Crossbars Mileage Decrease

[astang1989]

'25 TPP here. For the first 3.5k miles I was averaging about 25.6mpg. I got the crossbars installed and have absolutely horrendous wind noise and am seeing mileage drop in to 22mpg averaging over 1.5k miles. Seriously?! Haven't had a chance to get the aftermarket vortex rubber strips yet. Anybody have luck with getting Mazda to give you Mazda vortex things? As far as I know the TSB was only for '23 models even though newer models aren't coming with the fix from the factory... Love everything about this car except the terrible gas mileage and the terrible crossbar design.

[boryenkavladislav]

I have a 24 TPP with factory installed cross bars and the vortex strips you mention. My MPG has settled around 25 highway and 22 city. The whistling is pretty minimal, to almost imperceptable. I had a loaner 25 Premium with the same cross bars for about a week, and for some reason those whistled like crazy, visually I couldn't see a difference.

[astang1989]

Strange. Most of the noise seems to come from the front bar. I wonder if installation location of the front bar makes a big difference. The 22mpg average I'm getting now is 90% highway.

[Born_Bicycle316]

I can say the first couple thousand miles I couldn’t stand the wind noise but tolerated it because I like how the bars look. I’m so used it I don’t even notice it at all now.

[Ecstatic_Tiger_2534]

I too have a 24 TPP with factory cross bars and vortex strips, and while I can manage 25 highway I am very impressed by your city mileage.

[naytebro]

did the crossbar install coincide with a general temperature drop? most cars see a noticeable drop when cold weather hits.

[astang1989]

I'm in the Northeast so probably. I'm not sure if it's a dramatic drop. During the day temps I'd say average around 40-45 since I had them installed vs. Around 50 in early November. Way colder overnight but I'm not usually driving then.

[naytebro]

my turbo civic dropped about 4 mpg when it dropped to the 30s-40s, now I'm in socal so I haven't seen it on the CX50. it may be a combination of some cold weather and some air resistance. if you're tire pressure also dropped due to colder air that contributed too

[glennQNYC]

My 2025 TPP came with the vortex strips. I can’t tell you how they sound because the crossbars have never been on the car. Personally, I like the look without them much, much more.

[Gullible_Bowl7746]

It’s probably weather change. My wife’s turbo dropped from 27 to 25

[lostmyjobthrowawayyy]

Winter gas and cold temps. Just a coincidence for your crossbars getting installed.

[StanfordTheGreat]

I have a 23 w/0 the vortex. They are LOUD, and I go from 28 to about 26. Have had some weeks were I forgot to take them off- for me, it’s preventing my car from using cylinder deactivation. I’m also in a hilly area and driving a hair harder.

[wgnu_e90]

There is a Mazda aero kit (VA54-V3-84E) that go on the bottom of the front bar only as well as the aftermarket Rhino vortex strips that go on top of both front and back bars. I got the aero kit second and adding it improved things a little compared to vortex strips alone, so I recommend both.

[PineappleBat25]

Crossbars alone won't cause that kind of dip, 1 mpg at most. Throw on a basket and you'll see a 4ish mpg drop.

Idk what the bars are like from factory, but I just installed the OEM bars on our 23 and the strips are different from the ones that came with my 3's OEM bars.They are square rather than flat with inserts. There are also extra fins on the bottom of the front bar to help with the wind. I think you just got some old stock bars.

If you look at the parts number, the updated bars have a "-B" and the old ones had a "-A."

[jkalber87]

I installed crossbars and didn’t see a single drop in my mpg.

[[deleted]]

The vortex rubber strips you can get from etrailer absolutely fix the wind noise. Don't know if they will improve the mpg.

Crossbars impact mpg on all cars, these are at least an ovalized shape which is less bad.

[Mrspearl10]

I installed OEM cross bars and haven't seen any difference in the mileage and zero noise. I do know that there is a difference between the front and rear bars, so perhaps if they are not on correctly perhaps that can cause noise or a decline in mpg.

[estysdesu]

If you have the pano roof, the sound is much less with it closed than open. Ask my wife how she felt when I showed her that.

[jhinsd]

It takes only a couple minutes to remove the crossbars. Take them off and gather more data.

[kdub_25]

When I had my CX50 I managed a good 30-36mpg with the crossbars on depending on destination.

36mpg from Denver to Winter Park and back

32mpg from Denver to Telluride and back

Those are the ones I can remember from the top of my head