What is up with this stinky MPG??

[flat_black]

Well, that might be it. I almost never use the fans, and it's always on upright vent (Not defrost, the vents in the dash), and I keep the temp knob centered between hot and cold. I don't turn the fans on, as I mentioned, and I never use AC, even on the hottest summer days. I get used to the weather pretty quickly, though...

Plus, I have 50k on my P5. =)

 

[toucci]

I get around 30 mpg on the highway and 24-25 on each tank for city driving

its not too bad. I guess next tank I'll drive like a granny and see how good my economy can be. I'm using mobil 1 10w30...

 

[pr5owner]

mpg sucks on this car because the engine design is so damn old, every other manuf. has all the new tech in their engines,

 

[thumpr]

just wanna say again about the defrost air conditioning gotcha.

when you turn the climate control vent dial to "defrost," "defrost/floor," or "floor," the a/c is automatically activated, to reduce humidity in the car.

no matter what temperature you've dialed up, no matter whether you've turned on the fan. the a/c light doesn't turn on, but you're running the a/c.

so if you're driving around with the vent dial in any of those three positions, you're driving around all day with the a/c on. goodbye gas mileage.

http://web2.iadfw.net/theman/protegefaq/tsb/mt000003946.html

 

[Jspec]

hm... maybe I can save myself some gas my turning the dial towards the head or head/floor

 

[Khoifather]

My gas light turned on when it was at 274 miles. Drove another 3 miles to the nearest gas station. So I got about 277 miles on a full tank, mostly highway miles and about 10-15% city miles. That's pretty bad because when I use to drive my mom's 98 Corolla, it got that much mileage with LESS gas. Booohoooo!!! But hey, I love my yellow 5 =D

Quick question, how much miles can you go when the gas light turns on?

 

[thumpr]

maybe I can save myself some gas my turning the dial towards the head or head/floor

yes yes yes yes

as for the other, the gas light in a 2002 p5 goes on when there are 2.1 gallons (probably: 8 liters) left in the tank, per this document...
http://web2.iadfw.net/theman/protegefaq/tsb/mt000001261.html

if you reach that point from a full tank you've used about 12.5 gallons of gas, give or take, i think.

 

[steefnap]

Can any canadian members tell me how many kms they can run with a full tank?

It depends on how "spirited" I drive my car, but with a full tank I get anywhere from 500-600KM. When I fill up at "empty", it usually puts in about 50-51 litres. So that means I actually have another 4 or 5 litres of fuel left. So 625KM is pushing it, but doable.

You can roughly gauge your mileage at certain points on the fuel meter. It's fairly accurate, in that you can say that you should be averaging 125-150 KM's (78-93 Miles) per interval on your meter (the 4 thick bands indicating quarter tanks).
And I don't drive like a sissy either. (sssh) (rockon)

 

[ottawaP5]

The A/C only turns on with one position, that is, the floor only. The other 2 do not use the A/C.

 

[PeaB0dy]

It does work when it's on the wind shield, feet/windshied, and feet..

It's to dry the air on a humid day, it gets really humid down here in T.O, I don't know about ottawa.

We have sub tropic weather here, and having livid in the tropics, it gets as humid, sometimes more so here in the winter and in the summer. Quick Comparison, take a car with out a/c and do the windshield in a cold, humid day.

I can also feel the compressor work, and it is also documented in the manual..

 

[ottawaP5]

I just read the manual, says air conditioner is turned on without the A/C light on when the dial is set to floor only.....all other positions you have to turn it on yourself. Yours says different?

BTW ottawa is very humid as well..probably equivalent to TO.

 

[MonsterB]

I cant believe some of you get such bad gas milage.....I am getting well over 400 miles per tank out of my 5spd 2003.5......it only has 4500 miles on it, but to me the milage seems pretty good....much better than the subaru legacy I just got rid of.....I think the big difference in milage must be due to some peeps running the heater on "floor" and not realizing that the airconditioner is running....I do notice that the car gets a bit worse milage when you drive over 70 mph on the highway, which is pretty much all of the time for me

 

[thumpr]

wanna say "now my mileage problem is fixed" but i have no numbers to show for it... haven't had to stop for gas yet... since learning to leave the dash vents on, after 150 miles of driving we've used barely more than 1/4 tank! heh heh, that's more like it.

[edit:] 'course that's just the gauge lying its butt off - 40mpg, yeah right - i'd be happy with 28 on the highway - 350 miles from full to warning light, that's a pretty good road trip car.

(OT: a friend with a trans am WS6 likes his story about going from san francisco to el-lay, going 80mph at 1800rpm the whole way - miles per gallon: 32!)

 

[Micah]

WTF, how do you do that??

Must be that new 'deluded bulls*** additive' - I heard it also adds 30WHP with the "type-r decal" option. Guaranteed to warrant undeserved attention as well.

/me quests to reclaim the lost past 5 minutes of his free will.

 

[ottawaP5]

I've got a question about this automatic air conditioner. I read up and yes you are right it turns on on all 3 positions. Does this mean that you can cool the entire car in the summer if you turn the dial to the coldest position without pressing the A/C button?

 

[thumpr]

yes it means that. if you're actually hot the only two places you need to use the a/c button are when you want air to blow toward you using the dash vents.

 

[Khoifather]

So pretty much the A/C is always freaking on? I can't seem to find a way to turn it off.

 

[thumpr]

a/c automatically on
windshield, windshield/floor, floor

a/c controlled by you
floor/dashboard, dashboard

 

[Red Baron]

Fuel mileage

Hello guys

I've had my P5 for 2 years now, highway almost exclusively, and the odometer shows 59151km (36756 miles). I use regular 87 octane gasoline (Petro Canada) and Mobil 5W30 synthetic oil. Manual transmission (short stick though) at revs never (well, almost) over 4k and no A/C. I use the cruise control ALL the time, at 100km/h in the morning and 110km/h on the way back home. 195/50-16 summer tire (stock for past 2 summers, Kumho soon) in the summer and 185/65-14 winter rubber when Jack Frost shows its nose.

So here goes :
Since I've had the car (2 years data)
Cur. Consumption 8.48L/100km
Avg Consumption 8.55L/100km
Avg distance per month 2367km
Avg distance per year 28799km

Last ten fill ups : 8.48, 8.51, 8.40, 8.96, 9.33, 8.71, 9.33, 9.31, 9.16, 9.27 L/100km (winter driving)

Last summer fill ups : 7.99, 7.85, 7.33, 7.65, 7.58, 7.79, 7.81, 7.99, etc. L/100km

Absolute very best : 7.33 L/100km, or 38.6m/gal IMP, or 32.1m/gal US (summer conditions)

Very best on a fuel tank : 640.3km, but did not run out of gas...

Our cars are not fuel efficient, period. I had Civics for 12 years and I was able to get 42 to 45 mpg IMP all the time. But the P5 is a fun car to drive, and much safer in winter condition driving. I still think Mazda should have done a better job on the current subject. I read the 3 is better, so we'll see.

Good driving, and please no drinking, we all love our kids, and we're someone's kid too.

 

[ES2k3]

(...) I have had my car up to 200 KM/H (...)

Lucky bastard.... (bowdown) my ES is limited @195 km/h!