I took advantage of the aggressive pricing on the 2010 mazda models and bought home a 2010 mazda 5 on Saturday. The dealer delivered with the tank full. As the fuelmeter crossed the halfway mark (consumed 30L), I noticed I clocked in 212 kms. That translates to a fuel economy of 7 km/L, which is pathetic. Can I expect this to improve over time?

 

Determining your fuel consumption rate based upon on the fuel level indication is exceedingly inaccurate; you can be off by as much as thirty percent. The only really accurate method of calculating your fuel consumption (short of having a calibrated ScanGauge installed in your car) is to average your fuel used and the distance driven over at the very least three tanks of fuel (anything less will yield inaccurate results as fuel pumps virtually never click off with the fuel at any given level).

The above said, most cars loosen significantly over the first 8,000 kilometers or so, and continue to loosen at a much more gradual pace for tens of thousands of kilometers thereafter. As the engine and drive train loosen, fuel economy improves. FWIW, my last car before my current Mazda didn't deliver its best fuel economy until it had over 230,000 kilometers on the clock.

 

I just bought a 2012 Mazda5 GT automatic (2.5L, 157HP). On my first full tank the gauge reported 18.0 mpg (US) but my fill-up calculated to 18.5. Disappointing.

Throughout the first tank I drove VERY conservatively, but it was mostly city streets driving and lots of hills. Still...

 

Picked up my brand new 2010 sport manual. I went from Austin, TX to Texarkana, AR with a few detours on a single tank of gas. I got 29.5 mpg when I filled up.

 

08 Mazda 5 here, averaging 26 mpg... could be a bit better but my wife has a lead foot

 

i kind of wished. i would have bought a 2010 my self my dealer had one a GT loaded with nav it listed for $26,500 i could of had it for $22,500 out the door . my new 2012 mazda 5 only gets from 22 to 25 mpg and thats driveing the speed limit and slow take offs i have tryed every thing to get better milage i have 2,000 miles on the van you would think the motors broke in by now .. most of my driveings on the free way 5% in town i still like the van i do like the power of the 2.5 motor spencerfvee...

 

Like others said you really won't get your best mileage until the engine is fully broken in, so don't get too bummed about poor mileage right now.

Incidentally on a trip from VA to OH in my father's '08 Mz5 2.3 ATX we were getting 32 mpg.

 

Good link to convert the mpg to l/km plus + inverse
i thought Maz 5 would be better on gas than the 21.1 MPG or 11.11 liters/100km
http://www.tdiclub.com/misc/conversions.html

 

Sorry, the 21.1 MPG or 11.11 liters/100km I mentioned is what I calculated for our 5 ... what I see on the review sites are a combined 23MPG which is not far from what I have at 21.1mpg.
The thing is, I have a 2500 GMC Savana that is fully loaded with copper & tools and that gets me 5km/liter which is (by this tool) 11.76 MPG or 20L/100km and it has a 5.7L engine and 2 times bigger & 3 times heavier.
That sucks at $1.35/liter that = $5.10/Gal.

 

Hi pk. do you know if cruise control was available with the manual? i'm looking at 2012 sport manual. but they rate manual/automatic as same mpg, which seems strange to me since manual is typ 5pct better mpg. thanks.