CX-5 First Oil Change and she's low?

[Kedis82ZE8]

Not seeing any noticeable consumption here with latest oil having about 4K miles on it. Next change will be early March.

 

[MikeM.]

When a friend of mine bought a CX-5 a month later I also checked the oil level. What a surprise the oil level was the same too, ⅓ below the Full mark! It almost feels like Mazda intentionally under-filled the oil for all new SA engines just to save some money! I bought a bottle of Mazda moly oil and topped it off as I feel better to keep the oil level at the full mark and easier to monitor how much oil been consumed.

2/3 of the way above the low mark is an excellent target to shoot for, particularly on engines that only consume minimal or no perceptible oil. If I had an oil-drinking Subaru I would probably shoot for closer to the high mark to give me more leeway. The high mark is more of an over-fill limit mark than a "full mark".

My 2.0L G Skyactive has never used enough oil over 7,500 miles to notice a change in level so I stopped checking it except to check for any usage before I drain the old oil out.

Three things will increase oil consumption, I avoid them all except for the last one if I need the speed:

1) Excessive idling, especially with a cold engine. Combustion pressure helps seal the piston rings and there is very little of it at idle, especially on a Skyactiv G engine.
2) Getting on it too hard with a cold engine. High piston speeds and loose tolerances before heat has expanded components do not go together very well.
3) High RPM driving. This is the least troublesome one of the three if the engine is fully warmed up but, if you drive like Speed Racer everywhere you go, oil consumption will be a little higher.