Having driven 3 x 2.0 Litre 6 speed MX-5's my average was between 45-49MPG on intermediate and long runs which to me wasn't bad at all especially when some MX5 members were getting 29 MPG or ion most cases 35-40MPG which to me is down to individual driver foot control on the accelerator.
With the Mazda 3Coupe 2.2 Skyactiv Diesel i could achieve well into the 70MPG mark on a long run whereas most drivers seem to be hard pushed to get into the 50's and this was borne out when I refilled the fuel tank.
The 3 CX-5's I have driven to date I can, according to the computer readouts achieve anywhere between 52 to 66.2 MPG and again this is borne out by the refills of the fuel tank in which deducting around 3MPG from the indicated to actual used fuel figure means that I am getting really good MPG even from half a barn door going through the air.
My style of driving has been honed through years of motoring and regular testing when employed by the Police, my conclusion is that most drivers nowadays are accelerating close to the manufacturers 0 to 60 times, continue to keep their foot on the accelerator when up to cruising speed which will normally be in excess of the posted limit and push it down a bit further when going up hill to maintain momentum and/or when overtaking all of which will consume more fuel. When approaching traffic lights they keep the speed up and knock it off last second through heavy braking and then have to wait idling the engine until the lights go green before taking off as though in a F1 Grand Prix until they hit the next set, and so on and so forth.
I have done all the above when in my youth and especially when in Hillclimb and speed events all over the country in my much modified Sunbeam Imp Sport ( laugh as you may she was able to beat many bigger engined cars on a number of circuits and Hills timewise
Driving HGV1 Artic's has shown me that nowadays you gain little in the way of time going anywhere in the UK and have lost count of the number of cars that hammer past me on Motorways at least 5 times on some of the longer journeys I make in the order of 200+ miles each way at a mind blowing 56MPH.
Having spoken to a number of Transport Managers, all informed me that when HGV's were first limited to 56MPH the journey times from Birmingham to Southampton by a speed limited vehicle were 10 minutes extra, the saving was made on fuel at 1 gallon each way saved per vehicle and at 100 vehicles a day that was a big saving over the year.
Anyway my point for blathering on, accelerate smoothly not quickly, look ahead to see what traffic is doing and bring speed down slowly without coming to a grinding halt, anticipate what inclines are before you and gain momentum going down without overdoing the accelerator and then let your foot slowly off the accelerator going up with the rub off of speed down a few MPH allowing you to get over the rise. Do these few things and watch your fuel go further. The gauge in the CX-5 is show MPG is something that I thought I'd never use ..How wrong was I as it's a competition to see how far over to the right I can keep it for the longest time.
