Mazda5 real-world Mileage numbers

[cburrell]

People have a tendency to live out a fantasy online, many people are unhappy or unpopular in real life, so they get sucked into the online thing and if they can look cool online they will do it, even if it means lying about stuff, including something as trivial as MPG numbers (see articles on Manti Te'o). Then again, I don't usually believe what people tell me to begin with, I just usually nod my head in agreement, and I go find out the truth for myself later if I want. I don't believe everything I read or hear. Point being, I have seen some MPG numbers I know are fudged. No one is out to sell their car, your right, but everyone always wants to sell you their BS. So with that.... I'm getting 50MPG city now in my Mazda5!!

I love the sarcastic know it all humor of yours, and you wonder why I am a little sarcastic with you in return. All in good fun though!

 

[ukulele]

Time for a break!

Here is a pic of my 2nd son, Sean, born 1/9/2013 at 9:18pm. I forgot to set up a link earlier, been busy reading all these posts about real world fuel economy.

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa321/blopez1979/photo3i.jpg

He was 6 lbs., 12 oz., 19.5 inches in length. Very different from my 1st son who almost never cried, Sean only knows how to cry it seems. I'm still wondering which will be "The Good Son."

I guess he will be driving (or should I say piloting) the first flying Mazda vehicle when he turns 17, I'm going to be the old man telling him stories about how we used to drive on the ground and he will probably get a kick out of that.

 

[Silentnoise713]

Congrats! Go make some Kodak moments (seriously record and take pics of it all).

I too avg. a realistic 21-22mpg but I drive a little differently than most. Take people’s MPG with a grain of salf b/c there are way too many variables. I also dislike that people tend to only post their BEST numbers, which is doable but unrealistic, and not a full round trip (going down hill vs down and up).

 

[ukulele]

Congrats! Go make some Kodak moments (seriously record and take pics of it all).

I too avg. a realistic 21-22mpg but I drive a little differently than most. Take people’s MPG with a grain of salf b/c there are way too many variables. I also dislike that people tend to only post their BEST numbers, which is doable but unrealistic, and not a full round trip (going down hill vs down and up).

Thanks!! I was never really big on pictures but looks like that's about to change. As for the fuel economy, I think this is the first post you posted that I have to agree with you 100%.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

id say ive been averaging about 23-24 mpg. lots of freeway driving and in town driving. can get 31mpg on the freeway at 70, but around here, the freeway into detroit dips and rises the whole way, going under overpasses. can't use cruise because it will constantly downshift. so, lucky to get 27 on the freeway. my wife does better than i do since i cannot sit and hang out with the slow idiots... i would rather go a little faster and pass them all.

 

[DKaz]

Congrats, ukelele! He's a cutie!

Congrats! Go make some Kodak moments (seriously record and take pics of it all).

I too avg. a realistic 21-22mpg but I drive a little differently than most. Take peoples MPG with a grain of salf b/c there are way too many variables. I also dislike that people tend to only post their BEST numbers, which is doable but unrealistic, and not a full round trip (going down hill vs down and up).

Lol. I got my Mazda 5up to 78 MPG short trip average coming down from the top of a mountain side subdivision according to my Ultra Gauge. ;D Many people drive differently. I typically upshift at 2,500 RPM for example, actually in my Mazda 3, around 2,200 RPM and I'll upshift. I don't drive too fast either, my Ultra Gauge is pretty much a nagging reminder to be fuel efficient.

 

[cburrell]

Way to many variables and many don't give enough info on how those mpg's were achieved. I drive 66 miles round trip to work everyday, Monday through Friday, down A1A going 60 miles mph with the cruise control on for 90% of the ride. I only encounter 7 lights of which half are usually green and I don't have to stop for them. My wait time for all the other lights is under 3 minutes total. The trip consist of 90% highway, and the other 10% is only dealing with those lights, and the speed is a constant 45 mph between those lights. Most of the drive is driving in a straight flat line( seeing how everything in Fl is straight and flat) going 60 mph's with the cruise on. I average 29 mpg's. The best I've had was 30 mpg's and the worst was 27 mpg's. These figures are pretty consistent with the EPA ratings for highway driving. I pretty much have ideal conditions to able to achieve this though. Speed is 60 mph which goes along ways in helping mpg, I drive on a flat road which is hardly ever affect by severe weather, with little interruptions from lights which allows me to set my cruise for most of the way, which also helps. I know that if I was using one of the interstates in town to get to work, even though their isn't many lights, I would be going 75 or 80 mph's and I would be watching the rpm's rise and the gas mileage fall. I am well aware that when they calculate EPA ratings, they are calculating based more on a condition like mine than on someone flying down the interstate at 80 mph's, or driving a long distance over a bunch of mountains, or other real life variables like that.

 

[cburrell]

Time for a break!

Here is a pic of my 2nd son, Sean, born 1/9/2013 at 9:18pm. I forgot to set up a link earlier, been busy reading all these posts about real world fuel economy.

http://i1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa321/blopez1979/photo3i.jpg

He was 6 lbs., 12 oz., 19.5 inches in length. Very different from my 1st son who almost never cried, Sean only knows how to cry it seems. I'm still wondering which will be "The Good Son."

I guess he will be driving (or should I say piloting) the first flying Mazda vehicle when he turns 17, I'm going to be the old man telling him stories about how we used to drive on the ground and he will probably get a kick out of that.

Congrats, nothing more precious than having kids to fill your life with joy. Do take a lot of pictures because they grow up to fast and you will forget all the funny things that they did and said when they were really young. Or if you have a camera loving picture taking wife, like I do, you don't have to worry about a thing, she will have that part handled, you just got to kick back and enjoy the memories that are being made.

 

[ukulele]

Thanks for the congrats guys. I'm just very happy that he was born healthy as an [baby] ox.

BTW, anyone else get a rotten egg smell out of their tailpipes, even when just idling?? I'm wondering if this is how the 2.5L exhaust is supposed to smell. I can't remember a time when my exhaust smelled like this in any of my previous vehicles, no I don't make it a habit of sticking my nose into my tailpipe to suck in the carbon monoxide, just something I noticed when my window is down and the wind whiffs it my way.

On my old Yaris, the exhaust not only smelled like nothing, but it would come out like a cool mist, wasn't even hot or warm, I'm assuming this is due to a chemical reaction in the catalytic converter.

I can't help but wonder if this is a bad gas formulation or is my engine shooting out unburned fuel out the back.

Thanks.

 

[Davicho]

Thanks for the congrats guys. I'm just very happy that he was born healthy as an [baby] ox.

BTW, anyone else get a rotten egg smell out of their tailpipes, even when just idling?? I'm wondering if this is how the 2.5L exhaust is supposed to smell. I can't remember a time when my exhaust smelled like this in any of my previous vehicles, no I don't make it a habit of sticking my nose into my tailpipe to suck in the carbon monoxide, just something I noticed when my window is down and the wind whiffs it my way.

On my old Yaris, the exhaust not only smelled like nothing, but it would come out like a cool mist, wasn't even hot or warm, I'm assuming this is due to a chemical reaction in the catalytic converter.

I can't help but wonder if this is a bad gas formulation or is my engine shooting out unburned fuel out the back.

Thanks.

Sounds like a cat converter going or gone bad. Been in the dealership field for 13 years and that seems to be a sign of that.

 

[ukulele]

Sounds like a cat converter going or gone bad. Been in the dealership field for 13 years and that seems to be a sign of that.

How long till I get a CEL you think?? Haven't had one yet. I bought a new Sentra back in 2004 and had a bad cat converter from the factory but it would throw a CEL every 2000 miles or so, bought it with a few miles on the ODO. Other than that I didn't have a clue it was the cat.

 

[alsomme]

I have a average of 33-40 mpg on my Mazda 5 sport diesel 143 hp.

In winter time it uses more also because of the pre heating diesel system that makes my car warm faster
It starts to work when the temperature outside drops below a certain point.
Love it but wrecks my numbers

If i got my numbers right

 

[Davicho]

How long till I get a CEL you think?? Haven't had one yet. I bought a new Sentra back in 2004 and had a bad cat converter from the factory but it would throw a CEL every 2000 miles or so, bought it with a few miles on the ODO. Other than that I didn't have a clue it was the cat.

I can't tell you exactly how quickly the CEL will go on or if it will. It depends on how badly deteriorated the cat is and how quickly the O2 sensor will catch it. However, being that it is a 2012 I would take it in to the dealer and have them check it at least. I suggest if at all possible to pull up to the drive when the rotten egg smell is in full effect.

 

[chandlerGTi]

I have a average of 33-40 mpg on my Mazda 5 sport diesel 143 hp.

In winter time it uses more also because of the pre heating diesel system that makes my car warm faster
It starts to work when the temperature outside drops below a certain point.
Love it but wrecks my numbers

If i got my numbers right

I want a diesel 5! I have a diesel rabbit pickup that I enjoy 53mpg in but it isnt really comfortable to commute in.

 

[lindsayt]

Living in a central city and working 2.5 miles away, our 5's fuel mileage was abysmal - I tracked every fillup for the 38 months we owned it and we didn't crack 19 mpg with any regularity in town. On road trips on the freeway we got the sticker's 28, but no better. Coming after a few Korean cars that routinely beat their sticker on the freeway and did no worse than sticker in the city, this was one of our bigger gripes with the 5. Much to our surprise, we found that once we owned the FIAT (which was only intended as a secondary car for us) we would all pile into the Fiat and leave the Mazda in the garage - we'd much rather be cramped than pay so much for gas. So now we're giving a turbodiesel VW a try. We'll get way under sticker for in-town driving, of course, but way under sticker should still be a huge improvement.

 

[5zoom]

Just got 32mpg with my 08 5AT with 110k on it. AC running with 3 people and luggage aboard driving 65-75mph. Pretty amazed that it did so well.

 

[rodslinger]

I drove the hell out of this van the past few weeks. Ended up filling up once or twice a day and had a good change to test different speeds, styles and terrain back to back. Saw a best of a little over 29mpg to about 24mpg (highway numbers). City stays between 18 and 22 most of the time.

I have a very wild drive pattern. My van may stay parked for a week then get driven almost exclusively city stop and go traffic. The next day I may hop on a 600 mile road trip (or 2200 the week before last).

Basically...

If I keep it around 65 to 70, easy, drafting, no silly passing bursts I can get 29+ mpg.
If I keep it between 70 and 75, a few acceleration runs to pass I will see about 26mpg.
If I run it like I did coming from Memphis to Atlanta. 80mph in the open, no drafting, WOT passing it'll see about 24.
Normal city driving is about 20 to 22mpg
Agressive city driving is about 16 to 20.

 

[Silentnoise713]

I drove the hell out of this van the past few weeks. Ended up filling up once or twice a day and had a good change to test different speeds, styles and terrain back to back. Saw a best of a little over 29mpg to about 24mpg (highway numbers). City stays between 18 and 22 most of the time.

I have a very wild drive pattern. My van may stay parked for a week then get driven almost exclusively city stop and go traffic. The next day I may hop on a 600 mile road trip (or 2200 the week before last).

Basically...

If I keep it around 65 to 70, easy, drafting, no silly passing bursts I can get 29+ mpg.
If I keep it between 70 and 75, a few acceleration runs to pass I will see about 26mpg.
If I run it like I did coming from Memphis to Atlanta. 80mph in the open, no drafting, WOT passing it'll see about 24.
Normal city driving is about 20 to 22mpg
Agressive city driving is about 16 to 20.

That's awesome and is about on par what I get stock (maybe ~1 mpg higher)! Any heat issues so far in the heat of summer? Now if only the kids would grown up and leave the house but then I wouldn’t have a need for this car

 

[SuperJETT]

It's not a van!

Anyway, my wife drives ours 90-95% of the time which means to/from work/school/playdates for the kids/stores/etc, very little highway, and Acar (android app) is reporting 21.2 for a 3 month average last time I looked. We (5 of us, probably around 600lbs) did a highway trip and hit 28.5 for the one tank that was all highway.

Now, I rented a 2013 Mazda3 in Oklahoma 2 weeks ago and had to drive from OKC to east of Tulsa and the engine computer was showing 43.4mpg average (not instantaneous) with the a/c on and cruising 75mph. I had it 3 days, drove a ton of miles (over 400), and still had 1/8 tank when I returned it. Very nice.

 

[MarkVII88]

Hi All,

I've had my 2012 Mazda5 Sport AT since October 2012. In that time I've driven 9700 miles and done 34 fillups. I would say that 1/3 of my miles are highway and 2/3 are city. Average MPG over 9700 miles is 23.6. On the best tank to-date the car got 28.4 MPG and the worst tank was 19.5 MPG. Basically, I'm getting just the MPG that Mazda projects for this car.