Follow-up to my car question. October 8, 2005 8:33 PM Subscribe
AskMeFollowUpFilter: At least one person was curious about which car I would buy. Results Inside.
Contact South Korea: they must rename the model the Hyundai Doohickie. (Let's face it, there are several worse car model names)
posted by wendell at 10:23 PM on October 8, 2005
posted by wendell at 10:23 PM on October 8, 2005
And it gets better than 30 to the gallon? For what it's worth, I drive a Prius, ostensibly a "60 MPG" hybrid, but in fact, I get closer to 40, or even 39 (although I am a bit of a leadfoot). So don't feel like you're missing out on wildly better gas mileage by not getting a hybrid.
posted by jonson at 11:04 PM on October 8, 2005
posted by jonson at 11:04 PM on October 8, 2005
I'm guessin' that wouldn't help sales much.
One of the aformentioned errands was buying a new stereo for it (that was the one option I didn't like; it came with AM/FM assette only). I bought a decent Pioneer CD/MP3 player to mount in-dash, and CD changer for the trunk (at two different stores). I got home, started looking and them and found that BOTH had been opened and stuff was missing and/or damaged. Doh! More errands, I guess.
posted by Doohickie at 11:06 PM on October 8, 2005
One of the aformentioned errands was buying a new stereo for it (that was the one option I didn't like; it came with AM/FM assette only). I bought a decent Pioneer CD/MP3 player to mount in-dash, and CD changer for the trunk (at two different stores). I got home, started looking and them and found that BOTH had been opened and stuff was missing and/or damaged. Doh! More errands, I guess.
posted by Doohickie at 11:06 PM on October 8, 2005
A friend of my has a Prius and gets mid-50s on a regular basis, although she's gotten as low as the 30s.
posted by Doohickie at 11:07 PM on October 8, 2005
posted by Doohickie at 11:07 PM on October 8, 2005
assette = cassette, for those of you who can't figure it out...
posted by Doohickie at 11:08 PM on October 8, 2005
posted by Doohickie at 11:08 PM on October 8, 2005
And it gets better than 30 to the gallon? For what it's worth, I drive a Prius, ostensibly a "60 MPG" hybrid, but in fact, I get closer to 40, or even 39 (although I am a bit of a leadfoot). So don't feel like you're missing out on wildly better gas mileage by not getting a hybrid.
Uh, except 'normal' cars, which normally don't report their mileage also perform far under the EPA estimates. Automakers are forbidden to give customers any number other then the EPA estimates. So a car marked by the EPA as getting 60mpg will probably be twice as efficient as an EPA rated 30 mpg car and so on.
My car is rated at, 29/34, and I get like 27-29 in the city. (actualy, that's not too bad, I was thinking my car was more efficent then it is. The manual version gets 32/39)
posted by delmoi at 11:15 PM on October 8, 2005
Uh, except 'normal' cars, which normally don't report their mileage also perform far under the EPA estimates. Automakers are forbidden to give customers any number other then the EPA estimates. So a car marked by the EPA as getting 60mpg will probably be twice as efficient as an EPA rated 30 mpg car and so on.
My car is rated at, 29/34, and I get like 27-29 in the city. (actualy, that's not too bad, I was thinking my car was more efficent then it is. The manual version gets 32/39)
posted by delmoi at 11:15 PM on October 8, 2005
I have a 2003 Elantra GT automatic (in 2003 you couldn't get the GLS in the 5-door, so I got the GT) and I average 26-ish MPG on my daily commute, which is about half highway and half city driving. On the highway, the car generally meets or exceeds its EPA rating of 33 MPG.
Hybrids are really, really good for people who do a lot of city driving, because they don't use any gas sitting at red lights. They are also nice in highway traffic jams. One time while my Elantra was in the shop for some minor stuff, they gave me a Prius as a loaner. They told me to fill it up when I brought it back. Well, after 60 miles of driving to work and back (this was when I lived further from work), the gas gauge still read F, so I just took it back. I was pretty impressed.
posted by kindall at 12:07 AM on October 9, 2005
Hybrids are really, really good for people who do a lot of city driving, because they don't use any gas sitting at red lights. They are also nice in highway traffic jams. One time while my Elantra was in the shop for some minor stuff, they gave me a Prius as a loaner. They told me to fill it up when I brought it back. Well, after 60 miles of driving to work and back (this was when I lived further from work), the gas gauge still read F, so I just took it back. I was pretty impressed.
posted by kindall at 12:07 AM on October 9, 2005
"A square centimetre of greasy skin crawls with hundreds of thousands of microbes."
posted by JohnR at 5:33 AM on October 9, 2005
posted by JohnR at 5:33 AM on October 9, 2005
The Jesse Helms... without getting into a whole political side track, I think it is difficult for the Western world to appreciate the subtleties of North-South Korea relations. I've been over there several times on business and have worked with Koreans here in the States, and let's just say you can't view their diplomatic efforts based on the American "Kill everyone who doesn't kiss your ass" model.
Back to the car thread: I just filled up for the first time and in mixed city/hwy, I got 29.4 mpg. The thing that amazes me is that I'm used to driving underpowered cars (my last two cars had 63 and 88 hp), so I'm used to leaning into the pedal. This car only requires about 1/3 throttle to get up to traffic speed in most cases. It's got a lot more power, but it really isn't needed for normal driving. It's nice having it when you need it, though!
posted by Doohickie at 1:40 PM on October 9, 2005
Back to the car thread: I just filled up for the first time and in mixed city/hwy, I got 29.4 mpg. The thing that amazes me is that I'm used to driving underpowered cars (my last two cars had 63 and 88 hp), so I'm used to leaning into the pedal. This car only requires about 1/3 throttle to get up to traffic speed in most cases. It's got a lot more power, but it really isn't needed for normal driving. It's nice having it when you need it, though!
posted by Doohickie at 1:40 PM on October 9, 2005
I feel funny posting here, especially since I missed the original thread, but congrats on your Elantra. I bought one too about 6 months back - a manual 2003 model - because for the type of driving I do (75% country highway, 25% inner city) it looked like the most fuel efficient non-hybrid car out there. And it is. I've done my own calculations several times, and, in the new language, it seems to get about 7.1 L/100km. The company claims it's supposed to get about 6.5 on the highway and 7.6 in the city, so it seems pretty well spot on. And I've never had a problem with it. I regularly drive with me, my wife, two dogs and a boot-load of shopping and it easily overtakes trucks at 140kph on the highway. As much as I'm loath to say it, I think I've been made a Hyundai fan.
posted by Jimbob at 9:25 PM on October 9, 2005
posted by Jimbob at 9:25 PM on October 9, 2005
As much as I'm loath to say it, I think I've been made a Hyundai fan.
Odd to be loathe to say that. Hyundai's did suck a decade or more ago, but they certainly don't, anymore. Hyundai ranks second among vehicle manufacturers evaluated in the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Initial Quality StudySM (IQS).
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:43 PM on October 9, 2005
Odd to be loathe to say that. Hyundai's did suck a decade or more ago, but they certainly don't, anymore. Hyundai ranks second among vehicle manufacturers evaluated in the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Initial Quality StudySM (IQS).
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:43 PM on October 9, 2005
- apostrophe.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:44 PM on October 9, 2005
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:44 PM on October 9, 2005
Odd to be loathe to say that.
Well, I used to be Subaru all the way. Until I wrote one off when a tree jumped out infront of me, and the next one ended up with a corroded head gasket. It's hard to switch your allegiances to a manufacturer like Hyundai that's so...bland. But they're damn good.
posted by Jimbob at 2:48 AM on October 10, 2005
Well, I used to be Subaru all the way. Until I wrote one off when a tree jumped out infront of me, and the next one ended up with a corroded head gasket. It's hard to switch your allegiances to a manufacturer like Hyundai that's so...bland. But they're damn good.
posted by Jimbob at 2:48 AM on October 10, 2005
delmoi - hybrids are actually notorious for being worse in real-world performance than their EPA ratings, significantly more so than standard engine vehicles. It has something to do with the way in which the EPA measures the performance, but I'm not technically inclined enough to be able to understand it, let alone explain it. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to get 40 MPG, but if your 29MPG city was actually 19MPG, that would be more along the lines of what happened to me with the Prius. Again, I'm a total leadfoot, I drive like a bat out of hell, and the car I traded off lease to get this was a Lexus IS 300, so I'm used to going quickly at the expense of good mileage. I don't doubt that most Prius drivers get high forties or low fifties routinely, it's just that I personally have never (not for one fill up) gotten such mileage.
posted by jonson at 10:41 AM on October 10, 2005
posted by jonson at 10:41 AM on October 10, 2005
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Since buying it yesterday, I've driven almost 300 miles on various errands and the more I drive it, the more I like it!
posted by Doohickie at 8:38 PM on October 8, 2005