I've been wondering the same thing: I bought my 2014 CX-5 Touring FWD about a month ago, and have been manually calculating my mileage based on fill-ups, and I'm only averaging 21-22 mpgs. Even after I fill up the 14.8 gallon tank, the car usually tells me I only have about 320 miles, which comes to an average of 21.6 mpgs.

I use it daily for a 20-minute commute of city driving, but I have taken it on a couple of 100+ mile trips based on the advice of other forums who suggested getting some highway miles on it. Is there an engine "breaking-in" period where the car learns my driving habits and adjusts to improve my mileage? Should I be concerned? I expected much better.

 

It's all about how you drive. Drive leisurely with a light foot, without jackrabbit starts and stops and you'll get better gas mileage (with any vehicle).

Modern car computers do learn your driving habits and try to adjust. If you decide to drive more deliberately, disconnect and reconnect the battery which will cause the computer to relearn your driving style.

 

BTW, I am somewhat disappointed at the way the "SkyActive" system responds to the throttle. There are times when I pull away from a traffic light and the car jumps like I had just floored the pedal when, in fact, I had barely touched it. So far the dealer's response is, "That's kind of normal." Well it may be normal but it is not consistent. Once in motion all is smooth but this startup jump makes me wonder about fuel metering.

 

You may be right but this thing doesn't seem to "learn" anything. My other car is a Prius (which I drove for 90k miles) and its throttle response was 100% predictable. The CX-5 is occasionally all over the place.

And, does this mean that if I take the car in for service and they disconnect the batter all bets are off? Doesn't seem very high-tech to me. Better to write that data into NVRAM and then have a reset feature.

 

I've had my CX-5 for about 2 months now and have put 2100 miles on her. I've been getting 25.8 MPG city driving and 33 MPG on the highway. I'm wondering if people with low MPGs aren't "eco" driving. I found that when I switched my display info to "current MPG", I started driving much more fuel efficiently. It shows you where you're burning fuel and I've found ways to ease up on the gas pedal. Since then, my MPGs have continued to increase!

 

I've had my CX-5 (2.0L awd) for 2 years and 25K miles. I do not "eco" drive usually and average 25-27 in city/suburban driving and 29-30 freeway driving.

 

Two things, where you drive and how you drive. If you drive short trips that don't get the engine up to operating temperature, in stop and go traffic your going to get poor mileage. If you live out in the sticks and stay below 60 mph or so and mostly below 50mph, and drive 10 or 20 miles at least, you going to have great mileage. I do this, I've seem from 32.4 to a high of 41.9 mpg average on the read out in the dash. This is overall as highway mileage isn't really what the car is getting over time. It varies , but it's always good because of where and how I drive. I have a CorkSport intake and exhaust so I do thrash it a bit!

 

I've taken the time to watch what kind of mileage I've been getting over the past few weeks. By observation of the "Current Mileage" indicator I see 33~35 mpg on Interstate driving once I'm at a constant speed (around 65 mph). Mileage in cities sucks and is usually down in the area of 22~25 but the beast really sucks the gas during acceleration periods (and no, I don't have a lead foot) so even though it shows about 31~32 after getting up to street speeds the average is really pretty low.

I do track my gas purchases and miles driven. My observation has been that the "Average Mileage" indicator and my calculated MPG is pretty close so I don't think there is anything wrong with the gas metering.

I keep wondering if the car might get a bit better in-city mileage if the "feel" of the accelerator was a bit better. I know "fly-by-wire" isn't like the old cable or push-rod pedal feel but unless you are very careful with your right foot you can end up JUMPING away from a traffic light. My other car is a Prius which is 100% fly-by-wire and you know exactly what proportional response you are going to get when you push the GO pedal.

 

Trustyrusty, You mention great mileage but at the same time I get the impression that you drive your 2.0 manny tranny somewhat hard... I do too, but I don't have the Corksport mods you have and average only 26mpg overall...

Ok... I bought my CX5 right before a Montreal winter with a remote starter (which is somewhat annoying with the manny tranny)... then I bought a Thule and left my wingbar rack on until the summer... I only started driving her a little harder after about 5000-10000 KMs. I'm doing more highway now but my MPG still isn't increasing like I'd like it to at 15,000KMs going into the fall.

My wife drives it most of the time... unfortunately mostly only about 1km at a time city driving and she often cruises at high RPMs, regardless of my reminders to gear down. I guess this has a lot to do with it since she's the main driver under these conditions...

Anyways, I wish I got better mileage, had more horsepower, less road noise, the better stereo and the 40/20/40 rear split in the 2.0 manny tranny trim... Of course asking for AWD with the MT is a pipe dream and absolutely never going to happen... the MT with the 2.5 remains a maybe though IMHO because they offer it in the Mazda 6 which is ironically a lighter car too.

So trustyrusty, how do you like those Corksport mods? Do you feel the extra power? You should be at ±165 HP I'm guessing based on Corksport's claims... Is the CX5 rather noisy now? CS told me that adding both their CAI and muffler would result in a considerable noise increase. Do you concur?

The only other theoretical mod I've come across would be to flash the ECU to the European mapping to increase HP to 165 using premium fuel... I don't know if anyone can or is willing to do it though. If it were possible I would maybe consider doing it for the extra power if such a remap wasn't too expensive. Then again, gas is really expensive in Quebec and I might reconsider such a desire after buying my father-in-law's 2005 A4 1.8T manual quattro that I will remap... The mod shop I plan on going to also recommend installing a $400 CAI on the A4, but I don't think I could justify it being that so many people claim a CAI will only change the engine's sound, especially with a turbo engine...

 

The way a car is driven has more to do with mileage than anything else, so your NOT going to get the kind of mileage someone who drives differently does. I looked the other day at avg. mpg and it was 34.5, I drive mostly on back roads at 40-50 mph, some city and freeway. Cork Sport make a intake for this car and it seems to give better mileage and a little more pep. I tried their springs and anti-sway bar, I do not recommend them, to stiff for normal driving. The car cornered like it was on rails, but was just to harsh on the bumps. This is a 2000cc engine in a 3500lb car, it's not going to be fast no matter what is done to it, save your money for gas! I have H&R springs in it now and it's not overly powerful, so it's pretty much like a Miata with a lot of room and way better gas mileage. Unless your going to turbo it or something it is what it is, which isn't bad, I like mine it's fun to drive!