2012 Sorento GDI 4 cyl

[user removed]

Today I drove it to my parents house, 21 miles, then to the cemetery for the wife to pay her respects to her parents. Then to meet two of my 3 brothers and their families for dinner and a drink, then back home. Left with the fuel economy display reading 30 MPG exactly, when I got back it was reading 29.9 MPG. That's about 54 miles total with the stops mentioned and time to cool off in between , from a dead cold start, with 1300 miles on the odometer.

That's impressive for 3800 pounds of SUV. I did drive it the best I could to maximise mileage, not really hypermiling but more stealth hypermiling and I bet it would have beat my 99 Maxima for MPG. Considering it is 900 pounds heavier with a much larger frontal area and probably lower CD, you get the idea of how good the 4cyl GDI 6 speed dual clutch transmission combination works.

On the Interstate it tachs right at 2k or a little above going 65 MPH and is rated at 32 highway on the new EPA. The drive home was at night with the radio and heater running with headlights, etc. Bet I could have beat 30 Average without dealing with night.
I would love to try this combo in KIA's mid size sedan. In the small sedan with the .1.6 GDI manual or auto it should be possible to do much better, maybe low to mid 40s.

regards
Mech

[pete c]

Originally Posted by puddleglum

The point is styling and space. Nobody makes a large fuel efficient wagon anymore. If you need a large spacious vehicle, you get an SUV or a minivan. Who wants to drive a minivan forever. My Rondo is (was in the US) Kia's fwd wagon. It is similar in interior space, 400lb lighter, and gets way worse fuel economy. The fact is, SUV's are popular with the public and so that is where the car makers put their new technology. The new GDI engines are very impressive. It's too bad that there isn't a wagon on the market that has one, only sedans and SUV's.

what ^^^^ said.

all of the car makers jumped on the suv bandwagon and abandoned wagons for some odd reason.

i guess it has something to do with american lemmings buying into the minivans and wagons aren't cool nonsense which is pedaled by auto maker marketers. If I am not mistaken, subaru and vw are the only ones that haven't dropped traditional wagons.

You would think that with high fuel prices here to stay apparently, they would get back into the business, but they haven't yet. well, toyota sort of did with the veranza, but, they still couldn't help themselves and unneccesarily jacked it up a few inches in fear people might think it was a camry wagon.

i think in the next few years you will see more true wagons reappear. or atleast i hope so.

as for the obvious superiority of DI, why are auto companies not going to it exclusively. i don't believe the manufacturing costs are much above PI.

Guess that's all about marketing as well.

[user removed]

Station Wagon, SUV,CUV, whatever you want to call it, Shooting Brake, Airport Hack.
Tell her it's a Station Wagon and she wouldn't buy it. Tell her it's a Minivan and you get the same reaction, I think it's based on the Optima so it IS a Station Wagon version of a Sedan.

Make any sense, NO, but hey she likes it and she can afford it.

Why not 4 WD? We bought a Murano with 4WD in 2004, figuring we might need it with the driveway having a 10 foot elevation change in less than 100 feet length. Never used it in 35k miles. On the Nissan it was a $1600 option and you didn't have to buy anything else to get 4WD. I guess she doesn't need to go off roading in the Wal Mart parking lot .

regards
Mech

[ChazInMT]

AWD (No low range) and 4WD (Low range option) were put on vehicles with normal rear wheel drive, so it put power to the front wheels in low traction situations to get you through...cause lord knows, rear wheel drive on a pickup in the snow is awful due to the lousy weight distribution.

Since a lot of the newer SUV, CUVs are base models with Front Wheel Drive....I think AWD would be a waste, particularly since modern snow tires can make a FWD vehicle almost unstoppable in all but the worst conditions for those in snowy regions.

my ¢2

[user removed]

The 4MPG highway mileage penalty by itself eliminated 4 WD from consideration. Why pay more for worse mileage. Never had any real problem around here with FWD. RWD is touchy especially on sheet ice. Driving a pickup with no weight in the bed on ice is a REAL adventure. Drove my 84 CRX in a 10 inch snowstorm until the ice in the front wheel wells would not allow my to turn the front wheels.

regards
Mech