New car, new job, new commute.

[D.O.G.]

G'Day All.

I've just picked up a 2012 Hyundai i30.
For those in the US, it's the same as the 2013 Elantra GT (I think).
It's an auto with the 1.8 litre petrol engine, Elite (mid trim level).

It's an auto because my wife can't (won't) drive a manual.
It's a petrol (not the turbo diesel) because my mechanic advised against it.
Both of the above will limit it's fuel economy figures a bit, but I can live with that.

The plant I used to work at closed, so I've taken a job further from home (while still looking for something closer).
My new commute is about 70 kilometres each way, through some pretty heavy traffic areas, but I'm travelling outside peak hours so hope it won't be too bad.

I don't plan any mods at this stage (except tyre pressure), but will look at grill blocks, etc, after logging a few fills.

[hayden55]

Nice! Do you have a scanguage or anything already? I swear using this and using the "load" "gpm" "rpm" "trip average" modes helped me a ton on seeing what I'm doing right or what I'm doing wrong. Especially the trip average since it makes it like a game of trying to get a high score on a trip vs the boring tank average. Also the gpm screen will help a lot with seeing how much fuel you're burning at say sitting in idle in drive, or maybe sitting in at idle in neutral may use less fuel. Then finally pulse and gliding using load and rpm.
All of this and the fuel cost per trip helped me figure out the confusion that is the drive modes of my Prius.
Goodluck on your project!

[D.O.G.]

No scangauge yet, i'll get used to the factory gauge for a start.
It displays trip average and an instantaneous bar graph that's scary to watch as I take off from lights.
I'm assuming the factory gauge will be optimistic, bit it's still OK as a rough guide.

[teoman]

It does not need to be accurate as long as it is precise.

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by teoman

It does not need to be accurate as long as it is consistent.

Fixed that
However, even if it precisely measures how much fuel it injects, it cannot measure how much vapor gets sucked into the air intake from the vapor trap. On a hot day after a fill-up you may get magically good MPG as the intake air is enriched by fresh gas vapor.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by D.O.G.

It's a petrol (not the turbo diesel) because my mechanic advised against it.

What has your mechanic said? I don't remember to have ever seen a Diesel i30, but most of Kia and Hyundai SUVs I see with Paraguayan plates in the summer are Diesel.

[D.O.G.]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

What has your mechanic said? I don't remember to have ever seen a Diesel i30, but most of Kia and Hyundai SUVs I see with Paraguayan plates in the summer are Diesel.

His concern was the high cost of parts and repairs for small diesels.
I've been taking cars to him for repair for nearly 30 years, he knows I don't baby them.
I was surprised that he wasn't keen on the 1.6 litre turbo diesel, they seem to be quite popular (and reliable) in Australia and Europe.

Anyway, the petrol engine handles my driving style and conditions OK so far.

The factory fuel economy gauge is reading better than the EPA figure, but I haven't been through a full tank yet, so I won't jinx myself by making predictions.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by D.O.G.

His concern was the high cost of parts and repairs for small diesels.

Diesel engines have evolved at a faster rate until some years ago while their spark-ignited counterparts remained somewhat mediocre, until these started to get direct injection and turbochargers too.

[D.O.G.]

First fill results are in.
I was hoping for better than 6.05 l/100 km (38.89 MPG), but it’s not too bad for a starting point.

This was with tyres at 40 PSI, with ECO mode enabled and coasting where I could.

On the negative side, it was raining all week, my finishing times got scrambled so I hit heavy traffic three days running and I’ve yet to figure out how to turn off the engine at traffic lights without losing radio, blinkers, wipers, etc. (push button start & stop).

[BdK9001]

@ D.O.G. Usually with a button-starter you can switch off only the engine by a short press, or switch off the entire car by a long press.

Nobody told me the first time I got in a car with one of those, so I gut in a loop of stopping and startting the enine before finally figuring it out XD

I gotta say I rather dislike those buttons (although I understand why they're implemented as the computer can stop the starter as soon as the engine is running), but I like the implementation in my brother's '06 Audi A6 better, where turning the ignition key to "Start" let's the computer start the engine, but turning it to off still provides a true off-switch, instead of relying on electronics