Mazda5 real-world Mileage numbers

I just finished another Tank of gas getting only 20 mpg. Driving was a mix of rush hour traffic, light city traffic, and highway cruising at 70 to 80 mph.

One thing is for sure, all I have to do is use "passing power" or "jump into fast traffic power" a few times a tank and the mileage suffers.

Pretty much I'm not too far off the EPA estimate for the car, but I just came from a 1.8L Toyota Matrix that was a gas sipper in comparison.

I do like the apparently flat torque curve of the 5. My Matrix didn't know what torque was. :D
 
I had an out of town job in Austin today. The 5 got 29.2 mpg with an average speed of 65 mph due to the traffic lights going up Hwy. 290.

AC on the whole way with only me and my usual cargo load of about 250 lbs.
 
FiftySix said:
I just finished another Tank of gas getting only 20 mpg. Driving was a mix of rush hour traffic, light city traffic, and highway cruising at 70 to 80 mph.

One thing is for sure, all I have to do is use "passing power" or "jump into fast traffic power" a few times a tank and the mileage suffers.

Pretty much I'm not too far off the EPA estimate for the car, but I just came from a 1.8L Toyota Matrix that was a gas sipper in comparison.

I do like the apparently flat torque curve of the 5. My Matrix didn't know what torque was. :D
Click to expand...

I moved to my 2012 Mz5 from a 2004 Corolla with the 1.8. My Corolla was a 5 spd though and it was still fun to drive plus being the gas sipper you mentioned. Over the 88000 miles I drove the Corolla I averaged about 30.5 MPG overall combined. In my 2012 Mz5 I've averaged about 23-24 MPG overall during the 38000 miles.
 
My '06 Matrix was a 5 speed stick, too. I put 189,000 miles on it in 9.5 years of ownership, but I totalled the little thing back in August. :(
 
Well over 126k now in my 2012, good average but lifetime is now 28.2. I ran a different size wheel/tire combo for the last six months which has skewed the numbers. I'm not going to figure it out since I think it may be time to move on to another car. This has been a great car and besides the trans at 52k I've had few problems besides normal wear and year.
 
We got our 2012 5 with a 6sp mt at the beginning of August, and put about 15000 km (just under 10000 miles) on it so far, the vast majority of which was done in a few roadtrips. Total mileage is now at about 75000 km.

This past weekend I put about 1000 km on it and averaged about 8.8 l/100km or ~27 mpg US. This was done while averaging about 130 km/h or 80 mph on the highway.
 
I did some out of town highway driving today. Just over 9 hours total on the road.

Outbound with mild cloudy weather, no AC, 60 to 80 mph the whole way. 32.83 mpg

Inbound with bad weather (hard rain and high winds), defog/defrost running, 40 to 75 mph. 27.16 mpg
 
Just filled up after approx. 300 miles of very mixed driving: Blue Ridge mountain highways, short trips to stores/gym, stop-and-go, country roads, etc. Also, the car sat for a week during holidays. Ended up with about 25.4 mpg.
 
Man I dont know if it's the gas we get here in Cali or it's simply my way of driving, but in all the years I've owned a Mazda5 (7 years in all) old and new generation, 2.3L or 2.5L, manual or automatic, city or highway, loaded or solo. I've never gotten higher then 22mpgs. I am amazed to hear some of you get in the mid to high 20's and super amazed when I hear the ocassional 30's. Kudos to you!!!
 
Davicho said:
Man I dont know if it's the gas we get here in Cali or it's simply my way of driving, but in all the years I've owned a Mazda5 (7 years in all) old and new generation, 2.3L or 2.5L, manual or automatic, city or highway, loaded or solo. I've never gotten higher then 22mpgs. I am amazed to hear some of you get in the mid to high 20's and super amazed when I hear the ocassional 30's. Kudos to you!!!
Click to expand...

My 5 only gets the high mileage when I take it on road trips. In the greater Houston area it only gets 20 to 21 mpg with pure street driving and up to 24 mpg with mixed urban highway/street driving.

I also drive my 5 much more "relaxed" than I did my previous car, so that's gotta help a ton on the highway. Shoot, we have 75 mph speed limits on our interstates here so I just roll at the speed limit and let the others fly by. We even have a tollway around Austin with an 85 mph speed limit, but that can be a gas sucker in comparison. :D
 
Holiday trip to see grandparents.
Atlanta, GA area to Daytona, FL area.
2012 Mazda 5 Sport AT.
Loaded down with 2 adults and my four sons (ages 15, 13, 8 and 5) and the dog.
Trunk full.
Trailer hitch tray with about 100 -125 lbs on it.

Hand calculated with gallons used and miles traveled - ScanguageII reported .3 mpg better.
Got 29.8 mpg on the way there with very little traffic avg speed about 74mph.
Got 27.9 mpg on the way back with very little traffic, but heavy head winds most of the way (20+mph gusts) and probably an extra 25 lbs on the tray.

Same trip with the same people last year in a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan achieved 22.2 mpg on he way down and 19.7 on he way back, but we were a little heavier on the accelerator (wife drove more) on the way back.

Around town, we've been consistently in the 24-25 mpg area with mixed suburban driving (lota of 45mph, moderate stop lights, little stop and go, some highway (no more than 15%).
A quick trip to aunt's house for Thanksgiving (about an hour all highway) with all the kids and no luggage, ScanguageII said 31.2 mpg.

I've been very pleased with the mpg so far.
But packing is more challenging now - good thing I'm good at Tetris.
 
26 mpg at a pretty steady 80-85 mph up and down hills on various Interstates between Pittsburgh and Washington DC on snow tires. 50k total miles 08 GT.
 
My calculations after last three fill-ups give pretty consistent 26-27 mpg for each one. Did some steady highway driving, some slow go in town with A/C on (Atlanta!), short trips, etc. I'm guessing flat freeway driving with good gas, not a whole lot of people/stuff, no A/C use, etc easily yield over 30 mpg in 2nd gen Mazda5. Once you load it up some, turn A/C on, etc it probably falls to 28-30 mpg if not lower when mountains, bad traffic, etc are considered. Short trips, sit at red lights and other "severe service" type stuff must bring mpg down to 20-24.
 
I've been doing a lot of highway trips for work lately. With my usual workload in the back that might be 250 lbs. or so.

Basically, if I can drive on slower roads never topping 70, my 5 will reach near or at 29 mpg.

If I drive even slower roads never topping 65, my 5 just ekes out above 30 mpg. Likely with a good tailwind.

Lately though, I've been driving 70 to 80 mph as all the speed limits between the big cities are 75 mph. I try to cruise 70, but I keep getting caught up in the traffic and go faster. This nets me about 26 mpg. I just need to get used to that number because that is my reality.
 
I have noticed that RPM's are lower on the freeway in 2012-2015 auto models compared to my 2008 auto, which should lead to better MPG. However, with the displacement going from 2.3 to 2.5, the lower cruising RPM's may be countered by the slightly bigger displacement of the newer motor. I can regularly get 27-31mpg even with 158k miles on it as long as I keep speeds below 75mph on the road. AC and more than 3 passengers does take a 1-2 mpg out of it as well. I really wish Mazda had gone the Skydrive way with these vans.
 
Here are my most recent numbers after filling up today.

2007 Mazda 5 Sport

Average MPG: 22.48
Total Miles: 13065
Total Fill Ups: 47
Miles per Day: 51.04

I drive about 30 miles one way to work. This is our second vehicle so big trips with the family (wife and 2 kids) are in our other car. I bought the 5 in October of last year with around 135k miles. We used the 5 for quick family trips to hockey rinks, church, and stuff around town until this summer as it got hotter (my A/C is not working.) With the summer heat, diving has been mostly windows down (I'm kind of surprised my mpg hasn't gone down with the windows down highway milage.)
 
28-28.5mpg for a while now in 70+ deg weather.

Put car on a diet (no third bench, no spare tire and tools, one 2nd row chair missing)
Tires properly inflated
Shift around 2500-3k rpm, skip gears when possible.
Fully synth oil.
Carry speed through corners, which is fun with the reworked suspension.

Commute is rural/city 35miles / day.
 
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