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240K views 859 replies 310 participants last post by  Ricky-D 
#1 ·
Veloster owners, feel free to post your real world mpgs here. The Veloster is rated 28 city, 40 hwy. It's interesting to see if the Veloster is better or worse than those numbers.
 
#720 ·
To get an avg of more than 38mpg, you need to start driving at speed limit or cruising, no fast acceleration from a dead stop (especially in city driving with tons of stop signs - why you need to accelerate so fast if in 1 sec you will have to stop again??), try to change gear below 2000 rpm (if you have an A/T, use the ECO mode. Paddle shifter helps also), try not to use too much braking (see the car in front of you and keep a good distance - it is safer and reduce brakes wear), check your tire pressure and make sure they all at 32 psi - I tried higher, but the ride is pretty bumpy.
The 2 key techniques here is cruising at +/- 5 mph speed limit on the highway, and no fast acceleration in the city.
 
#721 ·
The short answer? You will have to drive this car in such a manner that it will piss off everyone around you to get the EPA estimated MPG in the city. The highway is never much of an issue for me, but I regularly see less than 25 in the city with my 6 speed NA V.

No, I am not gunning it every light either, so please don't insinuate otherwise. I firmly believe that these issues are a direct result of the underpowered nature of this vehicle. If it had another 30 horses or so, achieving decent city MPG would be well within the reach of the EPA numbers as you would not have to gently caress the throttle to get decent city MPG out of the car. Normal take take offs (We will say, for arguments sake, about half engaged versus the light touch I have to do if I'm fuel sipping) would not require as much oomph out of the little engine.

My 3.8 Genesis achieved 21 mpg on average in the city; my veloster sees around 24 / 25. Granted, highway is a night and day difference, but irrelevant for our purposes.

Otherwise, fantastic vehicle for the money.
 
#722 ·
I tried using the cruise control this evening but its difficult to keep the speed since I'm either going too fast or too slow even set at 65mph. I guess if I'm driving outside Houston city proper I could use the cruise control longer. But it does make a big difference when it was in cruise control.

Tomorrow morning ill try and leave for work earlier and see if I can use the cruise control the whole 22 miles from my home to work and see if I can stay at 70 mph on the beltway.
 
#725 ·
Tried using cruise control this morning and ended up with worst mileage ratings on ECO coach. It's hard to keep a constant speed on the beltway going to work. People are just too much in a hurry these days. I was already going 70mph and this audi flashed his high beams on me and I wasn't even on the fast lane. Although I was happy to see he got blocked in my slower moving cars after passing me. LOL Plus it slows down when you approach the toll plaza which I really dont understand when everyone has eazytags on three lanes. then it speeds up right after you pass the toll plaza.
I should just be happy I'm getting close to 30mpg. :)
 
#726 ·
Well its pretty tough to use cruse control in traffic. Also i'd recommend turning ECO mode off when you're in heavy traffic. Its best used on freeway speeds with no stop and go traffic.
 
#729 ·
I drive from Columbus, Ohio to Harrisonburg, Va almost monthly. It's about half HW and Half hilly terrain. I always get about 35-36mpg. Not bad, but it ALWAYS reads 37-38mpg. My readout has been consistently 2-2.5mph high since I bought the car. May not seem big, but it's frustrating when you think you're riding pretty at 37mpg and it's actually 34.5mpg.
 
#732 ·
I have managed to put 416 miles on one tank, then an 11 gal fill-up, which comes to 37.8 mpg. Now granted that was very conservative highway driving. Hanging right around 68-72 mph and staying in the traffic line taking advantage of the draft. But, that is not normal driving for me. Just wanted to see was I could get out of it.
 
#733 ·
Last January going to Fla.
I got over 40 + going down and coming back.
 
#734 ·
#737 ·
I read about the first 6 pages of that thread and didn't get many actual answers of MPG's, let alone best MPG. It's more of just talking and determining how to calculate MPG. I'm just curious about what people have gotten as their best MPG however they want to calculate it. I think its a different question that deserves a different thread. Its easier for people to just post their results and see other's results without having to weave through 36 pages of unrelated dialogue.
 
#747 ·
Actually that thread has pages and pages of people discussing their actual MPG numbers and what they are, and how they got them.

If the answer is "it's too hard to read what folks wrote before I got here, I'll just start a new thread to make it easier on me" then that's the wrong answer in a forum.

[mod tiara]
Since this is the exact same discussion, consider them merged and this is now down in Engine and Transmission.
[/mod tiara]
 
#738 ·
#739 ·
My best 40.6 calculated, average 36. Suggest you go to fuelly.com and look at what people are posting for their Velosters on that site. Many of our members document their full tank fill ups there. I thought about making a wisecrack about mpg of a U.S. Army tank, but decided not to.:)

Looks like Zach beat me to the Fuelly thingy.
 
#742 ·
It is very hard to get real world figures. There is more than one person in the Real World Mpg thread that go by the car computer read out. As Diane has stated, it is not accurate. My last highway trip it said I was getting 44mpg. When I refueled the mpg was about 35. Believe me, I wish it was 44mpg. Around town with the A/C on I am getting about 22mpg. Granted I take short trips. I do my best to drive like an old lady and follow the shift prompts. The computer says I am getting 28.2mpg. Again, way off. Check out Fuelly.com.
 
#743 ·
Mine is now 39.52..

Here's an older chart of some of my tankfulls

Date
Miles
Fuel (gals)
Price
Total
MPG
overall MPG To Date
8/23/2012
398
10.72
3.799
40.73
37.13
37.13
8/28/2012
426.9
11.12
3.699
41.13
38.39​
37.77
9/4/2012
444.5
11.49
3.799
43.65
38.69​
38.09​
9/11/2012
414.9
10.935
3.979
43.51
37.94​
38.05
9/17/2012
435.2
11.164
3.979
44.42
38.98
38.24​
9/21/2012
403
10.391
3.839
39.89
38.78
38.32​
10/1/2012
451.3
11.61
3.879
45.04
38.87
38.41
10/5/2012
405.4
10.598
3.899
41.32
38.25​
38.39​
 
#744 ·
By the way, my trip monitor averages 43-45 mpg so you can see how inaccurate that is....

Mine is now 39.52..

Here's an older chart of some of my tankfulls

Date
Miles
Fuel (gals)
Price
Total
MPG
overall MPG To Date

8/23/2012

398

10.72

3.799

40.73

37.13

37.13

8/28/2012

426.9

11.12

3.699

41.13

38.39​

37.77

9/4/2012

444.5

11.49

3.799

43.65

38.69​

38.09​

9/11/2012

414.9

10.935

3.979

43.51

37.94​

38.05

9/17/2012

435.2

11.164

3.979

44.42

38.98

38.24​

9/21/2012

403

10.391

3.839

39.89

38.78

38.32​

10/1/2012

451.3

11.61

3.879

45.04

38.87

38.41

10/5/2012

405.4

10.598

3.899

41.32

38.25​

38.39​
 
#748 ·
Here's an interesting development:
I've been getting 2-2.5 MPG higher on my readout than in my hand-calculation. I took my V in for oil the day the news broke of the MPG ratings. Got my car back and it seems software has been updated. Both my touchscreen readouts and my display readouts are much much lower. My highway MPG used to fluxuate between 38-45 on the readouts, now it's between 30-35. Haven't put a full tank through it to check the accuracy, but I used to get about 33-35 combined on the readout and right now I'm struggling to get over 30. Sigh....
 
#764 ·
if this is true Hyundai is covering their behind. If this is not cheating I don't know what is. There is no reason other than their profit that they couldn't put in the correct algorithm to begin with. I've owned all kinds of cars before and you don't need to granny them to achieve the highway mpg.
 
#750 ·
people need to take a physics class and forget about the best mpgs people have gotten. mpg is a function of factors like avg speed, engine rpm, terrain, temperature and the gas, etc. The fact is everyone's real world mpg is different due to these factors while in the real world you can't drive with a purpose to acheive the highest mpg. With all these considerations and my driving habit, averaging 78mph and 95% highway driving with 36K miles logged, this car gives me 35 go 36 mpg to be realistic, although the display will have me believe it can do 36 to 37mpg.
 
#752 ·
Just made an 800 mile round trip from San Diego to Phoenix and back, with a bit of shopping in the Scottsdale area thrown in.

With two people in the car and averaging about 75mph, my mileage (with the A/C on) was a disappointing 32mpg.
With the A/C off, it seemed to go up about 3mpg but since it was 90 degrees there, that was not a good option.
 
#753 · (Edited)
How is that disappointing?

1) A/C is on, and adds 3 MPG when you turn it off (by your own statement). It's your choice to stay cool in favor of gas mileage. Also, higher air temperatures cause the engine combustion cycle to be less efficient (though the oil flows more freely).

2) I'm going to assume that when you say "averaging about 75mpg" that you mean cruising at 75 mph (a 75 mph average would mean you spent a good portion of time over 75, probably around 85 or 90). Note that the EPA tests are conducted at an average highway speed of 48.3 MPH, even the new "high speed" test has an average of 48.3 MPH, with a short burst up to 80 MPH. The high speed test is about 10 minutes long, of that only 45 seconds or so are spent above 70 MPH.

Note that aerodynamic drag is the main force you're fighting against during highway trips, and it is proportional to the speed of your car squared. Power required to overcome aerodynamic drag is proportional to speed cubed!

Lets do some math![HR][/HR]The Veloster uses roughly 17.5 HP @ 50 mph, and 41.5 HP @ 75 mph. That is to say, to travel at 75 mph, you need to use 2.4 times more power than at the EPA test speed of 50 mph (41.5/17.5=2.37). *These HP values were calculated from an excel spreadsheet I found for EV performance evaluations.

Since you are getting more "work done" while traveling at 75 mph than at 50, we need to cancel that out to highlight just the mpg losses. 75mph is 50% faster than 50mph (75-50)/50 = 0.5, so we will have to reduce our above power factor by half, 2.4*0.5 = 1.2.

Lets take the EPA fuel economy at 50mph to be 39 mpg (dropped from 40 by the recent "scandal"). So if we reduce that number by our loss factor we get: 39/1.2 = 32.5 mpg @75 mph. BAM! Also remember that the EPA number supposedly accounts for A/C usage as well.

[HR][/HR]
You're getting the EPA estimated fuel economy, you just don't know it.
 
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