I am down to half of the tank after driving for 180 kilometers.
From the internet, the car is supposed to have a 44-liter capacity but 9 liters are the reserve. So doing the math, the car is consuming around 9 litres/100km which seems excessive for a 1.5 litre engine. I drive in a low-density town where the speed limit is 60 KM/hr, and there is rarely any form of start-stop traffic. It is hilly, sort of, you meet a couple of non-steep climbs here and there, but I doubt they are the reason behind all of this.
It is a Mazda 2 (2013) with an automatic transmission and a 1.5-litre engine. It had a previous accident history; therefore, it was cheap, and the mechanic I bought it from told me it was just body damage. None of the mechanical parts (engine bay) were affected and restored to an almost new condition. Which is in line with its history as it lists the accident as a rear collision.
The ball bearings on one of the rear wheels sound like they need replacement, but otherwise, I had no issues with the car. The engine sound, torque, and even AC work really well. The engine air filter looks almost like new. Should I be concerned?
People often think small engines equates to lower fuel consumption. In truth, a smaller engine will consume more fuel especially if your daily commute involves a lot of highway/motorway driving.
Here’s why. Say we take 2 cars for a comparison test. Car A, which is a small economic hatchback and has a 1 litre 3 cylinder engine, and Car B, which is a family saloon with a 3 litre V6 engine. The misconception is Car A will be more fuel efficient than Car B, because Car A’s engine is 3 times smaller than Car B. However, if we look at it from a logical point of view, say both cars are on the highway doing 62mph/100kph for 2 hours, Car A’s engine would have been working at say 3800rpm the entire 2 hours, while Car B’s engine did the exact same journey with the engine working at around 2000rpm. Basically, a bigger engine works less to maintain its speed than a smaller engine, and if we’re talking in the context of highway driving, less stress on the engine equals less fuel used.
However, if we’re talking about purely city driving with speed bumps, traffic lights, stop signs, traffic congestion, Car A would likely be more fuel efficient because it has the advantage of lugging around less weight, while exerting similar stress levels to the engine as Car B would (unless you’re flooring the pedal whenever you accelerate). The most important factor when it comes to fuel economy, is not the displacement of your engine, how many cylinders it has, or whether it comes with a CVT/DSG/traditional torque converter/manual gearbox, it all comes down to your driving style and how you actively reduce the stress loads on your engine. Keep the revs low and avoid accelerating when you’re travelling uphill. Learn to plan ahead, accelerate when you’re going downhill, and coast as much as you can.