Taking care of my mother's car while she's away for the winter. Its a bone stock 2013, well cared for and only 50k miles. According to the trip dash computer it's only averaging 26 MPG and I drive it very conservatively, never accelerating hard. Should be 4-5 MPG better according to what I've read online. Any suggestions?

 

Are you factoring in warming it up and defrosting the windshield? Short drives? Under-inflated tires? Winter blend gas? Car heavier than usual?

Everyone's mileage tanks in the winter, usually to winter blend fuels and idling defrosting windshields. These little 1.5's take a while to make any heat when cold. Poor mileage isn't an indicator of anything wrong with the car, so don't try any off the shelf cleaners or additives.

 

Car is kept in underground heated garage so no 'warming up' not necessary, plus hasn't been very cold here past couple weeks(above freezing). Tires are all four kept at 32 psi. No added weight, I drive the car alone with no passengers or cargo. Just seems like such a small car should get better mileage. Drove a Mazda3 that gets much better mileage and that car is larger and has much more pep. Just expected this car to be more of a gas miser.

 

Does seem low...must be an auto tranny?
My 2010 manual tran gets 39 or over consistently.

 

yes its an auto transmission but the auto should still avg at least 30 MPG. The car seems to drive well so I don't see any obvious mechanical issue.

 

​​​​​​There's dozens of us who've average above 40mpg but it's all relative. I normally average about 32 but with the winter blend gas we have now I get closer to 29. That Mazda would see a similar drop in mileage under identical conditions, so it isn't limited to what you drive.