My first trip in the Rondo

I just returned from a trip in my new Rondo. I have a 4cyl lx with the third row seats. We went 2800 miles round trip from Florida to Ohio. I averaged 26 mpg. It seemed to do better in the mountains and the colder air of the north. I had my wife daughter and myself as well as enough luggage in the back to notice the space between the tires and the bottom of the wheel well had dissapeared. I love the car it was very comfortable all the way. I drove 15 hours straight through on the way home and felt great other than a little tired. The 4cyl engine had no problems going through the mountains or sticking to the wet curvy roads. There was just enough room for the luggage and I also took a cooler for snacks. Anymore though and I would have had to get the roof rack. I am very pleased with every aspect of the vehicle. If anyone has any specific Questions just shoot me a post.

 

Rondo Fuel Economy

We drive a Rondo EX with 4 cyl. engine, auto. We have driven about 2000 km (1243 miles) of mixed highway/city driving with mixed passengers/cargo and have averaged about 11.8 litres/100 km (20mpg).
I tend to have a bit of a heavy foot, however, I was really hoping to realise better fuel economy than this. I'm sure I'll see some improvement in economy as we put a few more clicks on the car.

 

My Rondo has about 1400 miles on it. When I had about 600 miles on it, I took a trip across South Carolina and got about 27.4 mpg on one leg. Now all of my driving is in town, lots of stop signs and traffic lights, and I get about 20 mpg. Hopefully as the weather warms up and I take longer trips, it will improve.

 

I get the same milage as revjay. Again, still have not broken the motor in, so mileage will go up. On average I'm filling up every 400-450kms.

 

economy improving slightly...

I am seeing slight improvement in economy after nearly 3500 kms. My Rondo is now consuming about 11L/100km in mixed driving (helped by slight restraint by my right foot).

Anybody try messing with tire pressure? I have noticed that KIA's recommended tire pressure on the 17" tires is a bit lower that the max rating on the tires themselves...which makes me think that another 5psi or so in each tire, may reduce rolling resistance, improve cornering speed etc...

Any thoughts from experience with the Rondo?

 

We drive the V6 and the fuel consumption is higher than the manufacturer claims, circa 13 or even 14 or even more litres/100 km, the more stop-and-go short trip driving I do, the worse it is. I can keep it around 11 if I do at least half highway driving.

We are actually just thinking about checking the tire pressure, and hope that helps. The funny thing is though that one reason for buying the Rondo is that I was getting downright arthritic from driving our old car (low seating position, standard transmission) that I couldn't walk much, but since the Rondo is so much easier on me, I will soon be able to walk more of those short trips, and perhaps in aggregate use LESS gas! That doesn't reduce the Rondo's fuel consumption, but it does ease my conscience

 

I checked my tire pressure and there is 38 on both right tires and 36 on both left tires. Just picked my Rondo up yesterday. The side wall say max tire pressure is 44lbs (16" tire). Anyone know what the best pressure is to go with?

 

I wouldn't go too overboard with the tire pressure. You will pay for it with a much stiffer ride IMO. Expect marginal improvement and you won't be disappointed.

If recommended is 32lb, I might go to 34lb pressure.

Drive like you are delivering eggs. Easy acceleration with moderate RPMs, do the speed limit or slower on the freeways. No one has changed the laws of physics. It takes energy to accelerate mass and more boost given the more energy it takes. It takes more energy to overcome higher of wind resistance.

Slowing down reduces stress. It may not reduce the stress of drivers around you but you won't be jockeying for position, hitting your brakes, accelerating to get around someone. Just stay the heck out of the passing lane and don't be self rightous about driving slower and messing with other drivers by being a pain. Do get up to speed and merge sensibly when entering highways.

I would recommend that you change the settings on the defroster setting to default to AC off. I'm smart enough to know when I need the AC on to dehumidify the interior window. It kills the already lower winter time mileage. Most of the time I need heat to melt the frost on the outside and having the AC going defeats the purpose.

Sorry about the preaching rant... If saving gas is important, there are higher MPG cars out there or the option of driving reasonable.

I'm still on the first tank, 95mi at the first quarter of a tank with 80% highway.

 

I am getting 10KM per liters (10 L/100 km) after 1300KM on meter. This is mostly city ride.

 

I am getting 10KM per liters (10 L/100 km) after 1300KM on meter. This is mostly city ride.

it would help if next to the heading "Drives:" you put the size of engine you have in your Rondo

 

It is 4 cyl. engine, auto. 5 seat, EX version.

 

It is 4 cyl. engine, auto. 5 seat, EX version.

thanks Rondo, yours is the particular model that most interests me. If you are obtaining 10L/100km in mostly city driving then you are beating the Energuide tests which is 11.0L city (26mpg) and 7.5L highway (38mpg) with the 4 cylinder engine. What colour did you get?

(hope you remembered to change your profile under "Drives" so that info will show up on all future comments, my memory is not that great - thanks)

 

Mine is Blue.

 

I'm getting about 23-26mpg with mostly mix city/highway driving.

Engine only has about 900miles so once it's broken in it might get better.

Gas here in Houston, Texas is about $2.75 per gallon for regular unleaded. It will be over $3 in the very near future i'm sure.

 

Mileage based on 2nd tank of gas

With a recent fill-up today, I calculated that with my base LX 4 cyl. Rondo, I'm getting 23 mpg in around town driving. There has been no real long term highway driving yet to determine that level of mpg.

 

I have the 2.4L and have now put 5 tanks of gas through it in less then a month. The first two were all city driving and both averaged 22 mpg. There were two that were split about 30/70 (City/Highway) and those averaged 25 and 26 mpg. And one was all Highway with the cruise set at 65 mph and that tank was 30 mpg. Overall I would say it was what I expected it to be.

 

Now that I have about 1000 miles, I have been getting between 22 and 24 in town and between 25 and 30 on the highway. I think you will only get 30 with ideal conditions, i.e. 65 mph or less or tail winds, etc. My Highway driving is probably only 70% highway. If you look under my name on the left you will see that I have the 4 cyl/4 spd auto. I am pleasantly surprised that I have been getting only 2 mpg less than my Mazda3 2.3L 5 spd, but I really don't have enough data to know for sure.

 

I will try to look later, but if you read the owners manual for the climate control it says how to turn off the smart programming for the defroster.

 

check out the manual on page 4/79 (Features of your vehicle) which explains for manual and auto climate control systems, but also be aware of the a/c operation tip on page 4/68 "use the air conditioning system every month only for a few minutes to ensure maximum system performance".

 

I've finally decided to stop lurking and post for once.

I wonder how many people even know that the A/C is covertly turned on when a defrost mode has been selected, since the light in the A/C button doesn't light up to indicate that it's actually on.

Yeah, you can cancel the "defogging logic" and restore your control of the A/C while in a defrost mode by following these instructions (as conwelpic pointed out):



For Rondos with the mode selection knob (not sure if this is also the case for Rondos with auto climate control), following the above procedure doesn't mean that the A/C will now be off whenever you select a defrost mode. When you select one of the two defrost modes (the two rightmost knob positions), the light in the A/C button will light up to indicate that the A/C is on, so just press the A/C button to turn the A/C off. You have to press the A/C button to turn it off every time you select a defrost mode.

 

Thats pretty much the standard on every make of vehicle on the market for the last 15 years.

 

The Mazda3 had this "feature" as well, and it was annoying. There was no way to cancel it, and the AC was on in any position that involved defrost, which was half the settings on the dial. At least this car has an override.

 

"medicineman" welcome to this forum too. Could you enter your model and engine size under "Drives" in your profile - it helps to relate with questions and answers - thanks.
It would be interesting to get a comment from "viking79" on your review link to Winding Road as he drives a 4 cylinder Rondo or any other 4 cylinder owners.

 

I moved my Winding Road review comments to a new thread since they weren't applicable to gas mileage:
http://www.kia-forums.com/kia-carens-rondo-forum/39159-kia-rondo-4-cyl-review-comments.html

 

Gas Milage

I have had a New 2007 Rondo EX V6 for four weeks. I bought it in Edmonton, Alberta and put 2200 km on it in the first 3 weeks. Last week I drove to my home in Halifax, NS and added another 5250 kms. My overall milage with air conditioning on almost all the time and about 97% highway driving works out to 9.2 L per 100 km or 31 MPG (imperial). It's less fuel efficient than I hoped, but I can live with it.

Gary Weber

 

don't forget AC kills gas mileage...

 

Diesel consumption

I don't know whether you want to hear this but my 2 litre diesel Carens with 6 speed manual is managing about 44 mpg (imperial) at the moment (only 1100 miles on the clock) in mixed driving. The UK government combined figues are 45 mpg so no complaints from me. I think the equivalent figures are 37 mpg US gallons, 15.9 km/l or 6.3l/100 km. And the aircon is mainly on as it helps dry the air in the rather damp Scottish summer we are 'enjoying'. It's a shame that the diesel is not allowed in many markets as it produces less green house gasses than the petrol equivalent as well as burning far less fuel (I also guess diesel requires less energy to refine than petrol but I need to research this). It also has a massive amount of torque low down in the rev range which is great for towing. There is a catalyst particulate filter in the exhaust system so what are the objections to these engines?

The comparison of 2 litre diesel versus 2 litre petrol in the UK model are:

Petrol:

142 BHP, 189 NM torque @ 4250 RPM, 33.6 mpg combined, 201 G/km CO2

Diesel:

138 BHP, 305 NM torque @ 1800-2500 RPM, 45.6 mpg combined, 165 G/km CO2

Blow-in