I am buying an Elantra in June-August. I was wondering why in real world gas milage tests the Elantra's milage has been rated lower then the new Mazda skyactive and the Honda Civic? They have similar gas useage ratings with the EPA. Thanks ....Rich

 

I bought my 2012 Elantra in September. I've consistently gotten between 31-33 in mixed city/hwy driving. I had one long highway trip for which I got 37mpg, which I thought was pretty good considering it was cold and on winter blend fuel. Consumer Reports got 39 hwy in their tests.

I think many of the complaints about the Elantra's fuel mileage are much ado about nothing.

 

I would seriously doubt you will be disappointed in the fuel mileage for the Elantra. I just got a new Tucson and careful driving had the mileage briefly showing at 37.5 mpg on a recent short trip. And it is much less fuel efficient than the Elantra.

A lot depends on how one drives the vehicle. I've always been able to squeeze pretty decent fuel economy out of whatever I have owned. I actually exceeded 50 mph,during a short trip, in a 2011 Fiesta I just traded in. Overall I got about 44 mpg on the highway. I would imagine the Elantra would be similar. The only difference I see might be slightly different weight and the transmission. The Fiesta uses an auto-manual transmission while the Elantra uses a conventional torque converter, I believe. Both vehicles have GDI engines which are more efficient that port injected engines.

I don't think I would spend a whole lot of time worrying about fuel mileage with the Elantra. Even if gas goes to $10 a gallon it will still be a small part of your overall budget.

Bear in mind, however, that the EPA uses pure gasoline. You are using 10% ethanol which has less energy content. So it is rare to meet their estimates simply on that account alone.

 

One minor correction, the Elantra doesn't have a GDI engine. I THINK the new Accents might but not the Elantra yet.

The point about steering clear of ethanol blends is valid. I stopped using blends and my mileage increased by 10-15%. Also steer clear of Top Tier fuels. In the US, Top Tier fuels contain a minimum of 8% ethanol and they don't have to advertise it at the pump. BP fuels exceed Top Tier requirements in detergent but without the ethanol. For that reason I use BP fuels whenever possible. With the BP card you also get a 5% rebate on all gas purchases.

No, I don't work for BP but it's a good deal.

 

Correct. The 1.8L Nu in the Elantra does not have GDI. Only the 2.0L Turbo Nu has GDI. The 1.6L Gamma in the Accent does have GDI.

 

Go to pure-gas.org for the 5000 stations'(10 in every 350) addresses & a great zoomable map, selling 100% ethanol free gasoline. With accurate before & after records, our 3 cars' mpg increased 8%, 7-8%, & 6%. Tho many charge more, there is a low priced 100% gasoline station at 2100 block of Broadway, Everett, WA. I have given the owners my line-graphs of increased mpg available at their station & they were happy to receive the data.

From the map, the Southeast U.S. has the greatest population of 100% gasoline stations. However, large regions & some states do NOT have 100% gasoline.

 

Updates: pure-gas.org now lists ~10,350 ethanol-free(E0) sources. Have accurate fuel records comparing E0 to E10(10% ethanol), now showing our 5 low 87 octane, low compression ratio (9:1 to 10.5:1) gasoline cars gain, 8%, 8%, 7%-8%, 7% & 5%. The problem with E0 is that EPA & the "ethanol in gasoline industry" has driven E0 to rarity, & E0 is 20%(more?) expensive than E10.

Now have a 2013 auto Elantra AND a 2016 manual Elantra(same Venetian Red color). Using E0 with 15% city & careful driving, the 2013 auto Elantra gave 39mpg, with 43mpg on the highway. Driving the 2016 manual Elantra in 25% city, 30 miles to work & bad stop&go traffic, my wife gets 34mpg. On a long highway trip to the ocean, the manual tranny turned 46mpg with stops for pix, beach walking, travel over hills & a bit of stop&go I-5 traffic, but mostly heavy, steady travel. MPG records are gas & mileage figures, NOT trip computer erroneous non-sense.

Interesting non-advertised differences between the older 2013 Elantra & the new 2016 Elantra:
the 2016 Venetian Red is darker & richer with more metallic flake, but needs more. The 2016 electric steering is more subtle & responds better than the 2013. Both cars steer nicely & hold their lines on straight stretches, again with the 2016 being more subtle. The 2016 1.8 liter engine is quieter & smoother than the 2013. Matter of fact, so quiet that I have difficulty hearing the engine, if the radio or other noise is intruding, as I engage first gear of the manual tranny. Yeah, the quiet engine is upsetting my clutch engagement.

 

Further updates: pure-gas.org now lists ~14,300+ ethanol-free(E0) sources in Canada & the U.S. Presently, Wisconsin has 960 E0 sources, with North Carolina & Florida in the low 900's. New York has 777 sources. Many states have many hundreds of E0 sources, specially in the southeastern U.S.