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Hey Everyone,

I was wondering if anyone else has a Mazdaspeed3 and what mileage they are getting.

I have a 2009 Mazdaspeed3 GT. For 2009, the EPA rating is 18 city and 25 highway. So far with 1300 miles on the odometer, the car is now averaging 37.0 mpg. It climbed from around 32 mpg when it left the dealership lot. I usually coast in neutral once the car reaches traffic speeds and accelerate gently most of the time. Once in while, I do punch the throttle to pass slow vehicles, but not often.

The engine is really frugal when the RPM is kept below 2600. It almost behaves like the regular Mazda3i, which I have rented before. Above that and it sucks premium petrol like a large V6 engine.

Why did I chose this car over the regular Mazda3 for hypermiling? Well, once it while I do like the quick passing power of the turbo. But the car is driven frugally 99% of the time.

All four tires are set to 50psi. Speeds are kept below 70mph on highways.

If anyone has more fuel saving tips, please let me know.

Thanks.
Ron

Ron, you're doing great. Read the article on beating the EPA on the right side of the home page, keep your cruising speed at or below 55 mph, and try pulse and glide techniques or FASing, and you may see a little improvement. All in all, you probably won't gain much beyond what you're already doing, but maybe you'll surprise us both.

Wow that sounds pretty impressive for a Speed3.

I have an 05 3 HB 5 MT, and get around 33-35mpg dfe doing "light hypermiling", coasting in N when possible, staying around 50 mph or so for the most part during my 23 mile r/t commute for work, my tires are not at 50 psi like yours, afraid the ride would be too harsh for me, i have them at 40 psi I believe. If my commute was a bit longer on the roads I drive I think I could get 37+ for my dfe, with warmer weather coming I think i should be able to match your 37 w/o much effort, but you're doing good. My 3 has plenty of power for me, can pass anything I want/need to anytime. My commute is 90% hwy

I drive an 05 Mazda6 Sport, MT with 3L V6. I get 29-31 MPG on my combined 20 mile commute back and forth to work. Tires at 40 PSI, coast in neutral when ever possible and pulse and glide when traffic perments. Get yourself a ScanGauge. It will show you how to get better MPG

My Mazda6 will suck fuel like a V8 if I run it hard. I got 15-17 MPG when I first got it. When gas prices went sky high I started to hypermile. You should continue to see gains as you learn how to tweak the mileage from you Speed3

By the way, it took until about 18K miles before my MPG started to go up. I have heard the same from people who drive the Mazda3's. Break in period is slow for these engines.

Have Fun with your new toy.

You might also look up some of the WRX drivers around here. They're also driving sport-tuned turbo engines like you have.

Wow that's incredible. I own a SRT-4 and barely get above 20mpg, fortunately it's not my daily driver.

Hey Everyone,

I was wondering if anyone else has a Mazdaspeed3 and what mileage they are getting.

I have a 2009 Mazdaspeed3 GT. For 2009, the EPA rating is 18 city and 25 highway. So far with 1300 miles on the odometer, the car is now averaging 37.0 mpg. It climbed from around 32 mpg when it left the dealership lot. I usually coast in neutral once the car reaches traffic speeds and accelerate gently most of the time. Once in while, I do punch the throttle to pass slow vehicles, but not often.

The engine is really frugal when the RPM is kept below 2600. It almost behaves like the regular Mazda3i, which I have rented before. Above that and it sucks premium petrol like a large V6 engine.

Why did I chose this car over the regular Mazda3 for hypermiling? Well, once it while I do like the quick passing power of the turbo. But the car is driven frugally 99% of the time.

All four tires are set to 50psi. Speeds are kept below 70mph on highways.

If anyone has more fuel saving tips, please let me know.

Thanks.
Ron


Hello Ron, how did you calculate your mileage?

Ron, do you have a scangauge or something similar?

No I don't have a Scangauge. The car itself has instantaneous fuel consumption reading from the dash and average MPG. I always top off the tank with each fill up and calculated the MPG with the miles traveled. My math and the car's trip computer are pretty close, plus or minus an mpg. It usually takes in 11 gallons after 400 miles or so. I noticed the gas gauge hits empty with 3 gallons left in the tank. Not sure why that is?

I do follow behind semi-trucks to gain a little bit in drafting, but no so close that it becomes tailgating. Plus I don't want to catch a rock in the windshield. I might start shutting down the engine at the lights to see what gains that will have on the mpg.

Does a K&N filter do anything for fuel mileage?

The filter will likely not do anything. If you're anywhere less than Wide Ope Throttle, the throttle is the restriction, and not the air filter.

I have had good luck with my K&N filter on my 97 Protege.
The stock air filter held back the car on acceleration. I find that with more acceleration, I am able to get up to speed quicker.
At that point, I can FAS or use the DFCO for max coast.

I have had good luck with my K&N filter on my 97 Protege.
The stock air filter held back the car on acceleration. I find that with more acceleration, I am able to get up to speed quicker.
At that point, I can FAS or use the DFCO for max coast.


He has a turbo.... I hear that helps with acceleration too:D

Your best mileage is going to come from avoiding any form of braking, be it the brake pedal or engine braking with DFCO. Neutral coasting is better, unless you must brake. If you do, you need to adjust your timing next time so you don't have to.

DWB includes engine braking. It's just another way to bleed off excess momentum. Better to not have that momentum in the first place.

I have just started driving at a slower average speed of around 55-65 MPH from 70MPH. The average MPG rose from 37.0 to 37.2 on the car trip computer. This was done by staying behind large slow trucks which can also help with the drafting effect. Plus, I don't get all the blame for being slow on the highway.

I will report the numbers once I am done burning off this tank of gas.

BTW, does hypermiling increase engine life, since the engine is not strained as much?

Ron good luck with your speed3. Seems your already doing great with it.

Pretty easy for me to get 38 to 42 mpg tanks out of my S Touring Sedan.

Enjoy

These sound like the perfect Jekyll and Hyde car. Oh and you can still get the whole family in it!

These sound like the perfect Jekyll and Hyde car. Oh and you can still get the whole family in it!

That sums it up very well indeed. :)

I have just started driving at a slower average speed of around 55-65 MPH from 70MPH. The average MPG rose from 37.0 to 37.2 on the car trip computer. This was done by staying behind large slow trucks which can also help with the drafting effect. Plus, I don't get all the blame for being slow on the highway.

I will report the numbers once I am done burning off this tank of gas.

BTW, does hypermiling increase engine life, since the engine is not strained as much?

I did a Oil test for 0w-20 oil in my 5w-30 spec car.
To give you an Idea the only thing iron was slightly above normal wear (Probably Cylinders).

Link to my Zip of the PDF sent by BlackStone Labs.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=55&act=down

Since I have been absent from this board for a while, here is a quick update. The Mazdaspeed3 average is now around 41.2 mpg. The worst I got was 33 mpg and the best 44 mpg per tank. This car has around 2700 miles on it. I have not had the chance to put many mile on it since I am driving rental cars for work more than my own car.

Slightly off the topic, I was impressed by the 2009 Hyundai Sonata. It was one of the rental cars I had for a month and it got 36 mpg average without hypermiling. It was just mostly highways driven at 65-70 mph all around Florida. Not bad.

Hi Ron,

I have a 2009 Mazdaspeed3 Sport, and I'm amazed at your results. If you posted those kind of numbers on any of the Mazda websites, people would think that your turbocharger had blown. In general with these cars, a sharp increase in mpg is seen as an ominous sign, ha ha. What sort of terrain are you driving, and how long is your commute? I have been trying some of the things you said before, shifting below 2600 (and below 2000 when I can.) Driving behind trucks, at a safe distance, at 60mph. My last tank I got about 24mpg over the tank, which was an improvement. Normally I was getting 22 mpg. This tank I've been pretty consistent in trying hypermiling techniques, so I'm very interested in seeing what will happen. I'll be very happy to get to the high 20's.

I never had a fast car, and always wanted one. It's kind of funny, before I had a slower car that I wished was faster, and now that I have a fast car, I've become very interested in driving it slow.

Welcome to CleanMPG!
A good place to start is Beating the EPA. (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510)

Another thing is getting a Scangauge...
It payed for itself within a Business Quarter.

600 dollars saved compared to EPA #'s For me.
1 year of course.

And if you ever need to Diagnose or Clear a code it can do that.

Hi Ron,

What sort of terrain are you driving, and how long is your commute? I have been trying some of the things you said before, shifting below 2600 (and below 2000 when I can.) Driving behind trucks, at a safe distance, at 60mph.

David,

The first thing I did and the only thing to the Speed3 is increasd the tire pressure to the max psi (44) seen on the sidewall of the Bridgestone tire. This results in the Tire Pressure Monitoring light to come on for a few minutes. I am wondering if the system cannot read over 44 psi and register that as a flat tire.

My commute is about 32 miles each way on mostly flat freeways, but about 2 miles of it has some small hills.

These turbomotors seems to behave like a frugal 4-cylinder car under 2500rpm. Once over that range and it eats fuel like V6 or V8. I keep the engine under 2500rpm as much as possible. There is so much torque that the car will accelerate in 6th at 40mph.

The non-turbo versions of the 2.3L 4cyl are not that fuel effiecient. My co-worker say his 2.3L 5-door hatchback with the automatic gets about 26mpg overall. The other co-worker with a 2008 Speed3 gets about 29mpg overall. The driving style affects the fuel mileage a lot. Like how Top Gear demonstrated that a BMW M3 with the 4.oL V8 was more frugal than a Toyota Prius under certain conditions.

On the street, I shift before the engine even hits 2000rpm. I coast the car in neutral whenever I hit the speed limit and let it roll until the speed drops 5-10 mph. Then I shift it back to 6th gear and pulse the gas slowly to get it back to speed.

On the freeways, I now drive around between 50-60 mph. The car seems to roll pretty far if it is kept below 55mph. Depending on traffic conditons, I accelerate to 60 and then roll it in Neutral until it hits 50mph. Getting behind a large slow truck can reduce some wind drag and blame for being slow.

Hypermiling probably saves me about $15-$16 a week in fuel. That's about $60/month or $720/year. That's a lot of grocery money.

But once in a while, I do gun the gas to have some fun and get that turbo to so some work. And it is good to know that you have 263hp in reserve if need.

I'll try pumping my tires to 40 psi and see how that goes. We have some rough roads in Michigan, so I think much higher than that the ride quality would be intolerable for the family. I'll try more coasting in neutral to see how that helps.

I ordered a SGII since my sport doesn't have the fuel economy gauge.

With our cars we can't use FAS since it would cut lubrication to the turbo, but with the results you are getting, it looks like we don't have to. Do you clutch it every time you shift out of 6th?

If the traffic is heavy, I'll just depress the clutch and leave it in gear. This is just in case I have to suddenly gas it to avoid other cars. But I do shift into neutral once the traffic lighten up or spreads out a bit.

The only time I shut off the car is at several long lights that are over a minute. I will not do that while moving since the steering and brakes depend on the engine to work properly.

It takes some practice to feel comfortable with the new driving style and get results. But with gas running now at $3.19 for 91 octane in Southern California, it tends to motivate new driving behaviors.

Wow that's incredible. I own a SRT-4 and barely get above 20mpg, fortunately it's not my daily driver.



driving too hard!! mine gets the same when driving hard or cause of other drivers ....but HM and it gets up to 32mpgs....

I was impressed by the 2009 Hyundai Sonata. It was one of the rental cars I had for a month and it got 36 mpg average without hypermiling. It was just mostly highways driven at 65-70 mph all around Florida. Not bad.
I'm surprised too, since Hyundia/Kia cars usually have medicore MPG rating from EPA.
Wonder what the new Kia compacts are getting for MPG?

I increased the tire pressure to 44 front/40 rear without any bad increase in harshness. The Scangauge arrived and is really cool to work with. Using the scan gauge, I found that just leaving the car in gear and letting up on the gas very quickly cuts the fuel flow, and have increased my mileage with that.

By paying close attention, I've been able to increase my mileage to 28mpg over the last tank.