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65 MPH, 95% interstate I have been getting 22-24 mpg with 4 cylinder, AC constantly on.
70 mph with AC on, I'm getting about 20-22 mpg. My lowest MPG has been 20.
Earlier in the year without AC I was averaging 26-27 with a high of 29 mpg.
for the Rondo:
6 cylinder: 18 - 25 mpg (20 combined) before it was 20-27 with 23 combined.
4 cylinder: 19 - 26 mpg (22 combined) before it was 21-29 with 24 combined.
Actually I thought it was a tall wagon (at least Transport Canada classifies it as such in their 2007 Fuel Consumption Guide)
vegasrondo - We were just in your neck of the woods, having just returned from a 3509 mile road trip from the Seattle-area to Arizona and back via Idaho, Utah & Nevada. Carried our typical load of 3 dogs in hard crates, cooler, pop-up shelter, camp chairs, dog kibble for 3 dogs for 2 weeks, 3 soft dog crates, dog training gear, personal gear, LOTS of water, food, laptop etc.
The V6 handled great. The engine and interior are so quiet that sometimes you’re not sure the engine is actually on upon start-up. Went from sea level to an elevation of 7000 + feet in eastern Arizona. The V6 handled climbing grades great.
Though we got 28-29 mpg on our first 400 mile road trip on the first 2 tanks of gas, this trip averaged 24 mpg, with the a/c on full-time virtually all the time. Mostly interstate and US highway miles with some in-town and forest service roads.
Best mileage was 26 mpg on US 180 north and I-40 west to Kingman, AZ doing about 80 mph – the state patrol were very much in evidence in AZ. Worst mileage was unaccountably between Mesquite, NV and Beaver UT – 18 mpg - elevation? Wind?
Drove from 7-15 hours a day through pelting rain and thunderstorms (Utah & Arizona) 100 degree heat (in Las Vegas)and the Rondo handled very well. Did not attempt any mileage-conserving driving techniques – was mainly focused on making decent time to destinations and keeping the dogs cool in the Southwest heat, so cruising speeds were 80-90 mph. Cruising in this range was so smooth that we easily crept up to 105 mph without noticing. Rpms at 90 mph were about 3000-3200. Did some passing of semis & RVs on 2-lane highways and the engine did strain under rapid acceleration during short passing spurts, but normal passing on the interstates was smooth.
Not sure how effective the rear air vents behind the center console were, but better than nothing. Through the hottest weather, battery-run crate fans were used to circulate the a/c air for the dogs, but they would have been fine without. The ergonomics and features in this vehicle are well-designed, with all controls within easy reach of the driver and the dual lighter plugs for charging cell phones etc were great, esp. the one inside the console with divit for cord accecss.
The under-floor storage in the 5-seater model came in handy for storing a large case of bottled water, dog food, a large shade cloth, heavy stake-out chain, tool & emergency road kit & the crate fans. Stowed stuff under the front seats and in the back seat floor space. All seat and door pockets were fully utilized as well for easily accessible items.
The Rondo would be great with a full-spare tire and 4WD, but handled the graded dirt mountain roads we drove in the National Forest fine. The seasonal rain created conditions on certain roads in the mountains that we could not attempt due to lack of ground clearance & 4WD however.
Fortunately the Kia dealership the vehicle was purchased from gives free lifetime car washes, so they easily cleaned off the post-trip bug glaze and unfortunate grasshopper that was found impaled on the front grille.
Though the sound-quality sucks, the 6-CD player was handy on a long road trip but best loaded when parked, not while driving.
For those transporting dogs, the 5-seater Rondo gets a thumbs-up for cargo space along with decent mileage.
Images of Rondo loaded for road trip
Without AC on the Sedona, I was happy to get 21 mpg. I'm Getting 27 on the Rondo without AC. A 30% increase in gas mileage.
My 02 Odyssey averaged about 22 mpg. Too bad the subsequent owner most likely had to buy a $5,600 transmission for it.
It balances out.
Not sure if you use anything on top to carry cargo, but I have found this invaluable for carrying large mesh crates and other stuff that doesn't fit in the car:
link title
Glad to hear other dog owners enjoy this car.">link title
Lately I have been getting about 14 MPG in 98% city stop and go driving with the A/C on full time. I might go by the dealer to see if everything is in tune, belts tight, etc. Otherwise at 1200 miles, the Rondo is still tight, shake, rattle and roll free. I got it with 11 miles on the ODO.
I think your bad gas mile in my state and Utah was probably the quality of the gas. I notice that my mileage will vary to a noticable extent depending on what brand I buy and how much air pollution control additives are in it.
I will use the rear storage bins for similar purposes, might even turn one into a litter box! I'll report mileage and weather conditions as I drive across this great land.
I am 54 and blew my hearing out at a Clapton concert in '74. I am sure that the stereo will be just great for me. I have lots of Podcasts to catch up on.
Viva Las Vegas!
Highway mileage 23 mpg running 75-85
The 2.7 V6 is powerful and veryyyy smooth.
I'm loving it for two reasons:
1) The revised EPA city number is spot on
2) This is about the same as our 4 cyl Passat which takes premium fuel
I cross shopped with the Freestyle, which I really liked, and probably gets better mileage even tho it's a bigger vehicle. Ditto with Honda Odyssey, which I really liked, too.
I bought the Rondo because I liked the more compact size of it. It feels more cozy and friendly, and takes up less curb space. For us, the 3rd row is quite handy at times, but not used daily.
So I bought having the expectation that I'd be making a bit of an illogical trade-off: less space, less power, and, at the same time, lower mileage.
My V6 city mileage ain't so great, but I'm still loving it.
If I was only getting 16.5 and 18 mpg (about 17.5 and 20 per Canadian gallon), I would make a beeline to my service department. Seriously.
BTW, my EX Premium (4 cyl., 7 seater), for 100% city driving and minimal use of the AC, has been getting roughly 13 L/100 km or 18 MPG US--compare that to the revised EPA estimate of 19 MPG for city driving.
So my 4 banger is getting slightly worse mileage than the EPA estimate and the same mileage as Rondonium's V6. I still don't have that many klicks on it, so I'm hoping for better fuel consumption once I've driven it a little more (BTW, "klicks" is slang for kilometres, for those of you unencumbered by the metric system ).
The Cdn gallon is 20% larger so he would be getting approx. 19.8 to 21.6 mpg Canadian on the figures he quotes.
The transport Canada estimates for the V6 are 24 city 37 highway and you are doing well if you can meet or exceed the figures.
I sure do not expect to get the 37 highway mpg that Transport Canada states, but I am getting better than their 24 city mpg.
We traded a 1998 Subaru Legacy wagon, 5 speed 2.2L 4 cylinder with 137 hp, for our V6 Rondo, and the Rondo exactly matches the Sube's highway mpg. And with vastly better power, smoothness, comfort, quietness, and practically no NVH.
We loved our Sube, but have to say that the Rondo is better in every way. The only thing I will miss is the AWD, but the dealer threw in a set of studded winter tires mounted on rims as part of the deal, at no charge, so with the traction and stability control I expect great winter ability with the Rondo.
By the way, 13L/100km works out to almost 22 mpg, not 18 mpg.
22 MPG in Imperial gallons, but like I said, that's 18 MPG in US gallons. Yeah, it's easy for everyone, including me, to get tripped up if you don't constantly remind yourself about the Imperial vs. US gallon difference. :confuse:
BTW, here's a useful calculator for converting between the different methods of measuring fuel consumption:
http://www.onlineconversion.com/fuel_consumption.htm
time for my rant (not necessary related to this current discussion, but to this site in general)
This is for the hosts of this site - I wish you would have the profiles of members clearly indicated to the left (or above) like they do on other sites, without this stupid hovering over your profile name to get the info. I'm sure a lot of people don't bother or don't know and consequently wasting a lot of time because they don't know where the person is located. I'm sure it would make this site a lot more inviting and also so members could provide avatar's too. Seems like this site forum is behind the times! Consequently I don't use this site as much as the others because of this.
Wonder how other members feel?
Anyway, this is obviously just a wee bit off-topic (and I'm no stranger to that), so it's time for me to shut up.
The conversations/posts are kept under one heading or Topic because it would be very time consuming for members to search the entire Rondo forum area for all MPG posts/conversations to compare notes. Imagine if these conversations were all listed separately in their own threads versus combined into this one central thread!
As for the profiles, be patient..things are happening.
29.7 miles per gallon - U.S., that is
I'm amazed. Again, same mpg as our 4cyl Passat.
"Your new vehicle is designed to use only unleaded fuel having a pump octane number of 87 or higher."
I drive for a living - a distributor rep. For that I get to cover a lot of miles repeating familiar routes over lots of seasonal changes and weather conditions, using the same, very consistent vehicle, with pretty consistent loads. This gives me a chance to study some aspects of MPG.
I have found FAR more variation in brands and locations of purchases than with octane levels, but that may not be true in other vehicles. (Mine is a 16 valve inline 4 w/cfi.)
Here around Louisville, we are required to use oxygenated blends, supposedly for polution control, but obviously much more to suport the single designated-supplier in return for the governor's political funding.
So if I buy gas in Louisville, no matter which brand, the MPG is lower by a full 10% over time than gas I buy, say, in Lexington or Evansville. I can get enough "round trips" with single tanks that I can judge gas from any location over both "directions" of travel, and the weather here stays pretty constant through the year. Especially this year - hot, dry, dusty.
Some brands do better than others by a little, maybe, but the difference is so slight as to make it questionable, and price becomes more important. Grocers and "big-boxes" that offer gas discounts for purchases usually win because I can't find a measurable difference between them and major brands with stars or shells or rainbows on their signs.
One "treat" I do offer this vehicle is a tankful of Chevron now and then for the Techron. That tankful does not mean better mileage, but it does seem to make the little 4-banger run better for a few more miles.
So, if the Rondo doesn't need anything over 87, it's still the plan to replace our family Sedona. Not changing for the MPG - other reasons. I still need to know more about the Rondo's service costs to keep up the warranty. Sedona is brutal.
These forums are GREAT, and if I'd known of them before we bought our '05 Sedona, I may have made a different choice. (The Sedona is a good van, but there is that service cost to factor in, and the very low used-car value.)
BTW - what are you using for oil?
My sister-in-law has an Envoy and I thought the dealership charges on her vehicle were considerably higher. Usually any dealership of any manufacturer charge more than an independent service place. Depends on the location of the dealership and level of service that you expect.
Just for your information the V6 Rondo does require a timing belt replacement at 96,000kn or 48 months, the 4 cylinder does not - it uses a chain.
I would suggest that for comparison check out service costs at a dealership for a comparable Chevy van like the Uplander or Dodge Caravan or Honda Odyssey vs your current Sedona.
I would have thought that as a rep, service costs and upkeep on your vehicle would be a tax write-off.
You can download the 2008 warranty details from the KIA US website.
It pays to remember sometimes that here in our city, all the Kia dealerships are owned by the same GM giant dealer. Makes for no competition for purchase or service. They are pretty heavy-handed. Next closest dealers are over 90 miles away.
Also, mind that some other garages refuse to do real repairs on Kias because service details and parts can be hard to come by except through dealers, and these local ones will not cooperate at all.
Routine stuff like oil and fluids, tires, brakes and minor adjustments are done okay, just not genuine repairs. We are lucky to have a couple of garages who specialize in imports and are very good and very reasonable.
A lot depends on where you live I guess.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance,
Brook
I've owned my new LX 2007 Rondo I-4 AT for 3 weeks. I have put 1435 miles on her, with about 800 miles of it being interstate hwy driving. My gas fillups have averaged the following mpg:
21
27.5
22
37.4
16
41
22
Ave: 26.7 mpg
Wild, huh? And I tried to top off the very same way on each fill-up.
The two great mpgs occurred fuel-stop-to-fuel-stop on the Interstate, speeding along at about 73 mph, with 3 people in the Rondo. But the last 22 mpg calculation was also on the interstate under the same conditions. Hard to figure. The 16 mpg all happened in downtown Atlanta driving.
The car is not yet "broken in" for sure, so I am pleased. But the wild variations in mpg, tankful to tankful, is confusing.
I have noticed one very curious thing. My great mpg happens after filling up at a pump that pumps gas very strong and fast, and my worst mpg happens after filling up at a pump that pumps very slow and weakly. I've also noticed that I can fill the tank to well above FULL when I'm at a strong/fast pump, and only to the FULL marker when I'm at the slow/weak pump. THIS IS OPPOSITE TO EVERY OTHER CAR I HAVE EVER OWNED OR DRIVEN.
I am beginning to theorize that the Rondo has some sort of baffle or check valve that allows more gas in the tank under forceful filling. This could cause the wild swings in mpg calculations, if you follow a forceful fill-up with a weak fill-up---which is exactly what happened when I got the 37.4 and 41 mpg calculations.
However, I recently let the gauge get very low on a long highway trip, including 30+ miles driven with the low fuel light glowing. Given my 8,000 miles of experience with this car, I was very confident based on the miles driven that I wasn't really at risk of running out of gas. Sure enough, even after that experience, it took about 12.5 gallons. On average, I'm putting in about 11 gallons at each fill-up, and I always wait for the needle to get awfully close to "E". According to Edmunds, it's got a 15.8 gallon tank. Doesn't it seem pretty pessimistic for the fuel gauge to hit "E" when there's 3-4 gallons (~75-100 miles) left in the tank?
Anybody else notice this?
Also, I found it interesting that the Rondo is EPA-rated 21/29, while my wife's '06 Hyundai Sonata is rated 24/33. The two cars have the same engine and transmission, and curb weights are within 75lb of one another. In reality, my wife and I get very similar mileage - if anything, the Rondo uses less fuel than the Sonata, but that's largely because of differences in our city/hwy mix.
One would think the Sonata would clearly out-mpg the Rondo, given the EPA rating and the differences in slipstream profile (drag efficiency).
On the subject of inaccurate gauges, I also suspect that my speedometer is a little off. Whenever I pass one of those stationary radar installations where it shows your speed, I always find that the speedo shows 3-5mph higher than the radar. I actually don't mind this at all - I drive 70-75 (indicated) on the highway, never worried that I'll get a speeding ticket but also never feeling like I'm going too slow.
Regarding the Sonata, we've been fairly disappointed with its fuel economy. But my wife's commute is an 8-mile drive that takes 30 minutes in rush-hour traffic, so that probably explains a lot.
My daughter bought a new 2006 Honda Civic in 6/2006. She began by getting amazing mpg 30-41 in city/hwy driving (and it's not a hybrid). Recently at 10,000 miles, she could not top 34 mpg on straight hwy driving. I told her to run the best fuel injector cleaner she could fine at Autozone through two consecutive tankfuls. Problem has been solved. I experienced the very same thing with my 2006 Vibe,
Before you rely on the dealer to fix things, try this. Given the amount of soot that collects at the tailpipe tips on the Rondo, I plan to do the same if/when its mpg drops.
Rather disappointed since I got that or better in my old Aurora with V-8, much heavier vehicle, on same trip and it is much better in ride, handling, quiet, and voom voom, performance (250 HP).
Would readers please check and post back if you have full time engine braking, got to hurt milage. You can tell when you take foot off accelerator and engine does not fall back to idle RPM or bump into neutral and see if you coast easier.
Some suggest checking pressure monthly. Some tires naturally seep some air, more some than others. And seasonal transitions, warm to cold, will need more attention then going cold to warm to keep from under-inflation.