Crappy gas mileage

M

mountjonas

Member
:
2013 VRM MS3
anyone else getting bad (right about 20mpg) mileage in their 5? got 249 miles on the last tank when the light came on. we've got an 06 AT touring. about 50/50 city highway driving. i just replaced the air filter yesterday, but was wondering if anyone else is experiencing this.
 
?

How many miles are on it? How do you drive? What air pressure do you keep in tires? Is this your 1st crappy tank? Did you fill up the last tank on a hill?
 
it's my wife's car. she drives normally, i guess. the car has 20k miles on it. as for air pressure, i can't really say. the tires look normal, none of them are severly over/under inflated. the mileage has been slowly decreasing over about 6 months time. that's why i changed the air filter, it looked dirty, but i've seen worse.
 
A shot in the dark, but Do you usually go to the same gas station and possibly gas quality has degraded over time? Back in the Mass. days I used to go to a HESS around the corner, but then it really started sucking after a while so I moved a to a new one. No probs afterwards...

Now, if your other car(s) are filled in the same place and have no issues then ignore my reply (boom08)...
 
It could be just me, but I do notice variations in the gas from station to station. I have not decided if some pumps cut off earlier than others, or if the gas itself is better or worse, but I do see variation, sometimes significant.
 
she goes to a few gas stations. i've noticed this over a while. we just recently moved to another city, and it's still getting worse. my wrx, on the other hand is holding steady at the advertised 27mpg and we visit the same gas stations, although i use 91 vs the 87 in the 5.
 
I ususally get 240-280 miles to the fill up light... most of the driving is in city stop and go traffic with the a/c blasting.. living on an island will do that...
 
Damn, tough cookie, running out of ideas. 3 more Monday morning options (coffee):

a) You have teenage kids and they are "milking" gas out of your MZ5 overnight for their old banger w/o you realizing it (lol2)

b) Even more remote, but the ECU may be going Coo-Coo and not mixing gas properly, so it may require some retuning? (freak)

c) You are really getting your 24-32MPG but this is a trivia question? :D
 
Does your area change fuel formulations for winter vs. summer? Many, many areas do that without any posting on the pumps.

You mentioned miles, but not gallons it took to refill. Is this calculated mpg or just "I only went xxx miles until it said 1/4 tank?"

I actually thought our '06's mpg dropped after I replaced the original, factory-installed air filter with a Mazda brand dealer part. The original filter had a pink color to the media but the Mazda replacement parts are white. It seems unlikely to me that it could be true, but it sure appeared to drop last year when I did it.

Keep a log of the next few tanks (actual gallons to fill and miles traveled) and check your tire pressure. Just a little low (too little to tell on these low-profile tires) can make a significant difference. Also, when we got our car the dealer had the tires massively overinflated (at or even ABOVE the max pressure listed on the sidewall). When I adjusted them down to within the range between the tire placard on the door and the max pressure on the sidewall, our mpg went down. Couldn't see a difference by looking at the tires, though.
 
yep, im getting 20mpg too.
I live in so cal and its impossible to get any better than 20mpg in stop and go traffic. I've kept tabs on my mileage over the last year and the only times i get good mpg is when taking long road trips with few stops. I dont think theres any real science to it. Stop n go = bad MPG
:(
 
I'd check the psi first. Pump 'em up.

Maybe her driving habits have become more aggressive over time. Of all factors I have tested, this seems to be the biggest factor.

mountjonas said:
it's my wife's car. she drives normally, i guess. the car has 20k miles on it. as for air pressure, i can't really say. the tires look normal, none of them are severly over/under inflated. the mileage has been slowly decreasing over about 6 months time. that's why i changed the air filter, it looked dirty, but i've seen worse.
Click to expand...
 
mountjonas said:
about 50/50 city highway driving.
Click to expand...
Depending where you live, stating this fact could mean two completely different things. For example, my 50/50 would be the city of Harrisburg and highways of wide open Interstate. The 50/50 of Philadelphia city and the respective congested Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) highway would yield a solid 5MPG less I’m sure.

Is this 100% of the issue, maybe but probably not. However, depending what part of CA you’re in I could see it being a major contributor.
 
jandree22 said:
Depending where you live, stating this fact could mean two completely different things. For example, my 50/50 would be the city of Harrisburg and highways of wide open Interstate. The 50/50 of Philadelphia city and the respective congested Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) highway would yield a solid 5MPG less Im sure.

Is this 100% of the issue, maybe but probably not. However, depending what part of CA youre in I could see it being a major contributor.
Click to expand...

we live 11 miles from her work. about 4 miles to the freeway, usually a straight shot, save for a few lights, going 50mph. 5 miles on the freeway doing 75+the whole time. not really stop and go. and then the rest of the time is 1 street that's 50mph.

this weekend i drove it (i accelerate like a grandma) and we put 145 miles on it. about 120 of which was on the freeway. again, 75 mph the whole time, a/c on low. she's now at a little past 1/2 tank. i'm giving it a week or so to adjust to the new clean air filter, but after that, i don't know what else to do besides taking it in to the dealer.

the first 6 months we had it, we'd get the 27mpg. i know i'm mixing miles/tank and other vague numbers, but we did the math that puts it at 20mpg. 249 miles on 12.3 gallons is 20.24 mpg. even with the a/c on my old protege5, i'd get 31mpg on the freeway. sure, this is a bigger car, but a 7mpg drop seems alarming.
 
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