sleven

Hello, I'm brand new to the forums here and figured I'd tap into some of the knowledge! I'm a proud new owner of a certified pre-owned 2008 Mazda 3 Touring. Its the 5 door model, 2.3L with ~37000 miles on it [completely stock]. I've filled up a few tanks of gas and have been getting around 26 MPG consistently on 87 octane. I'd like to get 28MPG but would LOVE to have 30MPG. My drive regular driving habits include a mixture of highway and city miles as well as slow acceleration and early, gradual braking.

I'm not looking for any increase in HP/torque as I can only legally go the speed limit . I am however looking for a chip that may tune the computer (hopefully comes pre-tuned) to increase my fuel economy.

Anyone know of any reliable chips out there?

Thanks!

matt

djs2571

Hilly country, soft tires, dragging brakes, all will decrease the mileage... I don't know of any chips to use though.
I'm averaging ~30mpg, and it ranges from 28-32 most tanks. - 2007 mazda 3 GT, same economy from day one to the present 36k miles.

mwheue

I have the Mazda 3 Touring 5 door and it gets 27 Mpg avg. Hypertech has a programmer and it is the only one that I know of PN# 62003

chuck087

the thing is if you increace hp you will increace mpg's to an extent. air intake will help a lot! 1-3mpg, exhaust will add to that. i have gotten 34-35 on the hwy with my 09 3 hatch 2.3 with 3" magniflow exhaust it is loud but sounds great. I expect to pull 35-38 when i get intake and a tune.

gron

increasing hp does not increase fuel economy. also, chips dont work. programmers do.

eggynatey

^^Agreed.^^
If it was as easy as adding a 25 cent resistor from Radio Shack to get an extra 5mpg (or whatever the chip vendor claims), I think Mazda would have put that chip in while they were designing the car.

chuck087

Yes increasing hp will increase your MPG to a point now if you try to get 100 extra horses yes you will loose. when the car has more power it doesn't have to work as hard to pull itself. As for when i said chip i was referring to reprograming the ECU sorry if i confused anyone on that. As for mazda doing anything to help, no they won't, they detune the engines for the states as well as 95% of all other auto makers you go to europe and the 2.0 has the power of the 2.3us version and does very well on gas...

i just installed the corksport air intake and hypertech programer on my 09 3s hatch and am averaging 31 in town, i haven't had a chance to get it on a hwy trip yet.

i will be dynoing my car soon but i should be right around 180 BHP and am getting much better mpg's than when i first got the car which was 25city 31hwy

gron

what are you, twelve? the more power a car has, the more rpms it can run, making the pistons move faster, consuming more air and fuel. using a programmer and OPTIMIZING the ratio of fuel/air comsumption can increase mpg. INCREASING hp will not. its no wonder people complain about the quality of info posted in this forum....

Wolfgang5884

It's not all about power. It's about efficiency and a tune to maintain efficiency throughout the RPM range! That's why properly tuned turbo cars can get better gas milage than naturally aspirated (N/A) vehicles, especially in high altitude areas. For instance, a N/A 2.5 liter can easily produce 175 horsepower, but a turbo 1.6 liter can easily produce 175 HP and it will use less gas. However, once you tune and modify a vehicle for power, you are going to loose gas mileage. Gron is right, more air=more gas, which equates to reduced efficiency.

Crossover Auto

Hypertech programmer sold here! http://www.crossoverauto.com/mazda3-3.htm

rfh

On improving mileage, an engineer I know says that non-ethanol gas will always get better mileage than ethanol. I experimented on my 2010 Mazda 3 hatchback (auto, AC, using 87 "regular"), and he's right. A guy in town (Phillips 66) sells only non-ethanol gas. First I took a long trip on the Interstate and found that I got about 32-3 mpg, vs the 28-30 usual. More recently I checked after driving a tank solely in town and got 21-2 mpg, vs the usual 18-20. The "pure" gas here costs about 12 cents more than normal ethanol. Maybe it's better for the engine? rfh

RedKnuckles

YA but look at the difference in liter's. That turbo isnt doing a whole lot for low rpm daily driving situations. At 1.6 liters of course it will get better gas millage than the 2.5. When you see the spec sheet for it you see 175 horsepower and 40 mpg. To get those figures they wernt redlining and milking all 175 hp while maintaining 40 mpg.

More HP in all the rpm's is better gas millage. Well if you drive exactly the same as before. Since you now you have more power, its now harder to press the gas pedal exactly the same as you were driving with out all the hp mods. At stops your accelerating your car quicker making you think your car is less efficient.

Every time I install a K=N air filter I get 1+ more mile to the gallon. Guess what the car isnt working as hard as it was to receive the same amount of air as before.
As long as you maintain the same driving habits your car is now more efficient.

RedKnuckles

When I took a few Uti classes I learned adding a little bit of ethanol to the tank before fill up actually adds MPG. At what cost? Reduced HP ect? I dont remember but it dose improves MPG.

Wolfgang5884

RedKnuckles

Let me guess, you put a 8" rice can on the back of your stock car and think you actually added HP?