Beating the EPA Mileage Estimates

[BPSCG]

So I took my one-week-old 2014 3.8 up to New Jersey Friday morning, returned Saturday evening, a total of about 450 miles, 440 or so of which was on interstates or my sneak route on the long, straight, empty stretch of US 301 in Maryland and Delaware. Had the cruise control on at around 65 for about 200 of those miles, and the A/C on for about 150 miles. Overall, kept my speed at 65 or so the whole way.

I got 32.3 MPG for the entire trip, only about 5 MPG less than I used to get with my Sonata 2.4 liter 4-banger.

Me very happy. Does anyone else get similar results on the open road?

 

[landtuna]

I got 32.3 MPG for the entire trip, only about 5 MPG less than I used to get with my Sonata 2.4 liter 4-banger.

My cousin recently drove from Seattle to Phoenix (the scenic way via the Coast Route) and averaged over 30 mpg in his 2012 3.8. Once reaching the Interstate his mileage increased to just under 35 mpg.

 

[PMCErnie]

So I took my one-week-old 2014 3.8 up to New Jersey Friday morning, returned Saturday evening, a total of about 450 miles, 440 or so of which was on interstates or my sneak route on the long, straight, empty stretch of US 301 in Maryland and Delaware. Had the cruise control on at around 65 for about 200 of those miles, and the A/C on for about 150 miles. Overall, kept my speed at 65 or so the whole way.

I got 32.3 MPG for the entire trip, only about 5 MPG less than I used to get with my Sonata 2.4 liter 4-banger.

Me very happy. Does anyone else get similar results on the open road?

Love that Rt. 301 alternative to I95 too. Don't think I have ever seen 32 MPG, though. You must have a dainty foot.

 

[DRS]

So I took my one-week-old 2014 3.8 up to New Jersey Friday morning, returned Saturday evening, a total of about 450 miles, 440 or so of which was on interstates or my sneak route on the long, straight, empty stretch of US 301 in Maryland and Delaware. Had the cruise control on at around 65 for about 200 of those miles, and the A/C on for about 150 miles. Overall, kept my speed at 65 or so the whole way.



I got 32.3 MPG for the entire trip, only about 5 MPG less than I used to get with my Sonata 2.4 liter 4-banger.



Me very happy. Does anyone else get similar results on the open road?

It will get better and better with more mileage. Keep the injectors clean, use Shell or BP gas or some top grade fuel, use a professional intake valve carbon cleaner injection system every 10k miles, keep tire pressures at 5lbs higher than spec, keep up your hyper mile driving, and you will see it top 35mpg for sustained distances on trips. I had a V6 for many months before buying my 5.0. First hand knowledge. Your car will adapt to your style of good mileage driving. That will also keep your mpg high. You can still tromp it when needed. Those who get on the low 20s, romp their cars.

And BTW, my 5.0 will do honest 32-33mpg at the speeds and drive you mentioned above. Easy.. Congrats on your purchase. You will love the car.

 

[BPSCG]

Love that Rt. 301 alternative to I95 too. Don't think I have ever seen 32 MPG, though. You must have a dainty foot.

I don't do jackrabbit starts, and I don't think I hit over 70 mph once the whole trip. But the speedometer was pretty much in the 62-68 mph range the whole trip.

Gotta go for 35 next time...

 

[DRS]

May take up to 10-12k miles before the mileage really gets going. Has to break in a bit. And by 25k will start to hit your peak. And keep using synthetic would be my suggestion.

 

[katman0]

I am not sure what this translates to in US mpg, but I regularly match Hyundai Canada's official rating of 7.2L/ 100km or about 39imperial mpg. That is on a 250mile run at 75mph(120km/h) with 2 people and air con on. I feel it is excellent mileage. It is better than I used to get in my 2011 2.4L Fusion doing the same speed. I regularly get more than 800km or 500miles per tank.

 

[craigt]

So I took my one-week-old 2014 3.8 up to New Jersey Friday morning, returned Saturday evening, a total of about 450 miles, 440 or so of which was on interstates or my sneak route on the long, straight, empty stretch of US 301 in Maryland and Delaware. Had the cruise control on at around 65 for about 200 of those miles, and the A/C on for about 150 miles. Overall, kept my speed at 65 or so the whole way.

Congrats on the new purchase. I picked up a '13 3.8 Tech a little less than 2 weeks ago myself.

Just a thought - it's not a good idea to use cruise control on a new car. The first 600 or so miles should vary speed/rpms. This is a relative can of worms and I'm sure others will contest or post examples contradicting this. Just going by the proverbial book...

That said, my commute is all back roads. Being in the break-in period, I'm pretty gentle with the car, but have a few moderate accelerations for a brief moment at 4000rpm. According to the computer, I'm getting high 20's mpg. Love it.

 

[FastDEW1]

My 4.6 is running average of 21.3 in mixed city driving. When I am on the highway and cruise at 80, it runs between 27.5 and 28.3 very consistently.

However, when I hammer it a little in the city, and I mean a little - it drops to 17 very quickly.

These figures are my own calculations but seem to match the fuel economy readout on the car pretty well. Usually about .5 off either way. Its not consistent high or low. Just consistent about .5 off one way or the other.

 

[videopho]

Only 3k plus on the clock but she constantly beats the EPA estimate regardless hwy or city driving.
Straight hwy, flat terrain with a little wind, avg ~70mph, I've seen 28-30 mpg.
City driving with stop & go traffics, 17-19 mpg.
For the size of the car and the v8 engine, this would have been unheard of years ago.
My LS400 used to top out at 25 mpg max with 100% hwy driving.

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[gameday22]

Just took a trip to Huntsville Alabama last weekend from Florida and averaged 29.3mpg with just over 6k miles on the car. On the way back I took a more adventurous path though the mountains, even on the twisty roads I was getting 26.9mpg playing the gears.

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On a side note my headlights are stupidly bright since upgrading them, I went with the Osram Xenarc 66144 D1S CBI 5500k Bulbs, they were around $260 when I purchased them but I see them running around $200 now. I also upgraded the high beams at the same time to Osram Night Breaker Unlimited H7 (64210NBU) 3600k for $45. Both high and low beam light output improved drastically over the stock bulbs. If the new Genny is still using D1's bulbs for HID then I can see a dual set of these Xenarc's with the new auto high beams producing an insane amount of light down the road...still not Audi quality lighting but at least a step in the right direction.

 

[punchjamesarnol]

I'm coming from driving a highly modded STI with 450hp/420tq. Now that she's gone, I am still having a hard time with trying to just cruise. I am slowly changing my driving habits. I hit over 200 miles in less than a half a tank of gas just by keeping my shift points at 2250 rpm. It's nice being able to cruise and being able to hear my music. LOL!