CX-5 Torque app thread!

Fuel economy forums mention that one of the best mods you can do to get better gas mileage is to get a tool to monitor fuel economy and other sensors on the fly.

The CX-5 does monitor fuel economy both instantaneously and over a longer period but the update/granularity of the instant MPG is not too fast and viewing of other CX-5 sensors is impossible without some extra tool.

Tools like the "ScanGauge MPG gauge" can allow you to monitor many sensors from the CPU on the fly so that you can get instant feedback on how your driving affects fuel economy. Unfortunately, tools like this cost over $150.00 US and most average people will never consider getting something like this.

Fortunately, many people have smartphones and tablets now and there are now some smartphone apps ($5.00; also need an OBD2/bluetooth converter for $12-30) yet can allow you do what used to cost hundreds of dollars to do. I personally have android devices so would like to share some of my limited experience with the "Torque" app (on google play) in the hope that we can have more people using and sharing how we can get useful info from our CX-5s.

My torque app cost about $5 and my OBD2/bluetooth converter cost about $25. Below are some sensors which I was able to pull immediately after pairing:


and below is a screenshot of my default view I use to monitor stuff after a 2.2 mile trip to a nearby restaurant:


I'm running it on a factory remanufactured galaxy tab 2 which I got for $158 from walmart (ship to store) but you can run it on your android smartphone also. The app also allows you to monitor and clear any "check engine" codes and customize any gauges, and warnings you want to. I don't get any kind of money out of this but would just like to encourage anybody who wants to maximize their fuel economy to try using tools like this and sharing their experiences with the forum. I'm no expert but I'll try to answer questions anyone has based on my experience so far.

Cool stuff. I did not see G-load, in the list. My hacked OEM NAV in the Mustang will show a screen that illustrates accelerate/ deccelerate G-load, as well as lateral G-load. Fun to have real time info available.
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for that info..... I'm pretty sure that you are saying that this app, will only function w/ Android. ( and hence, I can't use it w/ my iPad ) ... if that is right, the cost is still OK, .... just need to pick up an Android based tablet ( relatively inexpensive)
I've searched the "app store" on my iPad and see lots of apps (some free, some w/ a small fee ).... but I have no knowledge if any of those (Apple) apps will what you have shown . (in your photo links ). I need to do a more research, .... it would be nice to have all of those "sensor points" monitored. (and viewable ). Those readouts would be very handy on a long road trip.... cross country...

That's good info.

Bopper said:

Cool stuff. I did not see G-load, in the list. My hacked OEM NAV in the Mustang will show a screen that illustrates accelerate/ deccelerate G-load, as well as lateral G-load. Fun to have real time info available.
Thanks for sharing.

Click to expand...

There is an accelerometer widget/gauge which should show g-forces also. I can add it to a screen later and see how it works.

CaribouMainiac said:

Thanks for that info..... I'm pretty sure that you are saying that this app, will only function w/ Android. ( and hence, I can't use it w/ my iPad ) ... if that is right, the cost is still OK, .... just need to pick up an Android based tablet ( relatively inexpensive)
I've searched the "app store" on my iPad and see lots of apps (some free, some w/ a small fee ).... but I have no knowledge if any of those (Apple) apps will what you have shown . (in your photo links ). I need to do a more research, .... it would be nice to have all of those "sensor points" monitored. (and viewable ). Those readouts would be very handy on a long road trip.... cross country...

Click to expand...

I'm sure there are other apps out there but I chose Torque as it has been around awhile and was the highest rated of it's kind that I saw on google play. I can only speak on Torque but if anyone does get some other apps (either for Android or iOS) it would be great to hear some feedback on those apps also. I'll post later about some real world #s which are really interesting. It's great to be able to monitor the exact amount of gas used for a trip that you do all the time as you'll find some shortcuts (or longcuts) that use less gas.

http://bensoutlet.com/products/google-android-asus-nexus-tab << $160 for the tablet -- this refurbished unit showed up today on "Bens Outlet".
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned) << $14 for the bluetooth module (Android )

Burger: I'm probably going to get the two items shown in the two links above. (and the Torque App for another $5 ).....

That should "do it".... right ?

Buger said:

I'm sure there are other apps out there but I chose Torque as it has been around awhile and was the highest rated of it's kind that I saw on google play. I can only speak on Torque but if anyone does get some other apps (either for Android or iOS) it would be great to hear some feedback on those apps also. I'll post later about some real world #s which are really interesting. It's great to be able to monitor the exact amount of gas used for a trip that you do all the time as you'll find some shortcuts (or longcuts) that use less gas.

Click to expand...

i had been communicating with a guy from an old VW forum that was going to make an obd app less cumbersome than torque, it was going to be called weguage but it apparently went no where, shame, guy had some good ideas

Sounds like the new "Automatic" device is a more user friendly/novice friendly version of this device and app. It costs about twice as much, but $69 still isn't terrible. http://www.automatic.com/
I don't believe it is available yet, but it looks promising.

CaribouMainiac said:

http://bensoutlet.com/products/google-android-asus-nexus-tab << $160 for the tablet -- this refurbished unit showed up today on "Bens Outlet".
https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned) << $14 for the bluetooth module (Android )

Burger: I'm probably going to get the two items shown in the two links above. (and the Torque App for another $5 ).....

That should "do it".... right ?

Click to expand...

That looks like it should work as it has GPS which is needed for some useful gauges and maps within the app. Does the Google Asus Nexus 7" have a back facing camera also? There is a torque plugin called "track recorder" which can use the rear facing camera while showing your gauges and stuff also. Below is a video of the track recorder on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWIP9YlwI6g

rcs914 said:

Sounds like the new "Automatic" device is a more user friendly/novice friendly version of this device and app. It costs about twice as much, but $69 still isn't terrible. http://www.automatic.com/
I don't believe it is available yet, but it looks promising.

Click to expand...

It does look interesting. I've always been more of a PC kind of guy and automatic seems to want to be the "Apple" kind of device which is priced a bit higher but tries to make things simpler and more user friendly.

Burger.... thanks for the youtube link ... now I have some more details to dig into.... there seems to be quite a few youtube videos' on the how the Torque app works....

Yes the tablet mentioned above, does have a camera / webcam, but I can't tell from the specs, if it is "rear facing".
If you are thinking about interfacing a CX-5 rear facing camera.... I don't have one, on my basic sport model.

CaribouMainiac said:

Burger.... thanks for the youtube link ... now I have some more details to dig into.... there seems to be quite a few youtube videos' on the how the Torque app works....

Yes the tablet mentioned above, does have a camera / webcam, but I can't tell from the specs, if it is "rear facing".
If you are thinking about interfacing a CX-5 rear facing camera.... I don't have one, on my basic sport model.

Click to expand...

I just have the US sport model also. The "track recorder" plugin for torque uses the rear facing camera on the tablet, phone, then displays it on the screen along with your guages and stuff. If your tablet doesn't have a rear facing camera, then you probably just woudn't be able to use that plugin since it seems the nexus7 may not have a rear facing camera. It's not really a deal breaker though.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/20/asus-explains-why-nexus-7-has-no-rear-camera-cites-cost/

If someone wants something bigger than a smartphone, a 7" kindle fire hd will probably work fine but doesn't have GPS so Torque wouldn't be able to pull the GPS parameters to do some things. I'm happy with my Samsung Galaxy tab2 as it seems to have everything I need and was cheap also.

I'm kind of a data nut so found out all kinds of mostly useless info about my CX-5. Below are a few things which might be interesting:

The air:fuel ratio seems to always be around 14.1:1. I always heard that stoich for gas was 14.7:1 but the discussion on ethanol reminded me that stoich for 90% gas/10% ethanol is around 14.1:1 so it seems perfect. I wonder if the CPU can sense pure-gas and change the target A/F ratio? I may test it sometime.

At idle, my CX-5 uses around .12 to .15 gallons per hour when fully warmed up. At initial warmup, it uses a tremendous amount of gas (about 2 gallons per hour at idle) and retards ignition timing to about -25 degrees until the cat temp hits about 350 F, then immediately drops down to .5 gallons per hour and slowly drops after that.

The blue coolant light seems to go off when coolant temp hits around 120 or 130 F (I forget which).

Fuel economy can vary drastically when at the same gear/speed. This seems to be because of the miller/atkinson cycle properties of the engine to delay closing of the intake valves which leads to less power but also a longer expansion stroke. This seems to correlate with new CX-5 drivers having to get used to the sensitivity of the throttle pedal to get better fuel economy and also how people need to step on the throttle a little bit to feel more power.

When in gear and off the throttle, there are certain situations where the engine still uses gas! I've used this knowledge to modify the way I drive in certain situations.

I've tried Torque on my Protege5 and was surprised at how much more inefficient it's 2.0 engine was in comparison. The fuel economy is about a .1 gallons/hour worse at idle and uses a lot more gas at any speed. It's amazing that our heavier CX-5 with a 2.0 can get so much better fuel economy and power than the smaller and lighter Protege5 with teh older 2.0 engine.

I tried Torque on my friend's Explorer sport once and was surprised that his engine did not cut gas when in gear and not on the throttle!