Gas mileage problems

[ottawaP5]

This car will not get good mileage in the city period. It's a performance car, not an economy car. It will never get the mileage of a Fit or Yaris that's for sure. I get about 320 KM's when the needle is at 1/4. On the highway however, it's pretty good, getting about 29mpg.

Like most people are saying, it's all how you drive it. Since I walk to work, whenever I get to drive the MS3, I'm not light on the throttle, so I don't really care about mpg. This car is too fun to worry about mpg

 

[mr4x4king]

just got mine a few days ago 2008 ms3 red hey i got 251 miles on the first tank and took 12.5 gallons to fill up 20mpg got 249 miles on the second tank took 11.5 to fill up 21.7 car had 69 miles on it when i got it

 

[Hikaru9]

I average pretty low compared to most, and I assume it is due to the stop-and-go traffic combined with my impatience for other drivers on the road.

On top of that, don't you have a pretty nice sound setup that (probably) weighs a bit? I'm patient when it comes to other drivers on the road (or so I think), but it's good to know that my little car can pass a lot of the unsuspecting bad drivers on the road if I wanted to. *^_^*

I guess the one thing I should have watched out for was the break-in period. i kinda smashed on pretty quickly. after about 50 miles, i was doing full throttle in all gears.

LOL~! You left that 'little' detail out in the previous posts. Yeah... your turbo DISI will drink gas like a drunken sailor if you go WOT all the time. =p

 

[PeterC]

I only have 1500 miles on the car and on my last tank I calculated 22.3 mpg after my last fill-up. I have a 10 mile commute to and from work, mixed driving. My last fill-up clocked in at 19.7 mpg with zero highway...all back roads. I started going on the highway to work to see how much of a difference it made. Add a CAI and synthetic oil to get the most efficiency. I can get 300 miles per tank on my commute no problem if I only race the engine a few times a week.

 

[midgarr30]

an update:

i filled up yesterday. my gas light had just turned on. i could only put 12.3 gallons in the tank before the tank was full. so, i guess i could calculate that i drove 265 miles over 12.3 gallons: 21.5 mpg. not bad for being a bit of a beast on the throttle.

so, i guess it's like it was stated before: the tank has 2 gallons left when the gas light goes on.

 

[bmman93]

wow every1 is so diverse idk if some are doing good or if some or doing back! i get like 260 all hwy at like 73-77 mph i don't see how people r getting 400 to a tank. i really must be doing something wrong. i don't beat on it or n e thing its just weird. im not complaining i just wanna no how people r getting 300 plus out of a tank!

 

[khaydin]

wow every1 is so diverse idk if some are doing good or if some or doing back! i get like 260 all hwy at like 73-77 mph i don't see how people r getting 400 to a tank. i really must be doing something wrong. i don't beat on it or n e thing its just weird. im not complaining i just wanna no how people r getting 300 plus out of a tank!

260 all highway? You should be well into the 300's if you're all highway even in the winter with crappy winter gas. Your highways must have tons of traffic lights or just tons of stop and go traffic to get mileage like that... Is your car brand new? Do you have an aftermarket intake? A cold air intake or a short ram intake will get you 1-2 more mpg plus some more power.

 

[bmman93]

jsut did the first oil change and it is hilly wear i go not to much on the open flats! the pa turn pike is what i go on! so maybe the moutains kill it

 

[amascio]

I have never driven my car in city only driving. In the Houston area we have plenty of freeways so there's always a mix of speeds ones' car gets driven.

I imagine if I was to have to sit in traffic I'd be doing good to get 20, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. And if you have to contend with a hilly city, always downshifting to make climbs I'd imagine the gas mileage would go straight into the toilet. Give the car some time; it'll probably get better as the engine loosens up. Cheers!

 

[RobSpeed3]

I ussuall get about 27.5 in the highway doing about 80. In town i get about 18 usually. I have a lead foot.

 

[AutoXRacer]

I'm on my second tank of gas right now...I'm at 1/4 tank of gas and I've got almost 300 miles...like 289. Though, most of it was highway driving...averaging 75 mph.

 

[clos561]

hey there. I'm new to this forum. I'm a long-time ex-VW owner. Bought my MS3 on monday. It had 9 miles on it. I just about emptied my tank today. i put 230 miles on it from full to empty.

please tell me that the engine needs to break in properly before getting better gas mileage. because as of right now, i'm highly disappointed in my gas mileage. any ideas? running rich? bad injectors? is this normal? thanks in advance.

its all your foots fault(humpleg)

 

[racekar]

i noticed on my past new cars mileage gets better even after 15,000 miles

 

[Hirudin]

The first road trip I took with my car (driving it home after buying it) I got about 28 mpg (all highway, 80-85 mph cruising).

Since then I've been getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 22 mpg. I've started putting it into 6th as soon as I can (I do a lot of 2nd to 6th shifts) so that might help.

I've heard people say they get ~2 mpg more after putting on a CIA.

Lets see... if you could increase your mpg by 10% you'd be saving approximately 30 per gallon (@ $3.00 per gallon). The CIA is $300 (or so); so after 1000 gallons of gas it'll pay for itself. If you end up getting 24mpg, that's 24,000 miles, or about 2 years of driving on average.

 

[midgarr30]

here is what i have noticed;

from full tank until the gas light turns on, it's about 12.5 gallons. I've been averaging about 250-260 from full until the light turns on. which equals out to exactly 20mph. However, on my last tank, i was driving very light-footedly (is that a real phrase?) to see how good my mileage could be.....it was another 250 miles until the gas light went on. so, if i flog it, or if i light-foot it, i get the same gas mileage? something is fishy here

any ideas? it bothers me because i'm thinking i might have a faulty coolant sensor or a possible sealant leak. what do you think?

 

[zoom^3]

WOW, reading through this thread I am very fortunate.
Since new I have been driving 100 miles a day back and forth to work through a majority of stop and go traffic or 80-90 freeway speeds
averaging 360 per tank in my ms6. But recently I have dropped back to about 320 per tank consistantly for the last 4 tanks. the only perf. mod I have is the aem cai. anyone have any ideas what may be causing this recent decrease?

 

[Sierra117]

Shell V-power 93oct averages about 260-270 before I hit the 1/4 tank left mark. With easy, casual driving, I usually don't even move the needle till about 75 miles or so.

 

[SwampAss]

I still average 300-360 miles per tank and with a 12-12.5 gallon fill up. Display says 28.9mpg avg. Yes, I lay into it at times. Apparently not as much as some of you. I'm hoping the standback gives me yet another 1-2mpg. When I reflashed my VW I went up in mileage. I hope the Mazda does the same.

 

[SwampAss]

WOW, reading through this thread I am very fortunate.
Since new I have been driving 100 miles a day back and forth to work through a majority of stop and go traffic or 80-90 freeway speeds
averaging 360 per tank in my ms6. But recently I have dropped back to about 320 per tank consistantly for the last 4 tanks. the only perf. mod I have is the aem cai. anyone have any ideas what may be causing this recent decrease?

Could it be a switch in seasonal blends of fuels? Maybe it's increased warm up time. I know with bikes they enrichen longer when it's cold out. Would make sense that cars do the same.

 

[dkswim]

yes cars do the same. winter fuel should drop you MPG 1-2 all the additives to keep water and other stuff out of it. i just hit 32-32 actual MPG driving home that was mostly highway but it did include some runs up to 100 and some left foot input to get around slow cars and show disgust at stupid tailgaters and a big rig that tried to eat my bumper in the slow lane every now and then