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Comments
Not on your first tank of gas I bet.
Finally...so what?
I hope you like your Freetyle um er Tarurus X (will they give you new badges at the dealer so your's doesn't look too dated???). This discussion is about the Rondo...if you want to compare start another thread.
I du
I went with the Rondo because I just found it more likeable, not because I had great expectations of fuel efficiency.
That said, I'll report with some suprise that my first tank of 89 octane yielded 30mpg on the highway w/ EX V6.
The Freestyle is bigger vehicle. It is rated 20-27 for a two wheel drive. I see the average user (9 reports)gets 22.3 MPG. Rondo is 21-29. Not a huge difference. Curb weight is 4112 for Freestyle and 3443 for Rondo. If they match their EPA you would have to say that the Freestyle gets the nod for what it does for its size. Then you can look at looks, practicality, reliability and cost. The last is significant as in Canada your Limited Freestyle 2wd starts at $38,899.00. Your top of the line Rondo (closest comparisons in my view) is $25,995.00. You are never going make up that difference on any gas savings, reliability is questionable on either at this point (though Kia has a better warranty) so comparing these two vehicles is pointless just on cost alone. They will probably both depreciate at a similar rate (muis rapido) but you will be depreciating much more off the top in dollar for dollar terms on the Freestyle. Frankly neither vehicle is that good a choice new unless you are going to keep it a long time.
I don't think it will be as comparable to the 4 cyl Rondo for EPA all said and done.
I drive mostly highway. V6 is rated 20/27.
Service at dealership says nothing is wrong.
I say 16 mpg is "something wrong".
Kia Consumer affairs says "dealer says you drive in city"
I say I drive mostly highway.
I show service manager all my gas receipts (Most from highways around city) since I bought car. [The math works out: all-miles/all-gallons=mpg.]
After that, Service manager tells Kia Consumer Affairs that I need to document my milage.
I tell Kia that Service Manager lied to them about documentation, since I showed rects to svc mgr.
Kia won't return my calls (11 days so far).
Two weeks ago another Kia Rep called and asked me some more questions, but has not called back, yet.
My mpg has creeped up to about 19 (combined city/hwy). Still not 20-27 for V6.
Does anyone know if the Rondo comes with one of those computers that learns how you drive?
The service mgr says NO. Kia Rep #2 didn't know.
I did drive it hard the first 600 miles since the manual said to keep rpm >2000.
I now have over 2K miles on it.
I'm OK with this. The revised EPA numbers for the Rondo are 18/25 or 20 combined. The numbers are being revised because they are currently based on a series of tests that do not reflect real-world driving conditions.
Take a look:
fueleconomy.gov
The '98 Dodge is rated 19/26:21 old style, rated 17/24:19 new style. Apparently, I do not have a lead foot.
Silly me thought, "almost same weight, almost same size engine, new technology. I ought to get at least the same milage."
I could've been driving a big old SUV.
One 1/2 day trip consisting of 3 bodies and 2 lane highways. Plus two trips back and forth to work that consists of 14 miles of interstate (60 mph) and 4 miles of low traffic expressway(50 mph). Tank filled on level ground to pump shut off.
Very little stop and go. Easy acceleration and no stomping on the gas. Average speed for tank estimated 55-60 mph. Temps in the 60's to upper 70's. AC was run for 20 minutes during this tank.
This is really the second tank as the car was driven about 280 miles from a dealer to my dealers lot. No idea what MPG they got on the first tank.
I'm pretty pleased. The 04 Sedona would have gotten 19 MPG.
Since the higher gas prices have hit, I have made a point to reduce my highway speed to 60-65 mph. So this is pretty common driving pattern for me. Will see more AC usage in the next 5 months.
26-28 mpg would be outstanding, but AC in the summer and cold winter will bring the overall average down.
Wondering if anyone else has discovered way high tire pressure after bringing the Rondo home.
I have just over 3,000 miles on my 4 cyl Kia Rondo and so far my MPG has ranged from 24 - 30 MPG with mostly hwy driving. The lower MPG was due to a fully loaded car (2 adults, 3 kids and a travel bag on the luggage rack) and going 70 - 80 MPH.
My first tank I got 27.5 MPG and my most recent fillup was 30.075 using 89 octane.
Didn't notice the high psi on the Michelins on my Optima. I suspect the high poundage is to keep the tires round during shipping from Korea.
My feeling is that the manufacturers must pay $5 a piece for 'em. If one gets torn up or if you just automatically buy the same tire Michelin comes out OK.
I have Optimo tires.
Filled up today and MPG was 26.89 still driving 62-65 mph. Very little city driving.
A large fuel bottle was mounted on the hood of the vehicle to measure the precise use of gas so there would be no guess work. Then, using the same vehicle, each person at the dealership took turns driving the car over the same route (town and country but not too long a distance due to the limited capacity of the gauge bottle), the only variation that could occur was traffic (a light area of town) and if you got caught at a traffic light. The results was amazing, from the lowest to the highest mpg there was over a 10mpg spread – food for thought!
Bubba
Although Kia isn't a sponsor, I think there's some value in Top Tier gases. If there's a Mobil station on one side of the street and a QuikTrip on the other, I'll go to QuikTrip. Couldn't do any harm.
We put 1000 miles on the Rondo the first week and a half we had it - EX V6 leather with no third row seat. This will be typical of our summer driving with lots of weekend miles and driving to work weekdays. The first weekend trip with a fully-loaded cargo of 3 dogs in crates, cooler, pop-up, gear for dogs & people, about 80% freeway miles with the air conditioning running most of the time, we got almost 29 miles per gallon. Have not yet evaluated the in-city mileage, but we log an average of 500 miles on the weekend.
Been very satisfied with the performance & features, other than noting some pretty bad wind flutter noise & draft driving with the back windows open, and a slowish accleration from a stop. Accleration when up to speed is fine, with plenty of passing power. And a small detail: all those bottle holders have proven very handy - we're using all of them.
The pop-up referred to is not a tent trailer - but one of those easy-up type portable shade covers, stowed behind the front seats on the floor. Was very pleased everything fit -- similar load to car camping + a load of dogs. Will probably add a hard shell storage pod on the roof rack for longer trips. (We'll see how the drag effects the mileage...)
Am considering adding a trailer hitch to tow a small utility trailer (for light-duty hauling, trips to the dump, etc) The Rondo is only rated for 2000 lbs (with brakes) Is anyone out there doing any towing & can give any feedback? (Speaking of pop-up trailers and pushing the envelope...)
With gas prices the way they are, I started implementing a lot of the techniques in the article--without realizing it, really, since many of those techniques are just common sense.
The biggest change to the way I drive is that I try to notice red lights in advance and coast as much as possible to the red light. It makes little sense to keep my foot on the gas and rush to a red light. I'm sensible about it, though, if someone is close behind me (don't want to annoy people).
Have not repeated the first and second tanks of gas @ 28+ and 29 mpg respectively.
Now with more mixed in-city and shorter weekend freeway road trips of about 275 miles, been getting in the range of 21-24 mpg, for an average of 22.
(No, haven’t really applied any “smart mileage” tactics, though it was amusing to read some of the impractical ones posted in this forum. However, I now try to remember to park so you can pull straight forward and not waste gas backing up – This and other gas-saving tactics could become an obsession if you let it )
CARGO REPORT
Discovered that this vehicle can haul a few 12’ long 2x10s with the back hatch closed.
Don’t try to take any passengers along for the ride though.
This and other gas-saving tactics could become an obsession if you let it...
Yeah, tell me about it. It's kind of amazing how easily a guy can get caught up in it. For a while there, it seemed like saving gas was the only thing on my mind while I was driving. I had to tell myself to chill out and just drive, for my own peace of mind and because it was becoming a distraction.
Who can coast to a red light when you’re in traffic and have 10 cars in front of you and 10 cars behind you?
There’s too much road rage out there to risk being taken out by some angry moron because you’re attempting to save a few cents on your mpg!
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
Interesting to see how Rondo shakes out and also compare with other vehicles.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/driving.html
Fuel efficient driving/miantenance tips - Mostly common sense - not the edgy stuff that Medicineman is hooked on...;-)
My driving is 95% city stop and go. I am getting 16 MPG with the A/C running 100% of the time. This weekend I took a 63 mile highway trip just to see what my highway mileage would be like. After topping off the tank, I hit the highway and set the cruise control for 70. After the trip I topped off the tank (2.3 gallons) and that translated to 27.7 MPG with the A/C running 100 percent of the time. I am real pleased with the highway mileage and can only hope that the city mile improves as the engine breaks in some more.
and it is a beautiful car. very smooth and nice acceleration but mpg is an area where there has been an issue with me. I get anywhere from 17.5 to 19.0 miles to the gallon and that is it. 19 is a very lucky day too.It's kinda disappointing the sales sticker had atleast 20 in the city. I live in the country so alot of my drive is without stops and starts. the vehicle now has 9000 miles on it and is a very nice vehicle as far as handling and braking but lacks about 6 miles to the gallon to have me completly satisfied with how compact it is. oh yeah i carry no weight weight (no hauling). thanks hope the report helps