New member, 2012 Kia Rio5 Bremerton, WA

[Kia_Charles]

Just bought my fuel economy car 5 days ago and looking to make the most out of it. Did not have the money for the hybrids or such so I went with cheap and best mileage.

The Kia Rio5 is Automatic with ECO (not sure what that means) the transmission has a manual drive mode in it, doing research to find out how that effects the eco system. The car has room for a family even though its my commuter. I am constantly looking for future modifications i can do to get the most out of the car.

Car comes equipt with a instant gas mileage meter and a avg mpg meter but i intent to use the instant to regulate my driving and actual gas pump to verify actual MPG.

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Welcome to CleanMPG!

The Kia's Eco setting changes the gear shift points to increase efficiency. It also changes the gas pedal response: presumably it's like the Prius' Eco mode where you have to press the pedal farther to get the same output, which has the benefit of giving you more fine control to avoid wasting gas when you don't need much power.

I'd not worry about modifications to the car, other than increasing your tire pressures. You can get much more benefit from changing your driving style to avoid wasting fuel and to maximize the efficiency of your vehicle.

Please read the CleanMPG Primer, and follow the links to the key hypermiling articles, which will show you the main techniques that hypermilers use to increase efficiency. Some techniques you'll be able to use straight away, while others you can add gradually.

[calculus]

Welcome Charles!

I'm a newbie here as well. Our previous family car was a diesel Kia cee'd wagon, and I was pleasantly surprised by the general quality and drivability of the car. Kia's 7-year warranty was also an important factor when we compared cars.

Recently we bought a Ford Mondeo wagon. I was actually looking forward to Kia Optima, but Kia still doesn't have a wagon version out and we need one for hauling bulky items. Hyundai i40 wagon was an alternative, but it was horrible to drive compared to the Mondeo. The Hyundai had a nice quality feel to it and lots of standard kit, though. In general, I think the Koreans have very competitive offerings nowadays, general quality and feel included.

How do you like your new Rio? It looks like a slightly smaller, updated cee'd. You probably have different engine options in the US than in the Europe, I think.

[msirach]

Welcome to CleanMPG! Have you read this? CleanMPG Previews the 2012 Kia Rio 5-Door Hatch

It should answer your questions.