CX-5 Fuel economy

[shadowfiber]

I have a Touring AWD, and I'm seeing 27-29 in my driving. We do have some hills and such in the area. I also noticed significant drop of MPG when it got cooler in the area. I was getting high 20's Low 30's in the summer time. See here; http://www.fuelly.com/driver/iceblister/cx5

Then all of a sudden it dropped significantly. The only cause I can see now is the cold weather. Should I be concerned?

 

[CX-SV]

^ No, not that the dealer would actually do anything about it under warranty.

Too many variables contributed to drop off, possibly including the change in your region to a winter blend of gasoline.

 

[plemieux]

what octane gas do you use? i doubt that would have an impact but manual says to use 87.

 

[shadowfiber]

what octane gas do you use? i doubt that would have an impact but manual says to use 87.

Yes I use 87, and no I dont think the dealer can do much of anything, I'm sitting around 4k miles traveled.

 

[Dan PA]

I'm averaging 25 UK mpg, which is double from my old car city driving, average speed is something like 30 km/h. Its cold, were idling lots. so i'm not too surprised.

 

[Gregx-5]

Could be bad gas. I am very consistant which station I use in order to keep an eye on this. A few years back I was using a station in a low lying area near a canal and just would get poor starts sometimes. More than once I got some serious white smoke out the exhaust.

So I switched and these problems went away. I drove that car for another 3 years and never had problems like that again.

Back to my own CX-5 - I have seen a slight decrease lately in gas mileage. It might be related to Hurricane Sandy, as in I suspect some regulations might have skirted to get gas into the area, one possibility could be them putting more than 10% ethonal in. I dont know much about the gas industry to say anything definitive. There has also been crazy traffic because of the storm which has only normalized in the last week. It might also be break in/ breakdown of oils, I am interested to see what happens after I flush the tranny fluid and do a mid maintenance cycle oil change.

But definitely check your tires. Make sure the pressure is at 35psi all around, using your own gauge.

 

[Dan PA]

Could be winter gas too.

 

[WhiteCX5]

I'm at nearly 12,000 miles.
Had the car since Aug.

30.3 Overall MPG.
Just did a 1300 Mile Road trip, averaged 32MPG on the Highway.

I get 28MPG during the week on my way to work (stop and go city)

Something is wrong with your car, or you're driving too fast, and too furious.

 

[mr.fusion]

I've seen a slight decrease in mpg also, possibly due to running a different fuel (89 ethanol) for a few tanks, or just the change in seasonal blends or driving habits. I'm going back to 87 non-ethanol to see what happens.

 

[shadowfiber]

Your driving area and topology of your area matters as well. I live in Eastern Washington and we have a significant amount of hilly areas with little to no flat drives. I've noticed in the flat areas I definitely get better mileage than my normal commute which have a steady incline and not very many declines. I can get around 31-33 when i do almost all highway driving and stick around 70 mph when I go anywhere else; but not where I live

It surely seems if you want the good numbers you have to baby the car the entire time; which is simply unrealistic. I got a loaner CX5 while mine was getting maintenance and drove it how I drove my old car (1999 Taurus lol), it recorded roughly 27 MPG both highway and city.

 

[riffraff]

Mine hovers right around 32-33 and I drive city and rural, but no freeway. I'm loving it!

 

[llhots]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased our CX-5 AWD and have now put just over 600km of winter city driving on it. I too must admit to being disappointed so far with the mileage. Our car is showing about 18 MPG (13 l/100km for us Canadians). I don't know if it is winter gas, but have read the thread and will be continuing to fuel at other stations and measure the gas mileage using fuelly and another app on my iPhone just in case our Meter is broken. Either way, seems to make sense as we are getting just over 300 km on a tank.
I have been vigilant in checking both ethanol content and octane levels, so this isn't an issue. I also checked the brakes quickly and nothing seems to be dragging. Very strange. Hopefully just early miles and this will improve because at 18 mpg I may as well have bought a truck...

 

[MikeM.]

Our car is showing about 18 MPG (13 l/100km for us Canadians). I don't know if it is winter gas, but have read the thread and will be continuing to fuel at other stations and measure the gas mileage using fuelly and another app on my iPhone just in case our Meter is broken.

Sounds like you may have multiple issues. Fuelly has MPG reports from 150 CX-5 owners. The most common mpg reported is 29 mpg. You can see all results here:

http://www.fuelly.com/car/mazda/cx-5/2013


A lot of very short trips (especially in a Montreal winter) will increase consumption a lot (but I would still expect more like 24-27 mpg). Excessive idling will also have a large negative impact because an idling engine is getting zero miles per gallon. The Sky-active technology doesn't really kick in until the engine is hot enough for efficient combustion and this can take a few miles. I get the best results accelerating more briskly until the engine is hot.

I have the AWD also and, while my mpg has dropped with the arrival of winter weather (and winter blend fuel) including more mountain driving and some driving in heavy snow, my tanks are still returning over 30 mpg (calculated manually). I'm currently running snow tires with 35 psi but I don't do many trips less than 17 miles. Make sure you check your tire pressure when the tires are completely cold. Even driving 1 mile is enough to throw off the pressure.

 

[Pittsy]

Down here in Melbourne Au we have a GT Petrol AWD.
We've only done a small mileage ( 1900 km's ) and it basically all around city driving.
10 L/100 Km or 23 mpg is what we've achieved so far after 4 fills of the tank.

I use an App on my i Phone to track all the fuel in all my cars.

I also drive a new 3 LT Toyota Aurion V6 and it gets 11.0 L/100 or 21 mpg out of a much more powerful Engine!!

I did expect better from the CX5...

 

[V8toilet]

Down here in Melbourne Au we have a GT Petrol AWD.
We've only done a small mileage ( 1900 km's ) and it basically all around city driving.
10 L/100 Km or 23 mpg is what we've achieved so far after 4 fills of the tank.

I use an App on my i Phone to track all the fuel in all my cars.

I also drive a new 3 LT Toyota Aurion V6 and it gets 11.0 L/100 or 21 mpg out of a much more powerful Engine!!

I did expect better from the CX5...

Are you doing an Apples to Apples comparison with those two like same places driven with same driver?

 

[MikeM.]

do lights on have an effect on mpgs???

Yes, anything that loads the generator increases fuel consumption. Lights, heated seats, fans, etc. This is true on any vehicle that doesn't shunt excess current to the chassis (as some motorcycles do).
In cold weather simply running the heater will lengthen the warm-up time which also affects efficiency. True, these are minor effects individually and if I want heat, I want heat and don't worry about the small costs but Mazda took special pains to ensure the vehicle is efficient in ways that do not show up on the EPA estimates. For example, the air conditioning is high efficiency so it uses less power to cool.

The Tech package comes with brighter lights that use less current (they use the same current on high beam as low) and the daytime running lights are super efficient LED's.

 

[Nodnerb]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased our CX-5 AWD and have now put just over 600km of winter city driving on it. I too must admit to being disappointed so far with the mileage. Our car is showing about 18 MPG (13 l/100km for us Canadians). I don't know if it is winter gas, but have read the thread and will be continuing to fuel at other stations and measure the gas mileage using fuelly and another app on my iPhone just in case our Meter is broken. Either way, seems to make sense as we are getting just over 300 km on a tank.
I have been vigilant in checking both ethanol content and octane levels, so this isn't an issue. I also checked the brakes quickly and nothing seems to be dragging. Very strange. Hopefully just early miles and this will improve because at 18 mpg I may as well have bought a truck...

I get abut the same mileage right now. But it is 90% rush hour traffic. I drive about 12-15kms each way to work each day and it takes me anywhere from 1 to 1.5 hours each way to do it. My average speed is 23 km/hr. So under those circumstances it's about what I can expect. If I were in my old escape, it would be way worse.

 

[CX-SV]

I'm getting 26-27 MPG average over the last 11K miles, in about 80% city/suburban/rushhour traffic conditions.

I used to own a truck (2007 Ford Explorer 4.6L V8 4wd, a BOF truck/SUV) and averaged 14-15 MPG in nearly identical driving condtions (apples to apples comparison).

Both vehicles run on Chevron regular gasoline exclusively. So for the llhot's information, a truck in city driving conditions does not match CX-5 MPG. I did the comparison over several thousands of miles.

 

[IHeartGroceries]

My wife is pretty heavy on the throttle leaving stops, but drives in probably 50/50 city/highway and manages exactly 30 MPG.
One thing I haven't seen too many people mention in relation to their reported mileage is their average speed, which the car also calculates in the gauge cluster.

30MPG w/ an average speed of 40 MPH is totally different from 30 MPG with an average of 20 MPH (which is what our CX-5 reports).

 

[leedos]

At 7,000 miles I'm only getting 23 mpg - with 90% highway driving.

I suspect improper break in. Try putting your foot to the floor every now and then. Also, run in a lower gear and use engine braking occasionally. The low tension piston rings in this engine will take longer to break in, especially with 90% highway driving. Cylinder pressure (positive and negative) are what's needed to properly seat the rings. If you drive on the highway with the cruise on all the time, your break in period will be extended. Highway driving for extended periods of time at constant RPM are supposed to be avoided during break in. You should try keeping tabs on your oil level. You may be using a bit of oil due to the piston rings.