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Does anyone have the details of the analysis that EPA did? I didn't find it with some searching. I'd like to see what data and results EPA got for the Sonata vs the Sonata Hybrid, Elantra and the rest. I just find it hard to believe the Sonata was OK. Perhaps they just evaluated the combined value which might mask the lousy city mileage with the relatively good highway mileage.
This is my second brand new Sonata. The first was a 2003 with a V-6 and in the past few years was getting 21 in town and about 28 on trips.
And I agree, Hyundai should have had this on the list as well.
(I can't get that from my Nissan Versa!)
By the way, are you sure your Mustang has a 4-cyl engine? Those haven't been built for 20 years.
Different drivers and different routes are clearly going to affect mpg. But there is quite a range here. Is there an issue with engine/car tuning?
(not aimed at you, crankeee, just responding to the last post in the string.)
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The gov't needs to act on this.
The Buick was $12M more than the Hyundai MSRP and much more with newer models.
The Sonata has an MSRP in low $20's and weighs in at 3200#,16" standard tires,no leather or glitz but most modern options with adequate I-4 engine ( fairly noisy but good power match with car) and 20-24 in city(wide variation depending upon conditions) and 33-37 on highway depending on speed (not A/C, load, conditions). Great highway car with more noise-wind & engine - good visibility and outstanding MPG so it is the road car choice with high gas cost.
Point is; We are the same drivers for both cars but they are very different in weight, service, options, MPG, comfort, noise level and PRICE. At 50%+ more cost , the Buick should be a more comfortable luxurious car and it is with less MPG . The Hyundai at 20% less weight should get better MPG and it does for us. Both cars deliver the EPA rated MPG, sometimes better. The only real choice for city MPG was to buy a small light weight hybrid which did not work for us. Much discussion on this board about buyers getting the wrong car for their driving needs, either city or highway, lead foot or old folks slow, max comfort or max MPG. Choose wisely within your buying limits and be thankful for good safe cars with good roads to drive on.
As the car buying public is now seriously picking and choosing different cars with better mpg's, the Oil Companies are simply hiking the gas prices higher and higher to keep the billion$ in profits rolling in every month. (BP is paying their 4 billion fine for the Gulf deep water oil blow out, out of one quarters profits)
I think the truth is, if everyone were driving 100 mpg cars, the price of gas would simply go to $20.00 a gallon.
$
Oil companies play the lobbying game very well. Price of gas has NOTHING to do with cost to produce crude + refineries. They are allowed to make 6% of the cost so high cost foreign crude works better for profits than low cost domestic. Check out a long term comparison of crude oil cost vs. profits.
Now they are EXPORTING petroleum/gas at established higher prices due to "world demand". What happened to keeping our resources for national security Mr. Politician?
Mr. Politician is likely bought and paid for by the Koch Brothers
MPG' forums are everywhere, you name the Car, and there's someone posting that's not meeting or beating the window sticker mileage. This is one area where 'taking it into the dealer' is a total waste of your time.
Unless it's bucking, backfiring, and stalling right at the door, it comes out "Can't replicate the issue" or "no stored code"...or bring it back when it does it again...
With an underperforming mpg vehicle about all you can hope for is that you leased it.
But all I got from this forum was comments from presumed Hyundai employees or salespeople saying how it is my fault. One guy who referred to us as a moron should be banned from this forum.
I am removing my name from the forum list...hey I'm retired and financially secure...who needs this crap.
To the moderators of this forum...you need to discipline some of these posters.
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In order to see if there might be something amiss on a car with disappointing mileage, I'd suggest resetting the mileage display and immediately getting on the highway using cruise control at 65 or so. If you don't show at least in the high 30's, I'd say something was wrong. Getting the dealer to admit to a problem is another question.
Using this method as a test would eliminate any influence on mileage from poor driver technique.
One test featured a car rental Elantra, with a few thousand miles on it and a Chevy Cruze on a 600+ mile over hill and dale run. Both of them got over the window sticker mpg but the Elantra beat the Cruze by a cupfull. I think the other mpg highway test of the Elantra was done by Motor Trend and they were amazed at the great mpg's they got.
" Not only is it easy to achieve, it's easy to surpass, even under less than ideal conditions. If you choose a car with a high-economy claim and drive within reason, you should be able to match those window-sticker figures. Considering that these cars are also decent performers on the road, the benefit of this high-efficiency engineering really goes to consumers, who are apparently getting more than they've bargained for."
(they must have somehow found a regular driver on staff and not the Lead Footed Gear Heads that they normally have behind the wheel of anything they test drive)
So lots of things can bring down city FE. Plus there's the variation in how people drive. Case in point is my DW and me. She drives carefully, but hasn't mastered how to get high FE out of a car (light foot, coasting as much as possible, turn off the engine if sitting a long time etc.). And she doesn't want me to tell her. So on our 2007 Sonata, she does well to hit 20 mpg in the city... which for us is more suburban driving, not inner city. I have no problem getting mid-20s unless it's very cold weather.
It's an old saying "YMMV", but there's a lot of truth in it.
BTW... looks like I'll be trading in the 2007 Sonata on a 2013 GLS tomorrow, due to a too-good-to-pass-up deal at my local Hyundai dealer. So I'll be able to report on what the car can do in my real world of driving, and my DW's real world of driving. They will be different, that I know.
Per the mpg meter the average mpg to date is 24.7. I noticed the instantaneous meter was pinging between 30-50 while on the freeway jaunts.
So still very early, but encouraging given all the short trips, the cold weather, and the brand-new engine. Can't wait to take a long trip to check out the highway mpg.