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I got so fed up with my lackluster mileage that I've taken to EXCLUSIVELY driving with the cruise control on. I use the gas and break in my car only when absolutely necessary. Otherwise if I'm above 25mph, the cruise control is able to take over. Even being extremely conscious about not having a lead foot and coasting whenever possible, I've found that I consistently get much better mileage by using CC than I ever got using the pedals. Never got higher than 21 MPG on a tank of gas using the pedals and now I can get 24-25MPG with primarily city driving using only my thumbs to drive!
Hyundai clearly has issues with meeting the EPA numbers as many are noticing. My Accord on the other hand has averaged nearly 4 mpg over the highway rating for its lifetime (128k miles).
Hyundai has a lot to offer and Consumer Reports rated the Elantra above the Civic, but despite Elantras higher epa numbers the Civic got 8 mpg more for the CR highway mpg test than the Elantra. The Sonata does not seem to be off by as much, but still seems to have trouble with EPA numbers while other vehicles have fewer problems.
I don't think Hyundai is cheating on the tests, but they probably are optimizing their cars to do well on the EPA tests, possibly at the expense of real world mpg.
I rented a 4 cyl Sonota for a week and it got about the same mpg as my Sienna minivan. Disapointing.
The MPG gauge is very optimistic showing about 2 mpg more than actual.
I still trust the pencil and paper method of computing mileage more than any vehicle computer.
Set the trip odo to 0 when you fill it and do the math at the next fill.
Anyway.....I live in Chicago and we definitely have crappy weather, and deal with the "winter blend" of gas more months of the year than the "normal/summer" blend of gas. I have had the car for almost 2 weeks now. It came with a full tank of gas in it, and I finally filled up yesterday. I do about a 50/50 mix between "highway" (although it is not true open road highway driving, as it is Chicago, and it is more stop and go highway driving, but not as bad as stop and go in the city of course) and "city" driving. I calculated my MPG manually when I flled up yesterday, and I got 27MPG - and I never use cruise control.
When I had my 2011, it was in the summer, so the "non winter blend" gas and I got around an average of about 29MPG with the same driving style, travels, etc. that I have now. The winter blend will account for lower milage due to the additives that are put in the gas.
But, needless to say, I am thrilled with my Sonata and the gas mileage it delivers (not even using curise control as I said) and I am not a "slow/speed limit" driver either.
I try to maximize my fuel efficiency and have a job that puts me on the road a lot and gives the opportunity to do so. I would say that my driving consists of a good 90-95+% highway/interstate driven at 60 mph with cruise control and easy hills. My worst tank was 30.4 and my best was 39.1.
Most of my driving consists of a rural highway ride to the interstate (eight miles at 45-55 mph), and then another 50+ miles to a bigger city where the last mile or two will be city traffic. I notice that the longer my highway stretches are, if I'm going 100+ miles out to a destination, then my mpg gets better. Conversely, the more city driving I have to do the worse it gets.
Speed can play heck with the mpg, too. While I mainly try to do 60 most of the time, there are plenty of times where I have to hoof it up to 75+ for the whole time and my tank mpg will get down to 32-33 or so.
Graphing the lifetime mpg shows a seasonal variation (thank you cold weather and winter mix). Best mpg is the warmer months with minimal AC use. I usually won't get over 36 mpg on a tank from october to april. I start hitting 36+ in may, but that's usually on the super highway heavy jaunts.
I have to say I am impressed. I am considering getting a new GLS at the end of the year. I expect to drive it the same way and am curious to see if it will do better. It should, given the six-speed transmission and GDI.
You are correct. There is no comparison. The Fit is a light-weight thing. I think I could have made it a highway MPG monster, but the wife just couldn't stand it and traded it in for a 2011 Sonata Limited. She LOVES the Sonata Limited. I haven't been able to put it through some max mpg paces, though. I just keep piling the miles on my 2009 GLS.
The highway mileage with 2000 of the miles, is actually better than EPA. 65-70 will deliver 36-37.5 depending upon hills, wind load etc. At 70-80, when safe the mileage drops off almost tot he same % as the increase in speed. 33 MPG at 75-80 is the average so far. The car also responds favorably tot he fuel type. We use BP, Shell & costco in town. 87 octane in town and 89 on highway trips since the MPG "appears" to improve ~10% vs. the 3% cost increase. just had oil changed and dealer recommended staing with the 5W20 weight so with no oil consumption sofar we agreed.
Beautiful high value automobile for the money and a great road car for us.
Yea, I have been pretty fortunate with mileage as well. I did however run in to a huge issue that Hyundai made good on very well. My Check Engine light came on, and I noticed a slight tic from the motor. Like a lifter tic. I brought the vehicle to Hyundai, and they changed the oil, light was off yet once I started the vehicle, the tic remained. I brought it back the nect day and at first, one of the mechanics pointed out that fuel injectors tic. Knowing my vehicle, I explained that this tic was far beyond the injector tic.
Long story stort, the Oil Sensor which signals the oil pump to send oil was not working properly. Therefore, the motor was not getting sufficient oil. Turned out, I needed a new Shortblock. It was ordered from Korea. I n addition, they replaced the exhaust from the shortblock to just past the converter. It took a bit of time, but would have been extremely expensive. My guess, probably $6000,00 at the least. The oil they used to refill was a 50/50 synthetic blend. Best part of all, the vehicle was purchased as a used vehicle with 8000 miles. Therefore I had a 5 yr 50,000 mi warranty. At the time of the tic issue, the vehicle had 54,000 miles. Hyundai still picked up the entire tab. I was pleasantly surprised and earned more respect that ever. Many auto maker/dealers could have easily shunned me on that one. Hyundai didn't. A month later I took the car from Illinois to Florida and back. Smooth sailing all the way round trip. Going easy on the gas peddle, I still average about 26mpg city and if maintaining 65mph to 70mph, I can get 36 to 38mpg. Closer to 36mpg. This is a 2008 4 cyl with a trunk load of clothes, a PC, personal items, and, Oh yea, 2 cats in the backseat. The worse performance issue with the whole trip was the cats. Happy with Hyundai!!! :shades:
Thanks!
The Sonata seems to get ~8-10% better mileage on the highway using midgrade NOT premium with added cost of #3% or so. The old Pontiac first clued us in to this phenomena. We use regular and bought the last two cars with that requirement in mind. The Sonata appears to get 22-24 in City and 33-37 highway at 80-65 MPH. Runs great on regular and also appears to maximize MPG with midgrade Shell, BP, Exxon and other major brands.
In the city we use Costco due to price break with some Shell & BP. BTW - all grades of major brands include cleaning solvents like Techron (Chevron).
The reason for Top Tier is because of the amount of detergents in the gas. The biggest problem is the 15% of ethanol that kills the mpg's and plays havoc on the engine components. Unfortunately I am stuck without any Top Tier gas stations in my area so I have to use fuel injector cleaner every so often.
At least you didn't do a Mitt Romney and tie them up on the roof in a pet carrier!
Loved your Hyundai Story about the history of the $6,000.00 engine tic. I wish more people would post positive experiences.
Your highway 2008 GLS MPG sounds the same or better than those posting with the new model 2012's.
What didn't you like about the Optima? I'm considering buying a 2012 turbo.
John
180 miles at 35 MPG highway and 182 miles at 25.5 city for calculated total of 362 miles and 12.2 gallons for 29.7 MPG. Average speeds were 20-30 in city and 65-75+ on highway. Pretty close to EPA estimates with a little better average. Car has plenty of power and is a very good road car for as light as it is. Biggest factor appears to be the mix of city vs. highway miles on the average tankful. Great car with very reponsive service from the dealer . That and a great car loan that was initially $28 ( 72 months) more than HMFC lease payments for 36 months (15,000 miles per year).
Refied for 2.69% and 60 months after 3 months. Cars getting like houses!
Thanks
danbob6
Thanks,
Justin
BTW - Those 4Runners are the premier SUV and at 21-22 highway not bad.
I drive the freeway...very little town driving... and am getting 30.5 mpg. I bought the car for
the mileage...and the daughter of the owner of the dealership said I would probably get 38 mpg.
I drive with the ECO on most of the time...don't want to drive 50 miles and discover I did not turn it on. I compute the mileage myself to see if it agrees with the car...the car records a little more
than an actual calculation. I drive at 70-75 miles per hour...with the cruise control. Of course
heavy freeway traffic alters this from time to time.
Do you believe everything a stranger tells you? Or base important buying decisions on what they tell you?
You say you are getting 30.5 mpg. You also say you drive at 70-75 mph, and from time to time you have "heavy freeway traffic." Under those conditions, 30.5 mpg seems in the ballpark. I bet there's some non-freeway miles in there. Plus driving at speeds higher than on the EPA highway tests, plus that heavy traffic.
If you want 35 mpg, you'll need to drive exclusively on the highway at constant speeds (i.e. NOT heavy traffic), and stay under 70 mph. Or... just consider 30.5 mpg to be really good overall FE for a car with that size and power and keep driving the way you do now.
Seems like I am only getting the 400 to 450 per full tank. This is crazy!!
I wouldn't buy another one...because of this. I am leasing actually, will trade in earlier because of the mileage. Funny thing-when I was initially upset at first, I called the dealer and no one there had an inkling that the car should do avg 35 mpg-they told me not to believe everything I read and they have never heard of a car getting such gas mileage. Can you believe that??
Also, please check the actual sticker on the car. What is the reported range for highway MPG? The 35 is more of an average; the actual range on the sticker will probably be something like 31-37 or thereabouts. The 35 in big print is a possibility, not what the EPA (or Hyundai FTM) asserts every Sonata will achieve.
Now my disclosure. I love Hyundai's and have owned them since 2004. It's a fact. the gas mileage numbers are over-rated.
Has anyone ever heard of this? It sounded like a load of bull.
Otherwise, I like the car, but I expected a blended average well over 25 (since it advertised 25 MPG in the city).
Thanks
Problems: Brake switch, steering linkage, A/C compressor, A/C bracket, (they failed again a year later), window trim coming off, outer door panel coming off/loose, steering wheel controls broke. Radio broke, then radio lights stopped working in hot weather, power window wouldn't roll up only in 40* or lower weather, hard pull to left, map lights stop working, and more just can't remember.
I use synthetic oil and overinflate tires a bit which I believe gives me something like 5-10% improvement based on earlier readings.
Overall mileage is about 10% better with the 4 cyl. if mileage is 50/50 in-town/hwy. For anyone looking for a good used vehicle, I highly recommend an older Sonata. I have had no expense on either car except routine maintenance and second set of tires. The onboard computer is generally accurate but changes every few miles if you are going uphill, downhill, accelerating or coasting but the most common reading is very close to actual mileage when I use actual miles driven divided by gallons to replace.
1: 91 camry- 35MPG when new, now 30 MPG 240,000 miles, sticker-29MPG
2: 88 Corvette-27-28 MPG, sticker-22-24MPG
3: 04 Corolla 38-40 MPG 235,000 miles - Sticker-35
4: 82 VW rabbit Diesel-50-52 MPG, Sticker-43 MPG
5: 02 maxima-28-30 MPG, Sticker-26
So heck yeah I expect the car to be closer than 23-28MPG on a 35MPG rating. The above is only a few of the cars I've owned. If they all meet or exceeded than why would I expect anything else in future cars? 28MPG with tires at 42PSI, mobile 1 full synthetic, and using hyper-mileage driving, and only 5% of my driving is rural/in-town driving. Nope there is something else wrong with their reports. To many people have complained. With tire PSI at the 32-35 and no hyper-mileage driving I would get 23-25 MPG highway/5% rural in-town. That's just plain misleading. Yes, it's the manufacture's fault, because they are the ones selling me the car under the idea it gets 35MPG. Do they not??? It's all over their commercials. Is it not??? If they know the EPA is over stating then they should do the RIGHT thing, and use those engineers minds and calculate what it should be closer to, and use those numbers. But they don't. They have no problem using those "optimistic EPA" numbers.
Look, I am a Hyundai fan. At one point I owned a 2004 XG350, a 2007 Santa Fe and a 2012 Sonata.
I have talked to many Sonata owners. One thanked me for verifying their major complaint...MPG.
Listen, Consumer Reports had an article about complaints about the Elantra MPG claims. The government received so many complaints that they launced an investigation.
If you drive 60-65 on the highway and don't hit any red lights in the city, I am sure you can hit the numbers. But that is not real life. Try driving 65 on the California freeways and see what happens.
So the truth is you cannot count on the published figures...especially from Hyundai. Deduct 20% and maybe you'll be happy when you hit 20MPG in the city and 28MPG highway...because that is what you are going to get!
Some car mag' took a new Hyundai Elantra and tested the highway mpgs and got more than the OEM window sticker. I seem to remember they got in the mid to high 40's in their highway test.
"You mileage may vary" covers a lot of different driving and driver conditions, but this test proved that posted highway mpg's on a new Elantra can be close to 10% BETTER than the window sticker.
Not sure if the lawsuit has any traction, but if it were me paying the legal bills, I would bail on this project ASAP!
And BTW. it's not just Hyundai that is careful to fully optimise the testing conditions, they all do.
I saw an interview with a Chrysler rep years ago that said they fully prep each vehicle for the mpg testing.
I don't know if the testing units use ethanol gas mix or pure gas, but even that factor alone could skew the results 5 to 10% +/-.
Here's a quote from Popular Mechanics regarding the posted Elantra 40 MPG claim after their test.
" 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."
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I got rid of a 2000 Dodge Intrepid 6 cylinder that got 20 mpg in town (The Sonata blows it away on the highway - but I don't do that much highway anymore). While the overall engineering of the car is very nice, every time I fill up I am reminded of how misleading the MPG rating is and definitely have a lower opinion of Hyundai
I am a very conservative drive, age 65 retired. This is the first car I regret buying. Yes it runs great but I bought it for the MPG ratings. The sticker said 24 MPG and I get 19...over 20% less. No excuse!!!!