39.6 miles per gallon

[Hapa88]

There's no way you can get 39.6 mpg on a Mazdaspeed3, especially if it is brand new. Everyone on here knows that the gas mileage when brand new is much worse than after break-in.

39.6 mpg is not unbelievable, however, with a standard Mazda3.

Best gas mileage I got brand new was 26mpg and the best gas mileage I have ever seen in the 12,000 miles I've owned it is 31mpg coming back from Las Vegas.

And hills? Atlanta is only like 300 feet above the elevation of Lake Oconee!

 

[dkswim]

interesting

 

[CHICO2003]

this sort of thing is possible utilizing the hypermiling techniques... thing is, nobody buys an MS3 only to coast it around town and drive like a pu$$y. If you're doing that $hit you should've gotten a freakin Chevy Aveo or something.

 

[imac]

this sort of thing is possible utilizing the hypermiling techniques... thing is, nobody buys an MS3 only to coast it around town and drive like a pu$$y. If you're doing that $hit you should've gotten a freakin Chevy Aveo or something.

(werd)

 

[Boosted333]

Chico2003 - I drive mine like a pussy to save $... but when someone wants to play I'm ready to open her up. Gas prices are way too high right now to not learn how to get good mpg and take advantage of it.

 

[bnoon]

Chico2003 - I drive mine like a pussy to save $... but when someone wants to play I'm ready to open her up. Gas prices are way too high right now to not learn how to get good mpg and take advantage of it.

(stupid) There's no reason not to have your cake and eat it too. MPG was the reason I got rid of my truck, but the turbo is the reason I got the MS3!

 

[Boosted333]

Same here, I got rid of my GMC Sierra Denali, I was getting 13/17 mpg at best.... Traded it in just in time, before the gas prices went through the roof and trucks were taking a huge hit on sales.

 

[nazgul350r]

I believe his claim. I am able to get 34 mpg from my maxima >70 mph. I also have come close to the 40 mpg in my Speed Protege.

 

[LukeP]

Took a trip to Calgary and back on the Speed3. 1500 km round trip (just shy of 1000 miles).

On the way there, I used the throttle for passing, and stayed somewhere in the range of 80mph, kissing 100 mph when passing trucks. I hit 125 mph once because it got there so easily.

Topping off at city X, I had 490 km on the trip, quarter of a tank left, first click was 41.3 liters. I think you'll find that equates to 8.37 L/100km, 3.7 litres to the gallon and 62 miles in 100 km makes that equation 62/2.26 equals=

27.4 US MPG exactly what its rated for highway.

On the way back, I decided to perform a little test. I stayed UNDER the speed limit (a first for me), stayed off the throttle for passing except just mild speed gains to avoid stones from semi trucks. I rarely had to pass
I didn't allow the throttle to close downhill, and used that momentum to and gravity to slow me down uphill with the throttle in the same position, tried to get the car to settle at its cruising speed of about 68 mph at the crest of the hill. I had to estimate the liters because the jackass gas station forced me to PREPAY under their 24 hours prepay rule > I put in as much as I dared, 41 litres, I heard it go up the neck just before I ran out of the $60 I put down, so I'm correcting to 43 for accuracy (warning light goes on at 45 liters down, and it was not on yet).

The total? 710 km! And the fuel light was about one hair from turning on. Trip computer said 53 km left, although 30 km went missing in the last ten minutes of the trip back, as it got increasingly pessimistic.

Thats 6.05 l/100km, or

37.9 MPG! If the OP was going 60mph, I validate his fuel mileage claim.

EDIT: Coincidently, my 94 civic DX consistently got 38-40 MPG consistently no matter how I drove. 38 If I aggressively passed and 40 if I tried to wring the miles out of it. And that car had 1000 lbs less mass to move and had a motor 160 hp short.

 

[Colleptic]

I took my first semi long drive (2.5 hour drive from Atlanta to Lake Oconee) in my sport last night. One other adult in the car beside myself. All freeway and kept it at 60 on cruise control and coasted down any hills. Kept my tach under 3000.

39.6 miles per gallon! Has anybody else had gotten this kind of mileage or beat it?

I don't plan on always driving like this but I just wanted to see what was possible.

Yes, through manual calculations and confirming it with my digital reader (which is off by about 3% usually), I can average 35mpg hwy easy Merely keep the rpm's below 3k...always. It is actually not tough to with a turbo car...

Keep in mind, it is all how you drive! I can also drop to 27mpg hwy if I speed a little and pass cars here and there, plus I can get under 10mpg if I am flying to Vancouver at 200+ kmph. Once again, if you drive this car's rpm under 3k you should only be blipping the throttle, thus never using much fuel at all (other than hills). I drive in the mountains of BC here in Canada, so my experience is with hills too, not just a flat freeway etc.

 

[FrequentFlyer]

really? i dont think so. if you are coasting down a hill at 70, or driving down a hill at 70..no diff in momemtum once you are at the bottom. the key is when you pop that sucker back into gear and get back on the gas.

No. When you put it in neutral, the motor goes back to idle. At idle, you're burning gas. Not much, but you're burning gas to keep the motor running. When you coast in gear down a hill, the motor is a big air pump. The injectors shut off and the motor does not receive gas. It's the momentum of the car that keeps the motor turning, producing vacuum, running your alternator and A/C and all the other goodies needed to drive the car (power steering and brakes). As soon as you give it gas, the injectors start shooting fuel again. You can see this on the mpg meter as it reads 99.9 when you coast in gear and usually in the 60's if you put it in neutral.

 

[nextcar]

No. When you put it in neutral, the motor goes back to idle. At idle, you're burning gas. Not much, but you're burning gas to keep the motor running. When you coast in gear down a hill, the motor is a big air pump. The injectors shut off and the motor does not receive gas. It's the momentum of the car that keeps the motor turning, producing vacuum, running your alternator and A/C and all the other goodies needed to drive the car (power steering and brakes). As soon as you give it gas, the injectors start shooting fuel again. You can see this on the mpg meter as it reads 99.9 when you coast in gear and usually in the 60's if you put it in neutral.

that makes sense. thanks for the explanation. i've been wondering whether gasoline is injected into the cylinders when coasting in gear, and you answered it.

for me, i've had the ms3 1 month now, with about 2000 miles. the trip computer says my average is 26.8 mpg. not bad considering the performance. my prius used to average 47 mpg on regular fuel. i'm definitely paying a lot more for gas, but not regretting it.

 

[60181]

39mpg is a bit steep. I've been getting 33-34mpg at 72-75mph on the freeway with no grade in 6th. I'm averaging 20-22mpg in the city/suburbs where I spend most of my time.

There's no way you can get 39.6 mpg on a Mazdaspeed3, especially if it is brand new. Everyone on here knows that the gas mileage when brand new is much worse than after break-in.

39.6 mpg is not unbelievable, however, with a standard Mazda3.

Best gas mileage I got brand new was 26mpg and the best gas mileage I have ever seen in the 12,000 miles I've owned it is 31mpg coming back from Las Vegas.

And hills? Atlanta is only like 300 feet above the elevation of Lake Oconee!

 

[PaulVincent]

I posted in early June-08 when I got 38+ MPG traveling the interstate on a return trip. I got 37+ on the outgoing trip. Plus, I recently returned from a vacation out west (Rocky MTS. for about 15-20% of the driving), and I averaged 30 MPG. This was with posted speeds of 75 MPH, car loaded with gear, and hardly a soul doing the posted speed (even the state police cruising over the limit). Avoiding "jack-rabbit starts and rapid acceleration is a big part of getting good mileage with the Speed3.