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Mazda3 Real World MPG

961 messages,  Last post on Jul 27, 2012 at 1:44 AM

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What is this discussion about? Mazda MAZDA3, Mazda MAZDASPEED MAZDA3, Fuel Efficiency (MPG)

Messages Page 94 of 96

#931 of 961 40.555mpg on 2285 mile trip by boodrow

Apr 30, 2012 (9:28 pm)

I recently purchased new Mazda 3 I Touring with the Skyactive 2.0 engine and 6 speed manual in Portland OR. Returned to Fairbanks, AK from Spokane, WA for a total of 2285 miles. Speeds were generally 65-70 mostly around 70. Temperatures ranged from 30 to 75 but mostly in the low fifties. The trip computer showed 42.2 for the trip but calculated brim to brim fill up came to 40.555mpg. This is the best I have ever done in a gasoline car and I am pleased that I easily beat the EPA numbers.
 
 

#932 of 961 Re: 40.555mpg on 2285 mile trip [boodrow] by chickrae

May 01, 2012 (1:25 am)

Replying to: boodrow (Apr 30, 2012 9:28 pm)
That's amazing! I wonder if the manual gets a little better gas mileage than the automatic. I have an automatic and on my trip of 275 miles I got 38. The elevations varied and many hilss, so maybe that was a factor also. I do love this mazda 3 though. Never owned a mazda but glad I do now.

#933 of 961 Re: 40.555mpg on 2285 mile trip [chickrae] by whobodym

May 01, 2012 (6:13 am)

Replying to: chickrae (May 01, 2012 1:25 am)
I know everyone says mountains cut your mileage, but my experience from a half-dozen trips across the USA Seattle-East Coast differs. I mean, if you are comparing constant speeds; you drive uphill at the same speed you coast down the other side, and you are on interstates using little braking on the downgrades. In this type of driving, I've never seen any degradation of MPG compared to long flat slogs across the plains, and I don't know any physics reason why it should. The uphill run with open throttle has less air-pumping loss (compared to making that same amount of horsepower with more-closed throttle), and downhill coasting in a modern fuel-injected car burns zero fuel. You do have to consider the effect of prevailing winds -- you're probably going to do better eastbound than westbound.

#934 of 961 Re: 40.555mpg on 2285 mile trip [whobodym] by m6user

May 01, 2012 (7:46 am)

Replying to: whobodym (May 01, 2012 6:13 am)
I think it would depend on the type of road and what kind of mountains you're talking about and especially if you're doing a roundtrip. Strictly expressway driving at constant speeds would certainly be better for mpg than going up a two lane mountain road. Kind of like city driving is different from major metros to midsize cities.

#935 of 961 good choice to trade in? by nick779

May 01, 2012 (9:21 pm)

alright guys let explain my situation, im 22 years old, as of now im going back to school in july for 2 years for information technology, currently i drive a '11 mazdaspeed 3 and i get about 20-21mpg 50% highway. i love the car, but school comes first and ill have the rest of my life to buy the car i really want.
 
now im looking at a sedan with the 2.0 skyactiv and a manual transmission, and i have no idea what i could talk them down to, but if i get it under msrp ($18,700+dest) id be happy, now during school, my car payments are coming out of whats left of my college fund, for the speed 3 its $319 a month, and i have 5 years left. if everything works out the way i want it to with the 3, it would be around $422 a month for the 3 sedan, but for only a 3 year loan, which equates in the end to $2400 more out of the college account(anything left after school is for moving out or whatever else which will be about $2k). in my situation during school and working part time, i would drain an additional $1800 a year out of my personal savings just for day to day expenses and gas.
 
with school included, i would be driving about 60-70% highway and between 16,900 and 18,200 miles a year
ive figured out that depending on the price of gas and the actual mileage i get ill save around $800-$900 in gas each year with the skyactiv, provided i get at least 29mpg (i only run 93 octane in the speed 3)
 
would this be a good "investment" per say for my future? what kind of mpg could i expect if i made the switch? because i see a ton of variance in our data.

#936 of 961 Re: good choice to trade in? [nick779] by roadburner

May 01, 2012 (9:39 pm)

Replying to: nick779 (May 01, 2012 9:21 pm)
I'd keep the MS3 and concentrate on refining my driving habits. I have a 2007 MS3 and I've put 23,500 miles on it over the past 12 months. During that period I've had exactly 3 tanks average below 25 mpg- and most tanks averaged 27-29 mpg. Finally, here's a recent excerpt from a column I write for a local newspaper:
 

DON'T PANIC!- With talk of $5.00/gallon gasoline making headlines I thought I should revisit and update an issue I discussed about one year ago. I'm already starting to hear "screamer" ads on television and radio telling people to "TRADE IN YOUR OLD GAS GUZZLER FOR A NEW XYZ MOTORS SEDAN- WITH 40 MPG ECONOMY!!!" And I'm sure you've heard people say, "Gas prices are eating me alive, I just have to buy a new car."
          The fact of the matter is, high fuel prices are no excuse for making a poor automotive purchasing decision. The last time gas prices spiked I remember people were buying those terribly mediocre Smart cars for list price- or even higher. These "shrewd" buyers were then stuck on a waiting list- and by the time their Smart car arrived gas prices had settled down and they were stuck with a tiny car that really wasn't suited for anything more than urban commuting. That is why I always say that you have to do the math.
          Here's an example: I recently found a very nice 2010 Mini Cooper for sale. It had less than 10,000 miles on the odometer and had every option I wanted. The Mini gets 39 mpg while my 2007 Mazda averaged about 23 mpg. After doing a little research I determined that I could probably get the Mini by trading in my Mazda and paying $10,000. Great deal, right? An almost-new car that gets 15 more mpg for "only" $10,000. As it turns out, running the numbers showed that it wasn't a great deal. Let's assume gas is $5.00 per gallon and that I drive 20,000 miles per year. The Mazda's annual fuel cost will be $4,348 while the Mini would use $2,564 worth of gas- an annual savings of $1,784. Fantastic! The only problem is the fact that I have to pay $10,000 in order to "save" that money. Dividing the purchase cost by the annual fuel savings shows that I would have to drive the Mini for 5.6 years before I actually started saving money. And if I drove 15,000 miles per year I would have to drive the Mini for almost 7.5 years just to break even! Also note that I'm not taking into account the cost of interest on a car loan, increased insurance costs, or higher property taxes due to the Mini being a newer vehicle. As it turns out, I started utilizing some smart driving habits and discovered that I was able to increase the Mazda's average fuel economy to 27 mpg- which at $5.00 per gallon saves me $644 outright. Now, I'm certainly not saying that you shouldn't consider a vehicle's fuel efficiency when buying a new or used car, but I AM saying that trading a car solely to save money on fuel costs almost never makes financial sense.

#937 of 961 Re: good choice to trade in? [roadburner] by nick779

May 01, 2012 (11:19 pm)

Replying to: roadburner (May 01, 2012 9:39 pm)
i agree with everything you said, but for the past month ive been focusing on shifting around 2500 with gentle acceleration, and much more use of 6th gear even when only doing 50mph and staying out of boost. and i still get 20-21 mpg, as it stands i owe 19k on the speed, the blue book on it is around $21.5k, so i could theoretically have a $2500 down payment on a 3 sedan, and over a 2 year period save $1600+ in gas (depending on the observed mileage with the 3 sedan)and also i wouldnt have to buy a set of 18 inch tires or brakes which will wear out in these next 2 years, and i would come out of school with a higher monthly payment, but only a year left to pay it on instead of 3 with a $100 lower payment. now i doubt my work commute would be as far as my school commute, but the 3 sedan would keep saving me money in the long run i think.
 
wouldnt that make financial sense?
payments on speed 3 will be $7656 during school, payments on sedan would be around $10,137, so roughly $2500 more, gas savings would be $1600+, so at the most i would have $900 extra coming from the savings account total.
after school, i would owe $319 for 36 months on the speed, and ~$422 for 12 months on the sedan.

#938 of 961 Re: 40.555mpg on 2285 mile trip [whobodym] by chickrae

May 02, 2012 (1:24 am)

Replying to: whobodym (May 01, 2012 6:13 am)
I would say I go over 3 mountain passes (Wasatch Mountains in Utah) and true I do somewhat coast on the way down, so maybe I am not losing that much going uphill. I was traveling south to north and not really going west or east.
I will see how the mileage goes on my trip to Vegas this weekend.

#939 of 961 Re: 40.555mpg on 2285 mile trip [m6user] by whobodym

May 02, 2012 (6:11 am)

Replying to: m6user (May 01, 2012 7:46 am)
I disagree about mountain roads, unless you mean the kind where there is so much braking you are converting a lot of your gasoline straight to waste heat (the brake friction). My MZ3sGT 2.5L 6MT's best tank ever was Butte MT - Wisdom MT - Lost Trail Pass - Hamilton MT - Lolo Pass - Lewiston ID - Othello WA, a total of 560 miles, driven about as fast as comfortable (which I admit is quite a bit slower than the 75mph I would have been doing on I-90). The tank mileage was 36mpg.

#940 of 961 - by dudleyr

May 02, 2012 (6:19 am)

Get the 3 skyactiv and save the money. If you keep the car for a long time the savings keep adding up, and yes you will have a newer car that will last longer.
 
You can also get the 3 for well below list price.

Messages Page 94 of 96

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