Gas Brand and Mileage

Here is my log sheet (both in Metric and US units). It covers all since I bought the car on Feb. 25th. I find my fuel mileage to be VERY low...gaZOOM-ZOOM is working on it.
 

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it seems like our cars are very sensitive to the difference btw city and highway driving. my typical mileage is 23-24 mpg, combined city/hwy commuting. on a straight highway trip, i might reach 30 mpg, and a tank used entirely in the city will get me about 22 mpg. i always use regular unleaded, and have not noticed a difference btw brands...i usually use Mobil or texaco since they're the most convienient. i don't believe it matters since oil companies buy and sell among each other anyway...

i have to say that the mpg is probably the most disappointing thing about my car. my old Pro got 35mpg day in and day out, and even my RSX-S got 25-27 mpg in typical driving (on premium fuel but with much harder driving...my Pro rarely gets over 4k, the RSX saw 8k usually once a day) and 32mpg on the highway.

i wouldn't mind the mileage so much if the damn tank wasn't so small. a tank gets me 290-310 miles and b/c i drive 1800-2000 miles per month, that's a lot of gas station stops. at least NJ is full service tho. :D
 
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P5's gas tank is 2.6 gallon larger than a Civic's gas tank. If fuel mileage of our P5 was better, we wouldn't have to worry...
 
Yup, for a small car, our tank is good. That's not the problem. The only answer I have is California gas, because everyone in California gets bad mileage while the rest of the world is sitting back and enjoying their money. I don't think brands matter enough and I also don't think it's the MTBE, because I use 76 gasoline and there's no MTBE in it. All I have to say is 22 miles per gallon is pathetic.
 
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OH, and by the way, I took my car to my brother's auto shop to have the exhaust system and oxygen sensors and all that good stuff checked out. Result: everything's normal. It's not using any more gas than it needs. There goes my hopes of a factory defect.
 
I do have lead foot and I'm getting around 27-28 MPG. Currently my car has over 9000 miles and use amoco or mobil regular(87). I put around 62 miles per day for commute and it comes out to 20 miles for local and the rest is toll/freeway.
 
I'm only getting 22 mpg on my 2002. My daily commute is 120 miles interstate and 15 city. For a car with a 2.0l engine I think the mpg should be close to 30. But I do drive aggressively, though I try to shift before the redline.;) I use the cheapest, most convenient gas.
 
In order to get better gas mileage, this is what I did and it works

a) Shifts are at around 3500RPM
b) Cruise is at 65mph
c) Less aggressive driving
d) Synthetic oil, Mobil 1 5W30

Yes it is boring, but I drive 19000 miles just to go to work every year and I spend around $1800 in gas, I have to find ways to reduce fuel consumption.

I found that the P5 guzzles gas at speeds over 70mph...anybody else noticed this?
 
On a full tank, I usually get about 420 (max was 435 miles) which comes out to about 30 mpg (U.S.). I do drive a stick and I have a drop-in KN filter. My driving is semi-aggressive - I push hard when I can or feel like it but otherwise I avoid jack rabbit starts and stops. Because gasoline has gotten expensive I now stick with Sunoco Regular and/or Gulf Regular.

Most of the miles are highway, but I do have to cross the Tappanzee Bridge (3 miles long) everyday, but even with the traffic I can still get about 30mpg.

Make sure your tires have the proper air pressure, don't keep any extra weight in the car that's not necessary, and when in traffic, avoid the stop and go - if you don't mind it, let everybody cut in front of you. That's probably why I'm able to get good mileage.

As for the argument on Regular vs. Super - In Japan I used to drive a 1.6L '84 Nissan Pulsar. With Regular gas the engine would lose power and ping like crazy going up a hill. With Super, huge difference. Great power gain, no pinging and improved mileage. That made me a believer in Super, no matter what kind of engine you may have...

That's my 2 cents.
 
final drive ratio and the fact that the mazda ecu is contradicting you will never get the toyota mileage we would like
when at partial throttle the thing goes into a some what of a rich mixture anticipating your next throttle move
thats where the most of your gas mileage is going
instead of 14.7:1 it is around 13
then add the restrictive manifold emmision equipment.
and buulshit dual stage manifold design
ahhh forget it
 
Edison_Chen said:
is this regular for our cars?

about 110 km's = $8.00 CDN

using 87??

Please give price of fuel so I can calculate qty of fuel used...

Best fuel mileage I ever got is 8.00L/100km = 35.3mpg Imp. = 29.4mpg US, and that is with VERY non aggressive and low speed driving on highway only. I use only regular gasoline.
 
i got 29 on the way north to berkeley with exxon and 30.5 on a the way down with chevron. kept it at about 77 the entire way both ways (minus going over the mountains) so i dunno if gas makes a difference. but i think keeping it at 77 verses 85 like i normally did (and got around 28) helps my milage.
 
Sometimes, when pumping gas, the pump shuts off before your tank is full. I have actually put in a whole gallon with the 'top-off' tactic after the pump decides to shut off. Just pull the nozzle out a little ways and turn it back on.

I mention this because if you don't completely fill up your tank, then it will skew your milage results. Just a thing to keep in mind while you're sitting there pumping gas.
 
Edison_Chen said:
around 79.9 cents/litre

So, you got 9.10L/100km = 25.85mpg US = 31.04mpg Imperial.

This is within Mazda's specs : 7.3L/100km highway, 9.6L/100km city.

Do as chuyler1 said and try it again if you want to be 100% sure of your fuel mileage.
 
chuyler1 said:
Sometimes, when pumping gas, the pump shuts off before your tank is full. I have actually put in a whole gallon with the 'top-off' tactic after the pump decides to shut off. Just pull the nozzle out a little ways and turn it back on.

I mention this because if you don't completely fill up your tank, then it will skew your milage results. Just a thing to keep in mind while you're sitting there pumping gas.

If you always pump it only till the shut off it shouldnt be much of a problem because it is always filling up to around the same spot. That way it doesnt scew milage, but does not give you an accurate reading of how far you can really go on a completely full tank.
 
yeah, but every pump shuts off at a different point, thats what I'm getting at...if you go to the same place and fill up at the same pump, then you have a better shot at being accurate.
 
well, you never know how full the tank is when you fill past the point either... unless it starts to spill out :D
 
I've only pumped my own gas once ... on a road trip to Michigan.

Funny anectdote - While cruising around Detroit, my friends and I stop for a fill up at a seedy looking gas station, close to 8 mile, I think. My friends get out to pay, while I chill in the backseat. I see what I assume to be an attendant grab the hose and proceed to fill up our tank. I was like, 'Oh ... i thought NJ was the only place that did that ...' (wow)

Turns out it was some homeless man trying to score a few bucks from the tourists. He wasn't very good at it though ... He spilled gas all over the side of the car and scratched the paint around the gas cap... :mad:

Needless to say, we sped off went he wasn't looking. (laugh)
 

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