Are US Aspires/Festivas with Auto boxes gutless?

[gtd2000]

I'm still trying to figure out why our little blue Mazda 121 (see icon) only gets mid 20's to the gallon and struggles to pull 85mph.

Anything that I try makes no difference whatsoever (now at 61,000 miles) and I've run out of ideas really.

So are these B3 engines mated to an overly power-sapping auto box or not?

This B3 engine with the 16v head (SOHC) should be a little flyer on paper but it certainly isn't

[Whittey]

My '95 Aspire can hit 80 pretty easily (just not quickly). It gets between 28 (winter) and 35 (summer) mpg.


-=Whittey=-

[mechanicaldj]

it could be the fuel you run.

when i had my white Festiva auto w/ a/c
it got 35mpg combined
and winter or summer
compared to my manual , it was slow on the start
but not that slow


advance the timing a bit and run high octane

[gtd2000]

My '95 Aspire can hit 80 pretty easily (just not quickly). It gets between 28 (winter) and 35 (summer) mpg.


-=Whittey=-

I get around 24mpg winter and 24 mpg summer ops:

I get even less on the highway! Around 22mpg!

[gtd2000]

it could be the fuel you run.

when i had my white Festiva auto w/ a/c
it got 35mpg combined
and winter or summer
compared to my manual , it was slow on the start
but not that slow


advance the timing a bit and run high octane

From what I've been told/heard (don't quote me on this - but I heard this on Top Gear) "our" fuel over here is of a higher grade than the variety you folks use in the USA (...Of course it should be at $7 a gallon :x ).

We generally have two options here in the UK:

1. Unleaded (95 Octane)
2. Super Unleaded (98 Octane)

I'm normally running "Unleaded" in the car but not actually tried using the Super Unleaded variety.

This might prompt a question because this car is actually the JDM model and not the UK spec Mazda 121.

Could it be something to do with the different type or specification of fuel used in Asia?

I actually bought this car when it was 3 years old in Hong Kong and shipped it back to the UK when I lived in Hong Kong.

The car is pretty quick off the mark but once it gets to around 50mph it appears to run out of steam and I also get the impression that the gearing is pretty tall as well (2500rpm @ 60mph).

It really does not feel like a 72hp engine to me - I'd be surprised if it was putting out 55hp let alone 65 hp!

Other than the high fuel consumption and slug like performance the car is 110% reliable and no other complaints whatsoever.

[gomer]

Just a few comments ..

1.) I believe the fuels here and in GB are comparable in octane,,, our numbers posted on the pumps are the average of "motor" and "research" , this serves to make our numbers smaller than yours which I believe are straight "research" numbers .. ie. observed in a test engine and a number based on the theoretical octane (perfect gasoline is iso-octo-heptane .. a 100 molecule long chain=100 octane) , similar discrepancies in ratings can be seen in light piston aircraft fuels where "impossible" octane ratings of 100/110 octane are the result of adjusting the test parameters for altitude... you pay $7 a gallon with $5 of that being tax ,, we pay $3 with $1 of that being tax...

2.) your gallons are larger than ours so your mileage-per-gallon is truly BAD...

3.) I have a 1.1 liter a/c Kia Pride 4 dr sitting at my house in the Phils.. it gets about 40mpg and is slightly detuned compared to cars built for countries with better gas.. you may have to bump your timing or possibly change your camshaft for one that will give you better cylinder filling/pressures to get the hp and mileage you're looking for.

4.) This could be something as simple as the ignition advance mechanism not working prperly as the car runs strong at low rpm..

I would get it to a mechanic with a fancy analyzer... with your fuel costs finding the problem is a necessity.

[gtd2000]

Just a few comments ..

1.) I believe the fuels here and in GB are comparable in octane,,, our numbers posted on the pumps are the average of "motor" and "research" , this serves to make our numbers smaller than yours which I believe are straight "research" numbers .. ie. observed in a test engine and a number based on the theoretical octane (perfect gasoline is iso-octo-heptane .. a 100 molecule long chain=100 octane) , similar discrepancies in ratings can be seen in light piston aircraft fuels where "impossible" octane ratings of 100/110 octane are the result of adjusting the test parameters for altitude... you pay $7 a gallon with $5 of that being tax ,, we pay $3 with $1 of that being tax...

2.) your gallons are larger than ours so your mileage-per-gallon is truly BAD...

3.) I have a 1.1 liter a/c Kia Pride 4 dr sitting at my house in the Phils.. it gets about 40mpg and is slightly detuned compared to cars built for countries with better gas.. you may have to bump your timing or possibly change your camshaft for one that will give you better cylinder filling/pressures to get the hp and mileage you're looking for.

4.) This could be something as simple as the ignition advance mechanism not working prperly as the car runs strong at low rpm..

I would get it to a mechanic with a fancy analyzer... with your fuel costs finding the problem is a necessity.

Hi Gomer,
Kamusta ka?

1. Unfortunately when we pay $7 for gas here "$5.95" is the tax :evil: it's 85% on vehicle fuel for road use!

2. I was actually using US gallons for the mpg (due to most folks here being US based) so I get around 30mpg (Imperial Gallon) using the UK/Commonwealth measure. $19 gets me roughly 66 miles :!: 24 (Imp) mpg would be truly woeful!

3. When you talk of bumping the timing I assume you mean rotating the distributor? Clockwise = Advance, Anti-Clockwise = Retard?

I'm sure there is something amiss somewhere with the car - even although it is flawlessly reliable! Although I've spent a fair amount of time in the US driving larger capacity cars some of our small engined cars over here are very "nippy" (peppy) indeed but this 121 just does not fit the profile at all - to my mind it should be a little flier with the 16v head surely?

I drove a friend of mines Renault Clio 1.2L last year and it felt like a 2.0L by comparison to the Mazda. I also bought a Proton Persona at auction last summer over here (Mitsubishi Lancer based car built in Malaysia) which was only a 1.3L engine and a much larger car than the 121 and it felt very powerful by comparison with only 72hp on tap!

I'll have a look at the advance/retard situation and will also adjust the TPS too while I'm at it.

I almost forgot to mention that I've had the car hooked up to a Bosche engine diagnostic machine (it's a while back now) and they advised me that everything was running as per factory specifications...I also had a buddy of mine who owns the local garage to hook up the car to his laptop type diagnostic machine and could not find any problem at all.

I was initially watching the mechanic...trying to figure out how to use the machine and was not convinced he knew how to operate Windows 95 let alone this nice shiny piece of kit that cost my buddy $14,000 :wink: but I got called away to sort something else out at the time and could not hang around.

[14karat]

Sounds more like a drag of some sort on the car... first thought would be a brake, but surely you would have found a flaming tire by now.
Could be something in the tranny itself.
Just for comparison, I have a '94 Crown Vic with a 4.6L V8. It recently hit 300K miles (all original drivetrain.) My average MPG is between 25 & 26 (95% hwy miles)... so you definitely have something gone apecrap.

[TheresGabe]

he he he

95octane? that's funny.....Maybe my aspire is running sluggish because I'm putting 83 in it! how's your intake? I did a simple "cut holes in the air box" and I gained a lot of off the line pep, and also it increased my top speed from 82mph to about 95! Mine is also getting around 25-27 mpg, and that just doesn't seem right when I was getting 47-50 with my '88 4-speed festivas! :shock:

[gtd2000]

I just filled up the car tonight and took out the air filter to see if there is any improvement in performance & economy.

Can't say I noticed any difference performance wise driving up the road.

[gtd2000]

Sounds more like a drag of some sort on the car... first thought would be a brake, but surely you would have found a flaming tire by now.
Could be something in the tranny itself.
Just for comparison, I have a '94 Crown Vic with a 4.6L V8. It recently hit 300K miles (all original drivetrain.) My average MPG is between 25 & 26 (95% hwy miles)... so you definitely have something gone apecrap.

I've had the brakes checked and the wheels appear to be rotating fairly freely.

I did notice after the cars annual inspection (MOT) that the handbrake (parking-brake) was over adjusted and was actually slightly on when in the off position - but that was a while ago and it never really made much difference to the car really.

It might be that my expectations of this little car are too high?
I'd expect 30~35 mpg (US) and a lot more acceleration.

[TheresGabe]

More than that!

removing the filter didn't really improve my flow either however this did:



I makes it sound mean too!

[14karat]

Could be high gear slipping or dragging...
I once had the transmission rebuilt in an old car and the man who rebuilt it made me a "great deal" and installed a shift kit.
Everything was fine 'til it hit 3rd, then the car would just suddenly slow down.
Turned out 2nd wasn't releasing when it shifted into 3rd. Problem with that so called 'shift kit'...

[gtd2000]

The car might be "over-geared" but it sits around 2500RPM @ 60MPH which seems perfectly reasonable to me?

Perhaps the Auto box versions were really only designed for use in towns?

Then again 72hp and a small car should be more than adequate for decent performance. :?

[gtd2000]

I decided to fill the car up with Super Unleaded "98" as a change from the usual Unleaded "95" and I'm not sure if it is just coincidence or me convincing myself but it does appear to be going a bit faster.

Of course this is not a scientific "faster" but it appears to be revving out more with the higher octane fuel.

I read elsewhere that the JDM cars normally run on 100 octane in Japan but have no idea if this is in-fact the case?

Is there something I should be adjusting to make my 121 run better on Unleaded "95" as I can't always fill up with Super Unleaded "98" ?

Thanks in advance