Tips for getting the best MPG

I realize now why some are getting 3% difference from the AVG MPG and others see 5% difference. The instant MPG goes to "---" when you stop the vehicle, which I assume is to represent iStop (for the rest of the world) but for us in the US, we don't have iStop (yet). Anyhow, I don't believe Mazda changed the MPG calculation for the US which means whether you're stopped for a minute or for 10 minutes the idling is not being taken into the calculation. It seems that way...if others have information on long idle being calculated into the AVG MPG, please chime in.

So if you do more stop and go the number will be off more than those driving highway for longer periods.

I have a highway commute all week and the car has been inching up to 31.6MPG (AVG). I have 230 miles at half a tank and am anxious to see how I do for the entire first tank!
 
Triton46 said:
I realize now why some are getting 3% difference from the AVG MPG and others see 5% difference. The instant MPG goes to "---" when you stop the vehicle, which I assume is to represent iStop (for the rest of the world) but for us in the US, we don't have iStop (yet). Anyhow, I don't believe Mazda changed the MPG calculation for the US which means whether you're stopped for a minute or for 10 minutes the idling is not being taken into the calculation. It seems that way...if others have information on long idle being calculated into the AVG MPG, please chime in.

So if you do more stop and go the number will be off more than those driving highway for longer periods.

I have a highway commute all week and the car has been inching up to 31.6MPG (AVG). I have 230 miles at half a tank and am anxious to see how I do for the entire first tank!
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--- has nothing to do with istop. Had that happen in my 3. It means 0 k or mi per. To test. Keep gauge on avg after fill up and reset. Watch it go to 30 or 50 litres per k. The longer you idle the higher it gets. It recaculates once you start moving. Idling for long periods is taken into account when it calculates average. Its pretty simple. It measures what you have in tank and your kilometres. Then, as tank empties, it measures tank again and recalculates distance traveled and what not. All this a few times a second. Also uses your average and what's in the tank to measure how far you can go on this tank. Floor it and less in the tank, average and distance are recalculated and adjusted.
 
under200 said:
Every car should have a realtime mpg gauge like the cx5. Every time I drive it is like a game. Put these in every car and the world would get 10-20% gas savings. Its a sickness, lol.
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I agree the gauge makes a big difference in changing driving behavior. I'm much less likely to stomp on the gas accelerating from a stop knowing I'll be getting less than 5 mpg for a few seconds. :) My wife uses the CX-5 almost exclusively for short 0 - 2 mile trips from our house I got her to look at the avg mpg per tank also because she keeps bringing it down under 30.

I don't think about things as much driving our Protege5. We are only getting about 23 mpg on the protege5 right now although that is only been tracked for 1 tank and it's used almost exclusively for the short 0-2 mile stuff.
 
mazdachris said:
--- has nothing to do with istop. Had that happen in my 3. It means 0 k or mi per. To test. Keep gauge on avg after fill up and reset. Watch it go to 30 or 50 litres per k. The longer you idle the higher it gets. It recaculates once you start moving. Idling for long periods is taken into account when it calculates average. Its pretty simple. It measures what you have in tank and your kilometres. Then, as tank empties, it measures tank again and recalculates distance traveled and what not. All this a few times a second. Also uses your average and what's in the tank to measure how far you can go on this tank. Floor it and less in the tank, average and distance are recalculated and adjusted.
Click to expand...

Excellent post mazdachris! Thank you!
 
I have been following some of the suggestions on this thread and, based on the onboard monitor, I averaged 29.1 on my last tank. It is so amazing how much of a difference your drivign style can make.
 
Just bought my CX-5 Grand Touring FWD (sold my Buick Enclave as 2 out of 3 kids live over 1,000 miles away now and lost our need for a larger vehicle) last Friday, drove the long 61 mile commute this morning in rain, several traffic slowdowns, but almost 80% highway driving. Only averaged 44 mph due to traffic holdups, but still got 33.0 mph! I am very impressed. I calculated I would save $2,800 per year on gas with a 30 mpg average. Love the better handling than the Enclave, and the ride was almost as quiet.
 
Houston RW said:
Just bought my CX-5 Grand Touring FWD (sold my Buick Enclave as 2 out of 3 kids live over 1,000 miles away now and lost our need for a larger vehicle) last Friday, drove the long 61 mile commute this morning in rain, several traffic slowdowns, but almost 80% highway driving. Only averaged 44 mph due to traffic holdups, but still got 33.0 mph! I am very impressed. I calculated I would save $2,800 per year on gas with a 30 mpg average. Love the better handling than the Enclave, and the ride was almost as quiet.
Click to expand...

What was the gas mileage for the Enclave?
 
under200 said:
Every car should have a realtime mpg gauge like the cx5. Every time I drive it is like a game. Put these in every car and the world would get 10-20% gas savings. Its a sickness, lol.
Click to expand...

Totally agree, I watch the real time mileage quite a bit and have changed some bad habits I had. Loving this vehicle and I'm more than willing to spend the extra 30 seconds it takes me to get someplace because I'm not racing off the line or postage stamping through traffic.
 
In the states, our CX-5 should get 26-32mpg FWD. However, I am a little bit disappoint about the result also since my drive is 50% freeway and 50% city 15 miles each way, and I only barely make 26mpg each tank, and I am not an aggressive driver at all. I managed to shift below 2800rpm most of the time, no extra weight and proper tire pressure. Full tank filled up only shows 386miles range. I figured maintain speed at 35 and 55 mph helps to saved some gas.

For comparison, my 2003 impreza RS with +1wheel managed to make 25 mpg which should be 21-27mpg. With my same driving habit, I expected to get 28mpg ave...........And I tried pure city driving and only get 23.4mpg which is really bad.


sdpadsfan said:
I have been following some of the suggestions on this thread and, based on the onboard monitor, I averaged 29.1 on my last tank. It is so amazing how much of a difference your drivign style can make.
Click to expand...
 
i'm still managing 30-31 on my CX5 Touring AWD, idk what you're doing shinjyo but w/e it is, is murdering your fuel economy if my AWD is getting 4-5 MPG better than your FWD.
 
How do you reset the average MPG? It currently sits at 31.3 at 6,000 miles. 29 MPG around home, 34.8 on 2 tankfuls of cruise control pure mostly-flat highway loaded with gear and bikes on back.
 
Well, I really don't know, I guess I have heavy foot on gas pedal.
Most of the time, I let the tranny change gear at about 2500rpm. At another post, ppl stated that they change gear at 2000rpm which is too low for me. Most ppl say they drive 65-70mph on freeway which I usually cruise around 75 on freeway, this may hurt the result too.

I believe if I really really careful on the pedals and drive really really easy and slow slow accelerate, I think I can make 26 mpg on pure city driving. But honestly, I had never see our CX-5 over 30 mpg.

I remember our first tank from dealer with almost 240 miles freeway driving gave us 29 mpg only.

May be wait until the first oil change. The car is at 3000 miles right now.

But slowly, I don't look at the real time monitor gauges anymore, it's too stressful to try to squeeze those 0.5 ave mpg out. As long as it's within 25-30, I guess the result is acceptable to me.

Mazda used to false advertise their hp performance on the first RX-8 back in 2002-2003 which most owners got some compensate about that.

mobius120487 said:
i'm still managing 30-31 on my CX5 Touring AWD, idk what you're doing shinjyo but w/e it is, is murdering your fuel economy if my AWD is getting 4-5 MPG better than your FWD.
Click to expand...
 
I echo many other comments on coasting - especially to lights or stops.. if you see red light ahead what's the need to accelerate?

Not sure if this has been mentioned - cruise control - ?
I use CC all the time, even for short distances. CC is the most efficient way to drive, where the engine regulates fuel intake, not your foot.
My CX-5 is Touring auto model, and (I'm looking at the window sticker now, the one the car was sold with - where all options are listed, etc) - they sell it with 26 city/ 32 hwy mpg. I am right now at 33 mpg, meaning it's even better than advertised. I have to double-check the computer though, on the next tank of gas, just to make sure :)
 
There's a technique called Pulse & Glide that is generally considered to be more efficient than cruise control, but you have to balance ease of driving and compliance to the traffic flow with increasing your MPG.
Basically, you want to accelerate at a light engine load to a target speed, and coast - some cut the engine off - down to a lower target, then repeat.

I tried it, but it's a little too much work for me and I'd rather relax and just drive a given speed.

Just minimizing throttle use, anticipating lights to avoid accelerating when you have to stop ahead, and driving at or below the speed limit should usually give you EPA mileage or better.
 
I've coasted to re lights that already had traffic stopped at it with an aggressive driver stuck to my rear end and I do not drive under the speed limit. As soon as I got into the left only lane at the light (splits into two there) that driver would literally accelerate hard for the remaining 4 car lengths past me for the straight ahead lane only to slam on the brakes because cars were already stopped at the light. Totally pointless! These driving habits are what kill your gas mileage. Also the difference between 65 mph and 75 mph is about 3 minutes literally with a 25 mile highway commute. The difference in lower overall MPG is high, in the CX5 its about 3-4 mpg. That 10 mph faster speed over a 400 mile trip costs you about $6.00 more a tank or $24 a month. I'd rather leave 5 minutes early, drive slower and safer, and have a much less stressful commute to work.
 
I think highway speed is a big one for the CX-5. Watching the instantaneous on flat ground at 78-80mph i'll see 27-28mpg. Dropping it down to 75 29-30 and 70 is 31-32. Then on back roads where 55mph is the speed limit and cruising on flat ground at 60 its not uncommon to see high 30s or even 40mpg. Speed Speed Speed. The question for yourself is, save a few bucks or get to your destination 5 min faster. I'm patient so ill choose saving a few bucks. For what its worth our avg MPG since purchase (8500 miles now) is 28.9 Thats daily commute city with highway on weekends. My wife is the main driver and unfortunately she chooses the 5 min faster approach ;)
 
There was an episode of Mythbusters where they tested the effects of drafting behind big rigs. They found that at 55mph, you save 11% at 100 feet behind and up to 39% at 10 feet behind. They don't recommend drafting that close but its just a little food for thought. Maybe if you have adaptive cruise control and automatic brakes.
 
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