Trip report '06 Sonata

Just recently returned from vacation, and the rental car I had was an
'06 Sonata V6 with 1179 miles on it. I picked the car up in Denver a
bit disappointed since I was hoping for a Mustang. I drove the car
from Denver to Rapid City to Sioux Falls to Minneapolis and put about
1100 miles on the car. I was surprised by the size of the car (I have
an Elantra '05 hatch) it seemed much bigger then I thought it was. I
drove 98% of the time on the highway with the cruise control set
between 70-80 mph and the AC on, by the time I turned the car in the
trip computer said I was getting 40MPG. My only complaint about the
car was the control for the sunroof, I prefer separate switches for
tilt and open as opposed to the one switch in the Sonata (I kept
getting the feeling it wasn't closed properly). If I had known the
Sonata was this roomy and got such good gas mileage I would have bought
one instead of the Elantra.

 

Something is wrong with that trip computer. No way a Sonata got 40 MPG
running at those speeds.


Matt

 

An Elantra won't do it either and I doubt that an Accent could.

 

Agreed. I could at least possibly believe though than an Accent could
do it. It is just not possible with a Sonata.

Matt

 

The trip computer is obviously wrong.

The best you can expect at those speeds is ~25mpg.

It's unusual for the trip tech to be that far off. Mine usually agrees with
actual miles/gallons within less than 1mpg. Most other Sonata owners are
reporting it's very accurate on the highway.

 

The trip computer has 2 data points that begin with Avg MP.... are you sure
you weren't looking at the Average MP(H)our reading instead of the
MP(G)allon page? I took mine on a trip to Atlanta this week and according to
the computer, I averaged 26.5 MPG and 35MPH for the trip with probably 70%
freeway and 30% city/county roads. I could easily see your average being
40MPH or better with a higher percentage/duration of freeway time.

Just a thought anyway.

 

Yeah I am sure it is something like that. 40 MPG & you won't be able to
find any Sonatas at dealers!