Hello guys, I just got a 2021 CX-5 GT FWD and love it. Not my first CX-5 and I was getting nearly 31 MPG on my last one. Now, same driving I'm only getting about 26 MPG, Hwy and in the city I've seen even lower numbers 18-20. No bumper to bumper driving and I babied my vehicles.
I've seen some drivers here with low numbers on their CX-5 having poor fuel efficiency (Carbon Clogged Intake Valves).
My 2021 only had 7 miles when I bought it but was sitting in the lot since December.
Question, do you guys think that because the vehicle has been sitting for that long, it explains the low MPG? What should I do, floor it on the Hwy, run the tank empty so I can get rid of that gas that might be old?
Here's my comparison in a 2020 Touring, essentially the same vehicle for these purposes, except I have AWD.
26 highway and city is plausible depending how much city and what kind of city is mixed in. At an extreme, driving in Manhattan where the numbered streets average about 1/20 of a mile apart and the Avenues average about 1/7 mile apart I wouldn't expect to get out of the teens, maybe mid-teens.
I can't find a recent description of how the EPA currently tests city driving, but a 2009 C&D description of the EPA's 11 mile dynamometer simulation (see link to follow) included stops about every 1/2 mile among other parameters and a top speed of 56 mph. If that has not changed much "city" would more closely approximate what many people experience in the suburbs, or even much worse than "city" in suburban rush hour congestion. The devil really is in the details. Among my top 100 life lessons is that's where you'll typically find Old Scratch, but I digress.
Where do those mileage figures come from?
www.caranddriver.com
On my most recent 240 mile fill-up (AWD, 7500 mi. on the OD), most of the miles on two-lanes with stops 1 - 3 miles apart, with several 1 mile each way hops to the golf course, a couple 4 miles each way to and through the village with multiple stops, and a couple 5 miles each way of suburban driving on the way to a shopping district, the vehicle showed 27.4 while my controlled manual measure was 26.4. That's in normal mode, mostly flat land driving except for a few 300 foot climbs up the Niagara Escarpment, with fairly aggressive gas into third gear to avoid the low gear lugging I've commented on ad nauseum.
The only pure highway driving I've done was the day I bought it with 4,000 miles on the OD. Started with a full tank, hopped right on the expressway, drove 200 miles with no stops or snags, free sailing at 70-75 except 55 through downtown Buffalo. It was flat land driving downwind but my wife was in the vehicle and my AWD is hauling about 140 more pounds of curb weight than your FWD. At one point the vehicle's mpg reading touched 33 and finished in the upper 32s for that trip according to the vehicle's reading. Subtract 1 mpg for vehicle overstatement and that puts the trip in the upper 31s. Had I been driving upwind with some 20-30 mph difference in wind resistance (10-15 mph in each direction) results would have been somewhat lower.
I reckon my vehicle is right about where it is supposed to be with a 25 City/31 Highway rating given the 25 is somewhere between optimal city conditions and fanciful.
Situational details could account for what you said, except 26 mpg in true highway driving, free flowing expressway with no stops or snags, is meaningfully lower than my experience.