Month of May 2022 (Nat’l Avg $4.187)

Maybe "they" should return the settlement money to Hyundai/Kia?

 

Its not funny. The nay-sayers & lead-footers hired lots of fast-talkin’ lawyers & no one from CleanMPG showed up at the trials to say how high their MPG with Korean cars were. So Hyundai & Kia took the economic hits, after producing excellent cars.

 

As I recall, where they ran into difficulty is in providing coastdown data for the cars being tested by the EPA. Manufacturers run their vehicles through a coastdown test which is done in a carefully controlled environment with specific conditions. The definitions of those conditions are clear but not specific enough to avoid the use of some poetic license. For example, the test must be performed with the correct tire size and TPC Spec the factory-assembled cars will use. H/K used new and correct tires but did not notice that someone may have shaved them to minimum tread depth. Less rolling resistance. Test parameters said "new tires with correct TPC" but did not say "...with full tread depth". The test parameters also do not state that you cannot apply smooth tape over body seams to further lessen drag. It doesn't mention it at all. Hmmm....

GM saw what happened with the coastdown tweaks and decided to play it safe. When the Chevy Volt arrived with new (for the time) Goodyear FuelMax tires, GM had a dedicated TPC Spec only for the Volt. That FuelMax tire has an as-new tread depth of 7/32. Any other FuelMax on the shelf was 10/32. So they could get the longer EV distances and better FE estimates with worn tires - just like the Elantra rolling on shaved OEM radials - by simply specifying that every new Volt should be delivered with half their tire tread missing.

The benefit to the "settlement" is that H/K now underrates their cars by a ridiculous margin. My brother's family drove from KY to NY last month for funeral services and with seven people to travel, the most cost-efficient travel with to take the two 2022 Elantras - 2.0L Atkinson engine and chain-o-matic with EPA 31/41. At or around PSL on interstates heading northeast, they arrived on Long Island with one car at 54mpg and the other at 56mpg. The difference is likely a combination of different tires (Ulsan vs Montgomery production), different drivers, and one car being the lead on most of the trip and the other following behind. There's no getting away from the fact that they both destroyed the EPA highway number by 33+ percent with three or four people and luggage aboard, climbing over the Appalachians and snaking through NYC traffic.

 

What does the Monroney say ? YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.

 

I drive used, over-sized tires & discovered my MPG goes up! Not because the tread was low, but because the tire diameters were greater. I love to keep rpms down & shaving tires doesn’t do that. People often say cars need to be broken-in to get the best MPG. My new cars always gave excellent MPG from the very beginning, even with the new tires. I’ve never had greater MPG with low tread depth on older tires.

 

Or at least, "Your mileage may vary."

 

I don't understand why the EPA numbers are so misunderstood...

Any single number representing a vehicle's fuel efficiency is going to be wrong most of the time across different conditions and drivers. The number represents a reference point for use across vehicles to aid in vehicle comparisons. It is not a best case nor worst case number. Most people will be able to do better. Some people will never do better.

And to further complicate things, many car makers are self-reporting and are allowed to derate or otherwise modify their reported numbers.

 

Excellent!

 

Right. I never cease to be amazed how clever humans can be, or how dumb.
The EPA highway number is effectively a realistic best-case number, divided by a fixed fudge factor (was 0.78) intended to bring it closer to what normal owners might obtain.

 

Bill posted:
I don't understand why the EPA numbers are so misunderstood...
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RedylC94 posted:
... I never cease to be amazed how clever humans can be, or how dumb.
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All those complaining about EPA, are lead-foot egotists, who don’t like it when they are continually reminded that many people get better MPG than they. & yeah, maybe they have a bad route to work & its hard to get over 30MPG. But, lead-footers don’t try to raise their MPG much…….because then, they would have to give up their hard won accolades to be the first off the line at the stoplight.

 

Leadfooters will never beat featherfooters past the gas pump……unless the featherfooter is dragging an anchor……make that 2 anchors.

 

Oops, I meant multiplied by the factor (to oversimplify a bit).

Anyone who can't beat the EPA highway figure divided by 0.78 under reasonably favorable conditions isn't trying very hard.










0.

 

Manual Hyundai Elantra took me to the river. Not a duck or goose to see with the 12X50mm binoculars. The clouds were dark enough, that I was happy to have the big lenses to see the river area. While scanning the river bank for anything to see, a deer was seen. Alright! If there had been birds, I may have been distracted & never saw the deer. Walking along the river, I scoped the far bend in the river half a mile away. Wow! Three more deer were seen. All deer had no horns & may have been female. When the deer moved from the riverbank & into the woods, & with a lack of birds, I went home. Later, I went to the Wildlife area with the Accent. Like the river area, it too had a major lack of birds on the north end. Eventually, I saw a white-crowned sparrow & a song sparrow. Over on the lake, I saw some duck, which may have been Blue-winged Teal. Walking along the lake, I heard a loud crack. Snapping my eyes up to the opposite lake shore, I saw a huge maple tree branch falling to the ground! With a commanding crash, I heard the limb power flatly onto the ground. Tomorrow, I’ll try to track down that branch, see how big it is & see what damage was done. Possibly the wind yesterday, may have weakened the branch. Another possibility, is the great amount of rain we have had over the last 3 months, may have caused the tree to have an excess amount of water weight in the trunk & branches. Finally, a combination of excess water AND wind may have brought the branch down.
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PS…..A day later:
I found the large branch that broke off. The main rotting tree was down a slope near the lake edge. The crack I heard was the full branch breaking off the trunk. The crash I heard was the branch landing flat against the ground slope leading up from the lake.The branch was long enough, someone could have been injured or died, standing on the field access road, just up from the lake.

 

From 5-15-22:

Five days later & more stations crunch over $5 per gallon, & even to $5.40+. Even saw 1 Costco at $4.87 per gallon. That “Unnecessary” purchase with all my gas containers I made in Eastern Washington on Tuesday at $4.37 per gallon is looking very good. Our 3 cars are near full…..right now.

 

Today , 57 deg F in Naperville and Elk Grove.
Wind W1 , light rain all the way.
333 miles , fcd = 63.0 x .943 = 59.4 MPG

 

Today , 45 deg F in Lombard , 44 in Elk Grove. Wind N2.
16.3 miles , fcd = 73.0 x .943 = 68.8 MPG.
One pip remaining.

 

Filled up on the way home yesterday for $4.989
639.2 miles , fcd = 68.9 x .943 = 65.0 MPG.
Not so bad.
But then I got home , put the car in the garage............and forgot
to turn the car off. It sat in Ready mode for about two and a quarter hours.
Luckily , I went out in the garage for something and smelled exhaust fumes.
what would have been a 70+ (fcd) trip this morning ended up at 59.1.
I hate when that happens.