2017/18 Real World MPG

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Carless
Hi,

I'm new to the forum and new to Mazda's in general and have been looking at 2017 or 2018 CX-5's to replace my totaled 2009 Accord EX-L.

I would be using this as my daily driver and some of my work commutes can be long, ~140 miles round trip (rare but happen for a week or so at a time) so I really wanted to get real world experiences on the mileage. I know the 2018 is rated better with the cylinder deactivation. What was shown on fuelly.com doesn't seem to have many options and some of them don't seem accurate either (19.2 mpg).

Ideally i would be getting a FWD, but if a AWD comes along at a good price i wouldn't rule that out.

BTW, the 09 accord was getting me about 26 mpg so i wouldn't be losing much of any for mpg.

Thanks,

Jeff
 
1000 miles in I'm getting about 25 mpg. I work about 8 miles from my house with hills, and traffic lights and 2 lane country highway for half or so. I drive 40 -80 mile round trips once or twice a week.

The first tank was the worst.
 
My 2014 FWD averages 27.7 MPG calculated over many tank fulls. I'm an easy driver and go with the flow. Typical suburban driving with trips of 2 to 7 miles typical. Ed
 
I average about 26 combined driving and 29 highway. Vehicle seems to get what mpg sticker says. I dont use fuely so i cant say why it is inaccurate, but your numbers contradict what many users here post.
 
I get 28mpg in my 2litre CX-5 2017 in winter, with ice and snow on the road. It gets better during summer, around 30.9 mpg. These are mixed driving figures (converted from L/100km) and the car has done 5000 Km.
 
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2017 GT FWD, about 12,000 miles. Blended highway/city driving is 26.7 MPG, and an average of 30.3 MPG on long road trips that are mostly highway miles. There's more scatter in the highway MPG data because some of the roads in Texas are posted at 85 MPH and the drag effect on MPG really starts to get noticeable at those speeds :) If you're cruising between 70-75 MPH, 33 MPG or so is pretty common on the highway.

When purchasing this 2017, I was originally looking at a 3 hatchback and was planning on higher mileage, but the extra room in the back, quietness, rear AC, and 40/20/40 fold in the back seats sold me on the CX-5. Really enjoying the car, coming from an 2000 Acura TL.
 
2018 GT AWD with Tech package here. From day 1 I have not reset one of my mileage trackings and it is now sitting at 9.5L/100km or 24.75mpg. This is due to the first 2 weeks where I was doing 10-15min of warming up the car and breaking in the engine.

The first 1000km was averaging around 11L/100km or 21.38mpg then after reaching over 1000km was averaging around 9.1L/100km or 25.84mpg.

Now I am reaching 4800km and I dunno if my system is lying to me but on 30/70 city/highway with morning light traffic, I am averaging roughly 6.8L/100km or 34.59mpg. This could because I enjoy driving it (Granny drive) and I don't let my RPM pass 3000 =) ... This is on the morning but on the afternoon rush, I go back again to 10L/100kmg or 23.52mpg due to extremely heavy traffic. Morning it would take me less than 25mins to get to my destination and afternoon more than 45mins for a 25km drive one way.

So if I would probably do nothing but highway with no traffic doing 65mph, I could probably get 6.5L/100km or 36.18mpg or better. I don't use cruise control because it brakes too often when too many jerks cutting me off while I enjoy my drive of 100 meters distance between me and the guy in front of me.
 
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Hi,

I'm new to the forum and new to Mazda's in general and have been looking at 2017 or 2018 CX-5's to replace my totaled 2009 Accord EX-L.

I would be using this as my daily driver and some of my work commutes can be long, ~140 miles round trip (rare but happen for a week or so at a time) so I really wanted to get real world experiences on the mileage. I know the 2018 is rated better with the cylinder deactivation. What was shown on fuelly.com doesn't seem to have many options and some of them don't seem accurate either (19.2 mpg).

Ideally i would be getting a FWD, but if a AWD comes along at a good price i wouldn't rule that out.

BTW, the 09 accord was getting me about 26 mpg so i wouldn't be losing much of any for mpg.

Thanks,

Jeff
You did not mention any need for extra cargo space or light towing or high ground clearance. In which case, I will direct you to the Mazda6, which on Fuelly is averaging 29-30 mpg combined in real world driving. Get the CX-5 if you want AWD or need extra cargo space. Our 2016 CX-5 GT FWD doesn't get as good as mileage as other people on here do, we get around 24-26 mpg.
 
You did not mention any need for extra cargo space or light towing or high ground clearance. In which case, I will direct you to the Mazda6, which on Fuelly is averaging 29-30 mpg combined in real world driving. Get the CX-5 if you want AWD or need extra cargo space. Our 2016 CX-5 GT FWD doesn't get as good as mileage as other people on here do, we get around 24-26 mpg.
I agree. First gen cx5 owner. My peak trip mpg is 39 for 18 miles. I generally hit 30+ in morning commute. Pretty sure with a mzd6 i can hit peak 42 and avg 34. The 3 rear seats are too small to get in but could be a better option for commuter car.
 
I know the OP was looking for info on 17/18's but my 2014 has great numbers for mpg. That's one of the things I've never complained about.
I have left the dash readout since November, and getting a read for the entire winter. About 70% in town driving. FWIW, the computer is super close to doing the manual calculations.

After 4-5 months of winter driving, I'm at 8.0L/100kms.........that equates to 29.4 mpg US................or 35.3 mpg CAN

Summer time the numbers get even better. Hwy easily in that 6.8L range.
 
After 4-5 months of winter driving, I'm at 8.0L/100kms.........that equates to 29.4 mpg US................or 35.3 mpg CAN

Wow, nice. It makes me think that Alberta is hoarding the good gas tho. I was able to get my 2018 down to 7.5 litres / 100 km on a longer trip with the MRCC on.
 
2018 CX-5 AWD real world mpg

New to the forum. Just wanted to share my MPG results (giving back to the community from which I have learned alot). Have the 2018 GT AWD (2.5 NA engine of course) bought in June 2018, and have about 6500 miles on it. The car is mostly used for very short city trips during the week (work, gym, etc), and occasional long distance roadtrips on weekends.

Our city mileage is pretty crap, around 21-23 mpg, though this is not unexpected for our driving conditions (very short trips). Highway mpg on the other hand is excellent. I consistently get the expected ~30 mpg (little over or little under), and at times even a few more, i.e 31-33 mpg. What I really wanted to show others, is that on one commute (sometime in September, at night) I got 35.0 mpg. VERY NICE. It put a big smile on my face. It was about a 50 mi drive, all freeway, light-to-no traffic, generally sea level but some low mountain passes (Bay area, CA), and consistently 70-75 mph (and while overtaking up to 80 mph). I will attach a pic of it, if admin allows a fresh user to post pics.

If we had a true mix of city/hwy for our weekly commute, I am sure our overall mpg would be looking good. All the same, mpg wasnt my highest priority when buying this car, so still overall quite happy with the purchase (trouble free and very nice car overall).
 
I have a 2018 Grand Touring FWD...
- 28-29 MPG in mixed daily driving (never recorded less than 28 MPG)
- Highest has been 32 MPG I believe

My biggest gripe is the vehicle's computer calculations...
The computer is always WAY off. It consistently shows 2-3 MPG higher than what I'm actually getting.

No one should be using the vehicle computers recorded MPG numbers.
 
I have a 2018 Grand Touring FWD...
- 28-29 MPG in mixed daily driving (never recorded less than 28 MPG)
- Highest has been 32 MPG I believe

My biggest gripe is the vehicle's computer calculations...
The computer is always WAY off. It consistently shows 2-3 MPG higher than what I'm actually getting.

No one should be using the vehicle computers recorded MPG numbers.
All cars calculate MPG. None of the cars actually measure fuel and use the distance from odo. It is always a calculation.
Sometimes calculations are off due to your driving habits / commute cycle. For me I have seen the car computer under state the mpg by 1.5
Nobody is out to fool you with Dash MPG. Its always a calculation - for some it can be higher or lower than what is shown on the dash.

Another thing - the only way to confirm your realworld mpg is emptying the entire fuel tank, use a jerry can and measure the fuel and then record mpg. Anyone filling from a gas station - even the same pump might be off by a big margin. Humidity / temp / time of the day all matters.
 
2017 AWD with 5,400 miles.

In the winter and cold months I let the car warm up a couple minutes. My mileage accounting for cold and warm-up: 24 city, 28 highway, 26 combined

In the summer months I get: 26 city, 30 highway, 27.5 combined

Hope that helps!
 
It is always a calculation. Sometimes calculations are off due to your driving habits / commute cycle. For me I have seen the car computer under state the mpg by 1.5
Nobody is out to fool you with Dash MPG. Its always a calculation - for some it can be higher or lower than what is shown on the dash.

Obviously it is a calculation, but trip computers are notorious for overestimating MPG. Car and Driver had an article awhile back showing trip computers consistently pad the MPG ratings on EVERY fill-up. My trip computer has overstated by 2-3.5 MPG, on all but about 2 fill-ups across the 10K miles I've driven.

It's no surprise that trip computers generally overstate MPG, and very rarely (except for you) understate MPG. Would a car manufacturer rather have me believe I'm getting 31 MPG or 28 MPG?

My point is, your true MPG is likely significantly lower than what the trip computer is telling you.

Another thing - the only way to confirm your realworld mpg is emptying the entire fuel tank, use a jerry can and measure the fuel and then record mpg. Anyone filling from a gas station - even the same pump might be off by a big margin. Humidity / temp / time of the day all matters.

This is a complete exaggeration and simply not true. While it will not be perfectly exact, you can absolutely do a manual calculation of MPG without "being off by a big margin."

Of course...if you fill-up in Miami at 2pm during the summer, and stop the pump on the first click...your calculated MPG will not be comparable to filling up in Alaska during the winter, and stopping the pump on the fifth click.

But you can get reliable, accurate, consistent MPG ratings by simply using the same fill-up approach under reasonably similar conditions.
 
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