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A lot of cars are programmed to spoof EPA and similar drive cycles. I've noticed that Chevrolets, in particular, have schizophrenic engine mapping to ensure that at part-throttle operation, they're making much less power than they could, simply so they can meet some emissions or economy target (makes for funny dyno charts, with a huge valley straight down the middle).
I wouldn't put it past Hyundai to use a similar sort of system on their drive-by-wire cars, I've seen Hyundai test-units do good-to-great economy numbers on my typical eco-minded drive, but when you add a bit of zing to the drive, overtaking, accelerating often, the numbers seem to drop badly, so in average use, they're not quite as good as the Hondas I've driven.
And a number of people have noted (there was an issue about this locally) that Hyundai cars are tuned on the edge, making them sensitive to octane. A Shell engineer from overseas also mentioned this to a friend a while back. Octane sensitivity will mean that when you get a bad batch of gas, power and economy suffer. Hondas seem perfectly happy with low octane, as revealed by a magazine article a while back that noted an Accord makes more power with lower octane gas!
And Honda is one of the few manufacturers that seems perfectly content to let their engines do their thing. No weird engine mapping or strange power-sapping fuel-saving strategies. This allows average users to get the acceleration they want with a little tickle of the throttle, whereas said drivers presented with an engine mapped specifically for fuel efficiency will have their foot deeper in on the throttle at all times out of frustration.
In the end, YMMV. In our country, people complain about the fuel economy of Hondas because our driving cycle is vastly different. Less high speed cruising (where Hondas seem to excel) and more bumper-to-bumper 5 mph crawls, where the extra ratios on Hyundai six-speed automatics help quite a bit. (though people still complain about their economy)
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