Bought a 2003 Sonata!!

Bought a 2003 sonata v-6 with sunroof. I love the car. I have a few question
for the group. I've notice that it sucks a lot of gas!! When it gets to a
half of tank I fill it up. I've notice that it gets to a half after going
150 miles. Is this good? How do you calculate your gas mileage? Also, I
notice when I use the trunk release on the remote or inside the car, the
trunk just releases the lock put the trunk itself does not come up by
itself. Is it suppose to. I thought maybe the car is new and it needs to be
worked into. Does anyone else have this situation? Is it normal? All in all
I am happy with the car. So far I have 800 miles on it. Good luck to all you
others with your new hyundais. Take care.Sonata32

 

Good compared to what? It's excellent compared to an SUV, terrible
compared to one of those Toyota hybrids. Seems a little low for a
Sonata compared to the EPA ratings, but read on.

(miles driven)/(gallons of gas consumed) = miles per gallon. If the gas
tank holds 17.2 gallons, and you drove 150 miles on half a tank, you got
17.44 miles/gallon. Remember that the gas gauges on most cars are only
approximate (it's never empty when you hit "E", f'rexample) and also
remember that cars get better mileage when they're out of their break-in
period (yours is still in break-in, obviously.)

Yes, the engine needs to be broken in as described in your owner's
manual. The non-engine systems should have been working from the start.

 

I think your truck release is working properly. Mine works the same way. All
it does is unlock the trunk, the same way the fuel door is released when you
push the fuel door button.
I track my mileage using the odometer and trip. I use the odometer to verify
the trip. When I fill the car I record the date, odometer, trip, gallons,
price and total paid. I divide the trip mileage by the number of gallons
purchased to get the mpg. I am averaging 21.03 mpg. I get about 25 mpg on
the highway and about 18 mpg around town. I bought my 2003 Sonata V6 LX at
the end of April.
Good luck with yours,
John D.

Bought a 2003 sonata v-6 with sunroof. I love the car. I have a few question
for the group. I've notice that it sucks a lot of gas!! When it gets to a
half of tank I fill it up. I've notice that it gets to a half after going
150 miles. Is this good? How do you calculate your gas mileage? Also, I
notice when I use the trunk release on the remote or inside the car, the
trunk just releases the lock put the trunk itself does not come up by
itself. Is it suppose to. I thought maybe the car is new and it needs to be
worked into. Does anyone else have this situation? Is it normal? All in all
I am happy with the car. So far I have 800 miles on it. Good luck to all you
others with your new hyundais. Take care.Sonata32

 

For the gasoline milage "gallons consumed" is the amount of fuel you put into the car when you fill it up. You can't use the entire tank (17.2 G.)

Miles divided by Gallons.

Miles btwn the last fill up and the current fill up divided by the gallons used btwn the 2 fill ups (how much fuel put in the car.)

 

My wife got a 2003 Sonata LX in April and she loves it. We currently get
between 22-24 mpg. Use the odometer to track your milage and divide by
actual gallons. Be sure to fill your tank up to the same point every time
(like when it first clicks off) to ensure that the gas delivered is the
same.

 

Consumer Reports found:

Fuel economy
CU's overall mileage, mpg 21

CU's city/highway, mpg 14/30

CU's 150-mile trip, mpg 27

Annual fuel: gal./cost 700/$1050

Cruising range, mi. 425

Do you mean your gas gauge looks like the tank is halway full? I
suspect that gas gauges in general are designed only to give you a
relative idea, not the exact amount of gas in your tank. I've never
driven a Sonata, so this is just my guess.

See other posts.

I suspect that the trunk is unlocked as you say, but the trunk lid
doesn't fully open for the reason that if it did, it might
accidentally hit you in the face. I can't think of any car where
rekeasing the hood or trunk lock causes the hood or trunk lid to
raise. You have to pick those up yourself.

This is also a safety feature when you drive, BTW. If you were to
unlock the trunk accidentally while driving, and the trunk lid did
open fully, it would block your view.

I don't know about trunks and possible US laws that mean trunk locks
have to function in the way they do, but it seems possible that US law
might require this on all cars. All cars sold in the US that I can
think of actually have two locks for the hood, so even if you unlock
the hood from inside the car, you have to release a second lock
outside the car to get the hood to open. Wouldn't be good to have a
hood suddenly open at speed!

 

I had a 1986 Mustang LX that would pop the trunk when you hit the button.
Not enough force to loosen teeth if it hit you in the face, as the lid only
weighed about five pounds.

Regards,

Neil

 

In regards to the fuel gauge, I have an 03 Elantra GT with the trip
comp.odometer. I was driving to work with the fuel gauge on empty and the
warning gas/empty tank light lit up and the trip computer still said 78 km
to empty. I didn't and still don't know which one to trust. I went and
filled up at the closest gas station after thinking I didn't want to run out
of gas during rush hour traffic..

would it have gone another 78 km?
is there really half of a tank in the car when it shows that on the gauge?
I am guessing it is pretty close to empty when it shows empty.
and I have noticed my gas gauge stays up around the upper 3/4 tank than it
does around 1/2 and below. I don't trust the gauge to give me any sort of
accurate reading.

J.

 

Converting to miles so I can tell how far it actually is, that's just
under 50, which would imply (based on fuel economy of 25-ish MPG) that
the car has a little under 2 gallons of gas when the needle's pointing
to empty. I'd believe 1 gallon, but 2 seems stretching it a bit. So
yeah, I'd call that an estimate; don't rely too much on it.

If you don't fill the tank all the way up all the time, the trip
computer may assume you have done so, which would throw off the
calculations a bit. I can't imagine it would use the gas gauge to
determine how much fuel you have, it's simply not accurate enough.
Instead, the trip computer probably notices when the fuel level goes up
significantly and assumes you have filled up.

 

That's an option... One that should be standard!

What's to calculate? Does the Sonata not have a trip computer that
displays the gas mileage? My Elantra has that (it will also display
distance until empty). I can't believe the Sonata wouldn't also!

 

I have a 2003 Sonata LX. The gas mileage on the stock car sucks.
Replace the intake with a CAI or WAI (or at least get a K&N and remove
the lower resonator) and then swap out the exhaust from the cat-back
(note: don't be a ricer and get an annoying muffler, at least try to
keep your car at OE sound levels) with a less restrictive setup. Go
with mandral-bent pipes 1/4" larger than the stock setup.

Not only will you end up with an extra 4-5 MPG but you'll come close
to 160 whp with the auto or 170 whp with the stick.

 

Consider also that for 1st 6000 miles it will consume more.
Now I am at 48.000 Km (30.000 miles) and my mileage is over 8 Km/l in urban
areas with air conditioner always on.

Zotto

 

To calculate your gas mileage, here's how I do it:-

Go to a gas station, fill the tank. Zero the tach. Now drive the car.
When you next go to a gas station fill it up again.
Now note how much gas it takes to fill the tank Also from the tach you note
howmany miles you drove on the quantity of gas you filled up with.

So miles driven divided by gas put into tank = mpg

Regards,

BWS