HELP! brand new 2015 - horrible mileage - 23mpg for highway

[unknown00]

i just got a brand new 2015 mazda cx-5 touring FWD and i get horrible highway mileage. the car currently has about 1500miles on it. i am a light easy driver, and i always calculate my mpg by dividing the odometer by how much i filled up at the gas station.

i went on a roadtrip this holiday season, and for the 2 tanks that i did highway only, i got 23 and 24mpg. i thought i was suppose to get 30mpg+?!?! i use cruise control and i usually cruise at 75mph/2.5krpm or 80mph/2.75krpm. when i check my odometer for the computerized current mpg, it does confirm that i only get 15-25mpg when i am cruising. for city/mix i have been getting around 28mpg, how do i get 23mpg by going highway only?!?! also, for those that say it could be caused by me driving too fast, i have never had this issue with any of my past cars

any ideas?

 

[otapnam]

where was the roadtrip to? your car is barely broken in as well, are you freaking out a little early?

 

[unknown00]

where was the roadtrip to? your car is barely broken in as well, are you freaking out a little early?

i live in Texas so across Texas. are you saying that it should get better in time? how long? and if it doesn't?

 

[erhayes]

23 OR 24 SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT FOR 75-80 MPH DRIVING. OPS caps-sorry. You are not driving a car but, a COV/SUV that sits up high.

 

[ALafya]

You will not get 30+ MPG driving 80. Maybe at 75, but not likely. However, 23~24 is kind of low.
Did you have anything on the roof? Cross-bars?
Was it cold? Windy? Did you have the car idle for a long time, e.g. to get it warm inside?
I am assuming mostly flat freeway, with very few stops and pretty much fixed speed, correct?

 

[MikeM.]

Aerodynamic drag at 75-80mph is huge! You are pushing a lot of air in front and creating a big vacuum behind. There is no way to get 30 MPG in a SUV at those speeds!

The EPA HWY drive cycle has an average speed of 48 mph. IMO, this was chosen so big American cars of the day would not look so bad compared to the foreign competition. The good news is there is probably nothing wrong with your new car. If you drive at high speeds on a regular basis you would get better mileage in a sedan like the Mazda 6.

My 2 year plus all-time average is over 32 MPG but I only cruise above 75 mph 75-100 miles per year.

 

[Oldengineer]

I've got a 2015 Touring AWD with 10K miles on it now. I typically run at 75 on the interstate as well. If I'm alone in the car, and, have no appreciable cargo, my CX-5 typically does 27 - 27.5 MPG on these trips. Give the engine more time to break in fully. My fuel economy keep improving up to around 5K miles. Some thing you might want to check as well. I run 35 psi in the tires, and, I only use good brands of fuel usually. I've found that using gas sold by the local Kroger store results in lower fuel economy. Also check and make sure the engine isn't overfilled with oil. That will hurt fuel economy as well.

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

[Dr_Watson]

80mph....how naive!

We should put a sticky about mpg.

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

I also live in Texas.. most of the highways here are not flat, they are either hilly, or have long downhill then uphill sections, with many elevation changes, like here in San Antonio. 23 is what I averaged in my 2.0 awd but I was usually going 80+, and usually running high rpms hard accelerating etc..

 

[unknown00]

guess i won't worry...for now. but today i filled up again, record lows at 21.8mpg, wow

honestly if i knew gas mileage would of been this bad i dont think i would of bought the car

 

[mNers]

having the same issue here, actually meaning to call mazda about it. purchased my 15 touring AWD end of sep - never peaked over 20mpg for my daily drivig...thought it was my lack of highway driving, and maybe since i only have 6k miles on. anyway, this past weekend did a trip to canada, all highway cruise control 65-70mph for 300 miles each way. barely peaked at 22MPG, it was 21 and change BOTH ways to canada and back. i remember reading something about false ads in regard to vehicle MPGs, starting to think hmmmm

 

[mNers]

also keep my tires at 36 checked on a reg basis and have only ran shell gas since i purchased the car

 

[craigo]

I get 27-31 on the highway, depending on weather conditions in a FWD 2.5 Cold windy days hurt...

 

[minnesotaart]

having the same issue here, actually meaning to call mazda about it. purchased my 15 touring AWD end of sep - never peaked over 20mpg for my daily drivig...thought it was my lack of highway driving, and maybe since i only have 6k miles on. anyway, this past weekend did a trip to canada, all highway cruise control 65-70mph for 300 miles each way. barely peaked at 22MPG, it was 21 and change BOTH ways to canada and back. i remember reading something about false ads in regard to vehicle MPGs, starting to think hmmmm

Are you calculating the MPG or relying on the dashboard info?

 

[Seminole]

If it's windy your gas mileage will be killed. If I'm going into a headwind I only get around 25mpg at 75MPH.

I see people on here with crazy gas mileage in their fuelly badges, but I forget a lot of states have a max speed limit of 65mph, or major turnpikes/roads where people go 55mph (like in NY). Here in FL I can get the advertised 32mpg if I stick to between 65-70mph, but I have to sit in the right lane because people zoom by me. The best I've ever gotten is 31.5mpg on a 300+ mile road trip when I set the cruise to 70mph. But most of the time I got somewhere to be so I bump it up to 75-80mph and average around 27-28mpg per tank with a 70/30 highway/city split.

Try to use cruise control as much as possible. The throttle is very sensitive to slight changes from your foot and can really sap gas mileage.

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

I think the absolute worst I have gotten is around 24MPG... loaded down, 70-75, AC on for defrost, wind & rain over a pass. My average is 27-28 with the "big" 19" tires.

I watch my "real time" mileage indicator quite a bit. It gives one a better idea of the mileage impact caused by driving style.

 

[mazdadude]

There are lots of variables involved, but here are my personal Top 5 Driver Controlled Variables

Did you push the gas pedal more than 1/2 way? MPG KILLER
Did you idle and wait at a fast food drive thru? MPG KILLER
Did you warm up the car before you left? MPG KILLER
Did you idle at any long traffic lights? MPG KILLER
Did you drive faster than 55 mph? MPG KILLER

If you do not break any of these rules, you will see over 28 mpg.

Break every rule here, and you will be lucky to get over 22 mpg

 

[MikeM.]

There are lots of variables involved, but here are my personal Top 5 Driver Controlled Variables

Did you push the gas pedal more than 1/2 way? MPG KILLER
Did you idle and wait at a fast food drive thru? MPG KILLER
Did you warm up the car before you left? MPG KILLER
Did you idle at any long traffic lights? MPG KILLER
Did you drive faster than 55 mph? MPG KILLER

If you do not break any of these rules, you will see over 28 mpg.

Break every rule here, and you will be lucky to get over 22 mpg

Good list but you left off the most important rule for good MPG:

Did you anticipate stops ahead to avoid brake usage?

By letting off on the gas early, you can often roll through an intersection at 20 mph that you would otherwise have had to come to a complete stop.

Also, I have found on the CX-5 that the speed of acceleration is less of a factor than whether said acceleration results in needing to apply the brake shortly thereafter. The CX-5 engine has excellent power/fuel efficiency all the way up to 3,000 rpm's regardless of throttle position. It's like a diesel in this respect. In other words, when accelerating and wanting optimum efficiency, you can put your foot into it fairly deeply, the limiting factor is avoiding a downshift that will take the rpm's over 3000 rpm's. Yes, your instant mpg will drop quite low while doing this, but you will achieve your target speed sooner and more time will be spent in the efficient mode of maintaining speed. So it evens out in the end.

You will see my lifetime MPG is better than most and I believe this is primarily due to looking ahead so I can avoid unnecessary braking. If no one is in front of me I often accelerate as briskly as possible without exceeding 3000 rpm's. And if I need more than that it really doesn't hurt efficiency much to take it to 5000 rpm's. Plus, the little four banger loves to spin - it doesn't sound harsh until I hit 5000-6200 rpm range.

 

[unknown00]

a lot of the new replies here are about how to get better gas mileage. if you read my post, i get decent city/combined mpg...i am concerned why my 3 100% highway trips avged 22mpg

 

[MikeM.]

. if you read my post, i get decent city/combined mpg...i am concerned why my 3 100% highway trips avged 22mpg

If we read your post?

Maybe if you had read the responses to your post you would have figured it out by now. No car with as much frontal area and large vertical hatchback is going to get good mileage at 75-80 mph. It's due to a factor called physics.

Slow down and your mpg's will increase dramatically.