MPG is no where close to what others are seeing

Hi,
I own a 2013 CX-5 GT AWD with about 15k miles on it. I am seeing combined mpg of 24-25 this is atleast around 4mpg lesser than what others seem to report for an AWD. I dont consider myself as an aggressive driver.

Do you guys have any suggestions on what I should do or try? I am pretty disappointed as its one of the biggest reasons I picked up this car

Thanks

P.S ignore my signature.. I stopped doing fuelly because I was tired of the bad mpg's i was getting.

For most people who don't have good mpg numbers, I think tracking your average speed per tank can be useful in determining why. A lot of short trips (especially in the winter) with little highway miles can really drop your fuel economy down. The EPA city test averages 21.2 mph and many times people with lower fuel economy #s average lower than this.

Hit the info button on the steering wheel up or down until you see the average speed, then press the info button down in the middle and hold it for a few seconds to reset your average speed back to 0.

I know you said to ignore your fuelly but I couldn't help looking and see that you did average 40mpg on a mostly highway trip. This is actually really good especially for an AWD GT which is the heaviest trim.

Saying your combined number is 24-25 doesn't tell us much. How much of this is city? And even more important, short stop & go trips? As another owner reported a few days back, nearly all of his driving was in Brooklyn, NY at below 30 mph in stop & go. He was averaging 18.3 mpg. Which is about right for that kind of driving. The EPA city estimate is not based on a worst case city scenario.

I am averaging 30mpg with 30 miles of freeway and about 8 miles of local per trip. I'm on my 2nd tank of gas.

My drive is in traffic with a little stop and go, as well as driving at 60-65mph. I don't get into the 70's but if I do I noticed a substantial reduction to MPG. 1st tanks didn't go so well on the mpg, and 2nd tank I used premium unleaded which also helped substantially. Give premium fuel a try and see if it helps.

It really depends on your commute. For example, my drive is 45-60 minutes long over 30 miles. There is stop and go for a lot of it but the other part cruises at 45-50mph. I get 33mpg out of every tank in my cx5.

My wife has a 2012 kia sorento. On my commute i can get 30mpg in her car. However, what is she averaging driving it herself? 13mpg. Why? Because she has a remote start and uses it, and drives only short distances (5 minutes from work) after warming the car up.

Its not the car that is the issue, but its you and your driving habits.

A newspaper in Arizona, I believe, recently assigned two identical Chevy Cruzes to two women. These women lived in the same city and had very similar commutes. They instructed one on how to drive frugally and told her to drive as conservatively as possible. They told the other one to drive aggressively, make fast starts, keep the gas pedal down until they need to brake, and so forth. The first one averaged 37 mpg, the second one just 21 mpg.

Not saying the OP is an inefficient driver for it sounds like they aren't. Just illustrating that driving habits can have an astounding effect on mpg.

OP,

Limit your idling, remote start and any other engine time if possible. Since you live in the north, this may eat a significant amount of your MPG's. When the engine is cold, try accelerating (moderately) to a speed and coast down 5-10 mph from that speed, then accelerate to your speed again and repeat the coasting until the engine is warmed up (if it is safe to do so). If you have ethanol free gas in your area, try it... it seems worth +1~2 MPG's for me. I have also had good luck with the Mazda MQ (high moly) oil, but some have not noticed anything. My driving has evolved with my CX5, but I have a FWD not an AWD. Another poster with an AWD had said that their tire pressures being equalized helped them with their AWD MPG's. I am also running my tires at 41 PSI (gives some room with the max at 44 PSI) and noticed the coasting ability to be better than at the recommended 34 PSI.

Also check out the site: www.cleanmpg.com for driving style tips in their "beat the EPA" article. Here

Good luck and let us know what helps.

My mpg is directed related to my average speed. 22mph = 28mpg. I've found that hauling a lot of people or doing a lot of stop and go traffic with stoplights will do a number on that average, though.

I really wish this car had automatic engine start/ stop and the ELOOP system, for my situation I would definitely get better numbers.

One thing to try before you decide if there is a problem is to hit the highway early one weekend morning. Wash you car too if it is really dirty. It can't be a windy day and the highway needs to be flat. Set the info display to current mpgs and set the cruise control at 60mph. What do you see?

Too often people have been on these boards complaining about mpg without giving any reference. What kind of car did you have before, what mpg were you getting then? Run the car on a level highway at a constant speed, because we all have very different driving situations. Pretty much what Bombadil said....

Also some random things that might help: change your oil, use higher octane gas, use a different gas station.

I havent seen a difference in mpg from the Mazda 0w20 moly oil, but I'm going to continue to use it. 89 octane seems good for a single mpg for me (and peppier? Maybe. I fill up on the companies account so I'm doing long term tests at different octanes) . I've had oddly bad tanks of gas. Winter seems to knock off 2 mpgs for me, but that's just speculation on my part.

Mine isn't great either right now. But, 90% or more of my driving is my commute to work and back in rush hour traffic. Plus, cold Canadian winters don't help. My average speed is usually close to 20 km/hr and includes lots of warm up time and idling time. I am usually sitting at about 11 l/100 km or around 21.5 mpg. Horrible, yes, but considering my driving conditions, not so much. I know if I had my 05 escape back, it was far worse than that. And when I hit the hiway, I'm getting 30 mpg.

Depending where you live and the climate conditions, I would wait and see till it gets warmer. I was avg. about 29-30mpg on my AWD with tech untill Nov of last year the MPG's started coming down prob due in part to winter fuel blends, cold weather starts and added traffic . Right now I am getting about 26-28 MPG's.

Mine can vary dramatically depending on my driving, seems to have taken a bit of a dive with the colder temperatures also!

I drove from Toronto to St. Catahrines yesterday going granny pace (about 105km'h) on highway and got 6.4L/100KM about 36mpg
But city driving kills it down to about 9.0L/100 (25.5mpg) (up to 9.8L/100KM (24mpg)) occasionally

Could you give us some more info on that 40.5 mpg fill-up that you posted to Fuelly in September? Sorry for being skeptical but I didn't think 40.5 mpg over 800+ miles was possible even under the best of conditions.

I started driving like a granny since the last fill-up, and there is improvement to be seen. Shift at 2500 rpm and drive no faster than 65mph on the highway.

thats interesting....because the fuelly in your own signature says 28.4......

Evan55 said:

thats interesting....because the fuelly in your own signature says 28.4......

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Did you read all of his post?

Thanks for the excellent responses. I will have to try some out. Just to answer some of your questions.
- 65% highway
- Avg highway speed 65 mph
- I dont really warm up my engine.. (Just started doing it after reading this post)
- I use 87 octane
- I have not balanced the tire pressure (I need to check that)
- My avg speed reading from the dash is 39mph
- I used to get the 28mpg when i drove very conservatively, it became hard to maintain
- THe dealer told me to put the full face of my foot on the pedal and not press hard and this improves milage, I tried that for a while, while keeping the current mpg on check, seemed to help, but my ankle started hurting.

Gregx-5 said:

Also some random things that might help: change your oil, use higher octane gas, use a different gas station.

Click to expand...

Using higher octane shouldn't help, in fact it might not work as well.

Modern engines are controlled by the ECU, which has been factory programmed for a particular octane. Without reprogramming the ECU, it will not be able to take advantage of higher octane fuel.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/premium-vs-regular-1

udayse said:

- I dont really warm up my engine.. (Just started doing it after reading this post)

Click to expand...

I read every contribution in this thread to find a post where someone recommended warming the engine up before driving off. But no one did. While you WILL get higher mpg with a warm engine, you will be getting zero mpg while idling in Park. Therefore, the most efficient strategy is to drive off gently after starting the car.

- I used to get the 28mpg when i drove very conservatively, it became hard to maintain

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Yes. By clicking your fuelly signature I can see you carefully tracked your mileage for the first 8000 miles from the time you took delivery. Your over all average mileage was 28.4 mpg until you stopped tracking on October 2, 2012. That is respectable efficiency for AWD with auto tranny in a vehicle that is not exactly an econobox. It is normal for winter mileage to drop for those who live in northern climates so I'm not surprised that it was difficult to maintain those numbers as winter weather set in.

- THe dealer told me to put the full face of my foot on the pedal and not press hard and this improves milage, I tried that for a while, while keeping the current mpg on check, seemed to help, but my ankle started hurting.

Click to expand...

You may need to adjust the position of your heel on the floor. Pressing lightly on the accelerator should not cause ankle pain. By placing your heel in a different location you can drastically alter the angle of the ankle.

And, yes, keeping your winter tire pressures up can really help reduce rolling resistance, especially on a car like the CX-5 which does not have little economy tires. And, yes, with AWD it really can help to make sure all tires are identical in pressure (as much as is possible). I've been running 37 psi (stone cold) with favorable results, both with mpg and cornering performance. Do not drive a couple of miles to the air pump and assume they are still cold. This will result in running pressures a couple of lbs. lower than intended which will affect fuel economy.

I'm really pleased with the fuel economy I've been getting with my AWD CX-5, it get's much, much better economy than my front wheel drive Volvo sedan even though the Volvo is much more aerodynamic and weighs within 300lbs. of the same weight. Of course, at speeds above 80 mph the Volvo gets better mpg, the little SUV really can push some serious air at higher speeds so, if you have the option to limit top cruising speed, that is one of the best ways to get better economy. The shape of the SUV body is not the best choice for lots of high speed driving (although Mazda designers did a good job with the aerodynamics given the dimensions they were designing to). In city driving the CX-5 does particularly well, especially in areas where the traffic flows pretty smoothly. The idle fuel consumption is quite low compared to most vehicles.

I predict that if you pay attention to your driving style, tire pressures and top speeds, you will better your already respectable 28.4 mpg average when warmer weather comes around this spring.

You could always try what my poor father tried to convince me to do when I learned to drive: drive as if you have a raw egg between your foot and the accelerator. Beyond boring, but it will help if top mpg is your goal.