2005 Elantra MPG?

While my Santa Fe was in for service, I had a loaner car. It was an Elantra
with 40 miles on the clock! (brand new!)
Mostly highway mileage, I got a smidge over 40 MPG
Is that typical?
It may make me re-think my soon to happen Sonata purchase.
I am 6'4", and the Sonata may be roomier, but I get reimbursed a cheap
$.37/mile, and I have
to make the miles pay for me.
Wonder what kind of mpg a 4 cyl Camry might get???
The Elantra does have a bit of a light car feel to it.
Thanks all!

 

Yes, but because of too few miles on it.. mileage gets better after 5000
miles for Elantra.

 

As of 3000 miles I'm getting 35mpg on long highway runs (NYC->Richmond ,VA)
Average speed 75 mph
Local NYC city is more like 21 mpg.
2005 Elantra GT Auto Red.

 

i dont think he was complaining bout the milage, im pretty sure elantras on
the lots arent rated for even close to 40 mpg..
40 sounds pretty good to me for a elantra... =)

 

I average in the low 30's mpg with my '05 GT Auto - highway vs. city
seems to make a significant difference in this car. On a recent 800
mile trip I got about 35, around town I get about 28-30. I've found
the "trip computer" MPG calculator in the vehicle to be overly
optimistic - usually telling me I'm getting about 38 mpg when it's
acutally much lower - anyone else notice this? I only have about 2k on
the car and, as mentioned here, expect the mileage to improve some when
the engine gets some more miles on it.

 

How did you determine the mileage? How far did you drive? You cannot
rely on the trip computer, especially on distances of less than a full
tank. The same is true of calculated mileage if you don't fill up at the
same pump before and after driving. The shorter the distance, the
greater the effect of any differences in actual quantity of gas added
during filling.

Realistically, a manual transmission Elantra will get mid 30's on the
highway. An automatic will get low 30's.

 

Filled it 'till the pump clicked, reset the trip odometer, drove a couple
hundred highway miles, came back to the same station and filled it again
'till the pump clicked. Then I divided the mileage on the odometer by the
number of gallons I just put in it.
I was focusing on how much mpg I could get, so held it around 63 mph.

 

My '01 Camry 4cyl. gets 28 mixed use. It is a little lighter than the
new style Camrys. But I would think the Elantra would get higher miles
based on how small and light it appears.

CP

 

Actually I drive ALL city miles now that I think of it. When I did take
a trip it was in the 30's.

 

Even still, the variation in fuel between 35 and 40 mpg is only .7
gallons (5 gallons vs. 5.7 for 200 miles). If it wasn't the exact same
pump and you didn't top off the tank (I know you're not supposed to),
you could easily get that much variation.

I typically drive 65 on the highway and on a straight highway trip I'll
see 35-36 mpg, but 40 seems high, especially on a brand new car. My gas
mileage on the first couple of tanks was in the upper 20's, but once the
car broke in, it improved markedly. Considering that the '05 Elantra is
essentially identical to the '04, I would expect that you'd average
similar mileage.