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One thing I do is try to coast (in gear) as much as possible. The Elantra actually coasts very well compared to some other cars. So on even a very slight downgrade, I can coast for quite a ways before the car loses significant speed. Also I do a lot of coasting coming up to stoplights, if there's no one behind me. The trick is, keep your foot off the gas as much as possible.
Friday, though, I drove from Fort Worth, TX, to Cedar Rapids, IA (nearly 900 miles) to pick up my son from college, then we drove the loaded Elantra hatch back to Fort Worth the next day.... almost 1800 miles in 40 hours. Anyway, I joined the 400-miles-on-a-tank club and recorded 35 mpg with the car full of stuff! Overall for the trip I think we averaged about 32-33 mpg, going about 75 mph most of the way in my GLS hatch with AT. Finally I can brag about my mileage.
Huh?
Why?
I get 36 mpg with a 5spd and 50 extra lbs at 65 to 70mph.
Works out to an 8 hr drive on my 480 mile trip from WV to NY on 13.5 gal of gas. I seldom do over 72mph due to poor mileage and extra engine wear at 3000+ rpm for hrs.
I just got back from taking the car in to fix the 3 recall notices (air bag issues and gas tank clamp)and bought 3 more oil filters at $6 a pop. They gave me 6 when I bought yhe car to cement the deal. I never knew how golden they were at the time. lol
There has to be a cheaper anti-siphon filter out there. I asked the service manager, he wouldn't tell me of any.
Looked at the new Sonata while I was waiting. Looks very impressive with it's big wide tres.
With that said, you may or may not believe this, but I think that as Elantras get higher in mileage, their gas mileage continue to get better - but does eventually plateau. The last highway trip we took in our '02 GLS automatic was from NC to Pittsburgh, and the car had around 65K miles on it at the time - about a year ago. Going up, I did not calculate mpg, but decided to do so on the way back. A lot of the trip was through the mountains (in VA and WV), and I did use the air conditioning a little bit, mainly for the defroster. I had filled up as we left Pittsburgh, and we refueled in southern WV. My cell phone has a calculator on it, and gas mileage was 38.6 mpg. I couldn't believe it. That was with 2 adults, 1 average sized dog, a small dog, and a couple of suitcases.
I am now driving the Elantra as a daily driver, and it has 75K on it. My trip to work is 23 miles one way, and consists of a mix of country and city roads. I try to keep my foot out of it, and have gotten between 29-32 each week for the past 6 weeks. We are also using the Elantra to run all of our errands.
I have personally never owned a vehicle before that seems to get significantly better gas mileage as the vehicle gets older (or at least nothing that has done so like this Elantra has).
A few wks ago I bought 3 filters from walmart, I think they were Super Tech. Opened one up when I got home and it was twice as small as the Hyundai filter. Like lawn mower size.
I took them back to the store and got 3 filters at the dealer.
Not even worth doing the oil change. The Super Tech is junk; someone on another forum did a comparison and found the filter media on the OEM filter has three times more area than the Super Tech.
I can believe that. The filter was so small I thought I bought the wrong one. I had a hard time reading the fine print and filter book without my glasses. lol
I hope their Super Tech synthetic oil is better than their filters.
I bought some of that at less than $3 a qt.
I think Mobil 1 is close to $6 a qt.
I like to use synthectic oil when I go on long trips for extra protection.
There are a couple of other forums out on the web (Doohickie is on one of them for sure) that have a long thread about oil filters for the Elantra. Most consensus believe you should stick to the Hyundai OEM (I am not one of them). However, for those where you don't want to spend the premium then there seems to be the consensus that the Purolator is the best thrid party one out there.
Happy oil changing!
Can't even find out who makes the filter for Hyundai. But it does seem to be a quality item. Guess it has to be for a 10 yr warranty.
I wonder if Ferrari has it's own $30 oil filter. lol maybe
GM and Ford could do the same. But I guess not with their puny 3 yr warranty.
I think I'll also save 100% on my air filter purchase per this dude.
Also, I got a Wix air filter for my Elantra for $10 @ O'Reily, compared to $20 for the OEM filter. Looks identical to the OEM, even made in Korea.
************
I guess the only downside is Hyundai not fixing my car under warranty if I have a major eng failure.
But if they did that I would just tell them I will NEVER buy another one of their cars. Plus I'd tell everyone I know not to buy one.
Same thing I had to do with a 98 GM trk I had. A rear wheel bearing failed (they said I drove it in deep water) so they wouldn't fix it, on top of oil burning on startup.
They wouldn't fix either problem.
I wrote them a letter and told them I wouldn't buy another vehicle from them. And haven't. I never heard back from them either.
But I still get mail from them to buy a new vehicle. lol
The high sulfur fuels can damage fuel sending units that operate the dashboard gas gauges, causing them to give erratic readings -- false high readings and false low readings.
Until recently, the only solution has involved draining the tank and replacing the sending units, a repair that costs up to $1,000. But fuel additive manufacturers in the last year have come up with a much cheaper fix.
The average level of gasoline detergent has declined," said Scott Cushing, a fuel additives expert at Chevron Corp. "It is an industry fact."
It seems that as gasoline prices have gone up, the quality has gone down.
The decline in gasoline quality prompted four major auto manufacturers to come together about two years ago and set a standard themselves for so-called "top tier" gasoline. The group noted that since the EPA established additive standards in 1995 the average level of detergent had slipped by 50 percent.The retailers that meet the specification include many household names such as Chevron and Shell, but also many smaller brands such as Aloha Petroleum and Jiffy Mart. More information about gasoline that qualifies under the program is available at www.toptiergas.com.
What do you do if you are stung by bad gas that has broken your fuel-sending unit? Before you go to the expense of replacing the unit, you might try an additive. Late last year, Chevron introduced an additive called Techron Concentrate Plus that is formulated to clean the sulfur deposits from the fuel sending units.
Most sending units use a strip of silver or silver palladium to transmit electrical signals to the dashboard. Only a few luxury brands use gold, rather than silver.
The sulfur in gasoline can contaminate the silver or silver palladium and the Chevron concentrate is designed to remove it in one tank of treatment, Cushing said. A bottle for a 20-gallon tank costs about $10. It is sold at most auto parts stores and big discount stores. (Although Chevron puts Techron in its gasoline, the gasoline does not contain the ingredient that cleans the fuel sending units, Cushing said.)
Chevron is not the only company that markets an additive to clean fuel sensor valves. When Marathon encountered its problem with bad gas, it gave out free samples of Valvoline's SynPower Complete Fuel System additive. It is also marketing MaxLife Fuel System Cleaner, which Marathon said cleans and restores sensors.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060513/AUTO03/605130301/1149- /AUTO01
Additional gasoline retailers are added to the TOP TIER list as they meet the standards. The retailers known to be on the TOP TIER list are shown below.
TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:
QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Jiffy Mart
Mahalo
Tri-Par Oil Company
Shell-Canada
Be very, VERY careful about putting fuel additives in your gas. Many of them will damage the sensors in your car, causing Check Engine Lights that will prevent you from passing emissions tests. If the dealer determines that the additive damaged your sensors, it may NOT be covered under warranty.
Anyone have any real-world fuel economy numbers to report? On my current tank on my '04 GT automatic, I am about 9/16 through it and averaging 30.5 mpg in around-town travel. I was up to 31.0 until today when I did a lot of stop-and-go driving, sitting at many lights.
Unfortunately I didn't reset the computer after taking it off the lot, so I have all of the test-drive milage figured in there as well.
(As far as cleaner additives go, I wouldn't recommend using them on a regular basis, but one every couple of months shouldn't be a problem for any of the equipment in there.)
I use the cleaners every six months or so (3000-3500 miles), always with a full tank.
Doohickie, how does your son like Coe College and Cedar Rapids in general......or shouldn't I ask??????? haha. Cedar Rapids is a big step down from Dallas-Fort Worth.
Finally, I wanted to post something about fuel economy to get the discussion back on track.
Well, let's just say he's not going back. He had a harder time adjusting than he thought he would, and the distance was a bigger issue than we thought.
Fortunately my work schedule is 10:30am-ish to 7pm, so I get to do the great majority of my driving outside of the normal commute times, so I'm rarely sitting in traffic.
Thanks!
(and thanks, iowaelantra)
I have an 06 5 door GLS Elantra manual.
The 2nd calculation was about 350 miles of all freeway, except for three quick pit stops. Speeds were 65-70 (posted limits), with cruise on most of the time, over flat or gently rolling terrain (except for one steep climb up from the Mississippi River which was hard on fuel economy). The A/C was on for only about an hour, otherwise temps were in the 70s with a slight headwind. Same two passengers and luggage. Average mpg was 35.3.
I drove, um, quickly. The climb up to 7200 ft didn't help the milage much, but I got it all back on the drive down.
I'm sure if I drove slower I'd get better numbers...
I just never know what to do with my right foot when it's not on the gas pedal, or on the brake.