrwei52 who is a very knowledgeable CX 5 owner, forget what the so called oil life monitor says. Shut the reminder function off so it doesn't come on a couple hundred miles before the change is needed and has to be clicked off again and again while it keeps telling you a change is needed.

Change the oil now. Change it again at 5000 miles. After that change it every 5000 miles.
Not hard to remember just by looking at the odometer. Use only a top quality 5W-30 synthetic oil. Mobil 1 EP (Extended Protection) seems to be well suited to the Skyactiv turbo engine and the particular technology of Mazda's direct injection system.
Use only the recommended Mazda factory filters. These turbo engines are hard on oil so resist the temptation to extend the OCI's to 7500 miles. If you are competent enough to do your own oil changes, you can do so for about $40 including the oil & filter. Cheap insurance in my book.

Use only top tier gas. About 300 miles before each oil change add a bottle of Techron to a near empty gas tank and then fill up and drive until down to about 1/4 tank before filling up again.

My CX 5 GT-R now has about 8800 miles. The average is 24.7 MPG. Mileage sucks around town and on short trips. On long freeway hauls I get more than 27 MPG.

Tire pressure: The sticker on the door jamb says 35 PSI all the way around. I run mine at 36 PSI and check them often. Summer temps where I live can exceed 95 degrees and winter temps get down to the mid-30's with occasional snow. The pressure can vary by 4-5 degrees just from the range of temperatures encountered so I adjust the pressure for the season, adding a few lbs when it gets cold and releasing a few lbs when it gets hot to always keep the tires at 36 lbs when checked cold in my garage.

 

[bluegrass]

With all respect to yrwei52 who is a very knowledgeable CX 5 owner, forget what the so called oil life monitor says.

Change the oil now. Change it again at 5000 miles. After that change it every 5000 miles.
These turbo engines are hard on oil so resist the temptation to extend the OCI's to 7500 miles.

Use only top tier gas. About 300 miles before each oil change add a bottle of Techron to a near empty gas tank and then fill up and drive until down to about 1/4 tank before filling up again.

With all due respect, this is advice is nonsense.
You have absolutely no data supporting your contention that a 5000 mile OCI is most appropriate, or that the 7500 mile interval is too long.
If you did, you would provide links to the data, including oil analysis at those intervals.

Mazda is a 100 year old company that produces over 1 million vehicles per year.
They spend millions of dollars on testing, research, development and employ hundreds of engineers.

Yet you're suggesting the OP completely disregard Mazda's service recommendations, which are based on years of research, data and testing?

 

[JYTX]

JYTX, I too have a 2020 Sig w/1600 miles. Purchased early June, 2020. My current driving trips are just like yours. I have also been wrestling with when to get the first oil change (many will argue get the first one at 1000 miles), and have decided to get it at 9 month mark. My MsPG have averaged just over 25 since purchase. I also use Costco gas, but I only use Regular. What climate are you in? My MsPG will drop quite a bit in the winter here in MN...perhaps you have a hot summer effect?

I live in Austin, TX. Since getting the car in August, the weather hasn't been too hot and it is garage kept when not in use.

 

[JYTX]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply and give suggestions! I really appreciate it.

 

[yrwei52]

You have absolutely no data supporting your contention that a 5000 mile OCI is most appropriate, or that the 7500 mile interval is too long.

There’re few data from UOA in this forum which prove the oil still has plenty of service life after 7,500 miles. Some CX-5 owners would try 10,000-mile OCI. In fact, the oil life monitor on my 2000 BMW 528i has up to 17,500-mile OCI, as 12,500-mile OCI in Europe is a norm including Mazda CX-5!

Many other vehicles such as Toyota now have 10,000-mile OCI. And Honda vehicles use strictly Flexible OCI with no fixed OCI recommendation.

Mazda recommends Flexible OCI for both normal and severe driving conditions which eliminates your guess work. The notification with wrench indicator pops up once for every 5,000 ~ 7,500 miles or 12 months of driving depending on your driving habit and conditions. If you want to change the oil before the oil life monitor telling you, nobody can stop you of doing it. Just reset Flexible oil life monitor to re-start counting after the oil change. I usually change the oil with 30% of oil life left (about 5,500 ~ 6,500 miles actual miles) in my 2016 CX-5 (gen-2 CX-5 uses miles of oil life left instead of percentage), and I personally haven’t seen any wrench indicator and “Oil change due” notification othe than the first oil change where there’re bugs in PCM software which kept triggering the notification with no reasons after the reset. The system doesn’t bother me at all but I can compare the oil life remaining with the actual miles driven and make a decision if I want to change the oil. This year is different due to the pandemic. Most people drive a lot less and I’m waiting for the “Oil change due” notification triggered by 12-month duration as my CX-5 has only driven 2.500 miles. This’s also a test to PCM software as this’s one of the symptoms the oil life monitor screwed up before my PCM update.

 

[yrwei52]

With all respect to yrwei52 who is a very knowledgeable CX 5 owner, forget what the so called oil life monitor says. Shut the reminder function off so it doesn't come on a couple hundred miles before the change is needed and has to be clicked off again and again while it keeps telling you a change is needed.

If you have to keep clicking or resetting the oil change due notification time after time, either you really should change the oil very soon (if you reset the oil life monitor properly) or your PCM software needs an update to fix the bug if your CX-5 is listed in sevrtal TSBs.

 

[DwightFrye]

Oil life monitors are simply an inexpensive and fairly unsophisticated computer program that uses an algorithm to determine an appropriate time to change the oil. Until such day that an OLM actually has a probe in the sump that samples the oil for things like viscosity, fuel dilution, TBN, wear metals and other criteria, which I don't think we will see in my lifetime, I view an OLM as a fancy idiot light.

Direct injected engines and turbocharged engines are known to have issues with carbon deposits. For the cost of a DIY oil change I prefer to err on the side of caution and change my oil every 5000 miles.

Just because I didn't take the time to post numerous links from discussions on the Bob Is The Oil Guy Forums doesn't mean that I have no data to support my opinion. You can go there and spend a few hours reading and then try to make an informed decision if you want.

The Skyactive turbocharged engine is well designed and proving to be very reliable. It is not a regular fuel injected, normally aspirated engine though. If I had one of those I might go 10K miles or more with a good synthetic.

I was unaware of a bug in the software that is related to maintenance notifications. On my 2019, prior to disabling the feature I got a maintenance pop up about 250 miles prior to hitting the 5000 mile mark and it popped up again about every 25 miles. I don't need that kind of nanny annoyance when driving.

Anyway, as much as I would like to save a little money and time by going out to 7500, 10,000 or 12,500 miles between changes I'd rather be conservative and change it on the short side. It's not like we are talking about a $150 oil and filter change like some exotic sports cars require.

 

[bluegrass]

I view an OLM as a fancy idiot light.

Direct injected engines and turbocharged engines are known to have issues with carbon deposits. For the cost of a DIY oil change I prefer to err on the side of caution and change my oil every 5000 miles.

Just because I didn't take the time to post numerous links from discussions on the Bob Is The Oil Guy Forums doesn't mean that I have no data to support my opinion.

So basically, your arbitrary 5000 mile oil change interval is just a rudimentary "idiot light".
It is not based on any actual data, and is not supported by the manufacturer's decades of time spent and millions of dollars invested in testing/research/engineering.

For someone boldly proclaiming to "forget what the so called oil life monitor says" and ignore the manufacturer's recommendations, you better have SOMETHING that backs up your number.

Can you provide any data showing a 5000 mile OCI provides a measurable benefit over a 7500 mile OCI on these modern DI turbo motors?

 

[sm1ke]

We're veering off topic. OP was simply asking if they should follow the dealership's recommendation to come back in 4 months for an oil change. I think that question has been answered.

We have established that Mazda has a fixed schedule and a flexible schedule, and Mazda is pretty clear about which schedule to follow and what the OCIs are for those schedules. The OCIs specify a maximum limit for time/mileage. There is no minimum limit, so if someone wants to change their oil at 6k instead of 7.5k, there's no reason that they can't. It's just personal preference. Changing it early doesn't hurt anything but the wallet, and even then it may not hurt much depending on the oil used (i.e. Kirkland 5w30 vs PUP 5w30).

Change the oil according to the specified interval to stretch your dollar the furthest, or change it earlier if it's easier to remember. Use regular gas to stretch your dollar, or use premium if you wanna have more fun in higher RPMs. To each, their own.

 

[murky]

We're veering off topic. OP was simply asking if they should follow the dealership's recommendation to come back in 4 months for an oil change. I think that question has been answered.

We have established that Mazda has a fixed schedule and a flexible schedule, and Mazda is pretty clear about which schedule to follow and what the OCIs are for those schedules. The OCIs specify a maximum limit for time/mileage. There is no minimum limit, so if someone wants to change their oil at 6k instead of 7.5k, there's no reason that they can't. It's just personal preference. Changing it early doesn't hurt anything but the wallet, and even then it may not hurt much depending on the oil used (i.e. Kirkland 5w30 vs PUP 5w30).

Change the oil according to the specified interval to stretch your dollar the furthest, or change it earlier if it's easier to remember. Use regular gas to stretch your dollar, or use premium if you wanna have more fun in higher RPMs. To each, their own.

Good summary. You might add caring for the environment, in the not-changing-earlier-than-necessary column.

 

[DwightFrye]

Here is an idea:
Run your oil until 7500 miles. Send a sample in to Blackstone Labs and see what the figures reveal.
Do it again. Then do it one more time, maybe going out to 10,000 miles or 12,500 miles depending upon the analysis.
You will then have established a trend for your particular vehicle. You will also have spent 3 x $30 for the Blackstone analysis service, with which you could have bought three more 5 quart jugs of a good synthetic oil.

Don't ever add Techron or a high in PEA content fuel injector cleaner. Just pay the dealer to do a "fuel injector service" at XXXXX miles because it is supported by "manufacturer's decades of time spent and millions of dollars invested in testing/research/engineering."

Or take my advice, for which I have not provided any links or data for but one can easily spend a few hours reading about the topic on the Bob Is The Oil Guy Forums and see what the opinions are from some knowledgeable individuals. The consensus is that DI and turbo engines present some unique and harsh conditions and that oil choice is more important than ever. A vehicle's OLM may make a suggestion but the only way to really tell is to have a sample, or series of samples tested on your vehicle with your choice of oil.

My advice is very conservative and the amount spent on doing more frequent oil changes is fairly negligible.

I didn't realize that I was submitting for publication to SAE International and needed to cite and footnote every one of my opinions or have them seen as nonsense but apparently someone disagrees.