2006 Sonata gas mileage

I just made my 4th fill-up since buying my Sonata GL 4 cylinder/5 speed.
Here is the data:

tank 1 27.04
tank 2 29.39
tank 3 27.01
tank 4 26.90
-----
Average 27.46

Not terrible, but not what I hoped for. The EPA rating is 24/34 and I
drive 70-80% highway. Hopefully, more miles and warmer weather this
summer will bump this up a little. My 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager with
the 3.3L V-6 and automatic transmission (and 178,000 miles!) was getting
22 MPG before its demise. Only getting 5 MPG more than the much larger
van is a touch disappointing.

What are others experiencing with their Sonatas?


Matt

 

I have the V6. I'm getting 20.7 wit most driving in town. The other brands
similar cars get better fuel mileage but I knew this going into the
purchase. We still love the car.

 

After 4000 miles of a mix of in-town and highway driving, my computer shows
24.8 mpg for the 4 cylinder version. It's really obvious if you watch the
computer how in-town driving drags down the average. That's where driving
technique has so much to do with it. Stomp on the gas and suffer. Ease on
the gas and enjoy.

Tom

 

Yes, I drove particularly gently this last tank and set the cruise at 55
for my 17 mile commute to work on mostly level 2 and 4 lane highway. I
can't be much more gentle than that! That salesman told me he was
getting 29 with his LX V-6. I have to say I no longer believe that.

I'd read that the Hyundais were much poorer on fuel economy than Toyota,
Honda or GM, but I didn't think it would be so close to the EPA city
rating for what is mostly highway driving. Oh well, I'm still hoping it
will get better with a few more miles!

If it stays under 30 for my style of driving, I'll be an unhappy camper,
and an Camry owner next time.


Matt

 

I haven't kept a good record, but that sounds similar to what I'm
getting. I remember a low of 26.2 and a high of 28.4. I've got the GLS
4-cylinder auto (one of the first made in Alabama, which is where I
live) and closing in on 2500 miles. All of the driving so far has been
commuting to/from work, about a 35-mile trip with about 20 miles
highway. Part of the city driving is through a major road construction
zone, so lots of stop and go and slow moving. I'd like to get out on the
highway for a longer trip just to see how it does. I'm a little
disappointed in the MPG so far, given the 24/33 rating. I had been
getting 24-27 MPG with the '94 Camry (175,000) that I traded in for the
Sonata. Overall, though, I'm very pleased with the new car.

I've also noticed that the computer MPG on the GLS seems to be higher
than what I've calculated by hand. I have been resetting this after each
fill-up. Have wondered if others have noticed differences.

Barry

 

Well, matching your Camry isn't too bad, although I think the new
Camry's do a little better than the old.

I don't have a computer onboard so all of mine are done by hand and I
can't offer you anything here.

Matt

 

Unfortunately, I am reading this at work, and don't have all of my data
in front of me, but my mileage curve with the V6 has been similar to
yours. Basically subtract 4 MPG from your numbers and you've got mine.
Which follows the EPA difference of 4 MPG in the V6's 20/30 MPG rating.

I am just shy of 6,000 miles, however, and my mileage has been steadily
DECREASING. As I have noticed in my previous Hyundais, this seems to be
the trend until you get close to 10,000 miles when things improve
greatly.

I am also disappointed with my results, I must admit, but I consider it
a trade off. Either you pay much more up front for a Toyota or Honda,
that probably get better mileage "out of the box", or you pay for it on
the back end with Hyundai in the form of gasoline payments.

Buying a comparable Japanese car would have cost me $8,000-$10,000 more
up front. That will buy a lot of gas.

Otherwise, I can't find anything other than minor/ergonomic flaws with
the car.

Eric

 

Turn off the engine at stop lights and watch your mileage go way up.

 

My computer also reports a bit higher mileage, but I've found it to be in
the neighborhood of 0.1 MPG. I consider that to be pretty accurate
actually.

While I've personally never owned another car with a MPG computer in it, I
have rented several that seemed to be off by as much as 5 MPG one way or
the other.

I think the cost would be prohibitve to install something more accurate
than what we have.

Eric

 

It sounds like the computer in my Elantra. While it's generally within
..5 MPG of the calculated mileage, it's been off by as much as 3 MPG at
times. Some of that is due to variations in gas pumps, but that's not
enough to explain all of the variation.

 

I have a 2006 GLS4 that is new. We took a trip on the hilly Taconic
Parkway in NY with the temps 30-40F. Each way was 147 miles, so about
350 RT. I drove at 55mph or less with my wife and some luggage.This
was almost all open road driving. I topped the tank off at the start
and finish. We averaged 34mpg. The car had only about 250 miles at the
start of the trip. Johnboy

 

That is very interesting. I wonder if there is some "curve" programmed
into the ECU that runs the engine a little rich during break-in and then
moves to a leaner mixture later on. That sure is a curious one. Well,
I've always kept a log in all of my vehicles and I record every tankful
and all of my maintenance. So, I'll post the results here from time to
time and may even enter them into Excel to plot the trend.

That's probably true, although where I live the delta for a Camry was
more like $4,000. I paid $16,300 after the rebates were applied to the
price I negotiated. I could have got a similar low-end Camry for about
$20,500. It didn't have all of the safety equipment that the Sonata
has, but it was close. The resale value of a Toyota typically more than
offsets the purchase price differential, unless you run your cars until
they die as I do and then it is less of a factor.

I pretty much agree, although I consider the poor heater to be a major
flaw given my climate and the throttle and clutch is a pretty major
flaw, but this only applies to standard shift. Otherwise, I agree that
the car is pretty solid overall with only minor issues.


Matt

 

Last time I checked, it was off by 1.8. First time I've had the trip
computer as well, so didn't know if that was to be expected. It's not a
big deal to me really since I'll normally calculate by hand anyway.
FWIW, I leave the computer on the trip range setting and like that
feature a lot.

Barry

 

No, there isn't. The ECU does learn from the sensors on the engine and
exhaust system, but it's only designed to optimize the fuel air ratio
and timing for emissions and performance.

My Elantras mileage improved rapidly at first, then gradually up to 10K
miles or so. I Eric's has gotten worse, it's probably due to a problem
with his car, winter blend fuel or a change in his driving habits.

 

My Chrysler minivans also adapt to the driving style. If you drive more
aggressively, the vehicle (well, the transmission for sure) will adapt
to your style and rais shift points, etc. Likewise, if you drive more
sedately, as I typically do, it would lower shift points and try to
maximize economy over performance. I was wondering if the Hyundai
similarly had some adaptability programmed into the control systems.


Matt

 

Perhaps with the transmission, but I wouldn't know, since I've never
owned a car with an automatic tranny. I adapt my shift points to my
heart's content.

 

Likewise, but the wife likes the automatics so her minivans have all
been slush box equipped.

Matt

 

I drive a 2006 GLS V6. Just crossed 1,000 miles. Very little highway
driving. I drive conservatively (shift the gear to neutral during long
stops).

Computer shows ~32 miles per hour speed and ~21 miles per gallon.

Significantly lower than '96 4-cyl Camry it replaced (~24 mpg), but I
shouldn't be comparing the two.

My colleague owns a 2006 4-cyl Camry and he told me that he also gets around
21 mpg. His theory is that the cylinders in newer Camry are bigger than
those in '96 Camry.

So far, we are happy with the new Sonata.

 

Glad you're happy with the new Sonata. Don't place a lot of faith in the
computer though. Calculate your gas mileage yourself when you fill up.
You'll find some significant discrepancy.

 

Sorry I can't help with the Sonata, but I drive a 2004 Chevrolet
(Malibu) Classic, which is almost the same size and has almost the same
EPA estimates (24/34). The reason I check out this newsgroup is that I
have my eye on getting an '06 Sonata with the four-cylinder at some
point, though I'm not sure the finances will work out for now.

Anyway, don't feel bad. I just posted on the Malibu newsgroup that the
one big disappointment I've had with the Classic is fuel economy. It's
not what I hoped for or expected, and nowhere near the 24/34 EPA
sticker.

I average 23-24 mpg on mixed highway/city driving, sane legal speeds,
no burning rubber, windows all the way up, no heavy loads, and with a
clean air filter, newly changed Mobil 1 full-synthetic oil, and new
Kelly snow tires set to 32 psi. Also it's been a fairly mild winter
around here. (Northeastern PA)

It's been a bitter disappointment when on the whole I've been quite
satisifed with the car. (That's one reason I'm attracted to the '06
Sonata. In some ways it looks like a newer, safer, more advanced, very
slightly larger version of the Malibu....for just a few bucks more.)

My theory is that larger cars (3050+ lbs) with a four-cylinder will not
get the EPA sticker mileage under anything but IDEAL conditions. Most
of the time they won't even be close.
Smaller cars, such as my old Saturn SL2, can come much closer to
sticker fuel economy figures in real-world driving conditions.

There's a point past which you cannot defy the laws of physics. A close
look at EPA sticker figures from the '06 model year shows some strange
sticker readings.

For one thing, the Sonata with automatic transmission is rated slightly
higher than the Chevy Cobalt, a much smaller car. Does anyone believe a
Chevy Impala, at 3,553 lbs., with a V-6 really gets 31 mpg, even on the
highway at the speed limit, consistently? For that matter, can it be
true that a few models get better highway mpg with the auto tranny than
with the stick?

Bottom line is that EPA sticker figures must be viewed with extreme
skepticism.....

Regards,
Eric M