Mazda 3 Petrol Range

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nzkiwiman

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#175617 6-Jul-2015 11:01

Since there seems to be a few Mazda 3 (late 2014-2015 model) owners in here, I thought I would ask about petrol range
Having upgraded from a 96 Civic that didn't have any "computer gadgets", this is the first car I have owned that had a range to empty meter.

The advertised specs are 5.6l per 100km (for the GLX Auto), which is probably unrealistic, so I figured based on the 55l tank and at roughly 7l per 100km, I should be doing around 700-750km per tank. After reading the New Zealand users guide (was reading the USA one), the tank is only 51l, so I adjusted downwards to around 650-700km per tank.

Then I read that the tank holds 9l in reserve so that when the range is showing 0km, there is actually still 9l in the tank and you can still drive a little bit BUT eventually you will hit a point that fuel can't be pulled into the engine.

So with that in mind - 600km per tank, at 7l per 100km seemed reasonable to expect

Did my first fill in the weekend (had a 'roughly' full tank when picked up) - 41l put in and a range of 480km
I was a tad disappointed that I wasn't able to get to 500km and of course well short of my guesstimate of 600km

So, fellow Mazda 3 owners - can you report your range?

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#1337705 6-Jul-2015 11:07

The advertised specs will be based on some "theoritical" combination on City Driving, highway driving, hills etc,

You will often never find a real life situation that will meet these...

You will probably get close to you 600 km range if you are doing highway driving on a long trip,
but around town forget it...

nitrotech

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#1337715 6-Jul-2015 11:11

I'm also interested in hearing others feedback on this - the SkyActiv engine proclaims all sorts of amazing figures for fuel consumption.

Was looking at the CX-3 which for an auto seems to have pretty amazing stats.

I do find it a bit hard to believe some of their figures when I can only get 5.7l/100km out of a 1.3

michaelmurfy

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#1337716 6-Jul-2015 11:12

My old work car got around 750km per tank (Mazda 3 SkyActiv 2013 2.5L) if I didn't thrash it.

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wellygary

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#1337722 6-Jul-2015 11:16

michaelmurfy: My old work car got around 750km per tank (Mazda 3 SkyActiv 2013 2.5L) if I didn't thrash it.

City or Highway? + the '13 had a 55 litre tank too

maxeon

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#1337732 6-Jul-2015 11:45

The easy way to measure is to Fill your tank in FULL and run for about 500kms and then Fill up your tank to check how much fuel was consumed (on your invoice Liters).
This will give you the accurate measure of how much was consumed in those 500kms.

ajobbins

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#1337733 6-Jul-2015 11:46

Fuel usage figures are so unrealistic, and the type of car makes a big difference.

I drove a new Mitsubishi Outlander which claimed combined usage of around 7L/100k - but even on a trip from Napier to Auckland in the middle of the night with no traffic I only got it down to 9L/100k in Eco mode. That with probably half the trip or more sitting at 100km/h with cruise control.

By contrast, my usual car (Commodore) has a combined usage figure of 11.1L/100K, but on many a trip I have had the average down under 8.

The tests are done in very specific circumstances and do not in any way reflect real world driving.

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Jase2985

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#1337752 6-Jul-2015 12:21

maxeon: The easy way to measure is to Fill your tank in FULL and run for about 500kms and then Fill up your tank to check how much fuel was consumed (on your invoice Liters).
This will give you the accurate measure of how much was consumed in those 500kms.

doesnt really matter how far you drive it :)

fill it up using the same method everytime. drive till the fule light comes on and it should be fine to drive a further 50km or so. Then fill it right to the top again. Work out how many Liters it took and and how much is left.

A 51l tank will probably take closer to 55L by the time you fill up the filler spout so if you fill up 50L then you sill have a little left in the bottom

Just keep driving further and further till you get to the 46-50L mark when you fill up.

Also join Fuelly, www.fuelly.com/ so you can easily track fuel ups, averages etc. Its very helpful to see trends over time.

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nzkiwiman

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#1337797 6-Jul-2015 12:47

I should have said, my fuel usage is mostly home to work, return - 30-32km with 20km being at 100km
Of course there is that lovely hill to get over just as you leave Mosgiel so I am sure that I burn a bit of petrol putting my foot down

What I should have done when I got the car was reset all the fuel data stored in the car - the average of the 7000km before I got the car is 8.6l/100km
Maybe the next fill up

Also, I'll be travelling this weekend out of Dunedin so it will be good to see what it gets on a longer road trip and the difference between the hills from Dunedin to Oamaru and then the flat from Oamaru north

lxsw20

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#1337822 6-Jul-2015 13:12

Don't let the car get to empty every time, it's not good for the fuel pump.

Jase2985

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#1337829 6-Jul-2015 13:16

lxsw20: Don't let the car get to empty every time, it's not good for the fuel pump.

its only bad for the fuel pump if there is no fuel and you will know that as it will start to become jerky/rough while driving

lxsw20

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#1337842 6-Jul-2015 13:23

You also want to avoid filling the tank filter up with crap from the bottom of the tank.

mattwnz

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#1337847 6-Jul-2015 13:29

nitrotech: I'm also interested in hearing others feedback on this - the SkyActiv engine proclaims all sorts of amazing figures for fuel consumption.

Was looking at the CX-3 which for an auto seems to have pretty amazing stats.

I do find it a bit hard to believe some of their figures when I can only get 5.7l/100km out of a 1.3

The cx-3 is pretty much a mazda 2, but slightly higher up. Havin driven one, and compared to the mazda 3, the mazda 3 is a far better driving car. ALso has proper rear suspension, and not just a beam.

Dairyxox

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#1337963 6-Jul-2015 15:40

2011 Mazda Axela, only has a 1.5 litre engine, but I regularly get 750km from a tank. Sometimes a wee bit more even.

nzkiwiman

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#1337978 6-Jul-2015 15:59

My 96 Civic got me 400km from 32l fill (40l tank) - never did see the fuel warning light
On the Mazda the warning light came on as soon as I hit 2 bars left on the fuel gauge.

Noticed this morning after doing 107km on tank that the first bar disappeared. Same as last fill (at roughly 100km)

Rather than starting another topic, anyone use iStop?
I note that having my heater on low, at the first "hot" setting and directed at the windshield turns iStop off. When I change the heater to being half windshield and half feet it turns on.
So far cannot see the benefit of using iStop as the majority of my daily drive is without stopping and if I do use it it seems to take a heck of a lot longer to start the car again.

CitizenErased

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#1337980 6-Jul-2015 16:08

lxsw20: You also want to avoid filling the tank filter up with crap from the bottom of the tank.

So many people say this, but it makes no sense. The fuel pump always draws from the bottom of the tank, so if there's any sediment in your fuel, it's going to get caught in the filter no matter what the level in the tank.

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