Hyundai Elantra Real World MPG 2011 MY and earlier
This topic is for Elantra owners to share their actual MPG with others.
"Real World" Fuel Economy vs. EPA Estimates
Save Money on Gas
We Test the Tips
"Real World" Fuel Economy vs. EPA Estimates
Save Money on Gas
We Test the Tips
0
Comments
'04 GT 5-door, automatic, 13,000 miles, purchased March 2004, EPA 24/32: Fuel economy varies widely depending on whether my wife drives it or I drive it. DW gets 20-22 mpg in city driving, short trips, lots of stops and idling, combination of city/suburban streets and urban freeways, A/C on all the time, heavy foot. I get 26-32 mpg in around-town driving, mostly short trips under 10 miles, on city/suburban streets and urban freeways, A/C on in hot weather. Best mpg: 38 mpg on 150-mile trip, mostly rural highways at 60-70 mph, A/C on for about half of the trip, full load (five passengers + luggage).
32,000 mi.
33 mpg (out of state trips highway)
20 mpg (around town, work, etc)
24 mpg (lifetime average...i.e. leave the trip computer alone for months and let it average).
Related Mods: 1) K&N
2) Bosch +4
I am providing descriptions of my "city" and my "highway" because I think that varies widely from person to person. I live in the congested Washington D.C. suburbs (Virginia).
City (trips of about 5 miles and less, so the engine barely warms up, many, many stoplights here at least 2 or 3 per mile of driving on the major roads and they aren't well synchronized, so lots of idling at red lights or in back-ups on my commute if I drive during rush hours): ~21, best is probably about 23 or 24 if I catch an unusual number of green lights.
Highway (55-70 and cruise control when possible): 32-34, best 36
On 3 tanks of gas. All Highway driving.
Average just under 39 mpg.
Round trip to work is 172miles. 1/2 on interstate w. 65 limit, other half on parkway w/ 55 limit.
Tank #1 37mpg
Tank #2 41mpg
Tank #3 38mpg.
These numbers seem too good to be true. Is anyone else getting this milage w/ the manual trans.
Highway - average about 35. Consistenly get 33-37
Total miles 34,000
2004 Elantra GT Hatchback - AT - 2 adults in the car and a modest amount of luggage for all these trips. Almost 18,000 miles on the car at the end of the weekend.
We drove into the 500 miles into the mountains this weekend and we got 35 mpg going there and 36 mpg coming back with a decent amount of stops along the way. It was probably 90% highway driving at 60-65 mph. Today on a 140 mile relatively flat trip (starting and ending elevations the same, but gentle ups and downs in between) we got 39.3 mpg! It was probably 98% highway driving in nice traffic with only one 5 minute slowdown averaging 60-65 mph. I think I got to go 80 or 90 continuous miles at one point without touching my brake.
So anyway, if you compare to my post #5, you can see these numbers are much improved. I was skeptical that this car would improve its efficiency over an extended period of time and miles, but I'm starting to change my mind. Another trip or two with this kind of efficiency and I'll be totally convinced.
Regarding my post #10 above. That was in a '02 Elantra, automatic, with 67,000 miles. Car still drives like new. We are going to be getting new brakes and tires later this month. All belts (including timing), hoses, fluids (auto tranny fluid twice - 30K intervals), spark plugs, plug wires, and battery are new. Hopefully this car will last a long time.
The Hyundai Elantra is listed as the most efficient non-hybrid mid-sized sedan. It gets an estimated 34 miles per gallon on the highway and 27 in the city.
(Those are the numbers for the 5-speed MT).
I know my AT is doing very well so far; nearly 30 mpg on the first tankful (just bought an 05 brand new last week) and still has some gas left in the tank.
On the other hand, if almost all of your driving is on the highway at under 80 mph, then you should be getting more than 26 mpg.
The efficiency has improved about 2 (maybe 3) mpg since we first bought the car. We have 18,000 miles on the odometer right now.
I posted on Oct. 10 that we had reached a new personal record for efficiency with our Elantra . . . well just two weeks later we have done it again. On a 215 mile trip yesterday we averaged 40.4 mpg!
It's fair to say these kinds of numbers are far beyond what I ever imagined we'd see with this car.
Our mileage has improved as the engine has racked up more miles too. I was skeptical of this, but when we used to get 20-21 mpg we probably now get 23 or so. On the highway we used to get 32-34 in the beginning and now sometimes it goes quite a bit higher.
Was that 265 miles for a full 14.5 gallons of gas? I usually only put in about 11-12 because I don't run it all the way down. What does your computer tell you you're getting for mpg?
My initial thought is that the low mpg is due to driving route and style, but if you have good driving conditions and you drive lightly, then maybe it is something with the car.
One last thought. Do you have an automatic transmission and if so do you drive the car with "two feet". I call it "two feet" driving when a person uses their right foot for the gas and their left foot for the brake. I have met a few of these people in my life and I will occassional spot them on the road because I see them accelerating while the brake light is illuminated. That will absolutely destroy gas mileage. I know that was a stretch, but I'm just trying to throw everything out there I can think of.
the 265 miles wasnt for a full tank...it was probably between 13-14 gallons. i cant remember off the top of my head. as for my computer, i dont have one. i wasnt aware that the elantra had a trip computer until after i had purchased mine, or i wouldve got a different model.
as for the "two feet"...yes i do have automatic transmission, but i dont use 2 feet to drive.
all in all, my problem seems to be your first suggestion with only driving a few miles at a time. is there anything i could do to help me improve my mpg?, and should it really lower my mpg down to the teens? i cant really drive further distances as my school & fiances house are less than 3 miles from my house, haha. thanks for your help thus far though, i look forward to hearing from you again.
So, I am hopeful you will see a modest increase in fuel efficiency over the next few months to a year and beyond. Also, I think you'll probably get really good mpg if you ever take the car on a long continuous trip somewhere. We got on three or four moderate (200-400 miles) driving trips each year and we have gotten great gas mileage every time.
Good luck to you.
Update: '05 GT 5spd with 3500 on the odometer - 35.1mpg on the trip readout. Again, probably 80% highway, 20% everything else (no drag racin' and NOoooo cold start 1 to 3 mile trips.).
If I dont change my oil every 2K miles in the winter moisture builds up in the oil. So I do 2K oil changes using Castrol GTX 5W-30. Once a week I take the car on a 40 mi highway drive.
01 GT
32K miles
Orig Batt
Orig Muffler
Bought my '05 Sonata in April. Last winter my privious car took 2.5 miles (out of a 3.6 mile drive to work) to get warmed up. That car gave 18mpg in warmer weather and 16 mpg in the winter...all due to temperature.
Someone who drives 10 miles to work will get better milage than someone who drives 3 miles to work, assuming similar driving conditions. The multiple short hops, one right after the other, won't kill MPG the same as a short hop followed by the next one a few hours later.
Driving behind the trucks is probably very boring for most people too. You can't see too much ahead and you have to deal with the trucks losing speed on even modest inclines.
I think maybe the great fabulous mileage numbers you see on the boards are primarily from Elantras with sticks, unfortunately, but I think we should both see an improvement by about 5000 miles based on what I've read.
However, two factors may be helping me: First, it's finally cooling off and I'm not running the AC all the time; second, the odometer is up to about 3500 miles, so maybe the car is breaking in.
I plan to back out the air filter mod at some point and see if the mileage decreases any; I'm not real fond of the noise the car is making under load. It's louder, but definitely no sexier.
Very early on I found myself "driving to the meter"- changing my driving style to see how high I could get the little LCD readout. For the first few thousand miles I was hard pressed to break 30 mpg, but since my GT has broken in I usually do better than 34.
To help increase my mileage, I did the same intake modification as doohickie (see above) and bumped my tire pressure up as well. The biggest thing though, was learning how to time the lights and consistently short-shifting.
I'm always looking way ahead for what the lights are doing and I'll get off the throttle and coast while the cars in front of me are racing up the light. They'll come to a complete stop and when the light turns green and they take off, I'm just coming up behind them. Usually I don't even have to shift down any lower than third to resume my place in line. I do try to avoid doing this while traffic is heavy or on two lane roads when people are behind me.
I've never had the car out on a long highway trip. Our family vacations are all in the minivan and the GT is strictly for commuting. My daily drive is mostly interstate and I pretty much stick to the right lane at 60-65mph. In my previous car (an Audi Quattro) I'd always be that %&#@ in the fast lane, tailgating and flashing his lights at the slowpoke who was putting along at a "mere" 80 mph! When traffic was lighter I would often have the Audi cruising along in excess of 110 mph. The Hyundai's little readout has probably saved me a lot of money in speeding tickets as well as gas!
I am working on timing the lights. The short shifting isn't really an option with the AT, though, but I'm learning to let the engine play out instead of gunning it. My mpgs went from about 24 on my daily commute to a little over 26 just by taking it easy. I got a CEL and reset my ECU to clear it, and the following tank got almost 28 mpg in mixed driving, which is what I had been hoping to get all along. Granted, I have to drive easy to get that, but I'm getting used to it.
(BTW... I went back to stock intake because I just wasn't crazy about the sound without the resonator.)
Wow, I must be getting old. At least I'm not driving a Buick yet!
My first trip to NY from WV produced a shocking 37 mpg at speeds of 60, 65, and some 70mph. Was still breaking it in. I expected about 33.
Then did a trip to Houston at 70+ speeds and my mpg went down to 33-35. Not bad.
I just wish they would come out with a 6spd tranny to improve high speed crusing. The rpm at 70 is just above 2,700 and I hate to run the eng high than that for 10 hrs. Wear and tear on the engine etc.
It could stand to run at 2,400 rpm with a 6th gear no problem at 70 and still have plenty of torque for cruising over hills.
Cruise is a pleasure in this car. No lugging at all on the steepest mountains of WV. I had a chevy trk that was always shifting down and up on the slightest grade. Was very annoying. But not this car.
If you're getting crummy mpg I think it is a good idea to disconnect the battery for a minute to reset the CPU. Then start driving more conservative as it relearns your driving style. It's nice to get a second chance isn't it?
At 70+ the mpg drops off to 32-35 area with rpm at 2,700+.
We need a 6th gear for 70+ cruising with great mpg.
Or if you get a bad tank of gas it will adjust to that.
If I was getting crummy mpg, reseting the ecu is the first thing I'd do before doing any tests on the air/fuel mixture or timing.
Premium fuel also gives me better mpg since the engine has a 10.3:1 compression ratio. I use premium when prices fall some or when I don't drive much. A ratio under 9.5:1 you can stay with regular.
Your tire will have a smaller contact patch on the road, which will make driving in the rain alot more dangerous.
You will wear out your tires early in the center.
All the road bumps and shocks will be transmitted to the cars bearings and balljoints etc.
Better to keep the air pressure within a pound or 2 over and let your tires soak up the bumps.
I take all my road trips in the spring or fall. Mainly because I don't like driving in the heat and won't set foot in TX when it's 100 in July. lol
Much better letting the cool outside vent air in.
There are hypermilers who set their tire pressures much higher, e.g. 45-50, but I figure they must drive on really smooth roads.
I have been in TX (and FL and AZ...) in July. We turned on the A/C. Full.
I've been purposely driving "moderately" for a couple months now. It seemed to work at first but has dropped off again. I think they started shipping 10% ethanol gas at about the same time the mileage dropped off; that might be the cause. But even if it is, it seems like too much.