For the hell of it today when I drove to my best friend's house and back (~120 miles each way), I did exactly the posted speed limit (mostly 55 and 60) as much as I could. Final tally was 227 miles, 8 gallons, so right around 28MPG for the trip. I think I got 26-ish last time but I drove about 5MPH over like I normally do. So it was a visible gain, but not much of one.
Ms3 Mpg
- Thread starter CHICO2003
- Start date
I don't use the trip computer and run it by logging "full-to-empty" odometer mileage at fill ups every 1.5 weeks or so. So, for the "full-span" of the gauge from full to yellow fuel light on (with about a gallon or 1.5 gallons left), I get an average of 24.5 to 25.7 MPG on mixed driving, in-town and freeway mixed in sunny San Jose, Calif.
squidmotion
Member
i'm seeing about the same, about half highway, and half city-style... 24-25, and i have a pretty heavy foot...
kwsmithphoto
Member
- :
- 2009 Mazdaspeed3
I stopped reading this thread after 10 pages.
FWIW, I average about 15-17mpg in normal (for Los Angeles) urban traffic. It doesn't seem to matter much how I drive it - just keeping up with minivans and other cars, short shifting, etc, trying hard to save gas, maybe 18. All calculated, using the same pump at the same gas station. As others have said, the trip computer is 2-3mpg optimistic.
Lately my driving has involved quite a bit of open highway driving. Which means I'm driving 70-80mph just to keep up with quicker traffic. At those speeds, fuel burn is high. Way too high, IMO - measured fuel burn is about 18mpg.
In any case, my car gets bad mpg, just keeping up with regular traffic. 200 miles from a full tank is a celebrated event. I do keep logs, and my worst was 13.5mpg. Best ever, 25mpg on a road trip. Track time, don't ask. Haven't calculated for that, but a 20 minute session burns about 1/3 of a tank.
I think one of the main problems is extensive idle time in LA traffic. These cars, at least in CA smog trim, burn a **** lot of gas just going nowhere.
But mostly I'm just keeping up with quicker traffic and still burning a whole lot of fuel. I rented a PT Cruiser last week on my holiday trip up north, and it sipped fuel through a straw, keeping up with quicker traffic (which is slower than open freeway LA traffic). I didn't measure it, but it was probably close to double what I get with my MS3 in normal driving.
I've tried every trick I know of, and have learned a few things:
No matter how I drive the car in city conditions, it doesn't seem to matter very much. But that's not what I bought the car for. Trying to save fuel is futile, it just sucks it up no matter what.
Road trips, 70-80mph, not much better, mid to low 20's.
I'm okay with it though, since the car I drove for the last 10 years had a 170hp V6 and burned the same fuel. Now I have almost about another 100hp the power with a similar fuel burn. I'm OK with that. If I wanted essentially that same car with better mpg, I'd have bought a regular Mazda3.
I don't know where or why you guys are getting so much better mpg, because I've tried everything but nothing helps. So I just drive it like it wants to be driven, and get the same crappy mpg that I do in grandma mode.
Part of it, I think, is our CA fuel regs. Unlike most places, our "summer" fuel actually has more ethanol than our "winter" fuel. But cooler temps in winter makes more power so it's a wash.
Anyway, 15-17mpg is roughly my average, and I rarely get 200 miles out of a tank no matter how I drive it, just keeping up with city traffic.
FWIW, I average about 15-17mpg in normal (for Los Angeles) urban traffic. It doesn't seem to matter much how I drive it - just keeping up with minivans and other cars, short shifting, etc, trying hard to save gas, maybe 18. All calculated, using the same pump at the same gas station. As others have said, the trip computer is 2-3mpg optimistic.
Lately my driving has involved quite a bit of open highway driving. Which means I'm driving 70-80mph just to keep up with quicker traffic. At those speeds, fuel burn is high. Way too high, IMO - measured fuel burn is about 18mpg.
In any case, my car gets bad mpg, just keeping up with regular traffic. 200 miles from a full tank is a celebrated event. I do keep logs, and my worst was 13.5mpg. Best ever, 25mpg on a road trip. Track time, don't ask. Haven't calculated for that, but a 20 minute session burns about 1/3 of a tank.
I think one of the main problems is extensive idle time in LA traffic. These cars, at least in CA smog trim, burn a **** lot of gas just going nowhere.
But mostly I'm just keeping up with quicker traffic and still burning a whole lot of fuel. I rented a PT Cruiser last week on my holiday trip up north, and it sipped fuel through a straw, keeping up with quicker traffic (which is slower than open freeway LA traffic). I didn't measure it, but it was probably close to double what I get with my MS3 in normal driving.
I've tried every trick I know of, and have learned a few things:
No matter how I drive the car in city conditions, it doesn't seem to matter very much. But that's not what I bought the car for. Trying to save fuel is futile, it just sucks it up no matter what.
Road trips, 70-80mph, not much better, mid to low 20's.
I'm okay with it though, since the car I drove for the last 10 years had a 170hp V6 and burned the same fuel. Now I have almost about another 100hp the power with a similar fuel burn. I'm OK with that. If I wanted essentially that same car with better mpg, I'd have bought a regular Mazda3.
I don't know where or why you guys are getting so much better mpg, because I've tried everything but nothing helps. So I just drive it like it wants to be driven, and get the same crappy mpg that I do in grandma mode.
Part of it, I think, is our CA fuel regs. Unlike most places, our "summer" fuel actually has more ethanol than our "winter" fuel. But cooler temps in winter makes more power so it's a wash.
Anyway, 15-17mpg is roughly my average, and I rarely get 200 miles out of a tank no matter how I drive it, just keeping up with city traffic.
C
cymx5
That sure doesn't sound right...that is a MS3?
Yeah, that sounds more like the RX8 I had... (boom03)
oaklandopen
Member
I think your fuel trims are making you run on the richer side. If you doing stop n go and track stuff all the time the computer is naturally going to give you more fuel. Maybe try battery disconnect before the next time you take a highway trip and see if it improves
liquidflem
Member
- :
- MS3
Stop and go will kill mileage on this car. I think short shifting it too much is going to cause the computer to supply more fuel due to increased load - that's just a guess though.
If you mostly drive in the city at low speeds, then i would say 18 average is normal as i usually get about 22-24 average with 50/50 driving. I probably do 2 or 3 WOT runs per tank as well. The highest i have ever gotten was 28.5 with 90% interstate driving at 75ish MPH.
I made a trip down to PA this summer doing 70 the entire way on cruise (with the exception of the hour of stop and go on I95 in NYC). I calculated my mileage based on refill and it came out to be 31mpg. It sounded a little too good to be true, so I did the same thing on the way back and still got 31mpg.
I don't get nearly the same mileage going back and forth to work, and I haven't actually calculated mpg recently based on miles driven and gallons replaced, but my trip computer averages 28.5, which I'd guess is actually around 26mpg mixed city/highway.
With that said, I don't understand how some of you get 20mpg. Are you a lead foot? Do you constantly go into part throttle boost to accelerate? What I learned from my SRT is to get the best mpg possible, make sure you never spool the turbo. As soon as the solenoid sees any type of positive boost pressure, fuel mixture is immediately going to start getting rich and your mileage is going to drop like crazy.
I don't get nearly the same mileage going back and forth to work, and I haven't actually calculated mpg recently based on miles driven and gallons replaced, but my trip computer averages 28.5, which I'd guess is actually around 26mpg mixed city/highway.
With that said, I don't understand how some of you get 20mpg. Are you a lead foot? Do you constantly go into part throttle boost to accelerate? What I learned from my SRT is to get the best mpg possible, make sure you never spool the turbo. As soon as the solenoid sees any type of positive boost pressure, fuel mixture is immediately going to start getting rich and your mileage is going to drop like crazy.
Last edited:
kwsmithphoto
Member
- :
- 2009 Mazdaspeed3
They didn't give us a boost gauge so who knows, but it wouldn't help. Seriously, I'm just keeping up with local traffic and getting 15-17 at best. No CEL's, no mods, I'm really just driving it normally. 1st gear is so short that I usually shift at about 3500rpm, part throttle, and 2500 or so with a light foot in the other gears. In any case, I try to keep out of boost and under 3K but it doesn't help. And currently, we're on our less oxygenated (less alcohol) fuel right now, no difference. It pulls a little harder when I dare to push it, that's about it.
I tried holding up traffic for a week by driving it like a half blind 90 year-old, which didn't help much, was boring as hell, and totally beside the point of buying the car! After some kid in a Honda got annoyed and passed me, yelling "why the **** did you but that//i] car old man!," I filled it up and got a measured 18mpg. What a waste of time that exercise was.
I'm just wondering why virtually everyone seems to be getting much better city mileage than I do. My lead foot is capped by traffic and points on my license, so it can't be my driving. Ok maybe a little, but still. I'm 47, not 17.
BTW, the turbo is always spinning, it's just not always producing boost. And yes boost makes the car run rich, but the turbo is gonna spin in a vacuum state too. But I'm usually driving it in a vacuum state, from what I can tell, yet still getting s*** for mileage. Dealer says "they all do that" but apparently not.
Last edited:
shaftwagon
Member
I have a feeling for those of us in the South/West that a lot of the differences have to do with Ethanol. Here in Texas I think they can put as much as 10% Ethanol in the fuel.
And I also drive it like I stole it in the city. But on the highway i'm like an old man for fear of cops.
Once again I get 20-22 consistently doing about 50/50 city/highway.
And I also drive it like I stole it in the city. But on the highway i'm like an old man for fear of cops.
Once again I get 20-22 consistently doing about 50/50 city/highway.
liquidflem
Member
- :
- MS3
I agree, and yes - i continually use part throttle boost to accelerate - because it's awesome. When i had an intake, that was another story as it was really annoying to have so much suction noise for so little boost, so i avoided boost like the plague, unless i was dogging it out. Regardless, i do so much sustained highway driving that it doesn't effect my mileage much.
I have been getting about 21MPG recently because of this cold weather, i guess. But i just did a lot of seafoam and on the first fill up i'm at 75 miles at the 1/8 mark, usually i get about 50 miles before i hit that line. We'll see how it ends up at the end of the tank.
What is your city to highway driving ratio? I can only imagine what i would get if i had to drive around the city all day as opposed to lots of 55-70MPH highway sprints i do around town.
Last edited:
I understand that the turbo CHRA is always spinning, but the point is not to push the turbo from vac into positive pressure. Any type of positive voltage registering from the MAF/MAP sensors will cause the ECU to compensate with a richer mixture.
3500 is slightly high as a shift point if you're concerned with fuel mileage. Try to keep shifts at 2500 and below when on a flat surface. Also, one very important rule you need to follow if you really want to get the best mileage out of your car - when you're on a downhill grade, use your engine brake rather than your brake pedal to moderate your speed. When engine braking, fuel injection is cut off completely because the rotating assembly is being moved by the drive shaft rather than vice versa, as opposed to using your brake and disengaging the clutch which will cause the engine to idle and resume the 14.7:1 injection target. This can help save a lot of gas if you live in a very hilly area.
Unfortunately driving around with a tiny little turbo like this K04 doesn't help keep out of boost since it spools so damn fast. That's one of the reasons why I miss my SRT-4 so much...a 55lb/min turbo gets excellent mileage
3500 is slightly high as a shift point if you're concerned with fuel mileage. Try to keep shifts at 2500 and below when on a flat surface. Also, one very important rule you need to follow if you really want to get the best mileage out of your car - when you're on a downhill grade, use your engine brake rather than your brake pedal to moderate your speed. When engine braking, fuel injection is cut off completely because the rotating assembly is being moved by the drive shaft rather than vice versa, as opposed to using your brake and disengaging the clutch which will cause the engine to idle and resume the 14.7:1 injection target. This can help save a lot of gas if you live in a very hilly area.
Unfortunately driving around with a tiny little turbo like this K04 doesn't help keep out of boost since it spools so damn fast. That's one of the reasons why I miss my SRT-4 so much...a 55lb/min turbo gets excellent mileage
Last edited:
Wastegate13
Member
- :
- 08.5 CWP MS3 GT
Unfortunately driving around with a tiny little turbo like this K04 doesn't help keep out of boost since it spools so damn fast. That's one of the reasons why I miss my SRT-4 so much...a 55lb/min turbo gets excellent mileage
QFT. I logged 59lb/min on my DSM and 28-30 mpg around town wasn't uncommon unless I was having too much fun. I miss that car sometimes.
