Robbed gas mileage!

[VividP5]

With a mix of highway and city driving and running the A/C only 24 MPG. Still better than our other cars though.

 

[Pesty]

I have an 03 manual and Ive gone from 25 to 26 down to 24 on my last 3 tanks (2 weeks)
so I think, for me at least it's all about how I drive it. I know that last tank I
was driving pretty hard and a lot of 80-90mph highway travel, and a lot of
un-necicarily hard city driving, so I'd say if youre getting less than 24-ish normally
you may want to check it out.

 

[MPChi]

If gas milage is really a concern, get yourself an intake, on top of a good tune-up. Either a SRI or a CAI will improve on the OEM restrictive air box quite a bit. I get about 25/26mpg with the OEM air box with K&N drop-in filter. Then I got myself a K&N Typhoon intake, bumped it up to 29mpg pretty much every tank. Get pretty much the same mileage with both CAI & SRI set-up.

 

[msubullyfan]

yup... i've been getting crap gas milage too... 23-24mpg max. on freeway at 85mph with A/C on

my dealer says there is something that i'm overdue for service, which is cleaning the fuel injector plugs... he says that will improve gas mileage... i know it isn't listed in the manual... and he says that it isn't either... like its not gonna be life threatening if i don't do it he said....

so do you think this will improve gas mileage? the injector cleaning costs about 150 i think

Doing 85 w/ the AC on? 23-24 mpg is pretty darn good for that. That's a completely different operating scenario than the EPA test.

 

[hiaguy]

just for the heck of it, try looking at your driving style. i normally get better than 27mpg, but if i back out of the throttle (i hate doing 60!) on the hwy, that'll jump to over 31. if i'm doing lots of stop&go, it'll drop to under 26mpg.

 

[olddognewtrks]

Just checked my latest tank, 90+ percent highway, mostly mid-upper 70's mph, a/c. Got 28.01 per my calculator. TOTALLY stock,(I graduated (again) recently from college, and I ain't got no money) except for cutting out the grill brace 'tray' on the passenger side, above the horn, and pulling the square mesh 'guard' just in front of the MAF. Going to smooth the mesh edges and replace it for (hopefully) smoother airflow, cuz I heard that turbulance ahead of the MAF makes it run slightly rich.
BTW, opening up the 'tray' above the horn, a slightly off-square area about 3X9 inches,gives a bit of ram air and lets me pull hard all the way to redline (or slightly more) in second and third. Don't have any numbers on HP or ET, but it doesn't fade at 5800-6000 like it does stock.

 

[Khoifather]

Man, I been getting crap milage since day one. I get like 21-22 MPG if I get lucky.

 

[GNO]

Until recently, I've only been able to get 25mpg regarless of highway or city driving. At 97,xxx miles, I changed the rear brake pads and m-clips using the p/n listed in the TSB and my highway mileage went up to 27mpg. Two weeks ago, I switched from a Megan Racing SRI (eBay) to an Injen CAI, installed a Mazdaspeed axle-back, and filled up at a Mobil station. . . at 99,xxx miles, I finally had a tank that hit 30mpg.

I'm not sure if the Mobil station had much to do with it, but with other cars in the past I've seen 10% increases in fuel economy when filling up with Mobil while travelling through Illinois. I've also seen slight increases when using Chevron, again while out of state. Here in Iowa, there aren't many of the "big" names to choose from. This Mobil station opened up a few months ago in a tiny town about 15 miles north of where I live. The regular there was 89 where most stations sell 87. Unfortunately, they have ethanol with Super and Premium, whereas most all other gas stations in my area have an ethanol blend for Super only. I've filled up with Premium before at BP (92) and 66 (91) and noticed no increase in fuel economy. This last tank, I filled up at the 66. If the fuel economy goes back down, I'll be heading north regularly to fill up at Mobil.

 

[PaulMP3]

i get 25-28mpg in my car. this past week i was getting 28mpg with a fully loaded car on the highway.

 

[LTD-Scott]

I just got 27 mpg driving from San Diego to Las Vegas. I was doing 85 most of the way with the A/C on. Car is bone stock with exception of removing the air intake silencer.

I was hoping for more since my old 95 Ford Tbird 4.6L made the same trip with 26 mpg. Then again the Tbird would be at 2500 rpm at 80 mph compared to almost 4000 rpm in the Mazda! I guess it also didn't help that I had to drop the tranny into 4th to get up a couple of hills.

 

[dudeondacouch]

I just got 27 mpg driving from San Diego to Las Vegas. I was doing 85 most of the way with the A/C on. Car is bone stock with exception of removing the air intake silencer.

I was hoping for more since my old 95 Ford Tbird 4.6L made the same trip with 26 mpg. Then again the Tbird would be at 2500 rpm at 80 mph compared to almost 4000 rpm in the Mazda! I guess it also didn't help that I had to drop the tranny into 4th to get up a couple of hills.

you dropped to 4th at 80 to climb a hill? did you happen to have a crate of bricks in the back?

 

[1 PHAT 5]

I know I am bad but I had the original pluga in my car till around 75k miles. I know I know. Jus kept forgetting to do it. I averaged 25-27mpg.
I changed my plugs about 1k miles ago. The next tank my mpg was around 30mpg. I just took a long trip last weekend and I was around 33mpg. Not sure cause I didn't go a hole tank but i had 357 miles on it with the fuel gauge half way between the 1/2 way and 1/4 tank mark. I stopped to get drinks and gas then.

All this driving is a mix of Highway (70mph) and around town and with the A/C on most of the time.

 

[Khoifather]

Isn't it amazing how you guys with turbos such as "Paul" gets better gas milage then us without turbos. Its just amazing to me... Well this refers to the people who get like around 21MPG.

 

[Mike R]

I noticed the biggest drop in MPG when I put on my 17" rims. I get around 28-29 lately with the backroads driving I do. I used to get 33 when the car was newer and more stock. I've already changed the plugs once. Prolly going to change the plugs tomorrow-if I can find the new ones....

 

[tttP5]

I just got 27 mpg driving from San Diego to Las Vegas. I was doing 85 most of the way with the A/C on. Car is bone stock with exception of removing the air intake silencer.

I was hoping for more since my old 95 Ford Tbird 4.6L made the same trip with 26 mpg. Then again the Tbird would be at 2500 rpm at 80 mph compared to almost 4000 rpm in the Mazda! I guess it also didn't help that I had to drop the tranny into 4th to get up a couple of hills.

u sure you were doing 85? with the same configuration as you i get 24mpg although i have not removed the intake silencer

 

[Khoifather]

I changed my spark plugs recently to NGK Iradium and it didn't do shiet.....

 

[gizzard]

I average between 30-31 MPG. I usually shift around 2500-3000 RPM and cruise at 70 MPH on the freeway. I exceed the 3000 RPM mark only when downshifting.

Edit: I've been changing my oil and oil filter every 3000 miles at the dealership. They usually use 10W30 oil.

 

[gino]

yup... i've been getting crap gas milage too... 23-24mpg max. on freeway at 85mph with A/C on

my dealer says i'm overdue for service, which is cleaning the fuel injector plugs...

Fuel injector plugs? (uhm)

 

[LTD-Scott]

you dropped to 4th at 80 to climb a hill? did you happen to have a crate of bricks in the back?

Nope, just two occupants and a couple of small bags. But the Cajon Pass north of LA on the way to Vegas is pretty darn steep. It goes up at like 4200 ft. in a fairly short distance.

 

[LTD-Scott]

u sure you were doing 85? with the same configuration as you i get 24mpg although i have not removed the intake silencer

Positive. I set the cruise at 85 most of the time but occasionally got up to 90.