[mazda3grandtouring]

Hi all. I have a 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv. I noticed this past summer I was consistently getting 525 or more miles per tank no problem with almost 50-75 or more to go in the tank. Now, I'm barely getting 480 on the tank with about 50-60 miles to go. Is there a winter gasoline blend that gets less miles per gallon that we are being sold versus the summer blend? Thanks.

 

[My spoon is too big]

Yes.


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[rhlanham]

I am wondering the same thing. I live in VA. A few weeks ago I installed an auto-dim mirror, and in doing so had the battery unplugged for an hour or so. Naturally my average MPG & speed display reset, and I have not reset it since. Before the mirror install it would stay in the high 30's to low 31's. Now it is hovering in the high 29's. We have had a little bit of cold weather, and I don't warm the car up - I just get in and drive slowly for a few miles until the blue light goes out. Not super scientific, but it does seem like I am getting a tad less MPG since the install. Wonder if it is that, or the colder weather?

Reid

 

[tmart]

Hi all. I have a 2012 Mazda 3 Skyactiv. I noticed this past summer I was consistently getting 525 or more miles per tank no problem with almost 50-75 or more to go in the tank. Now, I'm barely getting 480 on the tank with about 50-60 miles to go. Is there a winter gasoline blend that gets less miles per gallon that we are being sold versus the summer blend? Thanks.

You were never getting 525 miles per tank.... If you were you'd be getting over 43mpg which is only achievable if you never stop at red lights and drive around 40-45mph for 525 miles straight.

 

[Edarc2580]

With colder weather, your tire pressure will go down, which affects your avg mpg. Check your tire pressure...

 

[mazda3grandtouring]

You were never getting 525 miles per tank.... If you were you'd be getting over 43mpg which is only achievable if you never stop at red lights and drive around 40-45mph for 525 miles straight.

No, I AM getting over 525 miles per tank. I push my trip calculated at every fill up. I want how many miles I am accumulating and what it says is left to go. My average says it is around 44mpg or more. I easily hit 525 miles per tank on numerous occasions with under 60-80 miles to go. This was when the weather was warm. Now I am around 480 miles per tank.

 

[stevar]

No, I AM getting over 525 miles per tank. I push my trip calculated at every fill up. I want how many miles I am accumulating and what it says is left to go. My average says it is around 44mpg or more. I easily hit 525 miles per tank on numerous occasions with under 60-80 miles to go. This was when the weather was warm. Now I am around 480 miles per tank.

Did the wind change directions on your usual route? Small factor but affects MPG's. Colder winter air will be denser. Your car may suddenly have more pep but at a cost of MPG's. Summer air is hot and thinner so the car's power is limited by the condition of the air that it's being supplied. The onboard CPU makes the changes accordingly to keep the A/F ratio balanced.

 

[tmart]

No, I AM getting over 525 miles per tank. I push my trip calculated at every fill up. I want how many miles I am accumulating and what it says is left to go. My average says it is around 44mpg or more. I easily hit 525 miles per tank on numerous occasions with under 60-80 miles to go. This was when the weather was warm. Now I am around 480 miles per tank.

You should feel incredibly lucky then that you have a freak car that gets better mileage than anyone on this forum. I've had 2 skyactiv mazda3s and neither one was capable of hitting over 41mpg on a highway without stopping above 60mph. You are claiming 44mpg including stopping/starting, I just can't believe it sorry.

Average MPG with 50% HW driving for me is between 30 and 31mpg and I try to hypermile.

 

[mauri]

my mpg was at 30.9 and now little by little its going down its at 30.6 now i might reset the averages soon

 

[mazda3grandtouring]

You should feel incredibly lucky then that you have a freak car that gets better mileage than anyone on this forum. I've had 2 skyactiv mazda3s and neither one was capable of hitting over 41mpg on a highway without stopping above 60mph. You are claiming 44mpg including stopping/starting, I just can't believe it sorry.

Average MPG with 50% HW driving for me is between 30 and 31mpg and I try to hypermile.

Don't believe it but that is what the car says. On my computer underneath the average screen it says 44.6 right now. I drive about 80-90% highway and try to keep the car at an average of 60 mph most of the time. I just filled up and had 480 miles on the tank with 75 miles to go before empty.

 

[Wvtaco]

You were never getting 525 miles per tank.... If you were you'd be getting over 43mpg which is only achievable if you never stop at red lights and drive around 40-45mph for 525 miles straight.

im gonna argue that., but i do find 500 before the low fuel light is kinda hard.
but colder mornings kill mpg, im about ready to install my grill block again. i watch my temps with a scangauge 2.
so when the highs stop being 70 like today and stay 50 or lower. im gona add this again, cut my blue light off about 3/4 of a mile earlier and didnt get too hot.
also in the am before you move the car, check your tire pressure. you lose about 1 psi for every 10 deg. if it was topped off at 36psi( i run 38) at 80 deg, a 30 deg morning like we had that other day, the tire would just have 31psi. which creates more rolling resistance and lower mpg also.


my winter mode.

 

[byrdman77]

You were never getting 525 miles per tank.... If you were you'd be getting over 43mpg which is only achievable if you never stop at red lights and drive around 40-45mph for 525 miles straight.

What are you talking about man? 2012 mazda 3 skyactiv = 14.5 gallon tank.

525/14.5 = 36.2 mpg

 

[swerv0428]

That's if you use every last drop. In reality it will be on empty and still have 1-2 gallons left.

 

[mazda3grandtouring]

What are you talking about man? 2012 mazda 3 skyactiv = 14.5 gallon tank.

525/14.5 = 36.2 mpg

but when I would fill up and I had driven 525 on the tank I wasn't adding 14.5 gallons of gas. I might get 11.5 give or take. It would still say I could drive another 60-80 miles.

 

[byrdman77]

but when I would fill up and I had driven 525 on the tank I wasn't adding 14.5 gallons of gas. I might get 11.5 give or take. It would still say I could drive another 60-80 miles.

I get what you're saying now, sorry I thought when you said "tank" you literally meant you were driving it to empty. Not reading the whole thread fail on my part lol.

Anyway, I'd say it's possible. I have managed 43 mpg on a 160 mile round trip in the summer. This included starting at gas station and stopping at end to fill up. That is with pure highway 65 mostly cruise and occasionally down to 55-60 through a construction zone but near perfect traffic condtions.

I certainly can't do that on a daily basis but if you worked the right times of day or something I'd presume it doable.

Finally, I figured it was common knowledge that cars get worse gas mileage in the winter. Mostly for 2 reasons: 1) the winter blend as mentioned. 2) extra gas used while warming up as it takes longer and the car is less efficient when warming up.

It should be noted if you used to drive something that got 20ish mpg and it did 5% worse in winter that's 19 mpg (almost a wash under your "give or take"). Whereas something that gets 40 mpg a 5% drop in winter now gets 38 so the drop might feel more noticeable. Otherwise I don't know, all my cars have always gotten worse gas mileage in the winter by a couple mpg.

 

[finaldrive]

I average 28-30mpg

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[mazda3grandtouring]

I watch the fuel drop and I am roughly getting 130-160 every quarter tank. So around 280-320 by halfway and then the fuel seems to drop faster and I end up with somewhere between 480-525 for the tank.

 

[byrdman77]

I watch the fuel drop and I am roughly getting 130-160 every quarter tank. So around 280-320 by halfway and then the fuel seems to drop faster and I end up with somewhere between 480-525 for the tank.

If you want to be reasonably legitimate with this, please stop giving rough estimates and just do things the right way. The gauge will tend to drop faster on second half of tank because it is setup to do so. Without going into a longer explanation it makes people feel like they are getting better gas mileage.

1) Reset the trip odometer (as you said you do). Fill up tank til it clicks (I don't recommend overfilling, will kinda skew data).

2) Drive car until you go to fill up.

3) Write down how many gallons went in, and how many miles your trip odometer was at.

4) Simple division for miles per gallon.

5) Compare results over multiple gas tanks.

6) Bonus for smartphones: record it every time through an app and look how it changes over time. This will be first winter for me doing that with this car, I'll let you know how mine does ('12 MT-sky sedan).

 

[tmart]

What are you talking about man? 2012 mazda 3 skyactiv = 14.5 gallon tank.

525/14.5 = 36.2 mpg

I've driven my car till it said I had 5 miles left in the tank and then filled it completely up and it was still under 12 gallons. The OP is saying he's filling it back up with 60-80 miles left on the screen which means he's filling it with about 11 gallons.

 

[StaFForD]

I use the mileage app to keep track of my fillups, mpg, and costs. You should check it out. Very simple layout.

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