2024 CX-5 Turbo...Less Than Stellar MPG?

[Woodguru]

So we've put about 5k miles on this since we got it with 4k on it from the dealer's CEO program...25.5 leaving it over two or three tanks of gas, new tires seemed to see a bit more, getting ready to put LiquiMoly oil and treatment in which in every vehicle I've used it in makes a difference. My wife's commute has a downhill leg to work and uphill coming home, which it actually does fairly well on when the computer has been reset.

We're not tripping out, but she was used to 32 in her 2017 CRV Touring...

Oh, I will admit when I drive it her mileage goes down unless there's already 1k miles on it.

 

[leeharvey418]

I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that the people with access to the CEO Program couldn’t care less about engine break-in.

 

[wlong01]

You're not going to get the same mpg as the CR-V but you'll enjoy the ride much more. Dumped our CR-V and never looked back.

 

[jadmt]

our cx5 turbo replaced our CRV touring and while mpg is not nearly as good the rest of the driving experience more than makes up for it..our CRV was my wife's vehicle and I hated driving it but I like driving her Cx5 turbo..

 

[TheMAN]

I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that the people with access to the CEO Program couldn’t care less about engine break-in.

it doesn't really matter as much anymore... unlike the old days with poor machining and cleaning, plus inferior materials, gentle driving was needed to make sure the motor has a good life

not any more

engines (japanese ones at least) come well machined, with modern metal alloys, and well cleaned before assembly... the low tension piston rings combined with factory filled synthetic oil in many cars makes them take way too long to seat in with gentle driving...

so what do you do? give it tough love

drive it like you stole it after you drive off the dealer's lot... don't red line it, but give it plenty of RPMs and heavy foot... do as much engine breaking as possible so vacuum can also help move the piston rings around... you're going to waste a lot of gas and burn oil those first 30-50 miles you're doing this... afterwards, you can chill out and drive normal... your engine will thank you for this as you broken it in very quickly and very well

I've done this with the last motor I've built, and I've done this on a skyactiv engine... hasn't burned a drop of oil way past 5000 miles when I did this, but on other babied skyactiv engines I've seen, it took well into 40k miles before it stopped really burning oil and truly broken in

my point? it's not a big deal, and whatever we learned from the old days don't really apply anymore... how do you think race teams break in their engines? sure, a race car motor is built very differently with exotic materials, but the break in principles remain the same..... surely they're going to drive a car around or strap it on a dyno and run it for gentle 3000 miles right? wrong... they run it hard for a couple of hours on the dyno right after tuning, and ship it... this method is tried and true, and I only learned/read about it about 15 years ago and was skeptical till I tried it 2 different times

 

[Woodguru]

I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that the people with access to the CEO Program couldn’t care less about engine break-in.

Actually that, it's one well paid person, it's their car for roughly a year, so it would be up to that one driver. I doubt they are out hammering it, but hey.

 

[Woodguru]

it doesn't really matter as much anymore... unlike the old days with poor machining and cleaning, plus inferior materials, gentle driving was needed to make sure the motor has a good life

not any more

engines (japanese ones at least) come well machined, with modern metal alloys, and well cleaned before assembly... the low tension piston rings combined with factory filled synthetic oil in many cars makes them take way too long to seat in with gentle driving...

so what do you do? give it tough love

drive it like you stole it after you drive off the dealer's lot... don't red line it, but give it plenty of RPMs and heavy foot... do as much engine breaking as possible so vacuum can also help move the piston rings around... you're going to waste a lot of gas and burn oil those first 30-50 miles you're doing this... afterwards, you can chill out and drive normal... your engine will thank you for this as you broken it in very quickly and very well

I've done this with the last motor I've built, and I've done this on a skyactiv engine... hasn't burned a drop of oil way past 5000 miles when I did this, but on other babied skyactiv engines I've seen, it took well into 40k miles before it stopped really burning oil and truly broken in

my point? it's not a big deal, and whatever we learned from the old days don't really apply anymore... how do you think race teams break in their engines? sure, a race car motor is built very differently with exotic materials, but the break in principles remain the same..... surely they're going to drive a car around or strap it on a dyno and run it for gentle 3000 miles right? wrong... they run it hard for a couple of hours on the dyno right after tuning, and ship it... this method is tried and true, and I only learned/read about it about 15 years ago and was skeptical till I tried it 2 different times

I 100% agree with the tough driving during break in, not red lined abuse, just hard acceleration and deceleration on twisty roads. It can be upwards of 10k miles before some of these engines start showing their best mileage.

 

[Woodguru]

You're not going to get the same mpg as the CR-V but you'll enjoy the ride much more. Dumped our CR-V and never looked back.

This thing is a lot of fun to drive. I have a Range Rover we take to Ft Bragg four or five times a year, fantastic road trip vehicle, we've taken the Mazda the last two times, the winding road from Williams over to the coast is a blast, passing trucks and slow cars on the grades is a breeze. Also we found that the seats in the CX-5 are more comfortable than the CX-50, it's very comfortable on a 5 hour trip. The new Pirelli tires make a profound difference in ride and handling over the Toyos that came on it.

 

[RedBaron]

Also we found that the seats in the CX-5 are more comfortable than the CX-50, it's very comfortable on a 5 hour trip.

It's funny... my wife prefers the seats in my CX-50 to her CX-5. Just goes to show, I guess.

 

[jadmt]

It's funny... my wife prefers the seats in my CX-50 to her CX-5. Just goes to show, I guess.

yup different for everyone..I wanted a cx50 turbo and would have bought one but both my wife and decided the seats in the CX5 were better..I have not looked in a new CX50 but the first year there was a center strip that went down the middle of the seats that was odd..parked side by side I think the CX50 looks better without a doubt..I still hate the way the back end of the cx5 looks..

 

[N7turbo]

This thing is a lot of fun to drive. I have a Range Rover we take to Ft Bragg four or five times a year, fantastic road trip vehicle, we've taken the Mazda the last two times, the winding road from Williams over to the coast is a blast, passing trucks and slow cars on the grades is a breeze. Also we found that the seats in the CX-5 are more comfortable than the CX-50, it's very comfortable on a 5 hour trip. The new Pirelli tires make a profound difference in ride and handling over the Toyos that came on it.

Indeed, lowered 2 inches with stiffer springs and on UHP AS tires, driving in M mode through corners so you're always on power and the rear wheels help push eliminating understeer, sometimes I forget I'm not in a sedan.

 

[Lazy2.5]

it doesn't really matter as much anymore... unlike the old days with poor machining and cleaning, plus inferior materials, gentle driving was needed to make sure the motor has a good life

not any more

engines (japanese ones at least) come well machined, with modern metal alloys, and well cleaned before assembly... the low tension piston rings combined with factory filled synthetic oil in many cars makes them take way too long to seat in with gentle driving...

so what do you do? give it tough love

drive it like you stole it after you drive off the dealer's lot... don't red line it, but give it plenty of RPMs and heavy foot... do as much engine breaking as possible so vacuum can also help move the piston rings around... you're going to waste a lot of gas and burn oil those first 30-50 miles you're doing this... afterwards, you can chill out and drive normal... your engine will thank you for this as you broken it in very quickly and very well

I've done this with the last motor I've built, and I've done this on a skyactiv engine... hasn't burned a drop of oil way past 5000 miles when I did this, but on other babied skyactiv engines I've seen, it took well into 40k miles before it stopped really burning oil and truly broken in

my point? it's not a big deal, and whatever we learned from the old days don't really apply anymore... how do you think race teams break in their engines? sure, a race car motor is built very differently with exotic materials, but the break in principles remain the same..... surely they're going to drive a car around or strap it on a dyno and run it for gentle 3000 miles right? wrong... they run it hard for a couple of hours on the dyno right after tuning, and ship it... this method is tried and true, and I only learned/read about it about 15 years ago and was skeptical till I tried it 2 different times

I redlined my Mazda 6 several times when it had about 3000KM on it.

It burned an entire quart of oil in between oil changes for a fraction of it's life. It would stop, then start again, now, I haven't noticed any oil consumption at all for years.

Key point in everything you mentioned is not to redline. Doing so repeatedly on a new engine can damage certain engine and transmission internals.

The point you make about decel is interesting and likely worth considering. Just vary your RPM's and don't rev it high unless for some reason you have to.

 

[cz5gt]

after 1000 miles it wouldnt matter much

 

[CX5Nut]

So, what's the question here? Are you wondering if 25.5 MPG is expected with your Turbo? That is exactly what we get with mixed driving with our 2024 Turbo. Exactly. But on the highway we can get 32-33 MPG.

 

[cxha]

This thing is a lot of fun to drive. I have a Range Rover we take to Ft Bragg four or five times a year, fantastic road trip vehicle, we've taken the Mazda the last two times, the winding road from Williams over to the coast is a blast, passing trucks and slow cars on the grades is a breeze. Also we found that the seats in the CX-5 are more comfortable than the CX-50, it's very comfortable on a 5 hour trip. The new Pirelli tires make a profound difference in ride and handling over the Toyos that came on it.

True, the turbo engine with the 6-speed has no problem getting around the slower traffic on mountainous Rt 20 with those Toyos being the weakest link in the suspension. After owning a non-turbo GT model briefly the lack of power up here in the mountains wasn't worth the slightly better gas mileage, so an upgrade to a turbo Signature was an obvious and fun solution.

Decent economy can be achieved with gentle throttle inputs... a recent 1,600-mile trip through N. California, Oregon and Washington, averaged 28.4 MPG, traversing plenty of mountain passes and keeping the freeway speeds below 80 MPH. Putter along on flat roads at 60 MPH and 30+ is possible, but then why opt for the turbo?

 

[gazelle]

Just checked the official fuel economy numbers, they match my 27mpg hwy experience.
But EPA estimates at done for 55mph hwy driving (I believe), but if I drive my turbo at 55mph it gets about 30mpg. Go figure.

 

[chickdr]

It is really interesting the varying MPG's people post. It seemed the predominant figures were much higher on 22+ 2.5T vs our 21 but the more threads I see, the more it seems my 23.5 on the cluster is pretty spot on for the type of driving I do (mostly in town). I have never seen 30mpg in my 35k miles even on a 100% highway run.

 

[Mazdiod2]

I first noticed the effect different driving habits make on a previous car with variable valve timing (VVT). If I had been driving in town using generous throttle the trip later on the highway would seem to be affected. After many miles of highway driving with a light foot it seemed the highway numbers went up. It seemed the computer 'learned' to get better mileage.