Not sure if this is anything that anyone really wants to know, but I
thought it was interesting, so I'll pass it on.

I bought my 2004 RX8 around the same time Paul got his. 7 years now. In
fact, I was at the dealers the minute it was delivered in July of 2003,
watched them take it off the truck, and took the shipping plastic off it
myself.  Every mile on it (except the 1 on the odometer from the
factory) was put on it by me. The dealer has never even driven it
(except to pull it into the service bay...we drive directly into the
indoor service area here at my dealers, so they just had to take it from
there into the assigned bay)!  I have kept track of every tank of gas
I've put in it, and logged it in a spreadsheet. I also keep a couple of
lines for the totals since my gasoline supply started using 10% ethanol.

In adding yesterdays fill up, I just checked all the figures, and
thought it would be of some interest if I reported them to all now that
I've been using the ethanol for almost a year, and the car itself for
64,000 miles.

Total Miles at last fill up: Odometer read 63,880, spreadsheet is 63,698
so I've lost a few miles somewhere, might be that I use the trip speed
to record miles between fill ups and not the odometer.

Total gallons used: 3,403.26

Total Cost: $7,970.45 [$1,238,57 per year. Insurance cost me more.]

Average mpg since purchase (including ethanol): 19.24

Average mpg BEFORE ethanol: 19.28

Average mpg AFTER ethanol started on 8/5/2009: 18.79
Total mileage with ethanol: 6138.6

Mpg loss since ethanol was started: 2.54%

Harley

I have been telling Robin this for years and it is why
(high ethanol content) Arco here in CA is several pennies
cheaper per gallon. Since it is a wash cost wise Arco
does not take credit card so I don't use it.

The nice thing about the RX8 is the depreciation is very low.
Hold it long enough and take good care of it and the used
price will go back up. Twenty five year old RX7's in good
shape are increasing in price.

I have had several Mazda rotaries
with over 300,000 miles. The cooling system should be
overhauled around 8 to 10 years. Also the nylon lines
feeding the apex seal oilers should be replaced about
the same time. Too bad Mazda does not make them out of
steel.

Paul Lamar


P,

    As you may recall (but, if you did, your memory would
be far greater than mine), I have an Acura RSX-S.  This
is the 4-cly, 200 Hp model with variable valve timing
(50 extra Hp appears from nowhere when the tach crosses
the 6,000 rpm line...!)

    I've also noticed an approximate 1 mpg difference
after the local fuel stations switched to 10% Ethanol...
I don't have complete records to show this, but I usually
compute my mileage after every fill-up.  The difference is,
that I don't record the numbers.  I used to see 26-27 mpg
overall.  Now I see 25-26...

    Just thought I'd toss in my experience for continuity...

Best...


Jack Beale
And just for reference, my BEST mpg during the 7 years was one tank full
where I made an effort to save fuel, and managed 25.59 mpg...the worst I
ever got (pre-ethanol) was 17.54...which prompted me to check the air
filter...found a mouse nest in it!  Mounted a piece of half inch square
screen (hardware cloth) across the air intake to stop them little buggers.

Post ethanol, I've seen several tank fulls in the 17.4 range. With a K&N
filter now, and no meeces.

Harley

Mine will do 25 MPG on a flat road at a steady 65 MPH
(cruise control) no wind.


Paul Lamar