The wife and I made a trip from outside of Tacoma down to Portland and back on Friday. This was the first time to really get this car up to good speed. Speed limit is 60 in the metro area but south of Olympia it becomes 70mph. The vehicle was a dream to drive. This was my first experience as well with the radar cruise control. It performed as expected, slowing down when distance became less than ideal. I engaged it only on the 70 mph stretch. Weather was foggy in the metro but clear elsewhere with temperatures of 28F when we departed to 39F in Portland with a cold wind coming off the Columbia River.
Traffic was generally good except for one semi accident that backed us up a few miles. On the way back rush hour traffic bunched up about 50-55 miles from home and it was stop and go for the last 30 miles. Typical traffic here so it was expected.
Fuel economy averaged 30.9 mpg for the entire trip. The computer was showing just over 33 mpg during the 60 mph sector, obviously going faster reduced the numbers but all in all I am satisfied. The vehicle is just now approaching 1000 miles so the initial break in is done but several thousand more are needed to really loosen her up. I have read comments on other social media that fuel economy goes up substantially after several thousand miles with these SkyActiv engines.
This old dog is still learning about all these electronic nannies and systems but so far they are helpful instead of hindering. I did turn off audio alerts for the LDW. Now I just get visible warnings on the HUD display which I really like.
Finally, noise levels are fantastic inside the car. At 70mph, we could still converse in soft conversations. Mazda did it’s homework on the noise reduction. With a iPhone app, I recorded 54-55 decibels at 35-40mph or so and at 70 mph it recorded a average of 62 decibels. Not too shabby in my opinion for a vehicle in this class. Also, since this is BITOG, there has been no oil usage or change in the crankcase level since purchase.
Traffic was generally good except for one semi accident that backed us up a few miles. On the way back rush hour traffic bunched up about 50-55 miles from home and it was stop and go for the last 30 miles. Typical traffic here so it was expected.
Fuel economy averaged 30.9 mpg for the entire trip. The computer was showing just over 33 mpg during the 60 mph sector, obviously going faster reduced the numbers but all in all I am satisfied. The vehicle is just now approaching 1000 miles so the initial break in is done but several thousand more are needed to really loosen her up. I have read comments on other social media that fuel economy goes up substantially after several thousand miles with these SkyActiv engines.
This old dog is still learning about all these electronic nannies and systems but so far they are helpful instead of hindering. I did turn off audio alerts for the LDW. Now I just get visible warnings on the HUD display which I really like.
Finally, noise levels are fantastic inside the car. At 70mph, we could still converse in soft conversations. Mazda did it’s homework on the noise reduction. With a iPhone app, I recorded 54-55 decibels at 35-40mph or so and at 70 mph it recorded a average of 62 decibels. Not too shabby in my opinion for a vehicle in this class. Also, since this is BITOG, there has been no oil usage or change in the crankcase level since purchase.
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