100 degrees
 

The wife banged her knee up at Ocean City last weekeend so we decided to take a little day trip south of the James River. We knew it was going to be a hot one and she started whining about pulse and glide so we took HER car and I drove (best gas is that you never use, my vehicles had the day off).

Her 2012 Kia Sorento just hit 30k miles and has had no problems whatsoever other than the problem with the EPA ratings for highway mileage.

This is almost the ideal route for economy, once we got across the river at the Scotland Neck Ferry (free) we took a liesurely drive down route 31 to route 460, hit a couple of antique shops and had lunch at an Italian restaurant in Waverly.

She doesn't mind it being warm and we did not turn on the AC until she saw the sweat on my neck and had a hot flash herself, THEN the AC came on.

On the outbound portion of the trip I got the factory MPG guage up to 34.5 MPG without any techniques other than driving slightly below the speed limit and slowing down gradually, even used the cruise control. We made a few stops during the trip.

After the AC was on we refilled at a Gulf station for $3.29 a gallon and reset the MPG gauge, AC was on low fan and very comfortable as the ambient temps approached 100 degrees. When we got home at 3 PM the temp at our house was 100, first time this year it got that hot. I was surprized the MPG was still at 33.6 since the refill with 100% AC use. We did shut the engine off waiting for the ferry and rolled the windows down.

Her Sorento has been as close to perfect a new car as we have ever owned, It did take some miles for the mileage to get close to EPA estimates. Kia has dropped the ratings on the later years, we still have the window sticker with the 32 highway EPA figures and she gets about $100 a year from Kia for the gas mileage discrepancy, about a penny a mile, not bad.

regards
Mech

That is awesome, great story.

This paradigm of auto manufacturers refunding money to vehicle owners for cars not measuring up to their EPA stickers is completely new, utterly foreign to me. In the old days the ads very plainly said, "Your mileage may vary," which was code for "It'll be a cold day in Galveston before you get numbers this good," and we all understood that and it was okay.

God help us when people start analyzing EPA stickers vs. various cars' real world equipment, and start buying them specifically in anticipation of some future mileage-related payout.

I have never been able to get below EPA rating on my vehicles ... or my parents vehicles. I can easily get 29-30 MPG out of their EcoBoast Escape.

Ultimately, what is comes out to is, people see 35MPG on something and drive all day with their foot in the floor and expect to get 35MPG.

It all depends on the reason for the shortfall. A refund for a mistake I can see...

If you "cook the books" like Kia/Hyundai did, you should pay a penalty. That H/K was allowed to fold the refund into their service policy (free oil changes means they know how far you drive, and pro-rate accordingly) is the wrong way to address this in my mind. If a company knowingly falisifies consumer info for the purpose of increased sales, you fine them the amount of the increased sales, or it's more profitable to cheat.

Conversely, if you follow the rules, and there's an error, why would you face a penalty?

How about if you make a mistake, and own up to it, rather than the EPA catching you in the act?

And finally, what if these last two apply to the same car?

The wife bought a 2012 Hyundai Elantra for the mileage, and we inherited a2013 Ford C-Max...

The wife has a hard time breaking 30mpg around town, but I've made 38mpg on the highway at well above 55mph. The C-Max lifetime is about 38 mpg, but the current tank is at 53mpg after 600 miles... warm weather and rural roads make a difference that the EPA has yet to comprehend.

HAve fun,
Frank

100F? My man my man, it's about that outside here right now in the sun, try having a black, non-tinted window '91 Mustang to get in in that kind of heat :P. And even then I refuse to use the A/C. MPG over coolness anyday.

- A woman with hot flashes is not someone you want to bicker with -

for safety reasons.

It was 95 here today and I never touched the AC on the Fiesta. Temperature is one thing but when you get temperature and extreme humidity, it's another thing altogether.

My oldest brother joined the Marine Corps in the late 60s. He told me he would take 119 in Arizona with low humidity over 99 in the swamps around Paris Island anytime, and he was in both places. I think two years ago it hit 109 here with a dew point in the high seventies (very humid).

It's nice that my wife actually tolerates the heat well, but when it gets past 95 she is ready for some AC.

regards
Mech

You didnt idle it with the ac on the jamestown ferry? I do and thats how I keep my mpg within epa specs vs the higher ones posted elsewhere. On the bridge waiting for the ferry you do get a good breeze often.

Most of my mpg videos in my insight came from the Waverly area. Route 10, 40, 460 and i95, 295 all in that same area. :turtle:

Kias are good cars. My brother has a spectra, takes a beating, drives like a rental car, 32 mpg. :thumbup:

What kind of idiot buys a black, non tinted window car?

(sorry, Baltothewolf - couldn't resist.) :D