what's normal MPG ?, what's normal MPG according to you? Options

[hendo]

My question for members with recent year Elantras with automatic transmissions and 4 -cyl 2.0 engines is, what do you find to be normal MPG when your tires are inflated, your air filters good, you aren't towing a piano, etc?
I ask such a general question because: Having been recently surprised by a downturn in MPGwhen I switched to a 2008 Elantra SE from a 2009 Elantra GLS I wrote a topic titled MPG in '08 Elantra. I drove the same routes, same frquency, getting 32 MPG in the first car, but only 24 MPG in the second car, and obviously with the same driving habits. Same transmission, engine, although the SE came with 215mm-wide tires instead of 195. That doesn't seem like enough reason for 25% reduction in MPG. BTW the better performing car had 28K miles on it, the other only 14K.
Anway I am asking Elantra Club members this question because HYUNDAIUSA told me that overall combined city-highway MPG of as little as 20 MPG is considered acceptable. Of course, that could be any combination of city-highway driving but my old "69 Plymouth could get 20 MPG and I thought this was awfully low compared to what Hyundai advertised their expected MPG was, both in 2008 and now. BTW, my Elantra was bought at a Hyundai dealer, prepped with fresh filters, etc, and inspected and supposedly in good running order. I also brought it to a different dealer who checked it over and found nothing wrong with it.

Thanks for your attention and responses

[roydjt]

For my 04 hatchback, I usually get around 26-27mpg. My daily commute is typically a half hour or so each way, and maybe 50% of that time I am on the freeway. I tend to have a heavy foot on the freeway. When I am on a road trip, I'll stay over 30mpg if I keep the needle under 75mph. I've seen as high as 34mpg, but that was at elevation and averaging 55-60mph. If I'm up around 80-85mph, I'll dip to 28mpg or so.

-Roy

[milehighhyundai]

I honestly feel that each car is an "individual". That is, some (of identical car) are faster, some are smoother and some get better than or worse than average mileage. Unfortunately, I think you are seeing it with your particular SE vs that GLS you drove.

Here is a background to my thinking: I used to be a fleet manager for Enterprise. I drove rental rockets daily of all different makes and models. Both myself and staff would begin to notice that the cars that we consistently drove (Malibu's, Impala's, Taurii, Corolla's) would have some variation amongst themselves. I once had 2 Corolla's that were assigned to my department for about three weeks. I distinctly remember that the white one was significantly faster than the blue one- so much that others that drove them back to back felt the same. Both were same age and very close in mileage.

Another case: I had a body shop owner that frequently rented Chevy Venture vans for the weekend trips to San Diego (I was in PHX at the time). We had a silver one in fleet for about 9 mos that he always requested as he would average 28 MPG for his trips versus low 20's for all of the other Ventures he rented.

Just as with people, there are anomalies out there with cars. I think I have the opposite anomaly as mine consistently gets 34+ all of the time (even with subzero temps). I also feel that my car is considerably slower than it should be. Sadly, I was smoked by a Prius the other day and it was quite depressing... (I did blow by him after 40 mph- but off the line he was much quicker).

Yes, there are environmental factors that are quite important (temps, gas, terrain, elevation, etc). I feel that cars vary much more than most people realize.

Just my

[natesi]

I honestly feel that each car is an "individual". That is, some (of identical car) are faster, some are smoother and some get better than or worse than average mileage. Unfortunately, I think you are seeing it with your particular SE vs that GLS you drove.

Here is a background to my thinking: I used to be a fleet manager for Enterprise. I drove rental rockets daily of all different makes and models. Both myself and staff would begin to notice that the cars that we consistently drove (Malibu's, Impala's, Taurii, Corolla's) would have some variation amongst themselves. I once had 2 Corolla's that were assigned to my department for about three weeks. I distinctly remember that the white one was significantly faster than the blue one- so much that others that drove them back to back felt the same. Both were same age and very close in mileage.

Another case: I had a body shop owner that frequently rented Chevy Venture vans for the weekend trips to San Diego (I was in PHX at the time). We had a silver one in fleet for about 9 mos that he always requested as he would average 28 MPG for his trips versus low 20's for all of the other Ventures he rented.

Just as with people, there are anomalies out there with cars. I think I have the opposite anomaly as mine consistently gets 34+ all of the time (even with subzero temps). I also feel that my car is considerably slower than it should be. Sadly, I was smoked by a Prius the other day and it was quite depressing... (I did blow by him after 40 mph- but off the line he was much quicker).

Yes, there are environmental factors that are quite important (temps, gas, terrain, elevation, etc). I feel that cars vary much more than most people realize.

Just my

I totally agree with this.

I had a 02 Focus (bought new) that could NOT get out of it's own way. It was so slow that even flooring it, other people would get pissed because I was going too slow. I'm not joking or exaggerating one bit. Dealer said it was fine. But it was also well known on the Focus forums at the time, that there was significant variability in the hp due to allowed variances in the way the engine was assembled (especially the timing). BTW, that car was the biggest POS I've ever owned in my life. I owned it for about 3 months.... But that's another story.

milehighhyundai, if you're getting beat by a Prius, that's bad.

[milehighhyundai]

milehighhyundai, if you're getting beat by a Prius, that's bad.

I agree that it is bad. The only thing I can think of is the electric motor torque helps that car greatly at altitude where I am a bit "wheezy"... especially right off the line. I do light engagements of the engine with the clutch (basically engage off idle to 1500 RPM) as to minimize clutch wear. Therefore, I am even slower off the line than most cars. I make up for it with higher RPM shifting (thus my faster acceleration once moving- a "roll" I guess it is called).

[natesi]

I test drove a Prius this summer and I had to nearly floor it to go anywhere. I don't know how anyone could possibly stand to drive one of those things.

[only1db]

really depends on how fast i drive. this month i'm at a clinical site and i have to cross a road and the speed limit is 65 so my cruise is set and i have been getting 30 mpg's with mixed driving. If i'm just going to school (all city) its about 25 and if i get on the highway at MY speed...its will be close to 28.

if you go over 3k it seems to just eat fuel!

[natesi]

I have a 2002 GLS auto.

My last two tanks I've got 24 mpg, which really shocked me because I do mostly city driving, lots of short trips, accelerate hard ALL the time, and the temps here have been in the 30s and 40s. This tank included a freeway trip to my mom's house about an hour away, but I can't even count how many times I floored it even on the freeway... and I even touched 100mph momentarily.

It might help that I have the front tires set at around 39-40lbs and the backs at 35lbs, plus a clean air filter. I also put NGK iridium plugs put in about 40K ago with new factory wires.

[MrGD]

I got my Elantra 2010 up to 31MPG on highway and around 23-25 city - this is just if I drive 'ECO'

I am pretty happy with that

[Bobzilla]

After almosst 9 years, mid 30's summer, low 30's winter. City driving puts me into the high 20's.

[MrGD]

After almosst 9 years, mid 30's summer, low 30's winter. City driving puts me into the high 20's.

No reason to complain for you ;-)

[Bobzilla]

No reason to complain for you ;-)

Before we got saddled with the crappy E10 gas everywhere, 38mpg @ 70mph cruise was common. In fact, we AVERAGED round trip somethign like 36.6mpg on a vacation from central Indiana to the Outer Banks via US50 through west Virginia. We had multiple tanks over 38mpg.