On a purely highway trip, I have recorded as high as 26 mpg @ ~70 mph. I live in a rural area, so my daily driving involves a lot of highway miles, so I will get better mileage than others in their urban and suburban commutes. Daily driving in the summer gets me 22-23 mpg, but in the cold winter, 20 mpg or less in common with that same type of driving. Cold weather kills mpgs. During the winter, every car I have owned has a minimum 10% mpg drop during the cold months.

 

I have a 2002 AWD V6 tribute that I drive 500 to 1,000 miles a week on. I've been keeping a log of gas mileage since october. I have had a high of 24mpg and a low of 15mpg but over all this time with mixed driving I've averaged 18mpg. I drive 110 miles round trip to work on interstates. I have noticed that the wind direction makes a big difference in my mileage. A cross wind loses me about 2mpg a tailwind gives me about 3mpg.

My wifes 2003 AWD V6 gets about 16 but hers is all in town driving. On our last trip she was getting about 22mpg.

 

I have noticed that too. I drove down the NYS Thruway to Albany in July with a light tailwind behind me...that is where I recorded the 26 mpg number. On the way home, into a stiff headwind, my mpg was 23, even with the same type of driving.

With a boxy vehicle like the Tribute/Escape, speed and wind are big factors in gas mileage. I used to drive between 75-80 mph on the Thruway and never got better than 23 mpg. I slowed it down to 70-72, and that number (except for the presence of a headwind) jumped to 25-26.

Try following an 18-wheeler...that will increase your gas mileage significantly.

Instead of buying a 2004, I almost bought a leftover 2006 4-cylinder, 5 speed AWD model. It's EPA ratings were 22/26. I wonder how much better that Tribute would've done with mpgs than my V6 automatic..?

 

There are 2 factors that can change your miles.

I increased tire pressure from 30 to 44PSI using Continental (German tires) and use it for last6 years.
Highway mileage 27-28 usg/mile
It is uselees to discuss city mileage.

Also on longer trip I may use Aceton 2.8 oz per tank and mileage goes up to 31-32.


Normally my mileage would be 24 usmpg. Also remember people in Canada use imperial gallons that is 20% more.

 

A couple things need to be considered are

the V6 is obviously gong to consume more gas then the I4
The V6 is a ford engine with fords fuel system, which have never been as efficients as other companies.

If you have AWD your going to loose a lot of economy with the extra drive axle to run.

Also if you live in a colder climate your going to loose economy because a colder engine runs more rich, plus winter fuels have alcohol added to absorb water.

If you get 16-18 mpg in the city and 21-23 on the highway with a V6 and AWD drive you are right around the average that every one else gets.

 

Mine is a 2001 and I get the same. 17 MPG.

 

I'm right there with you guys. Or at least I'm perceiving I have a milage problem.

Been a Mazda owner for 25 years. Started with an 83-626 sport coupe. It was Motor Trends import car of the year. Graduated to a 90-626 hatchback. Lasted 16 years and served me well during a job layoff. Both got great mileage. Now drive an 06 S Tribute V-6. Bought it used back in Jan 08. Has 16.5 gal fuel tank. Wish it was largerto improve the range. Gas gauge readings are kind of funky. I seem to only put in around 14 to 15 gal at refuel when empty. But this may be more of a pump issue that a tank one. The first quarter tank goes down fast. The remaining 3-quarters seem to deminish at a slower rate. Going to start recording consumption to determine if its reality or just a preception of poor mileage. But I’m getting used to it…and I love driving it.
I'm new to forum.....glad I joined. The information is helpful.

 

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and I bough recently a 2008 Mazda Tribute 3.0 liters, V6, 4WD(4 weeks ago), the GS version.

The car has 1650 KM on it so far. The experience have been mixed, I love the car ride and space, but I got a check engine after only 475 KM! and the fuel consumption have been much worst that what is advertised by the agency of the government of Canada in regard to vehicles's fuel consumption.

The check engine was a problem with cylinder #3 (a misfire), that the dealer corrected under warranty quickly after growling to the technical service at the dealer to do it ASAP.

In fact, I demanded to the technical service a full print out of the DTC (diagnostic troubleshooting codes of the engine) taking from the car's on board computer that shows what they did to correct the cilinder #3 misfire and they provided it.

Unfortunatelly, I got suspicius about the car after this, so I changed the oil to synthetic, Mobil One 5W-20 after that.

Since, a anti-rust treatment on the car was done at the the dealer when I bought it, I suspected perhaps an oxigen sensors may be faulty or they put some anti-rust on it by accident, but so far that have not been the case.

The average consumption have been around 18 liters/100 km mix driving (50% city and 50 % highway), which is not what I was hoping for.

I live in Quebec city in Western Canada and this winter have been extreme in regards to snowfall. We beat a snowfall record old of 40 years, we had over 500 cm of snow. Over the last 4 weeks, the temperature have been below -4 degrees Celcius in average. In fact, I still have 1.5 meters of snow to melt in my backyard.

Furthermore, I live in a suburb in the north part of the city which is a little bit higher that the main city (around 200 meters), so going down to work is fine, but coming back the engine works more because of the hills.

I did a research in the way this fuel consumption estimates are calculated, so I assume 10-15 % more that the sticker suggested (12.5 liters/100 km in the city and 9.1 liters/100 km in the highway in theory) is acceptable before buying the car, but not 45% more!.

I spoke to the director of technical service at the dealer and I said that 45% more was completelly unaceptable and I was not confident that the fuel injection system/car was working properly.

We agree to do a real world test with a computer hooked to the on-board ECU of the MAZDA Tribute and he agreed to show me in "real time the consumption' in liters/100 km while we will do a real trip with mix highwayand city driving (around 50/50).

The test was conducted today (2008/04/07) with a temperature of around 5 degrees Celcius outside, with not much wind and the streets were clean of snow, around 10 km in all the trip.

The average consumption for the trip was 12 liters/100 km and the heating was on but not the CD. This means around 19 miles/us galon or around 24 miles/imperial galon.

In the highway around 100 KM/Hour the instant consumption was around 10 liters/100 KM when the road is flat and no much wind, as soonest there is a hill, the consumption goes up.

More amazing was the instant consumption in the city when the car starts going forward from a full stop, depending on how "heavy is your foot", it can go up to 200 liters/100 KM in that first few seconds an then back to 13 liters/100 km at around 50 km/hour.

In resume, fuel consumption should improve, if my foot is less heavy while driving in the city and I am going to change my route to return home, to reduce the slope to the car in my way back.

It seems it is normal that with snow or partially snowed roads (the 4WD will be used more) and when is really cold (below -10 degrees Celcius), the consumption is around 18 liters/100 km in average, but I was told as well that it should improve after the engine breaks in (around 5000 KM).

I am confident the mileage/galon will improve and the car does not have a problem with the calibration of the fuel injection system or a faulty oxygen sensor or other sensors.

To proved it, I got a full printed out of the trip with all the values of the sensors of the engine that shows that they are within tolerance.

In resume, finally, I decided to keep the car after all and I hope this info is useful to other members of the forum.










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I haven't tried this with my Tribute yet (just got it last weekend) but Lucas oil stabilizer almost doubled the mileage of my Protege. Will post more when I try it.

 

Quebec City...in western Canada? Isn't Quebec City in EASTERN Canada, east of both Ottawa and Montreal?

My gas mileage lately has been 21-22 mpg, with a 75% highway/25% suburban mix.