Mazda5 real-world Mileage numbers

[NY5GT]

In heavy NYC driving with constant stop and go I average 18MPG with a 4 speed auto.
Highway cruising at 75mph on cruise control I get 24MPG with a 4 speed auto.

 

[raspykart]

Just made my first road trip in our 5. It's an 07 Touring 5 Speed with 2700 miles now. A/C on with about 2-300 or so pounds of cargo not including me, my wife, daughter, and dog.

Average speed 74MPH and acheived 1st tank got me 34.5 MPG, and the 2nd got me 32.8MPG. Both tanks were the cheapest regular unleaded I could find. I was shocked.

Also, can someone tell me how large the tank is in this car? and how it measures it on the gauge? As an example, the tank in my VW is 14 gallon's but the gauge only measures 12 so you have 2 "reserve" gallons when you hit "E".

The light consistently comes on at 12-12.5 gallons consumed in ours. The 1st 1/4 is consistently 4gal, 1/2tank is 8-9gal. So far its been a very consistent measurement.

 

[Woochifer]

On a mostly highway tank with a lot of AC usage, we just hit 27 MPG. (Otherwise, we average around 25 MPG for mixed driving and 22-23 for mostly city driving) Considering how inflated the MPG ratings are for other cars, I'm amazed at how easily we were able to exceed the EPA estimate.

 

[5waggin]

I have a 07 with M5 and generally carry about 400-600 pound of samples on board. I currently have 5000 miles on it.

This is the MPG and fuel cost per mile over the last 12 tanks

MPG.........$ mile........$ per gallon
27.27.......0.104..........2.84

points of interest

worst tank 23.38 at 80+ MPH sustained driving
best tank 30.32 70 MPH highway
all but 3 tanks at 26-29 MPG

Driving habits, rather heavy foot until up to speed then cruise control.
40% city 60% highway.

 

[snax]

First tank covering 336 miles, 80% highway at 55-70mph, netted us 30.1 MPG. Needless to say, we are pleased.

2007 Touring 5-spd, no roof rack (which can knock up to 5-10% off your economy even with nothing attached)

 

[Frink]

I've been driving the 5 this week to work and managed to average 7.2 l/100km or 32.6 US MPG over a 550km tank. My commute is about 70/30 city & hwy with lots of hills.
Mind you my 5 only has 4000km on it, so I suspect it'll get even better as the km's rack up.
Very happy with the mileage so far.

 

[AIMWO4]

Best tank so far...

I just managed 27.7 MPG. I have 3,000+ miles, drive with a lead foot. I usually drive about 2.5 miles to work. I had a 110 mile highway trip mixed in with this tank though.

 

[HotRodSaint]

So far I'm getting 22mpg city. I don't do much highway driving, my daily commute is surface streets and traffic lights.

 

[nobb]

How are you guys calculating these numbers? I am using this fuel logbook calculator where I enter in the price paid, litres filled, and odometer reading on calgarygasprices.com
I think I must be doing something wrong, because I get 41.41 mpg. That seems to high compared to you guys, although I am a pretty conservative driver. Is 41.41 mpg a feasible number for a 2002 Mazda Protege sedan automatic?

 

[Frink]

How are you guys calculating these numbers? I am using this fuel logbook calculator where I enter in the price paid, litres filled, and odometer reading on calgarygasprices.com
I think I must be doing something wrong, because I get 41.41 mpg. That seems to high compared to you guys, although I am a pretty conservative driver. Is 41.41 mpg a feasible number for a 2002 Mazda Protege sedan automatic?

Ok, here's how I do it.
Fill your tank, slow down as you are filling the top part of the tank.
Stop filling when the pump clicks off the first time, don't top it up or round up to the nearest dollar.
Reset your trip odometer.
Try to use at least 3/4 of the tank before the next fill.
At the next fill up, do it the same way as before (preferably at the same staion/pump/time of day) for consistency.
Write the number of Kilometers driven on your trip odometer on the gas receipt.
Divide the number of litres on the receipt by the number of Km's and then multiply the result by 100... & Voila, you'vr got your l/100km number (litres per 100km).
Reset your trip odometer and do it all over again.

41.41 mpg sounds reasonable if it's Imperial MPG.
(41.41 Imperial MPG = 34.48 US MPG = 6.82 l/100km)

 

[AIMWO4]

Maybe those are Imperial Gallons

What Gallon? US or Imperial?

How are you guys calculating these numbers? I am using this fuel logbook calculator where I enter in the price paid, litres filled, and odometer reading on calgarygasprices.com
I think I must be doing something wrong, because I get 41.41 mpg. That seems to high compared to you guys, although I am a pretty conservative driver. Is 41.41 mpg a feasible number for a 2002 Mazda Protege sedan automatic?

 

[nobb]

Maybe I am stupid, but I never knew there is such thing as US or Imperial gallon. I live in Canada and we use SI units in school =). Here is a screenshot of my fuel logbook:

http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gasmileagelf8.jpg

I searched the site, but it did not mention if it was Imperial or US gallon. The site does also give my mileage as 6.793L/100km.

 

[AIMWO4]

Oh yeah...

That would be the Imperial gallon. I'm from Victoria, BC, and have lived in the US forever. My frequent visits to home have clued me in. Back in the good ol' days, it took less to fill up the tank in Canada. Not really... just those gallons were bigger by 20%.

Maybe I am stupid, but I never knew there is such thing as US or Imperial gallon. I live in Canada and we use SI units in school =). Here is a screenshot of my fuel logbook:

http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gasmileagelf8.jpg

I searched the site, but it did not mention if it was Imperial or US gallon. The site does also give my mileage as 6.793L/100km.

 

[spartman]

On our new 5 with less than 2000km we are averaging 10.7l per 100km mostly in town with a lead foot wife who does not understand shifting down to go up big hills.

 

[AIMWO4]

Latest Tank

I only managed 345 miles on my last tank due to many short trips. I filled up with 14.002 gallons which netted me 24.64 MPG.

I used the GPS to calculate the following numbers for this tank as well:
TOTAL TIME: 10:29 (HH:MM)
MOVING TIME: 8:45
STOPPED TIME: 1:44
OVERALL AVG SPEED: 31.9 MPH
MOVING SPEED: 38.3 MPH

 

[AIMWO4]

26.0

Managed 26.0 mpg driving like a crazy man with AC on. I had one trip of 150 miles at speeds between 65-83 mph. The rest of the tank was used in my daily 2.5 mile commute, w/ a few trips around town on surface streets.

344.8 miles / 13.283 US gallons

 

[HotRodSaint]

My commute is about 12 miles each way. It's all surface streets and it takes about 25 minutes each way with an average of 10 stop lights.

I've been getting a consistant 22 miles per gallon.

That's with the a/c running, 7/8's throttle accelerations and 5000+/- rpm shift points.

So while I could get better mileage, I would be sweating and having much less fun.

 

[snax]

I think people are overestimating the impact of acceleration and AC use. What makes more of an impact is peak and cruising rpm. By limiting your rpms as much as possible, you will gain far more of an improvement in economy than running with the AC off.

We usually shift up at well below 3000 rpm and easily net over 27 mpg around town. On the highway we easily see over 30 mpg with the AC on.

So far after just over 1600 miles, we are averaging nearly 28 mpg combined with mostly city driving.

 

[raspykart]

I think people are overestimating the impact of acceleration and AC use. What makes more of an impact is peak and cruising rpm. By limiting your rpms as much as possible, you will gain far more of an improvement in economy than running with the AC off.

We usually shift up at well below 3000 rpm and easily net over 27 mpg around town. On the highway we easily see over 30 mpg with the AC on.

So far after just over 1600 miles, we are averaging nearly 28 mpg combined with mostly city driving.

sounds about like my results... I don't get full on it too often, usually 50% throttle and the auto tends to shift pretty early. With it being a bigger displacement tqy 4 banger the auto can capitilize on lower rpm efficiency.

 

[mazdaFIVEmike]

We usually shift up at well below 3000 rpm and easily net over 27 mpg around town. On the highway we easily see over 30 mpg with the AC on.

I guess there is no "ZOOM ZOOM" in your life....

I'll sacrifice the 4-5 mpgs just for a little more fun.

Shifting "well below 3000 rpm" means you're in 4th gear before you get to 35mph.