RX8 gas mileage that bad??

[CustomChevyGuy]

So I was talking with an old friend from high school, and she told me that her RX8 was getting terrible gas mileage, and even though its only a couple years old, she was thinking about getting something else. She said she gets 15mpg and its a stick. I don't know much about these cars, but that was kind of surprising to me that it would be that bad. I asked her what had been done to it, and she said it was "stock except for the blue lights on the interior and the HID's on it"

any idea on whats going on with it? anyone else have one of these vehicles?

[TheFreeman2005]

Yeah, those things never did get good MPG's as I understand it. I thought 18 was about as good as it gets on the interstate.

[1996Silverado]

Rotory's never got good mileage, but 15 does seem a bit low.

[kirknd4spd]

Rotaries don't get good gas mileage. If you buy one expecting 30MPG, you're SOL. 15 isn't horrible, when I get my RX7 running, I'm expecting to get around 10.
The RX8 is only rated to get 18 MPG, BTW. But you can usually pull 18 out of them if you don't drive it hard.

[GCncsuHD]

Rotary engines are notorious for being inefficient in that regard. And it doesn't take long for the seals between the rotor/"cylinder walls" to wear down making it even more inefficient.

Her fault for not doing more research before buying a car. RX8s were never intended to be a economy car, but instead a sports/performance car which the high revving rotary is actually good at in that regard.

[CustomChevyGuy]

Originally Posted by kirknd4spd

Rotaries don't get good gas mileage. If you buy one expecting 30MPG, you're SOL. 15 isn't horrible, when I get my RX7 running, I'm expecting to get around 10.
The RX8 is only rated to get 18 MPG, BTW. But you can usually pull 18 out of them if you don't drive it hard.

hmmm i had no idea they were that bad - i mean 18 really??
that explains part of it..and you're right on the "if you dont drive it hard" part..she likes to go!

i might have to start giving her a hard time for having a gas guzzler after she was talking about the mpgs of my nbs.. she was shocked when i told her my avg. mpgs

[Survivorman]

15 is a bit low a good driver on a stick should get closer to 20.

Rotarys have no torque to speak of so they constantly need more gas to keep moving.

Hell I can get 22 with my AC on FTW and the rotarys too.

[waterproofone]

Originally Posted by TheFreeman2005

Yeah, those things never did get good MPG's as I understand it. I thought 18 was about as good as it gets on the interstate.

I have an RX-8..Had a 97 extended cab silverado z71 before it..loved it but hated the gas mileage. I don't get much better than I did..but it's better. This is my 5th rotary engine. I get 17mpg in the city and 22 highway. If you drive them hard, the mileage goes down some but not much. It seems much worse because they used to have 18 gallon tanks, now they are 15.9 but when you fill up from empty only takes about 14 gallons..so it goes quick. Rx-7's were about the same on gas as well, not great but any sports car gets about the same. If you take care of it, keep the maintenance up, it will get the advertised 16 city/22 highway mileage. You'll get better if you drive it easy. The main thing that kills a rotary is idling..stop and go traffic will burn the gas like a bombfire.

[oldred95]

I put an engine in a RX8 a while back and it was an experience for sure. Got it in and had all sorts of misfires and I started searching the RX8 forums and the cure all for everything is a new engine. We finally sent it to the Mazda dealer and it ended up being a bad coil but I transferred the original coils over to the "new" used engine and they worked fine on the old engine. After reading I found out these things are plagued with ignition system issues, coils, wires and plugs, poor fuel economy, random dieing and so on.

[4x4 Fanatic 4x4]

yeah i actually almost bought one of these a few weeks back, saw one on my local cl and fell in love, but after reading up on em my mind was quickly changed because of the low torque and the bad mpg. they do look pretty sweet though

[waterproofone]

I think I am going to keep mine for another year and sell/trade. It's loads of fun, love hearing the engine wind up like a turbine. The gas mileage is not too bad for me long as I am not just sitting in traffic all the time and it's still better than my 97' chevy z71 extended cab 4x4.. it was awesome for road trips but still had horrible mileage,,I had it tuned to the max and it never changed a thing. KandN filter, bosch plat +4 plugs, new wires, oil changed every 3k..13 city/ 15 or 16 highway. I have to wait to pay a few more bills off and save some more money and then may post it for sale.

[supjim12]

My 12a RX-7 got 23 highway but that was on a good day, when I did the trirotor swap was getting 25 on the highway.