KIA Sportage Real World MPG
Please report on your KIA Sportage mileage in this discussion. Please include city/highway, odometer, driving style or similar comments that you think may be helpful. Thanks,
tidester, host
tidester, host
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I traded in a perfectly good 2002 Santa Fe LX 2.7 V6 4WD Auto. That gave me 20-24mpg around town, & 24-30mpg on the highway, for over 3yrs, & 87K miles, that was completely stock, except for using 10-30W, winter, 10-40W summer, Quaker State synthetic blend oil, changed every 3-5K miles, for this similarly equipped, lighter, more aerodynamic, GAS HOG! What Did They Do Wrong?!?!?!
:mad: I too only get 14 mpg city but there have been others on in this forum reporting 17. That sounds more like what we should expect when you take into consideration the EPA overstatement.
at mid point on my gas gauge I was hitting 100 km (60 miles with 25 liters or 5 imp. gallons gone in the tank !!
Summer is here now I can get 200km on a half tank or...
about 24 miles to one imp. gallon (19.2 miles to a US gallon)
City driving issue was closed shut when I did a 100KM run with Kia mecanic he did 50 km I did Km we both refilled to the top and total consumed was 13.5 liers
(within kia spec for city driving) except I never drive 100km straight in twn... I go to walmart and back, i get groceries and come back etc...
The kia test met he specs So I stopped complaining although the issue ...doing 10mils per US ga;llon in twon in winter will come back next winter !
pretty lousy if you ask me,
right now...24miles to a Imp. gallon highway driving well what Can I say it is not so bad but by dodge Caravan gave me 30-32 miles to an Imp. gallon going to Florida.
But hey!! In snow on 4wd... it is a real safe car to drive !!
Don't estimate your milage based on the gas guage reading...you'll likely be way off. Maybe you're heavy on the accelerator, maybe you spend a lot of time stopped in traffic (which gives you ZERO mph when stopped).
been driving the same roads in the same city for 36 years
Been enduring winter after winter
the only vatiable is a awd 2.6L v6 Kia Sportage
I use the odometer to calculate the miles (KM) and the meter on the gas pump to calculate gas quantities and my wallet says OUCH ! :mad: everytime I fuel up
I too, thought it got bad gas mileage early on.
Now, the car has about 16,000 miles on it. I have had the computer traction control recall work done.
The mileage has gotten noticably better: I do a combination of city/highway, and it gets about 21 MPGs. My feeling is that the EPA rating is right on: if all I was doing was going to get grocercies, errands, etc (lots of stop and go parking lot driving) i think it would get about 19 MPGS. On the highway, it can get 23 or so.
One change I have made that I would recommend is getting a different air filter. I went with the K&N air filter after I looked at the stock air filter that came with the Sportage: The design is poor: the dirt spots on the air filter indicate that most of the air is being forced through only part of the filter, thus probably restricting air flow.
I have been really happy with the sportage. I also own a 2001 Optima that has about 130K miles on it. Mostly, it has needed only regular maintenance.
-e
By the way, I was quoted close to that figure on the Sportage LX a year ago, so I think you did good! Mike
Thanks for the info. I originally looked at the jade green/gray in a 2wd v6 model but liked the olive/tan setup better. The olive was in the showroom and was the AWD model. I drove the 2wd along with wife and she really wanted the jade. I said to wait a week until the end of the month draws closer and we'll talk price then. Long story short, we got the AWD olive/tan combo with the options for less $$ than originally quoted for the 2wd jade Sportage. I'm glad to hear that your price quote was close to what I paid and it seems like a fair price. Last weekend we drove it on a mini road trip following my 2 oldest son's soccer careers from the mountains of western Maryland, thru West Virgina, and out to the DC area. Our milege at fillup after was at 20.4 mpg. That was the 3rd tank of gas for the vehicle. I would be happy to get 24-25 mpg after break in. My 95 Blazer only got 17 mpg. BTW, I like the nautical blue Tucson. We looked at an 06 ex and it is a nice clor combo with the leather package.
Thanks for the info. It was the best vehicle for the $$$ that both the wife and I could agree on. I had not driven the new style sportage and was amazed at the quality and the improvements over the older model. It just feels so solid from the "thunk" of the door closing to the ride and engine sound. Your advice is sound for the break-in period and we'll take caution not to exceed 65 mph. I strongly suggested that wifie read the owner's manual from cover to cover on this car. It's mainly going to be her daily driver and she drives a whole 2.5 miles each way to work. I drive 56 miles one way to work in my Scion XB. When it snows I'll take the Sportage to work and follow my kids soccer games from its comfortable cockpit.
My wife took it to Hersey, Pa. last weekend and claimed that the steering was pulling to the right on I-81, but I checked it out and didn't find the problem. Maybe the wind? It was blowing pretty good that day. Our friend went with us to the Prime Outlets last week and commented about how much nicer the interior of the Sportage is as compared to his Jeep Grand Cherokee along with a better ride. He's in the market for a new suv and said that he will test drive the Kia's 1st to see if the other suv's can measure up.
I also see that the new advertising for the Sportage claims high fuel economy. Phooey!!
Did Kia tell you that the warranty is void if you use another brand name filter?
I knew before I bought it that the Sportage was not the greatest mpg suv. It is on a par with the Honda Element, CRV, Ford Escape, etc. The ride and interior are nicer than my Chevy Blazer and my friend's Grand Cherokee. I really want a hybrid suv but will wait for the prices and the technology to improve.
Having just bought an Optima this certainly caught my eye.
Do they give you the filter free? If not, that practice would be a blatant violation of Magnuson-Moss.
tidester, host
Your MPG will improve slightly as you break it in. Make sure your tires are inflated to 33-35. We have 4600 miles on our 06 LX 4x4 and ours is steadily improving. My wife uses it mostly in city driving so I have no highway numbers yet, but the last tank was 20.562 mpg.
Thanks.
P
Last week I changed the oil and filter in my 06 LX V6 4WD with 5200 mikes on the vehicle and oil. I know that the owners manual states 7500 miles between changes, but I didn't want to wait that long. The used oil seemed overly dirty and thick while draining. I wonder if Kia fills the new vehicles with some type of break-in oil. I replaced the oil with Penzoil 5w30 full synthetic and the filter with a Purolator Pure One. The Purolator seems an identical match to the factory Kia filter, and I wonder if Purolator makes Kia's oil filters. The Fram filter wasn't even close visually to the factory filter so I avoided it.
I put 35 lbs of air in the tires, filled the tank and took off on a 100 mile trip with the cruise set at 70 mph. I noticed the mileage seemed to improve because the gauge wasn't moving as quickly during the trip. I did not get a final tally yet as my wife is now driving solely in the city for trips under 2 miles, but it looks like it's doing better. I'll post here on my MPG at next fill up. Does anyone have actual highway MPG figures on the Sportage 4WD V6?
Personally, I tend to run tire pressures in all my vehicles at 33-36 psi. I have the Kia's tire pressures at 36. I find that the ride may be firmer but handling and MPG are better. You should be ok with 34 PSI.
Check out Engine Oil - A slippery subject Part 2.
report about fairy tales too and practically, uses same wording as yours, steve.
The rap about that CR oil report is that the taxis ran for hours on end and didn't experience many cold starts. I think most fleet owners ignore the interval recommendations and go by oil analysis. More in that discussion I linked above.
Even if it doesn't improve slightly from that - I'm still gonna be happy. Who needs a V6 anyway? And most definitely nobody needs a slushbox tranny!
For comparison purposes, that first tank of gas propelled my new truck for 347 miles, approx. 75% of which were highway commute, and the other 25% moderate stop/start suburban.
Just so y'all know the extent of my madness from the get go, last week I actually bought 2 [TWO] I4 5spd Sportages [1*4x4, 1*4x2]! Couldn't resist the combination of rebates taking the price down to around invoice PLUS 0% for 5 years! Traded in an '05 Element and an '06 Sonata....
:surprise:
I have to say, if there's anyone reading this who
a] is considering a new Kia, and
b] lives a reasonable distance from Elmhurst, IL [near west Chicago suburb]
- head on over to Napleton Auto Group's Elmhurst Kia, ask for [censored!!!] tell him Mr. H the 5spd Sportage freak sent you, and prepare for the best car buying experience of your LIFE. [Censored!!!!] rocks, as does the whole dealership.
:shades:
Also, is there anyone out there who gets better than 15mpg in town? I was wondering if maybe I turned the ESC off that the gas mileage would improve? I don't know what my highway gas mileage is, it only has 1500 miles on it and I haven't been on the highway much.