Yesterday (Sunday 9/21) I took a trip from Ft. Worth to Austin, TX. It was 204 miles one way.

Here are the details:

Azera limited/Ultimate 3.8L with no luggage or anything to weigh it down except for my big a&& in the driver's seat.

Departed 5:30 a.m.

Reset all info just after gassing up and two blks from interstate.

Interstate all the way except for all about 3 miles of the trip.

Road was virtually traffic free with little or no wind and a very flat road all the way. No construction slow downs.

I was able to use cruise control for all but about three miles of the trip because there was no traffic to contend with. I kid you not when I say my foot didn't touch the accelerator from the time I got on the freeway in Ft. Worth until my exit in Austin (about 200 miles).

I set cruise control according to the speed limit which was mostly 70 mph except for a few stretches where it was 65 mph and one stretch at 55 mph. I used the buttons on the cruise control to slow down and accelerate when necessary.

I traveled 204.3 miles from start to finish.

I filled up again when I got off the exit and checked the mileage. It was 27.7 mpg give or take a few tenths. This was very close to the car's computer read out on the instrument cluster (27.6 mpg).

My question is, how the he!! are people getting 30-33 mpg in highway driving unless they are traveling 45-55 mph to do it.

BTW, I've been averaging 17.6 mpg in light city driving. This is up from 16.+ since I started using full synthetic oil.

Those are about exactly the figures I get in city and highway. Last time I drove up to WI I got about 27 @ 75mph. I'd also like to know how people claim to get 33mpg. Are they pulling the figures out of their arse's?

This post has been edited by boostedfc3s: Sep 22 2008, 10:38 AM

:)

Mike,

I think you're right.

Unless these people are traveling with a perfect tail wind of 50 mph, or

Inflating some special low rolling resistance tires to very high levels, or

Lowering their front end by one coil according to Mahout. :innocent:

I have gotten slightly over thirty mpg traveling no faster than 60 mph.
We don't have the benefit of perfectly level roads anywhere close by in Southern Kaulliforniea. :P

Haven't you noticed how many when speaking of their mpg
use the word about when quoting their mpg figures? :wacko:

:whistling:

This post has been edited by snaglepus: Sep 22 2008, 12:14 PM

These MPG are close to what I get, (2007 Azera 3.8) 27-28 highway, 20-24 mixed driving. If you reset the computer on the highway at speed you can get the computer to show 30+ MPG. I have done this to see if the MPG would stay higher then ave. for the tank of gas. It does slowly fall back to 28 MPG over an hour or so on the highway.
Something interesting is the outside temp plays big on MPG. Last year all highway drive to North Dakota. started out with 24 MPG (temp 34F). Next tank of gas 20 MPG (temp 25F). Last tank of gas late at night 15 MPG (temp 16F). This back to back tanks with stop of less then 30 mins. The first tank was half city, but the last two are one after the other with computer reset each time.
???
Q.

Those are my numbers, more or less, also. In actuality I am perfectly satisfied with the mileage. I didn't buy the Azzy for it's frugality. Now that I have 640 shocks up front the car is everything I would want. It has given me 2 years of enjoyable driving and best of all my wife doesn't complain how uncomfortable she is driving as she did with our former Acura TL's. She hated the seats and the position of the steering wheel. Like I have said before all this coupled with a great dealer's service department, it couldn't be better. :banana:
Don

I didn't either but when I see people saying that they are getting 30-35 mpg, it makes me scratch my head and utter curmudgeonly things like; ....hmmmmmm........hrumph.........pishaw! :grin:



I'm working on that too. I contacted Hyundai customer service and got a case number last week. I haven't heard back yet.

Hi,

I had a travel Ottawa-Kingston-Ottawa along HW 416 and 401. (400km in total)
I kept 110km/h to Kingston and 100km/h to Ottawa on average and I got 8.2L/100km.
(Canadian Limited, engine 3.8, Michelin tires)

In a city I get 11-12L/100km

Robert

This post has been edited by radziwil: Sep 22 2008, 06:07 PM

"I'd also like to know how people claim to get 33mpg. Are they pulling the figures out of their arse's?"

I'm guessing that you never bought the aftermarket "Hydrogen Assist Module" which provides an additional source of fuel to the Azera, consisting of a storage bladder, pressurizer, processor-controlled injector valve and collection hose.

Drivers in colder climes might want to add the optional battery-powered warming element to the tip of the collection hose... :w00t:

I have gotten 34 MPG on fairly level interstate at 65 MPH; routinely get 30-32 at 55 on highways; 20 in medium sized city driving. Tires are at 32 PSI. It is some lower now that my dealer has changed to 10% corn juice (ethanol). :beer:

Carolina Bob has a good point. The increased level of ethanol in our gasoline has resulted in lower MPG figures regardless what brand or model of car/truck you drive. We saw a decline of about 1.5 mpg average on our 2001 Mercury Marquis before we bought the Azera. The Azera Limited with Premium option package has been delivering about 27.6 mpg average before we made a trip to/from Alabama. I changed the oil and filter and reset the mpg at the beginning of that trip. We got 30.8 mpg going and 30.1 mpg on the return leg. Our average now is sitting at 28.0 mpg with 9600 miles on the car now.

One thing I did on the trip was to use some of the hypermiling techniques such as drafting behind 18-wheelers when it was safe (which was not all that often). I also let the car speed up going downhill and gradually reduce speed going uphill. Since we have been back home I got tired of manual accelerator operation and have gone back to using the cruise control. My leg gets tired after about an hour of driving without the cruise control.

With the last oil change following our return home I used a mixture of 5-30W synthetic and 5-20W regular oil. I don't think I will keep the synthetic oil on the next oil change. I think I need to let the engine break-in some more before changing to synthetic consistently.

We are retired, so we do not have to drive every day. Being able to avoid rush-hour traffic helps a lot and not everyone can do that. So far we are happy with the Azera. :thumbsup:

I regularly drive about 1500 miles every 3 weeks. 600+ each way, north Texas to southern Louisiana. I usually see 25-27 mpg depending on conditions. Worst was around 24 with heavy headwinds. Interestingly, I tend to get better mileage on the uphill leg from LA to TX. Up to 27. Usually the downhill leg of TX to LA nets me closer to 25½. This is all on gas with 10% (m)ethanol.

On an interesting note, I found that she gets better mpg at 90-95 than at 75. I managed a 1½ hour stretch behind two C6 Vettes w/ radar detectors in east TX, and saw my mileage CLIMB from 26 to 28! :wacko:

Here's what I really want to know: WHY didn't Hyundai put a taller final gear in the Azera??? It has the torque to manage it. My parents have an '02 Buick LeSabre. Same size engine (the 3800 Series II), and roughly the same size car. They ROUTINELY average 32-33 mpg on the highway. This is the second LeSabre they've owned. The first managed the same kind of mileage as well. IMO there is just no reason for any manufacturer to be struggling to achieve high 20's when there is proof they've done better in the past! :rant2:

Pretty much the same here, I'm using conventional 5W30; this is a change from my prior commitment to Mobil 1 in other cars, because, splitting my annual mileage (which is already low, usually 5000-6000 total) between 3 cars, I always end up changing the oil because of age before mileage. Draining Mobil 1 with 1700 miles on it just doesn't make sense now that everything, including engine oil, is so d@mned expensive.

I never pay attention to the computer's guesstimates, it's usually accurate to within 15-20%, and it's always 15-20% high... the manufacturers seem to program EXTREMELY optimistic fuel consumption calculations into the computer. I'm not interested in what Hyundai would *like* the car to get, I'm interested in what the car IS getting.

City for our Azeras has been consistently 15.5-17. Highway has never topped 28, and that's usually when I stay closer to the speed limit. If I get up to 80, 85, that will be 26. Nothing to write home about; my 12-year-old Jag Vanden Plas weighs 550 pounds more, produces similar power, only has a 4-speed transmission, and still achieves the exact same economy.

This post has been edited by andyman32: Oct 3 2008, 05:58 AM

:)

Why do you insist on changing your oil account of time?
This is a obsolete idea the same as changing your oil every 3K miles.
That is not at all necessary as I have proven using oil analysis.

Details available if you are interested.

BTW, what is the overall gearing of the 12 year old Jag?

:innocent:

:)

Something is not right about your claim of getting better F E at 90-95 mph. It doesn't add up.

Do you suppose that the older Buicks may have done better F E wise
because the smog rules were not as strict as they are today?

Perhaps Hyundai was after better stoplight performance with our 3.33 gears compared
to the very tall gears that have been used for several years in many Buicks.
I recall a Buick Roadmaster wagon that came with 2.56s.

I agree with you on that subject. I wish the overall gear ratio was down in the mid 2s.
There is not need for a motor with so much torque to be revving so fast when at highway speeds.
I would prefer our Azera to be turning 1500 rpms at 60 mph instead of 1800.

As it is now, most of the time, I use second gear from rest. First gear is far too low.

:whistling:

:right:
I just drove 600 miles at 30.5 mpg. The trick is 65 mph with the air not on MAX, I found out that 74 degrees best. The compresser is not constantly on and it picks up much more!

Id still like to purchase a mileage chip. I know for a fact that a brown gas or HHO really does work. But Id like to try the chip first because its cheaper!

:)

"it picks up much more!" What's you mean? :unsure:

"Id still like to purchase a mileage chip. I know for a fact that a brown gas or
HHO really does work. But I'd like to try the chip first because it's cheaper!"

How do you "know for a fact"?

First off, what is "a brown gas or HHO?" :unsure:

Secondly, if you have money to throw away, please send me those two springs I asked you
the price of. I need one of each, the front and rear, so I can see if anyone
has any springs that are a little stiffer that will fit our Azeras.

I cannot afford to pay you the half list price you want for them. That is simply put, too much!
But since you seem to have money to burn, don't throw it away on those useless snake-oil do
dads that do not increase your fuel mileage at all and may actually harm your engine.
You had better hang on to that extra motor you are trying to sell
just in case you destroy the one that's in your car now.

With all the car companies trying to achieve the highest possible fuel economy for bragging rights
and EPA postings (among others) don't you think they would all build such said 'do dads' into
their computers from the factory? Come on man, use some common sense! Save your money!

:innocent:

This post has been edited by snaglepus: Nov 2 2008, 02:21 PM

The difference in cost of fuel on a 500 mile trip getting 28mpg versus 26 mpg is less than $5. I know it all adds up, but in the grand scheme of life, it's not enough money for me to want to "rig" a bunch of unauthorized add-ons and modifications. My dad ruined a Chevy Chevette doing that stuff. If I wanted to end up with a Honda Civic, I would have cut out the middle-man (my Azera) and just bought a civic!

I'm just happy my last fill up cost $38 dollars. That was with the low fuel light on too. My last tank of gas was over 60 bucks.

Be careful about letting the tank run to empty! It can cause overheating of the electric fuel pump motor in the gas tank leading to failure and an expensive repair! It is the presence of gasoline that cools the pump motor. It is best to keep at least 1/4 of a tank of gas to avoid this problem.

Joe

By the way, here's a site listing national gas prices, right down to the station level (if someone has bothered to report the station price within the last 48 hours)...

http://www.floridastategasprices.com/price_by_county.aspx