Well, some good news on the gas mileage front. It appears that my Sonata is responding well to the warmer weather we've had lately (50s and 60s). The last two fill-ups have been higher than previous tanks and the last tank broke the magic 30 MPG mark that I've been hoping for. I can't call a trend on two data points, but things are looking more promising. I also just changed the oil at the 5,000 mile mark (initial change was at 2,500) and used Mobil 1 5W-30 rather than dino oil. Here's the mileage log thus far: Overall Average Date Mileage Gallons Miles MPG MPG Notes 12/27/2005 184 1/3/2006 575 14.46 391 27.04 27.04 1/7/2006 903 11.16 328 29.39 28.06 1/15/2006 1312 15.14 409 27.01 27.67 1/26/2006 1727 15.43 415 26.90 27.46 2/5/2006 2156 14.85 429 28.89 27.76 2/11/2006 2482 12.61 326 25.85 27.47 2/22/2006 2903 15.42 421 27.30 27.45 2/27/2006 3266 13.33 363 27.23 27.42 3/13/2006 3694 15.38 428 27.83 27.47 3/24/2006 4094 14.9 400 26.85 27.40 4/5/2006 4542 15.68 448 28.57 27.52 Warmer weather 4/13/2006 5012 15.15 470 31.02 27.83 Mobil 1
Out of curiosity, what sort of driving do you do (city/hwy), and do you have the automatic or manual trans? The chart above serves as an excellent example for anyone tracking their fuel economy (see thread 8 posts down). Speaking of which, I'm also curious what you do for a living, Matt. You obviously know a significant amount about cars and also about scientific process.
I mostly commute to work with the Sonata. My drive is about 20 miles each way, with about 14 of that being highway. The remainder is on secondary roads where I can drive about 40 mph. I do very little true city driving, with only 5 stoplights between my house and my office. I do drive into town for lunch most days, but even that is only a few miles. I keep a log in each of my vehicles and I record every fuel purchase and almost always fill the tank each time so I can keep a running fuel mileage. It is a good way to detect many problems with a car. I'm an electrical engineer/computer scientist (have both BSCS and BSEE). Well, more accurately these days, I manage an engineering department for a large company. The department has responsibility for measurement and control systems in support of our R&D and early stage product development efforts. I'm a car (and motorcycle and airplane) enthusiast and paid my way through college working for my uncle who owned a logging company. He did virtually all of his own equipment repairs, including engine, transmission and differential rebuilds so I got a lot of hands on mechanical work. I've had no formal training in either diesel or gasoline engines, but have picked up a fair bit through experience. I don't do much hands on engineering anymore, but am taking graduate courses in structural engineering to keep my brain somewhat active. Matt
I'll say that you seem both more literate and more scientifically aware than most engineers I know. And that's a wonderful thing.
Well, I generally don't admit to being an engineer unless someone asks. People often don't know how to interpret what it means. I think the literacy part comes from having attended high school many years ago before being illiterate was considered acceptable. I also love to read and that helps as well. Matt
I started keeping better records after a similar posting in January. So here's what I've got for a GLS 4-cylinder automatic. This is almost all commuting which is about 35 miles, four-lane all the way, but about 15 miles are in the city with some slow-go construction areas. I'm still waiting for that long road trip... Date Mileage Gallons Miles MPG 1/29 2562 2/10 3001 15.55 439 28.23 2/21 3423 15.28 421.7 27.60 2/27 3799* 14.06 376.6 26.79 3/6 4214 15.16 415 27.37 3/15 4636 15.60 421.6 27.03 3/22 5062 15.00 425.5 28.37 3/30 5483 15.20 421.8 27.75 *1st oil change at 3551 That averages out at just a shade over 27. I'll be interested to see how the warmer weather effects things for me. I've barely touched the temperature controls over the last few months with mostly mild weather, but have started running the A/C quite a bit this week with temps in the upper 70s to low 80s. That will become more of a constant as summer approaches here in Alabama.
I'm sure you have heard the old saying: "You call always tell an engineer, but you can't tell him much".
