CX7 MPG and mods? Any improvement?

[mmarfan]

So I bought my wife a used 07 CX-7 AWD for Christmas with 65,000 miles. When I drove it home it averaged 21MPG ON THE HIGHWAY, I thought, that's horrible! My MazdaSpeed6 gets 22 to 23 MPG with 50/50 city/highway driving (once achieved 28MPG on the same route to work when gas was $4/gal... which getting there again)
But one thing I should mention about my Speed6 is that it has an intake/corksport exhaust/CP-E standback/ETS top mount intercooler/CP-E downpipe. I did notice that my mpg did pick up from averaging 20 to 21 up to a consistent 22 to 23.
So is there anyone out there with mods on their CX-7 that noticed improvement in mileage? The car now gets 15MPG consistently with 60/40 City/Highway. I hate that it's so much different compared to it's sister car the Speed6! The only difference is the CX-7 is an auto and weighs about 300 pounds more.
Any advice to improve the mileage?

I did do a search, but nothing about mods. My first thought was the Corksport shorty downpipe...

 

[erhayes]

I consitanly get 20-21 in suburban driving and 25-27 on open State roads. I have found that if I let the turbo come up to speed rather that push it and back off that mileage goes up considerably. I have also found that if I am going to be driving 45 mph for any distance that if I manually drop the AT into 6th gear the rpms drop ~ 400. Just letting off the throttle alittle before the normal shift point will drop it into a higher gear . Keep a steady foot and keep rpm below 2,200 rpm to keep boost down if not needed for passing etc. If you have a nervous foot you can't win. If one does,t use 91 or greater octane in an 07, mileage will hurt. I have a FWD which rates about 1-2 mpg over the AWD version.

 

[toyotech]

For mpg my first thought was intake.. i built a custom intake for the car with spare parts and my avg went from 17.7mpg to 20.1... i'd say the 60 bucks i spent for the air straightener and cork sport dry flow is definately worth it.

 

[erhayes]

I have a difficult time believing any added mod will decrease fuel consumption. Several mods will lean out the A/F ratio which in the long run will cause problems, especially if the turbo power is used.