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slow down! The EPA tests are not created at these speeds, check out the chart and see the average speeds and how long its tested for, also the test vehicles have quite a few thousand miles on them too, give it more time.
I understand the EPA doesn't test at 80mph. None the less, I have never owned a car that didn't do better than its rated highway efficienct despite me regularly doing 80mph. The 98 Passat I was daily driving until we got the SX actually got better mileage at 80 than it did at 70-75. It would get just over 30mpg.
I'm still hopeful that it'll get better. I'm also hoping the trip odometer is off and the economy display is closer to the truth. Regardless, its not like I'm going to return it to the dealer or anything. We paid full price for this thing and had to go through 3 dealerships over 2 months to get it. The damn factory strike screwed us. When we went out test driving vehicles we weren't quite ready to buy yet. A few weeks later and all the SX's were gone nation wide. We found 1 up in South Dakota the dealership here was willing to pay the shipping on for us, but it had over 600 miles on it and they still wanted full price. We called around and decided to go through a different dealership who willing to order us one from the factory and knock 2k off the sticker. They told 4-6 weeks on delivery, well 5 weeks later and they're telling us it could be as late as Christmas. I told them there was no way we could wait that long as I had sold off my daily (98 Passat) to contribute to the down payment fund and was driving my lifted XJ daily. My XJ is on 35" Krawlers and beadlocks, we're talking 450$ a tire of soft compound rubber that'll last at most 20,000 miles on the pavement. Add in that the XJ averages 14 mpg and there was just no way I was going another 2-3 months w/o our new car. Thats when they told us they could get one out of Texas but we would have to pay full MSRP plus 2,000$ shipping. I said thanks but no thanks.
I was wanting to start taking a second look at the other options butthe wife really wanted the SX. I gave one last Kia dealer a shot, this one right near our house. It took them about a week or so but they managed to find us one out near D.C. that had the extras we wanted. The dealership out there wasn't willing to come down any on pricing but our dealership her was willing to split the cost of shipping with us and knock the cost of the accessories off (the roof rack, cargo mat, etc) for us. Everything was set to go and then Sandy showed up. Luckily the area my SX was at merely go a lot of rain and the in land storm didn't cause the transportation company problems.
So yeah, after all that I'm probably a bit short tempered as far as the fuel economy goes.
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2000 Audi S4: Stage II, my daily
2000 Jeep Cherokee: lift, 35's, gears, lockers, etc
1948 Willy's CJ2a: mostly original, my never ending project
Dutch: Welcome! I'm also Dutch and own a VW (GTI). One thing to keep in mind, is that the Sportage perhaps has a larger frontal area and perhaps worse coefficient of drag than your other vehicles. So higher speeds will have a greater impact on the mpg compared to the other vehicles that you've previously owned.
In our LX on the highway, I've gotten 32mpg by staying around 65mph or less. I've also gotten as poor as 25mpg while doing 75mph pushing a headwind. So higher speeds and wind direction have a significant impact on this vehicle. Results are basically the same with my GTI, for what it's worth.
Other things that might be worth checking are your alignment (shops like NTB will check it for free) and to see if your brake calipers are perhaps sticking and causing excess drag. Granted, it's a new car and you expect it to be fine, but sometimes they aren't perfect for one reason or another.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the truck and thanks for sharing your experiences.
Dutch: Welcome! I'm also Dutch and own a VW (GTI). One thing to keep in mind, is that the Sportage perhaps has a larger frontal area and perhaps worse coefficient of drag than your other vehicles. So higher speeds will have a greater impact on the mpg compared to the other vehicles that you've previously owned.
In our LX on the highway, I've gotten 32mpg by staying around 65mph or less. I've also gotten as poor as 25mpg while doing 75mph pushing a headwind. So higher speeds and wind direction have a significant impact on this vehicle. Results are basically the same with my GTI, for what it's worth.
Other things that might be worth checking are your alignment (shops like NTB will check it for free) and to see if your brake calipers are perhaps sticking and causing excess drag. Granted, it's a new car and you expect it to be fine, but sometimes they aren't perfect for one reason or another.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the truck and thanks for sharing your experiences.
+1 The Sportage has way more drag than an S4, especially with a roof rack. Being high off the ground also significantly decreases mpg.
Roof rack cross bars made no differance in highway fuel economy. I took them off on the return leg and got no change. The little Active Evo button doesn't seem to do anything either, except turn the throttle and transmissions in non-reactive dummies. I kept it on the majority of the time while cruising, but had to turn it off when driving around town, I can't stand how non-reactive it drives in town with that button turned on.
I get that this is an SUV and not a car, although the boxy design of my B5 S4 isn't exactly what I would call aerodynamic. But compare the Sportages 21mpg calculated highway to that of my Cherokee's 20mpg calculated highway. The Sportage is way more aerodynamically shaped, and the 2.0L T-GDI is about 50yrs more advanced than the 4.0L straight six in the Jeep. The SX also has 2 more gears in the transmission. Both are AWD (my XJ has the 242 t-case). So all this new technology only nets 1mpg?
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2000 Audi S4: Stage II, my daily
2000 Jeep Cherokee: lift, 35's, gears, lockers, etc
1948 Willy's CJ2a: mostly original, my never ending project
I've always been very happy with the MPG on my Sportage, but I'll still take the $140 I'm getting.
The EPA milage stickers on most cars are BS anyway. I've never had a car were they were accurate. As the disclaimer says, your actual milage may vary. I don't think Kia did anything wrong other than have a flaw in their estimating process.
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2012 Sportage EX
2012 Forte Koup SX
Roof rack cross bars made no differance in highway fuel economy. I took them off on the return leg and got no change. The little Active Evo button doesn't seem to do anything either, except turn the throttle and transmissions in non-reactive dummies. I kept it on the majority of the time while cruising, but had to turn it off when driving around town, I can't stand how non-reactive it drives in town with that button turned on.
The Active Eco light doesn't do anything mechanically on the Sportage unless it was changed for 2013. This was covered in depth in another thread. The Eco mode on the Sportage is actually called Eco minder Active Eco is not present on the U.S. Kia Sporatge to my knowledge. Maybe the 2013 Sportage has it now? Any-who the easiest way to tell whether you have Active Eco or Eco Minder is when the Eco mode is on does the Eco light turn on and off whenever there is moderate acceleration. If you have Eco minder and not active Eco then the only thing the light does is tell you if your driving somewhat fuel efficiently.
The Active Eco light doesn't do anything mechanically on the Sportage unless it was changed for 2013. This was covered in depth in another thread. The Eco mode on the Sportage is actually called Eco minder Active Eco is not present on the U.S. Kia Sporatge to my knowledge. Maybe the 2013 Sportage has it now? Any-who the easiest way to tell whether you have Active Eco or Eco Minder is when the Eco mode is on does the Eco light turn on and off whenever there is moderate acceleration. If you have Eco minder and not active Eco then the only thing the light does is tell you if your driving somewhat fuel efficiently.
This is wrong. 2012 has ActiveEco, not Ecominder, or at least my SX does.
You may not have read that other thread completely.
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2012 Kia Sportage SX FWD, Silver, Leather, UVO, keyless entry.
no sunroof, no nav, no interior led lighting, no heated/cooled seats.
19/25/32 mpg
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.
Well the car comes with two keys, they had to order the second one for some reason, still don't have it. Obviously it has been a year, not that big of a deal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by duhtroll
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.
My mileage is fine, so the reasons to be upset would be subjective. I get what they say I should be getting, and that is with a lead foot most of the time. Maybe I just got lucky.
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