EPA mileage ratings is bull? (Elantra vs Civic vs Corolla)

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by spacemanspif

Metro: are you recommending an auto for a highway car? Care to explain why? I know autos are caught up to manuals when it comes to efficiency but I thought manuals still have the advantage?

He is stating that the auto could be used on the highway, I don't think he recommended it, more of a if you have to it could be used.

The reason autos trash manuals in some models is because of ideotic gearing used on the MT varient, all autos loose a few percent over the MT at a minimum, they just usualy now come with better gearing.

[night9]

From my experience the elantra does not due well in the cold. Sub 50*F, I see at least a 15-25% drop in efficiency if not more in the winter. I don't know if anyone else sees that bad of a change. Texas is usually 80-30F in the winter and 70-110F in the summer. These are really rough numbers.

[PressEnter[]]

Well, all cars will suffer in the cold. I've never heard of Hyundais being worse than anything else, but I suppose it's possible. All I know is my old boss's started at -25F.

[jeff88]

Where is the air intake on the elantra? If it is a stock 'CAI' of sorts, then that could, at least partially, explain the big drop.

[night9]

It does have 2-3??? separate tubes for bring air into the air filter box. One is blocked by my upper grill block at the moment. Maybe I need to look into a WAI.

[PaleMelanesian]

The automatic Fit does a lot better. It's at 2150 @ 60 mph instead of 2850. The advantages of a manual are mainly at low speed, so if your driving is mainly highway I wouldn't hesitate to get the auto.

[spacemanspif]

Thanks for explaining everyone. Seems every nugget of info. I get about the auto industry, the more I hate it. Manuals with only "sport" gearing...how about adding an "eco" gear resulting in a close ratio 5spd with a big overdrive 6th...or 7th...I don't car how many of their gears I have to skip, just give me over 45mpg@65mph...

[PaleMelanesian]

Originally Posted by spacemanspif

Thanks for explaining everyone. Seems every nugget of info. I get about the auto industry, the more I hate it. Manuals with only "sport" gearing...how about adding an "eco" gear resulting in a close ratio 5spd with a big overdrive 6th...or 7th...I don't car how many of their gears I have to skip, just give me over 45mpg@65mph...

YES! If you're doing the sport thing you're going to be in gears 1,2,3. My 3rd gear maxes out at 78 mph, 4th at 108. Who needs a "sporty" 5th gear? If you're driving that way you're not going to be using 5th.

[ever_green]

wow thanks for all the responses people. She did consider the manual but with heavy traffic that might be a pain so she will probably go for the auto. we did a 24hr test drive of both the fit and the elantra this week and thr fit returned about 28mpg for city driving and the elantra about 23mpg. the fit was also more fun to drive and had lots of cargo for her needs. the elantra had more gadgets and she liked the technology better. 23mpg was a turn off for me since thats what I get with my 4wd subaru around town. but that could be because the hyundai only had 10k miles. although the hyundai was better equipped she will probably buy the fit for lower costs. I still think hypermiling in the fit will return better results with smaller more proven engine and the 100lbs weight saving.


but back to epa ratings I have more examples. my subaru which weighs nearly 3200lbs and has a full time AWD system returned about 33.5mpg for a 150 mile highway trip with no fancy tricks. I just cruised at 70-75mph the whole way. this is much better than the 27mpg epa rating. at the same time driving the hyundai for a short while on the highway returned only about 36mpg for about 70mph cruising (lower than epa). I noticed that a lot of times on slight grades and uphills the elantra had to downshift to maintain speed (a no no in hypermiling). the subaru however could just take the grade without downshifting, this was in part due to the higher displacement as well as shorter gearing (2800rpm at 70mph). I think the epa doesnt take grades and more realistic factors into consideration. yes I didnt have time to take the elantra for a 150mile exact same trip but we averaged 5mph slower highway speed. didnt have time to test the fit on the highway but at one time I saw the trip computer dip into 40mpg territory while cruising at 70mph for a short while. the honda tranny downshifted less than the elantra on the highway.

ps. it seems epa highway tests are done at 48mph avg speed. of course real world highway speeds are much higher. also apparentlly tests are done on chasis dynos which doesnt take aero drag into consideration?

[night9]

At a steady 65mph the Elantra will return its epa 38mpg. At 75mph 33mpg. With a upper grill block and tires at 41-42 psi I returned just over 42 mpg at 65.

The EPA is working on auditing manufactures data in order to try to take car of discrepancies.