--- a/scripts/plot/meshc.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/meshc.m
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@
     set (htmp, "edgecolor", "flat");
     if (! ishold ())
       set (hax, "view", [-37.5, 30],
-                "xgrid", "on", "ygrid", "on", "zgrid", "on");
+                "xgrid", "on", "ygrid", "on", "zgrid", "on",
+                "xlimmode", "manual", "ylimmode", "manual");
     endif
 
     drawnow ();

--- a/scripts/plot/private/__contour__.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/private/__contour__.m
@@ -140,9 +140,8 @@
 
   addproperty ("fill", hg, "radio", "on|{off}", filled);
 
-  ## The properties zlevel and zlevelmode don't exist in matlab, but
-  ## allow the use of contourgroups with the contour3, meshc and surfc
-  ## functions.
+  ## The properties zlevel and zlevelmode don't exist in matlab, but allow the
+  ## use of contourgroups with the contour3, meshc, and surfc functions.
   if (isnumeric (zlevel))
     addproperty ("zlevelmode", hg, "radio", "{none}|auto|manual", "manual");
     addproperty ("zlevel", hg, "data", zlevel);
@@ -183,8 +182,8 @@
   addproperty ("linestyle", hg, "linelinestyle", linespec.linestyle);
   addproperty ("linewidth", hg, "linelinewidth", 0.5);
 
-  ## FIXME It would be good to hide this property which is just an undocumented
-  ## alias for linecolor
+  ## FIXME: It would be good to hide this property which is just an
+  ##        undocumented alias for linecolor
   addproperty ("edgecolor", hg, "color", edgecolor, "{flat}|none");
 
   addlistener (hg, "fill", @update_data);
@@ -210,13 +209,18 @@
 
   addlistener (hg, "edgecolor", @update_edgecolor);
 
+  ## Set axis before adding patches so that each new patch does not trigger
+  ## new axis calculation.  No need if mode is already "manual".
+  if (all (strcmp (get (gca (), {"xlimmode", "ylimmode"}), "auto")))
+    axis ([min(x1(:)) max(x1(:)) min(y1(:)) max(y1(:))]);
+  endif
+
   add_patch_children (hg);
 
-  axis ("tight");
-
-  if (!isempty (opts))
+  if (! isempty (opts))
     set (hg, opts{:});
   endif
+
 endfunction
 
 function add_patch_children (hg)
@@ -392,6 +396,7 @@
 endfunction
 
 function update_zlevel (h, d)
+
   z = get (h, "zlevel");
   zmode = get (h, "zlevelmode");
   kids = get (h, "children");
@@ -554,7 +559,7 @@
 endfunction
 
 function lvl_eps = get_lvl_eps (lev)
-  ## FIXME -- is this the right thing to do for this tolerance?  Should
+  ## FIXME: is this the right thing to do for this tolerance?  Should
   ## it be an absolute or relative tolerance, or switch from one to the
   ## other depending on the value of lev?
   if (isscalar (lev))

--- a/scripts/plot/private/__ezplot__.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/private/__ezplot__.m
@@ -432,9 +432,6 @@
     hax = newplot (hax);
     if (iscontour)
       [~, h] = feval (pltfunc, hax, X, Y, Z);
-      ## FIXME: Work around contour setting axis tight.
-      ##        Fix should really be in __countour__.
-      axis (hax, domain);
     elseif (isplot && nargs == 2)
       h = zeros (length (XX), 1);
       hold_state = get (hax, "nextplot");

--- a/scripts/plot/surfc.m
+++ b/scripts/plot/surfc.m
@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@
     set (htmp, "facecolor", "flat");
     if (! ishold ())
       set (hax, "view", [-37.5, 30],
-                "xgrid", "on", "ygrid", "on", "zgrid", "on");
+                "xgrid", "on", "ygrid", "on", "zgrid", "on",
+                "xlimmode", "manual", "ylimmode", "manual");
     endif
 
     drawnow ();