48 mpg in the 2013 Kia Forte!

[swbluto]

Took a rental car for a 300 mile trip, and I drove at an average of 61 mph since I know that slower is more energy efficient. I came back, filled up, and calculated an mpg of 48!

Holy cow!

I seriously didn't know that regular american cars could actually be *this* fuel efficient! (It had an "eco light" on the dashboard when the engine was presumably running efficiently, so I'm guessing this car and engine was optimized for low fuel consumption.)

To be fair, the EPA rates the Forte at 37 mpg highway, but an extra 11 mpg is certainly a welcomed improvement. I'm guessing I probably saved ... (300/37-300/48)*3.70=..*selects equation, clicks search google*..$6.87 in fuel for a 300 mile trip. Cool, the savings paid for my taco bell meal and left me $2 in change.

 

[dnmun]

i was surprised that my newest car, a 1988 honda civic wagon got 40mpg on my trip to seattle and back. this is a worn out car with 154k miles on it. best car i ever owned though. i have a 1984 CRX hf that got 49 mpg running at 70 from portland to colorado. this was back when gas was 99 cents and the trip cost about $30 for gas. now the best i can do is about $140 for gas for the 1250 mile trip.

 

[fizzit]

i was surprised that my newest car, a 1988 honda civic wagon got 40mpg on my trip to seattle and back.

I am jealous. I can't get my 88 CRX to break 38mpg. I think the engine might need a tuneup. I love civic wagons, and especially the 1988 model because of the pillar mounted seatbelts and lower weight. Is yours the 6-speed model or the auto?

 

[dnmun]

it's the 5 speed but i put over size tires (11%) on the front and run almost 40psi in them. i cannot do that well without the long steady speed on the freeway but i do drive 75-80.

i also have an '89 automatic in almost mint shape with 131k, factory no radio. for 34 years this car was driven with no radio. and she taught geography.

and i have a '90 that i also bot at the car auction for $575 and i just rebuilt the head, first time the valves were adjusted i bet in it's entire history, 194k. someone had broken the timing belt at about 175k and just replaced the worst bent valve and a new head gasket and never adjusted the valves! i was lucky the head gasket blew on me in my driveway while doing a radiator acid flush.

 

[bowlofsalad]

Geo metros have a reputation of being very efficient.

 

[izeman]

bmw 520d 184hp. 4.9l/100km = 48mpg - and that's a CAR. no a KIA (even though i know that most ppls don't consider a 4cyl bmw a bmw *ggg*)

 

[knighty]

60+mpg is normal here in the uk (and ur gallons are smaller than us gallons)

iirc, the American system for emission rules is messed up, the limit isn't based on emission per mile, but emission per gallon of fuel used instead...

so super efficient cars lose out, and can't pass your emission limit

it's just a PR stunt to make it look like the car companies are trying to keep emissions low, but at the same time letting them sell big fancy gas guzzlers



emission laws over here in the uk/europe make a mess of things too... bloody EGR valves don't make that much of a difference, but almost everything has one now and they're crap... prone to failure and clog your engine up with gunk/crap too :-(

 

[bobc]

I think our gallons are bigger (= 10lbs of water) actually.
And I think most vehicles are ~40mpg rather than 60... 60mpg is seriously good economy. I routinely get ~53mpg from my 2l diesel mondeo, commuting & some 70mph motorway stuff.

 

[bzhwindtalker]

I get 4,9l/100 (48mpg) average in my 200k miles 2002 renault at 80+mph on motorways. My parents used to drive this same car and they got as low as 3,9l/100 (60mpg) when staying at 65mph. That's a 1,6 ton break with a 110hp naturaly aspirated 1,9l diesel, bad looks but really good aerodynamics

 

[dnmun]

i once had a diesel rabbit and it got 45mpg too.

 

[Dauntless]

So I had a diesel Rabbit that had some 200,000 miles on it when I got it and it still got about 40mpg around town. Didn't do so much better on the freeway. I remember others telling me that they'd take trips getting 55mpg and higher.

I had a relative with a long commute so he bought an old Metro and said he got 46mpg on the freeway.

 

[wineboyrider]

Geo metros have a reputation of being very efficient.

Yes, they are! I bought a new one in 1994 and used to get 45 + mpg and I didn't even try to lay off the gas. It's a 3 cylinder though and it sounds weird when you are used to hearing 4 cylinders.

 

[bigmoose]

I used to consistently get about 43 mpg on a 1997 Honda Civic HX (the lean burn engine) when I commuted to a factory about 200 miles away. Half the trip was interstate, half 2 lane highway. I guess the lean burn had too high a NOx signature to be continued, but it sure got better MPG.

My kids and wife have 2009, 2010 and 2011 Civics and no one has gotten into the mid 30's with respect to MPG. The changes from 1997 are more comfort, upright driving position, safer and about 500 lbs heavier than the 1997.

 

[swbluto]

My kids and wife have 2009, 2010 and 2011 Civics and no one has gotten into the mid 30's with respect to MPG. The changes from 1997 are more comfort, upright driving position, safer and about 500 lbs heavier than the 1997.

My wishlist is:

more laidback, lower position, lighter and more aerodynamic. Possibly even less width, enough for 2 seats in a line instead of 2 seats side-by-side seems to make more energy efficiency sense to me.

Now this looks good to me (Not aesthetically, it looks like a duck, but it looks energy efficient):

There was an F1 racecar designed by a bunch of airplane designers, can't find it now, but it was pretty sick looking. Looked like a regular race car, but the frontal profile was minimized to the absolute minimum and aerodynamicized to the extreme so it got insane speeds. (Or, driving at normal speeds with the optimally chosen engine, insane fuel efficiency.)

 

[bigmoose]

When we had the Civics all side by side, it amazed me how much less frontal area that 1997 had. Driving it was a gas! In my youth I had a 1966 Porsche 911. I compared the wheelbase, track, weight, weight distribution, etc. between the '97 Civic and '66 911. I was amazed that they were clones. The 911 blew it away with respect to power, but the handling was very close in my opinion. I then learned why the "tuners" were turbocharging the Civics. It would make for a real fun ride.

The new Civics in my family got "soft" and "cushy" and americanized. They don't interest me any more.

Also from my motorcycle days I was also stunned by the low MPG of bikes. That upright position and the rider in the wind creates a lot of drag. When you think about those low slung and light Civics and others of the era, the designers sure put a lot of interior space in a small frontal area package.

 

[wineboyrider]

In High School my dad had a 1982 Honda Civic and it used to get 42 consistently and was a much lighter car than todays civics. I think the CRX was a pretty light fuel efficient car too , but no experience with one. I had an 1970 Opel GT in the 80's and it got 38-40 ish and was a lot of fun to drive!

 

[Hillhater]

i once had a diesel rabbit and it got 45mpg too.

Diesels have always been economical and torque'y , but the modern turbo diesels in cars ..VW BMW, Ford, Hyundai, etc... are really impressive.
My wife's Focus TDI gets near 50mpg ( 5 l/100km) but has 160bhp and 340Nm of Torque.!
The really neat thing is that they respond really well to "electronic tuning" ,..
..so with a $100 kit , and 5 mins to plug it in, that can be boosted up to 200+ bhp and 450 Nm ! ...
.. and improved economy

 

[John in CR]

48mpg was a reality in the mid 80's. How could anyone be impressed with that 30 years later. My ebike gets the equivalent of about 500mpg and would literally run rings around any of those ice wagons, so at least catch up and get in the right millenium.

 

[Hillhater]

John, How do you take the family on that 1000 mile trip to see the grandparents ?
... especially if its cold or raining ?
E bikes are good for local, one man, transport, but there are limitations ! :wink:
Oh, and i guess most of them would catch you up after about 50 miles , whilst you are stopped to recharge ( and warm up, dry out , etc)

 

[bowlofsalad]

48mpg was a reality in the mid 80's. How could anyone be impressed with that 30 years later. My ebike gets the equivalent of about 500mpg and would literally run rings around any of those ice wagons, so at least catch up and get in the right millenium.

I think the same thing often, ebikes get 500-1000+mpge and people are drooling over a dismal 50mpg.

 

[zombiess]

I used to consistently get about 43 mpg on a 1997 Honda Civic HX (the lean burn engine)

I am so familiar with that engine because I called every auto parts store I could find and talked to every goofball worker trying to find a replacement NTK L1H1 O2 sensor for a 97 Civic HX and asking them to count the wires since I needed 5 wires... not 4 wires. I didn't have a civic, but I did have a DIY Wide band I built so that I could tune cars ECU's based off the Lambda/air fuel ratio. This is all Circa 2001, well before the lower cost not as good alternatives came out. Best part about the L1H1/L2H2 was they didn't die when you ran leaded gas... I was often seen at the local airports with my 2000 turbo Camaro SS on the tarmac with jerry cans pumping 100LL AV-Gas into them for some late night shenanigans on high boost :lol: We won't talk about the mileage it got...

OK, new 2012 Nissan Juke, 1.6L CVT trans, 3000lbs AWD cross over thingy that corners almost as well as my Z06 and gets and average of 26 MPG and makes about 215 HP (they are underrated like most turbo cars). I love this thing, never knew a 1.6L could be so much fun to drive (in a car).

 

[swbluto]

48mpg was a reality in the mid 80's. How could anyone be impressed with that 30 years later. My ebike gets the equivalent of about 500mpg and would literally run rings around any of those ice wagons, so at least catch up and get in the right millenium.

I think the same thing often, ebikes get 500-1000+mpge and people are drooling over a dismal 50mpg.

Hehe, I think it's funny that this "Them vs. Us" conversation is going on.

I was using the rental car to pick up a recumbent trike that was 150 miles away; I'm pretty sure there was no way any of my electric bikes were going to do that. The subcompact rental cars I checked out in the past got something like 28mpg on the highway, so getting much more than that for a class one above that (compact) was pretty surprising. It got better gas mileage than any subcompact car I've ever driven. Anyway, I personally drool over the thought of an energy-efficiency-optimized-to-the-extreme hybrid car, possibly like one of those F1 racecars. The electric optimizes the energy usage over a wide range of environments, while the engine provides long distance and gets to be designed to run at peak efficiency while charging.

 

[thepronghorn]

48mpg was a reality in the mid 80's. How could anyone be impressed with that 30 years later. My ebike gets the equivalent of about 500mpg and would literally run rings around any of those ice wagons, so at least catch up and get in the right millenium.

I think the same thing often, ebikes get 500-1000+mpge and people are drooling over a dismal 50mpg.

Hehe, I think it's funny that this "Them vs. Us" conversation is going on.

I was using the rental car to pick up a recumbent trike that was 150 miles away; I'm pretty sure there was no way any of my electric bikes were going to do that. The subcompact rental cars I checked out in the past got something like 28mpg on the highway, so getting much more than that for a class one above that (compact) was pretty surprising. It got better gas mileage than any subcompact car I've ever driven. Anyway, I personally drool over the thought of an energy-efficiency-optimized-to-the-extreme hybrid car, possibly like one of those F1 racecars. The electric optimizes the energy usage over a wide range of environments, while the engine provides long distance and gets to be designed to run at peak efficiency while charging.

Have you seen the Volkswagen XL1?
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1307_2014_volkswagen_xl1/

It sounds pretty close to what you're talking about.

 

[swbluto]

Hehe, I think it's funny that this "Them vs. Us" conversation is going on.

I was using the rental car to pick up a recumbent trike that was 150 miles away; I'm pretty sure there was no way any of my electric bikes were going to do that. The subcompact rental cars I checked out in the past got something like 28mpg on the highway, so getting much more than that for a class one above that (compact) was pretty surprising. It got better gas mileage than any subcompact car I've ever driven. Anyway, I personally drool over the thought of an energy-efficiency-optimized-to-the-extreme hybrid car, possibly like one of those F1 racecars. The electric optimizes the energy usage over a wide range of environments, while the engine provides long distance and gets to be designed to run at peak efficiency while charging.

Have you seen the Volkswagen XL1?
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1307_2014_volkswagen_xl1/

It sounds pretty close to what you're talking about.

Looks close and those mpg stats are excellent! I'm thinking more along the lines of a Go-Cart's "super close to the ground" with an airplane canopy for the driver kind of efficiency, but that's probably not all that realistic for 60mph driving on regular roads, lol.

I think it'd be really cool to take an EV-1 and add an efficient generator to it. It was already aerodynamically optimized far more than your average car, so adding gasoline regeneration would make it go long distance fairly cheaply.

Too bad GM crushed them all. Maybe I can print one out on a super-huge multi-material 3d printer a decade from now? lol.

Look at that aero-optimized sexiness:

Wait, wikipedia says ev1's drag area was .36 while the VW XL1 has a drag area of .28. The VW is looking like the winner!

 

[swbluto]

Now this is what I'm talking about, a concept car called The Moon Walker. Minimal frontal area and excellent aerodynamics.

http://www.automotto.com/houston-moon-walker-car-weighs-move.html