[SentraSE-R]

Rented a basic economy car in ABQ for a vacation trip with my wife and granddaughter (HS graduation present).

Car is a bare bones 2010 Kia Rio, with manual windows and door locks, and no cruise control. Alamo wanted $10/day for a co-driver - too steep. We picked up the car 5/20 and packed it for departure 5/21. It had 1226 miles on it, and had no dings - amazing for a rental car. It's surprisingly roomy. We got three small suitcases, a laptop, and two day packs in the trunk. The food went in the back seat with the granddaughter.

5/21 I drove 520 miles from ABQ to Estes Park, CO. The Scangauge started with a 13.5% calibration, the same as in my wife's Elantra and my Scion xB. The Kia comes with a 1.6 L VVT engine, close to my Scion's 1.5, so that's where I started. I could see the MPG was optimistic, as current avg MPG went as high as 53 MPG , and it was actually about 41 MPG for the tank. I gassed up after 318.5 miles, and it only took ~7.77 gal, for a 40.94 MPG average. After the fill-up, I adjusted the Sg calibration to 22%, mindful that the tank may not have really been full when we picked the car up. We stopped at the site of the Ludlow Massacre, where 27 miners were fired, and killed when they refused to leave the town. There was a Prairie Dog colony nearby. We also saw several groups of Pronghorns, long before we got to Wyoming (the next day).

5/22 we drove into Rocky Mtn NP, and found a herd of Elk inside the main entrance. Trail Ridge Road was closed, so we were unable to go above timberline. I drove us up to the Black Hills via Nebraska, which was surprisingly lush and green, and not nearly as flat as I expected. We saw a couple of groups of Bison and Pronghorn up close, in Wind Cave NP south of Custer, SD. I tanked up in Scottsbluff, NE and got a very impressive 46.3 MPG for 445.8 miles. My main Hypermiling techniques have been to HS P&G, between 50 (actually 55 more often than not) and 65 mph. The MPG was a bit pessimistic, so the Sg calibration went back to 18.5%, and I've left it there since. We spent 2 nights in the Black Hills seeing Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave NP, Jewel Cave NM, and other local sights.

The Kia seems to do well under those HS P&G conditions, as I was able to raise my indicated mpg avg into the mid-high 40s regularly with this routine our second day. It's starting out soundly beating the Toyota Yaris I rented for a week last Summer. The Yaris averaged 41 or 42 MPG over 3 tanks, with just me and my grandson and our luggage, driven about the same. The Kia is doing it with three people and a full complement of luggage.

We had two days (5/23-24) with heavy 40-50 mph crosswinds and headwinds that were sending tumbleweeds flying. I got three poor mpg tanks crossing SD, to the point where I said 'the heck with this,' and pushed our speed to 70 mph. The 60 mph tanks were 38.1 and 36.3 mpg, and the 70 mph tank was 31.3 mpg. We got into MN and IA, and turned around heading for the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.

My 5/25 tank covered the last portion of my plains trip into Jackson Hole and the Star Valley. Mpg for this leg was 42.24 mpg.

We spent two days in Jackson, and didn't buy gas again until this morning. Today's tank averaged 45.57 mpg.

I wouldn't have considered the earlier Hyundai Accents and Kia Rios because they didn't have DFCO, and Kia's had a poor reputation until Hyundai stepped in. Now I'll consider them as serious Fit and Yaris competitors, with $2500-4000 discounts. If I can consistently pull low-mid 40s mpg with an automatic tranny Rio with 3 people and all our luggage, 45 mpg unloaded should be achievable most of the time, and 50 mpg with the manual transmission.