I’m just surprised that today, in 2013, ANY new car gets mileage in the low 20s. Whatever happened to CAF standards?
My $0.02: Most, if not all MPG ratings touted over the radio/internet/tv are inflated. Problem is, the EPA uses a very conformal test. Every mfr knows what the test entails. They also know that being able to advertise high MPGs sells cars, so most submit cars to the EPA that are formulated to perform the best on the test. How else did Hyundai achieve 40+mpg on all their passenger cars, then get sued b/c real-world driving meant that owners were getting 25+% LESS MPGs than stated? In reality, there are only 2 ways to increase MPGs - lower weight and reduce power. If Americans would settle for 0-60 times of 12+ sec like they do in Europe, we could get 50+ mpg cars using no gimmicks like hybrid technology.
Having not done the new/newish car thing in 10+ years (my only exposure to other newer cars has been rentals for road trips-which is how we were introduced to the M5-and who really pays attention to mileage while on vacation?) I am admittedly being nave. But still, however nave, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect better, if not more competitive, mileage numbers than I’ve gotten thus far. The first thing anybody asks me about the new car is if it gets good mileage, and with chagrin I have to reply “ah… no.” This is the first vehicle that I haven’t gotten better than 8 days of normal day to day around town driving out of a tank (avg fill up of ~13gal) of gas. With this car, the gas light seems to usually come on the evening of the 6th day.
You must do some serious daily city commuting. W/o A/C, our 2.3L 5MT can get 24 mpg all city, very very rarely going more than 1 mile w/o stopping at a light, usually 1/2 mi or less. We get 14-16 days between fillups, usually 14 gal or so. I have heard the 5AT can do almost as good. You may want to extend the driver's seat back 1 click, since I found that being closer to the pedal reduces my mpgs since its easier to "get on it" without realizing it.
To be fair though, I’m yet to get it out for an extended road trip of hwy miles. Hopefully that’ll be better. You (or whoever) are right, I should relax and enjoy the ride. Afterall, we were attracted to the car enough to actually buy one. It has a very dedicated following, so if others are generally happy with it, and by correlation with everything I have seen as a fault, then my faults are probably unfounded and I should be happy too.
Don't self-deprecate here. Yes, we generally like our cars. Its why we come back often. There are others who have not been so enamored, and they left/traded/sent the car over a cliff. Obviously you are having some issues. We have offered some suggestions. Some may work, some may not. Baseline is that the Mazda5 is a MPV based on an economy car built by a smaller company that has recently been divorced from its parent-company funding source. I have a long list of gripes regarding cheap parts. But the parts that matter - drivetrain and frame, are sound, and to me that's what matters.
