Hyundai Elantra Real World MPG

Replying to: mort4371 (May 15, 2008 1:17 pm)

Replying to: bwaller78 (May 15, 2008 7:45 pm)

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• bwaller78 (May 16, 2008 5:40 pm)

Replying to: hyundaihoney (May 16, 2008 9:37 am)

It's not the car or your personal driving abilities... It's entirely the first 2 statements:
 
"Average mph is 16"
"multiple stops"
 
For me, I drive 2.3 miles to work, then home for lunch then back and back home = 9.2 miles per day. The roads are 25 and 30 mph. 2 Stop signs and 1 stop light between total. That's why my agerage MPH has been 22 with 26.0 MPG in about 150 miles since I got the car 2 weeks ago. I did have a few other trips around town at 35/40 mph and a couple short interstate runs at 55mph (3 miles or less) that helped bring up my mph.
 
But if my average MPH is 22 and MPG is 26, and your MPH is 16, I'm not at all surprised that you are getting 19 MPG 16 MPH.
 
For you (multiple stops, slow mph, small town), perhaps a hybrid (a good one like the Prius) would be better for you if you are really are concerned about city MPG.
 
Go take a trip at 55-60 mph, resetting the trip computer and verify you're getting 33 or so highway. If so, your car is really fine, it's just your situation that won't give you the milage you are after unless you switch to hybrid.

Replies to this message:
• hyundaihoney (May 18, 2008 9:07 am)
  • bhmr59 (May 18, 2008 5:30 pm)
  • mort4371 (May 19, 2008 3:13 am)
  • fargond (May 20, 2008 3:01 pm)
    • bhmr59 (May 20, 2008 4:47 pm) and 1 more...
    • lightfootfl (May 21, 2008 4:15 pm) and 5 more...

Replying to: hyundaihoney (May 16, 2008 9:43 am)

Replying to: hyundaihoney (May 15, 2008 9:14 am)

I have a 2008 Elantra SE with AT, with around 5,000 miles on it. I drive 60 miles to work one way, mostly at 65 MPH on hilly West Virginia freeways. I am getting around 33-35 MPG (calculated) vs. 36+ (trip computer). I reset the trip computer each time after filling up the tank, and it is “optimistic” compared with my actual calculations. The trip computer range, however, seems to be pretty accurate. I had around 30 miles left when I filled up the tank and put almost 13 gallons in it. I am very pleased with my fuel economy, and look forward to it improving after the engine breaks in.

Replying to: fargond (May 16, 2008 11:21 am)

Replies to this message:
• bhmr59 (May 18, 2008 5:30 pm)
• mort4371 (May 19, 2008 3:13 am)
• fargond (May 20, 2008 3:01 pm)
  • bhmr59 (May 20, 2008 4:47 pm)
    • fargond (May 20, 2008 6:39 pm)
  • lightfootfl (May 21, 2008 4:15 pm)
    • backy (May 21, 2008 4:29 pm) and 1 more...
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Replying to: hyundaihoney (May 18, 2008 9:07 am)

Replying to: hyundaihoney (May 18, 2008 9:07 am)

Yeah, no conventional car is going to get very good mileage under that scenario. Using energy to gain momentum (starting from stop signs), then almost immediately converting that momentum to waste heat (braking for next stop), then repeating the cycle again...not good in terms of mileage. Something electric, or with an electric component (that can use regenerative braking) would make a world of difference efficiency-wise under that scenario.
 
When the production electric cars or plug-in-hybrids hit the market, sign yourself up. Tailor-made for driving pattern like yours.

Replying to: hyundaihoney (May 18, 2008 9:07 am)

Well, with gas jumping from $3.59 to $3.79 across town today, I did my first fill up on my new 08 Elantra SE at the lower price.
 
I had half a tank left exactly, accd to the gauge. It filled about 6.5 gallons then shut off. Though I won't routinely do it, I managed to squeeze a total of 9.33 gallons into the tank (2.8 more than the default stop on the pump!).
 
I still didn't overfill it, nothing was sitting at the cap when I finished, but it had to be close. I wanted to know how many gallons it took to get to 50% on the gauge.
 
I had reset all of the computer before driving it off the lot 18 days ago. Overall my numbers before filling today were: 22 MPH, 25.8 MPG, 155 range left in tank with 168.4 miles driven since taking delivery of the car with the dealers "full tank". (The total milage on the car is now 539.)
 
After filling up and resetting the computer again, it reported 309 miles left (that must assume something like 22 MPG 14 Gallons?). I drove ~1 mile to work, 2.3 home, 2.3 back to work, 2.3 back home, (all 25 to 30 MPH as before), my numbers currently reported are the following:
23 MPH, 28.4 MPG, 301 range left in tank.
 
Since I filled the tank with more gas than the dealer probably filled it with, I got horrible self-calculated gas milage -- 168.4/9.33 = 18.0 MPG, vs if I go with where the pump stopped initially 168.4/6.5 = 25.9 which is much closer to the computer estimate before refill.
 
Of course I realize that with only 1 fill up, 168 total calculated miles, and a significant difference in overfilling, this number is not too accurate either way and will take many more fill ups to average this out. But I wanted to post this to aid others like hyundaihoney for comparison purposes.
 
Will post more after a few more miles driven for this route to see if it holds. I actually seem to be getting better milage with my home/work area alone than including weekends where I hit the interstate for 1-3 miles, then deal with crowded parking lots and busy streets/lights.
 
Will be testing 70 mph highway travel this weekend for a 100 mile round trip. Unfortunately it's an open access road running through a few small towns so a few slow downs to 30 during it.

Replies to this message:
• bhmr59 (May 20, 2008 4:47 pm)
  • fargond (May 20, 2008 6:39 pm)
• lightfootfl (May 21, 2008 4:15 pm)
  • backy (May 21, 2008 4:29 pm)
    • lightfootfl (May 24, 2008 7:22 am)
  • fargond (May 22, 2008 9:18 am)
    • lightfootfl (May 24, 2008 7:25 am)
    • canddmeyer (May 30, 2008 1:34 am)