Low MPG on used '14 CX-5

ProAlpine

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2014 CX-5
I just picked up a used '14 CX-5 with 58k on it and drove 3.5 hours into a winter storm on I-80. The best average gas mileage I got was 20.5 mpg. Is this normal? I was driving into the wind, but loosing ~10 mpg seems kinda drastic. What am I missing?
 
It has good fe under 65 mph. Very ideal speed would be 50. Fe suffers at high speed. Assuming you were driving 65 due to storm this seems low.
 
I just picked up a used '14 CX-5 with 58k on it and drove 3.5 hours into a winter storm on I-80. The best average gas mileage I got was 20.5 mpg. Is this normal? I was driving into the wind, but loosing ~10 mpg seems kinda drastic. What am I missing?
Do you have a FWD or AWD? Do you have a 2.0L or 2.5L? These make difference too. Like Kaps said, gas mileage on CX-5's SkyActiv gasoline engines are very sensitive to the environment and driving speed.
 
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I just picked up a used '14 CX-5 with 58k on it and drove 3.5 hours into a winter storm on I-80. The best average gas mileage I got was 20.5 mpg. Is this normal? I was driving into the wind, but loosing ~10 mpg seems kinda drastic. What am I missing?


Need more detail. Car may need service and also, if you were driving 80 MPH into a strong headwind, with freezing temps, that could impact gas mileage. Also, how are you calculating your mileage?
 
Check to see if the brakes are dragging. Drive for a couple miles, then feel each wheel hub to see if one or more is hot.

Get a tuneup. A sparkplug might be miss-firing some of the time.

Run a can of injector cleaner thru it. Injectors with deposits can cause poor performance and mileage.

Check the tire pressures!

Change the air filter.
 
I just picked up a used '14 CX-5 with 58k on it and drove 3.5 hours into a winter storm on I-80. The best average gas mileage I got was 20.5 mpg. Is this normal? I was driving into the wind, but loosing ~10 mpg seems kinda drastic. What am I missing?

Typical if you were doing 75-80.
 
All good points. It's a grand touring, 2.5L AWD. I tend to have a lead foot, but never drove over 75 and mostly around 70. I gaged the mpg by the digital readout on the dash, and to my disappointment never saw it go above 20.5.

You might have a point CX-500. Earlier in the day, we had descend a long hill and for most of it I down shifted. Later as we got into traffic I had to brake heavily several times. In doing so we got a lot of pulsing and a bit of shimming in the steering wheel. I hadn't noticed this before when braking hard around town.

Fast forward an hour, after having lunch, I drove about a mile and a half to go get gas. While gassing up I thought to check the rotars... all were hot to the touch, after only mile and half of driving.

Are dragging brakes, or even brake issues, somewhat common on these vehicles?

What to be done about the pulsing/shimming when braking at speed on a decent?

Thanks for the insight.
 
Dragging rear calipers were the only problem we ever had with our 2005 Mazda 6. It was the driver's side rear, and we had it replaced twice over the last 2-4 years of ownership. First instance didn't show up until around 60-70,000 miles I believe.

Edit: adding there is usually a very detectable odor present when the brakes are grabbing and heating up way too much.
 
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All good points. It's a grand touring, 2.5L AWD. I tend to have a lead foot, but never drove over 75 and mostly around 70. I gaged the mpg by the digital readout on the dash, and to my disappointment never saw it go above 20.5.

You might have a point CX-500. Earlier in the day, we had descend a long hill and for most of it I down shifted. Later as we got into traffic I had to brake heavily several times. In doing so we got a lot of pulsing and a bit of shimming in the steering wheel. I hadn't noticed this before when braking hard around town.

Fast forward an hour, after having lunch, I drove about a mile and a half to go get gas. While gassing up I thought to check the rotars... all were hot to the touch, after only mile and half of driving.

Are dragging brakes, or even brake issues, somewhat common on these vehicles?

What to be done about the pulsing/shimming when braking at speed on a decent?

Thanks for the insight.
Your brakes will be hot to the touch no matter if it's half a mile or one mile or more or braking. Braking is achieved via friction. That causes heat. It's a four thousand pounds car. Expect it to be hot. That is not a sign of dragging brake pads. Dragging brake pads will have a sound and a more rapid deceleration when taking your for of the gas. It would also have the smell of almost cinnamon as the brake pads are beginning to burn.

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Furthermore uneven braking wear is more likely attributed to a poorly bled brake system. In which the proper order of bleeding g was not completed

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⋯ Are dragging brakes, or even brake issues, somewhat common on these vehicles?
What to be done about the pulsing/shimming when braking at speed on a decent?
Thanks for the insight.
CX-5 has known to be lacking lubricant on caliper pins from factory. There're TSBs resolving this issue especially at the rear brakes and in the salt areas. Of course this'll cause frozen disk pads and you'll have dragging brakes. I'd check caliper pins first and apply proper lub as soon as possible.

Since the EPA ratings for 2014 CX-5 2.5L AWD is 26/24/29 combined/city/highway, so your highway gas mileage should be 29 mpg at the best if you drive around 55~65 mph.
 
"Since the EPA ratings for 2014 CX-5 2.5L AWD is 26/24/29 combined/city/highway, so your highway gas mileage should be 29 mpg at the best if you drive around 55~65 mph."

Copy... just hoping/wanting the best, especially since this vehicle is a replacement for our 2010 VW Jetta tdi that got 38-40 mpg highway and had plenty of get up and go.
 
You will be hard pressed to get 30mpg in sunny weather let alone a storm with headwinds. I've been averaging 23.1 in normal suburban driving with average temps and a empty car. I'm happy.
 
You will be hard pressed to get 30mpg in sunny weather let alone a storm with headwinds. I've been averaging 23.1 in normal suburban driving with average temps and a empty car. I'm happy.

I would disagree wth that. That mileage is pretty easy to get if the conditions are right. I used to make the trip from Philly to DC often and would average over 30 MPG for that portion. With speeds around 60-70 MPH, that is the perfect place for good mileage. Even doing 75-80, in the SE, I get 28-29 MPG.
 
I would disagree wth that. That mileage is pretty easy to get if the conditions are right. I used to make the trip from Philly to DC often and would average over 30 MPG for that portion. With speeds around 60-70 MPH, that is the perfect place for good mileage. Even doing 75-80, in the SE, I get 28-29 MPG.
You should mention if you have a FWD or a AWD because the gas mileage between these two on CX-5 has bigger gap than every other compact CUVs!
 
Typical if you were doing 75-80.

I would hope he wasn't drive 75-80 in a snow storm.

Assuming his is awd, I'm guessing with the Iactive awd sytem, the awd was kicked in more resulting more drag and just overall worse gas mileage. More drag as well with snow on the ground. Tires probably aren't inflated correctly either especially being a used car.
 
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Driving into wind means you're using more gas to sustain the same speed. Even more going up a hill on top of that. What was OP's speed btw?
 
Also you say it never went above 20.5! Did you ever reset it at fuelup? Which MPG gauge was it, the INSTANT/CURRENT MPG or TOTAL average MPG meter?
 
Also you say it never went above 20.5! Did you ever reset it at fuelup? Which MPG gauge was it, the INSTANT/CURRENT MPG or TOTAL average MPG meter?

This. I bet that's not only the total, but also that he didn't reset the info before going on the trip so that's some kind of long accumulated amount. I've seen low 20's after weeks of stop n go city driving.

Understandable since he just picked it up and probably hasn't read the user manual yet :)
 
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The best speed to drive the CX-5 is 40-50 mph, which will net above 30 mpgs. On the highways, going above 65 mph as stated by others, will significantly impact your fuel economy. This is actually a problem I have driving in Dallas-Fort Worth since they recently have upped the speed limits to 70 mph (which means everyone is driving over 70 mph). Using cruise control can help here (but it does make the drive boring).

AWD is active while driving in snow. Mazda (I think it was Dave Coleman) said that they found that it is more efficient to run in AWD when driving on snowy roads.

Lastly, the best way to track fuel mileage is with a pen and paper. Or you can use an app or website that can do the math for you, like Fuelly.
 
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