Archive for June, 2010
2010 Mazdaspeed 3 Miles per Gallon – Bethany Beach Trip!
This weekend I decided to go to Bethany Beach in Delaware for the weekend. Life has been hectic and I needed a little reprieve. So I grabbed my Girlfriend packed up the MS3 and hit the road Friday after traffic. We left at 7pm and arrived just before 10pm Friday night. There was a little traffic on 495 leaving Bethesda but it was pretty much smooth sailing after that. Traffic was next to none all the way up 50 East and over the Bay Bridge. It was a great night to put the Mazdaspeed 3 through the grind again.
This trip was not different from the road trip to Savannah. Loaded up the computers, ipods, phones and jacked in like Neo from the Matrix. Once again all the features of the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 made for an amazing ride. For the trip up, I refilled the tank without octane boost. I did this in continuation from my previous post as extended testing of the octane boost product and the affects on the car. (2010 Mazdaspeed 3 w/ Octane boost – worth it?) I noticed the car was a little sluggish on acceleration when trying to take over cars. When the dashed lines allowed me to on the one lane highways, you know I couldn’t resist! The car still handled well and accelerated better than most but it just felt heavier. I thought to myself, maybe it is the 100lbs in luggage and the 110lbs of Girlfriend (shhhh, don’t tell her I told you her weight) but when I did the math, 200lbs on a butt dyno… won’t feel it.
But I digress… With every fill up I reset Trip A and the Miles per Gallon averages. Due to traffic conditions, weather variants, etc. this is not an exact science but it is a good real-world example of the gas efficiencies of the MS3. The trip up had about 20 minutes of traffic around the beltway and took just under 3 hours. It was about 85 F and road conditions were clear. As I ended my trip with just under a half of tank of gas, my average miles per gallon were 26.7. Not too shabby if you ask me, especially since that is .7 over what the average is said to be for highways. So with the remainder I was able to drive around Bethany, Rehoboth and Ocean City for the weekend and still have a quarter tank of gas left for our trip back Sunday.
The trip back I decided to add a bottle of octane boost and refilled the tank before we left. We left under roughly the same conditions, 85 F, clear and about 20 minutes of traffic when we got to the Bay Bridge and all within about 3 hours. The trip back required the same amount of passing on one-lane highways if not more. We even had more luggage for the trip back because of our little Tanger Outlets excursion in Rehobeth earlier that day! Even with that the car felt lighter and faster with the octane boost and the biggest surprise was the gas mileage results at the end of the trip.
When we returned to Bethesda I looked down at my miles per gallon average and the in dash computer said 28.2. I was amazed. How can this 265 hp Mazdaspeed 3 get 2 more miles to the gallon than suggested? Who needs a hybrid when you have forced induction!!! The amazing thing is I am not the only one to see these results with their Mazdaspeed 3. A friend of mine in the Mazda Community forums at www.streetunitforum.com mentioned that he got 28 mpg during his trip from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando with cruise control set at an average of about 75 mph throughout a 250 mile trip this weekend, as well.
So with all that I can honestly say that the Mazdaspeed 3 is not just a fast, sporty, fun, economic racer… it is very “green” as well. I bet with a few breathing modifications such as a cold air intake, opening up the exhaust from the turbo back, a more efficient top mounted inter-cooling system enhanced with a nice piggyback system I could easily get this car into the 32 miles per gallon range and still cost lest than all Hybrids in this Horsepower range. I will be putting that to the test since those few modifications listed are first on my list!
2010 Mazdaspeed 3 w/ Octane boost – worth it?
So I decided to try out some octane boost and see if I noticed a difference in performance. In my previous Mazdaspeed Protégé it made a great deal of difference due to all the mods, however my current 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 is bone stock currently. So while I was looking for electrical tape at the CVS I came across the bottle of octane boost by Gummout. For $2.67, less than a tank of gas, I decided to pick up a bottle and see what I could notice if anything.
Last night I had to fill up (The instructions say to wait until the tank is low and use when you fill up) and I dumped in a bottle and added 11 gallons of 93 octane and drove off. I had a 45 mile drive home at this point which is good for testing this out!
So I drive normal and got the good old Butt Dyno ready for about 10-15 minutes to get all the gas to cycle through and make sure I am getting the “good stuff”. I hit the entrance ramp from 665 to 97 north heading back to Baltimore and floor it to merge in.
The Butt Dyno then tells me the following:
- Acceleration is smooth and powerful.
- Instant response from the gas pedal to the wheels
- RMPs creep up quicker and much smoother
- Getting to higher speeds quicker
All-in-all I can say that the octane Boost is actually noticeable. Just to make sure though, I plan on not adding any to the next tank and then adding it again to the tank after that. The major inaccuracy of the Butt Dyno is mind over matter so I want to be sure and by rotating octane boost a few times I should be able to tell if my mind is playing tricks on me for sure.
Summation:
So is octane boost worth it with the 2010 Mazdaspeed 3. For less than a tank of gas and keeping that RPM curve steady I say YES. Maybe not something I would use every fill up but definitely will use it for nice days with some “spirited driving” or at the track.
2010 Mazdaspeed 3 + octane Boost = smooth operator!