Fuel Mileage Rebate Coming

[donniekl]

Originally Posted by duhtroll

what external gauge would be useful and certifiably accurate?

Originally Posted by cloud9utk

the one at the pump when you fill up. it is in a useful location and the certification stickers are right there!

I think he's asking about an external gauge to measure distance to check his odometer.

GPS units are really accurate in speed and distance measurements. At this point, if your phone has GPS there's probably an app that will measure your distance as you drive.

There was also a thread a while ago about Sportage owners thinking their speedometers were off. I used a basic GPS speedometer app on my phone and it was in sync with my speedometer up to 80 mph. I would imagine that if your odometer was inaccurate then your speedo would be inaccurate as well.

Back to the original topic, has anyone heard/read how often mileage needs to be reported and do we need to visit a dealer every time we report the mileage or only the first time?

[ILLJIM69]

I love all the outrage from some folks. If you are seriously pissed off about a couple MPGs, you need help. Okay, so they miscalculated or scammed you, you can't prove it was intentional either way. Just because a company does something like this, doesn't mean anything IMO. In fact, kudos, as they are doing right by their customers in this instance. Some of you talk like it was some big conspiracy and sting operations caught them in a lie or something.

I am envious if this issue is what ruins your day.

Sheesh............

I doubt I will even file, although I would be stupid to turn down a free case of beer from Kia, right? Ha ha!

[ILLJIM69]

Originally Posted by njerald

Got my email, went to the website and printed off "Fuel Reimbursement Estimate".

Will take it to the dealer next week to verify the mileage.

Darn, I never ever planned on going to a dealer after the purchase.......

Ha ha, same here. Although they do still owe me my second smart key........a year later.

[bilbravo]

Filled out the estimator on the website today, estimates $73.84 for driving 9600 miles since May 2011. Not bad, I'll take it.

I thought I read somewhere that they would continue to refill the card every year until you sell the vehicle. Is that true? I'll see if I can find it in one of the articles.

From the yahoo article:

Hyundai and Kia say they will offer affected customers a rebate in the form of a refillable debit card with the value based on how many miles the owner has driven and the average price of a gallon of gas in their area, along with a 15 percent premium. While that would amount to less than $100 for many customers today, Hyundai and Kia say they will add to the debit cards as the owners keep driving; the companies also vowed to compensate previous owners of the affected models who had sold their cars.

[cloud9utk]

Originally Posted by ILLJIM69

I love all the outrage from some folks. If you are seriously pissed off about a couple MPGs, you need help. Okay, so they miscalculated or scammed you, you can't prove it was intentional either way. Just because a company does something like this, doesn't mean anything IMO. In fact, kudos, as they are doing right by their customers in this instance. Some of you talk like it was some big conspiracy and sting operations caught them in a lie or something.

I am envious if this issue is what ruins your day.

Sheesh............

I doubt I will even file, although I would be stupid to turn down a free case of beer from Kia, right? Ha ha!

exactly. i'm like wait, my car BURNS GAS!?! but it burns A LITTLE more than it should? Probably because i'm driving it to hard, right.

But then FREE MONEY! So why not take it? if it ends up being yearly thing, it will be like a dividend for owning some KIA stock, amiright?

but seriously, i didn't buy a turbocharged Light Truck to save gas! DUH!

[WISporatgeSX]

Originally Posted by cloud9utk

exactly. i'm like wait, my car BURNS GAS!?! but it burns A LITTLE more than it should? Probably because i'm driving it to hard, right.

But then FREE MONEY! So why not take it? if it ends up being yearly thing, it will be like a dividend for owning some KIA stock, amiright?

but seriously, i didn't buy a turbocharged Light Truck to save gas! DUH!

I agree! I actually still get better mileage than what was shown on the sticker when I bought it and even now that its lowered. I get what I get no matter what... It wouldn't have changed my mind about buying it in the first place if it was one mpg lower. The MPG ratings was one of many reasons why I bought this car. Now I will be getting a little extra perk for the rest of its life with me, bonus!

[ILLJIM69]

Originally Posted by cloud9utk

exactly. i'm like wait, my car BURNS GAS!?! but it burns A LITTLE more than it should? Probably because i'm driving it to hard, right.

But then FREE MONEY! So why not take it? if it ends up being yearly thing, it will be like a dividend for owning some KIA stock, amiright?

but seriously, i didn't buy a turbocharged Light Truck to save gas! DUH!

Makes sense to me. Free money is hard to pass up. I just don't see why people get so worked up over a few MPGs. Now, if they claimed we would get 35 highway and just about everyone was getting 15, I would be pissed too.

I dunno man, whatever, it is what it is, lol. I am going to get in the garage and change my oil, shine some tires and of course have a beer or two!

[cwmont]

I'm in on this one. If they're going to give me back the difference, I'll take it.

Bought my 2012 Sportage in May and my city mileage has been consistently lower than stated on the sticker. My driving is about 99 % city. I traded in a 07 Nissan Quest with terrible city mileage on the Sportage hoping to increase my city mileage. Which I have but not as much as I'd hoped for.

I've only been on one trip since I bought it and got about 32 mpg on the freeway (mostly flat terrain) so no complaints there.

I track my mileage using the fuel economy records I enter in my garage for the KIA on truedelta's web site. I'm in the desert SW so the AC was cranked all summer. Once up to speed I drive with the ECO light on most of the time. Trying to accelerate to posted speed while keeping the ECO light on is a lesson in futility. I've seen as low as 19.7 and high is 21.0. Average is 20.5 city.

I reset the trip computer at every fill up. The trip computer "always" shows higher by about 1.5 to 2 mpg than actual mpg when I figure it. Not sure what's up with that though.

Honestly, I think the EPA could test just about any car from any maker and find out the "real world" mileage is less than stated on the sticker. At least KIA is doing something to make up fir it.

[duhtroll]

I can definitely see how a smart key would be a reason to be upset, but mileage wouldn't be a valid reason to nitpick.

I'm going to take a guess and say people are pissed not only because they were sold a product that was misrepresented (and BTW intent has nothing to do with it) but then owners were told by dealerships as well as people on this board that since the mileage came out under the projections, they must be doing it wrong.

Some of us had two or three vehicles we liked at time of purchase and chose the one we have (in my case, a Sportage) based upon the MPG estimates and the cost savings that these estimates would include. Call it "outrage" if you like, but obviously those of us who complained are now being validated vs. those who told us the CPU has to be right and we must be mentally deficient for questioning it.

Sometimes the old school methods work better than technology, case in point.

Originally Posted by ILLJIM69

Ha ha, same here. Although they do still owe me my second smart key........a year later.

[DutchVDub]

I'll actually say that I am rather dissapointed in my SX's fuel economy and that people have every right to be upset about it. The wife and I just bought the SX to replace our 2000 Audi S4 as her daily driver. We specifically went looking for a small cross-over 4cyl SUV for the fuel economy over a larger SUV. We went with the SX because quite frankly it drove almost identically to the S4. We knew we would take a hit on the fuel economy compared to the EX and other competitors by opting for the 250hp turbo model, but thats what the wife wanted and I'll admit that the little SX was fully able to put a big grin on my face when I stomped down during the test drive. We also figured that even with the turbo fuel economy would be far greater than the larger Grand Cherokee, Nissan Murano, Sorento, and GMC Acadia's we were originally looking at. We litterally test drove every 4cyl small cross-over SUV we could think of before settling on the SX.

Now for the fuel economy.... after going through 3 dealerships and waiting almost 2 mos we finally picked up our Mineral Silver 2013 Sportage SX on Nov 5, 2012. As of today it has just over 2,200 miles on the odometer. At first the economy display was holding steady at about 24 mpg. The last week or so its been sitting at about 21 mpg. Well I just got back from driving to my mom's house outside of Omaha, NE. It was just my son and I as the wife was stuck working, so the 2 of us and 1 suitcase. Over 500 miles each way to where I live in CO, I kept the cruise control set for 80mph the entire way along I-76 and I-80. Country highways I had it set for 65mph. I reset the trip odometers and checked mileage at every fuel stop along the way. The economy display was showing in the 23-24 mpg range and my math was staying steady in the 21mpg range. (I don't quibble over decimal points). I'm sorry but that is appalling. For 1, the computer being off by 2mpg is rediculous, and 21mpg on the highway doing 2500rpm at 80mph? Thats pathetic. My S4 is rated 17 city and 24 hwy (I still have the window sticker), yet by both math and computer display it gets 23 combined average and 25-26 on the highway. Thats with a similarly weighted 2.7L twin turbo V6 AWD car that runs at about 3200rpm while doing 80 mph. My S4 has over 218,000 miles on it and has been chipped (so roughly 300hp) since 150,000. I'm appalled that the Kia isn't getting better fuel economy.

I will say that from what google maps says I should have driven and what the trip odometer displays there is about a 5% variance. Add another 5% back into the trip odometer and my calculated economy is right there in the same ball park as my displayed economy. If thats the case and my displayed economy is relatively accurate then I'm still dissapointed, but nearly as much. I can see getting 2 mpg less than advertised (going back to 25mpg highway as per Kia's correction) on a fresh engine/transmission/differential gears/etc, especially during the winter when the fuel has a higher ethanol percentage. If my calculated 21 mpg is accurate though, well as I've already said, thats appalling and total BS. 21 mpg is barely better than my 2000 Jeep Cherokee was getting on the highway before I lifted it and went to 35's. Similarly sized SUV with a 4.0L I-6 and 4spd automatic that is about as aerodynamic as a brick. Hell, all my buddies with stock Grand Cherokees get the same as that with the 4.7L V8.

I'm really hoping the economy display is the more accurate reading and that as this thing breaks in a bit (plus starts getting full synthetic lubricants) the milage goes up. I was really excited and impressed with this thing until the fuel economy issue, and was even considering replacing the S4 with a turbo Optima once the SX was paid off pending I haven't gone Stage III plus by then. There is no way I'll get another Kia though if this thing turns out to be a total bust in the fuel economy department. I'll go right back to my German cars and domestic SUV's in that case.

Oh, and a bright side. It looks like Kia is going to give me 17$ if I do the fuel rebate now. I'll probably register in a week or so when its time to take it in for the first oil change.