Should I have my car checked for poor fuel economy? Or are these numbers still ok?

[valacirca]

I'm new to driving (just learned and got a license three months ago) and I bought a 2012 Kia Rio last September. It's the 1.4 EX A/T Sedan model. So to emphasize, it's not the hatchback.

I've been driving it for almost three months now and my odo is almost at 2500 kms. Parang feeling ko, unusually poor ang fuel consumption niya even thought I usually drive in very heavy traffic.

I usually drive in heavy traffic, travelling from Pasig to Fort to Makati and back during the morning and evening rush. Now that it's the Christmas season, my travel looks like this:

AM travel is around 6:30am - 9:00am
PM travel is from 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Both routes are relatively the same and 16 kilometers long. So on a daily basis, that's 32km = 5 hours of travel. Meaning 6.4kph on the average. Kung hindi Christmas season, siguro bawas ng 1 hours, so 32km = 4 hours of travel. Not much better at 8kph on the average.

Based on my last full tank, ang lumabas na fuel consumption ko is 5.96 km/L. Nung hindi Christmas season, on the average siguro 6.50 km/L ang fuel consumption ko.

Sabi nung ibang kilala ko:

(1) magiimprove pa daw yung fuel economy when my odo gets past the 4-5k mark because I'm still in the break-in period so piston rings and valves have yet to seat properly.
(2) it could be my style of driving since I just learned how to drive recently and I might not be driving in a fuel efficient manner

Pero ano sa tingin niyo? To summarize here are the details:

Pre-Xmas Rush (Sep - Oct)
- distance travelled per day = 32km
- time travelled per day = 4 hours
- avg speed = 8kph
- fuel consumption = 6.50 km/L

Xmas Rush (Nov)
- distance travelled per day = 32km
- time travelled per day = 5 hours
- avg speed = 6.4kph
- fuel consumption = 5.96 km/L

ODO: 2500km

Everything considered.... ipatingin ko na ba to sa casa? :p

[istan]

Nope, not yet.
I think its your driving style and the heavy traffic.
Car FC is quite normal if your stuck in traffic daily for 5 hrs. :/

[valacirca]

Nope, not yet.
I think its your driving style and the heavy traffic.
Car FC is quite normal if your stuck in traffic daily for 5 hrs. :/

thanks istan. I'll continue to observe past the christmas season and see how the FC numbers change around Feb, especially when the ODO goes past the 5000km mark.

[niky]

Four to five hours a day at 8 km/h?

You're basically burning five liters of gasoline simply to keep the airconditioner running. A small four cylinder engine drinks about 0.9 to 1.2 liters per hour just idling at a stop.

[valacirca]

Four to five hours a day at 8 km/h?

You're basically burning five liters of gasoline simply to keep the airconditioner running. A small four cylinder engine drinks about 0.9 to 1.2 liters per hour just idling at a stop.

Well... syempre 8kph should not be taken literally May parts na sobrang traffic at madaming stoplight, may konting parts na maluwag tapos dire-diretso, but when you put it all together, 32kms in 5 hours pa din talaga

Yung biggest killer ng FC ko in the morning is yung palabas ng Pasig, then yung C5 and Fort relatively light, pero yung Fort to Buendia via flyover sobrang heavy nanaman ng traffic.

Then pauwi, Makati nanaman ang masikip, this time yung Paseo to Buendia, Fort is still okay, but then C5 northbound around 7-8pm is just insane.

[Manilablock]

mag long drive ka, take your car to subic or batangas, bago ka pumasok ng expressway pa full-tank mo ung car mo (automatic hindi ung sagad).

Take note of the ODO reading, wag mag overspeed.

Then pag pauwi ka na shempre babalik ka dun sa gas station kung saan ka nag pa full-tank, preferably same pump, pa full-tank mo ulit, take note of your ODO.

ODO current less ODO previous = distance traveled

distance traveled / Last fuel full-tank = xx km/liters

pwede ka din mag download ng android free app (DriverDiary) to record your fuel consumption.

[valacirca]

Another thing I've been observing btw are the Instant Fuel Consumption numbers on the Rio's Multi-Information Display.

When starting to accelerate from a full stop, the numbers are constantly around the 25-30L/100km mark, then when I feel the car shifting gears, bumababa siya to 20-25L/100km.

Only when I hit 3rd gear do the numbers start looking good, around 10-15L/100km, and even around the 5L/100km mark when coasting.

Pero for the 1st and 2nd gears, parang ang taas ng fuel consuption niya?

[Retz]

Another thing I've been observing btw are the Instant Fuel Consumption numbers on the Rio's Multi-Information Display.

When starting to accelerate from a full stop, the numbers are constantly around the 25-30L/100km mark, then when I feel the car shifting gears, bumababa siya to 20-25L/100km.

Only when I hit 3rd gear do the numbers start looking good, around 10-15L/100km, and even around the 5L/100km mark when coasting.

Pero for the 1st and 2nd gears, parang ang taas ng fuel consuption niya?

MID is not that accurate. Based it on your actual miles traveled and fuel refill.

[valacirca]

MID is not that accurate. Based it on your actual miles traveled and fuel refill.

This is instantaneous fuel consumption, not average fuel consumption.

Yung average fuel consumption ko, like the numbers on my first post, I do it manually, not by the MID.

But I don't think it's possible to manually compute instantaneous fuel consumption

[istan]

Another thing I've been observing btw are the Instant Fuel Consumption numbers on the Rio's Multi-Information Display.

When starting to accelerate from a full stop, the numbers are constantly around the 25-30L/100km mark, then when I feel the car shifting gears, bumababa siya to 20-25L/100km.

Only when I hit 3rd gear do the numbers start looking good, around 10-15L/100km, and even around the 5L/100km mark when coasting.

Pero for the 1st and 2nd gears, parang ang taas ng fuel consuption niya?

Its normal, your speed is slow, yet rpm is high, so fc increases. As you row thru the gears, speed increases, your rpm maintains, bababa fc. So save fc at 1st to 2nd gear, do gradual and slow starts, masisingitan ka nga lng. If i were u, take ayala, not buendia. Lighter traffic.

[ericcanio]

When u reached the 5k mark ... you should try to test it in a long stretch.... meaning ibiyahe mo ng north or south expressway for a test ... Full tank mo, reset the km to zero .... at the end of the stretch pakarga k uli ng full tank ... for you to be able to measure how much you consumed against the km reading, thus you can get the real consumption per liter ..... i have done that in normal city driving & long stretch ..... establish your speed also and make sure the pressure of your tire is correct ... less pressure means more consumption also .....

[vermicelli]

Brand new picanto starter cost Php7500 that is good for around 6000 "starts". That's Php1.25 per start.

10.5 km/l is around Php5/km at current gasoline price.

If you do 13km/l using "turn-off engine * more than 30sec traffic stop" you can go 2.5km further on one liter of fuel or save Php12.5 but make sure you don't do more than "10 starts" per liter perse otherwise the peso saved offsets the starter wear.

But hey this still does not account engine components and battery wear during "start" so the savings might be lower. I think it's not worth it plus I don't want a/c off discomfort.

[niky]

Do you have a source for the estimated life of the starter? Just curious.

And you need to clarify what kind of start. A "hot" start is different from a "warm" start is different from a "cold" start. There's a hell of a lot of wear from a cold start, but not so much from a hot start, since all the fluids are up to temperature and the engine is much easier to turn over.

Of course, you could avoid starter wear by parking nose down a hill every morning...

[Cyferion]

Wow! Seems like all Sedans are the same when it comes to traffic pero pag long high way drives dun lang nagiiba mga FC.

[dr. d]

Brand new picanto starter cost Php7500 that is good for around 6000 "starts". That's Php1.25 per start.

10.5 km/l is around Php5/km at current gasoline price.

If you do 13km/l using "turn-off engine * more than 30sec traffic stop" you can go 2.5km further on one liter of fuel or save Php12.5 but make sure you don't do more than "10 starts" per liter perse otherwise the peso saved offsets the starter wear.

But hey this still does not account engine components and battery wear during "start" so the savings might be lower. I think it's not worth it plus I don't want a/c off discomfort.

there is usually a considerable amount of "fine print" in these studies.. criteria.. conditions.. etc.. conditions that we may not fulfil if we drive "ordinary".
and yes, i also turn off my engine if i estimate at least 1 minute of standstill.

so, how does this affect my car maintenance? well, my besta's starter brushes had to be replaced at 50,000 km.. and my 1997 sentra's starter is still untouched after 14 years..

but hey! starter repair is cheap! it's not about hi tech electronics. it's low tech copper windings and brute force solid metal. "por kilo", 'eka nga..

btw, in heavy traffic, all fuel efficiency bets are off! how can you compete with 0 km/li ?

[renzo_d10]

I don't turn off my engine on traffic kahit gano pa katagal idle niya. I only turn it off kapag mag-park ako or may i-pick up ako and I need to wait. On an everyday basis, using my 1.3 Vios MT, I get an average of 9km/L pure city driving. That includes an everyday battle with EDSA rush hour traffic and my travel is just 6-7kms one way. I hardly reach 5th gear (kapag dadaanan ko lang yung shortcut) since parati naman traffic.

What I'm saying is, given your conditions, I think your FC is just normal. AT pa sayo.

Siguro kapag lumamig yung panahon i-try ko yung patay makina kapag more than 1 minute yun stop. Hehehe. Then ill see the difference sa FC.

[niky]

there is usually a considerable amount of "fine print" in these studies.. criteria.. conditions.. etc.. conditions that we may not fulfil if we drive "ordinary".
and yes, i also turn off my engine if i estimate at least 1 minute of standstill.

so, how does this affect my car maintenance? well, my besta's starter brushes had to be replaced at 50,000 km.. and my 1997 sentra's starter is still untouched after 14 years..

but hey! starter repair is cheap! it's not about hi tech electronics. it's low tech copper windings and brute force solid metal. "por kilo", 'eka nga..

btw, in heavy traffic, all fuel efficiency bets are off! how can you compete with 0 km/li ?

Starter wear on hot starts with an EFI car (versus a mechanical injection diesel) will be very low.

What wears a starter down is hard cranking due to cold oil, hard cranking due to low battery, excessive cranking due to unprimed carbs and etcetera.

Most starters are expected to last as long as the motor does, all things considered.

[mikmik316]

To the TS:

Here is my FC. This is Eastwood-Makati-Intramuros and back with occassional once a week Eastwood to Fairview and back:

Oct. 8, 26.8 liters, 183.5km = 6.85km/L
Oct 13, 30 liters, 210km = 7km/L
Oct. 19, 18.2 liters, 110km = 6.04km/L
Oct. 22, 18.2 liters, 116km = 6.37km/L
Oct 25, 18.6 liters, 139km. = 7.47km/L
Oct. 30, Blaze, 30 liters, 188km. = 6.27 km/L
Nov. 8, Blaze, 25 liters, 152km. = 6.08km/L
Nov. 12, Fuelsave, 10 liters, 66km = 6.6km/L
Nov. 14, Fuelsave, 20 liters, 150km. = 7.5km/L
Nov. 17, Blaze, 25 liters, 175km = 7km/L
Nov. 21, Silver, 29 liters, 201km = 6.93km/L
Nov. 26, Silver, 19 liters, 107km = 5.63km/L
Nov. 29 Fuelsave, 9.5 liters, 51km = 5.37km/L

[valacirca]

To the TS:

Here is my FC. This is Eastwood-Makati-Intramuros and back with occassional once a week Eastwood to Fairview and back:

Oct. 8, 26.8 liters, 183.5km = 6.85km/L
Oct 13, 30 liters, 210km = 7km/L
Oct. 19, 18.2 liters, 110km = 6.04km/L
Oct. 22, 18.2 liters, 116km = 6.37km/L
Oct 25, 18.6 liters, 139km. = 7.47km/L
Oct. 30, Blaze, 30 liters, 188km. = 6.27 km/L
Nov. 8, Blaze, 25 liters, 152km. = 6.08km/L
Nov. 12, Fuelsave, 10 liters, 66km = 6.6km/L
Nov. 14, Fuelsave, 20 liters, 150km. = 7.5km/L
Nov. 17, Blaze, 25 liters, 175km = 7km/L
Nov. 21, Silver, 29 liters, 201km = 6.93km/L
Nov. 26, Silver, 19 liters, 107km = 5.63km/L
Nov. 29 Fuelsave, 9.5 liters, 51km = 5.37km/L

Wow mikmik, yang Nov 26 and Nov 29 fuel consumption mo ang regular fuel consumption ko. This is Pasig-Fort-Makati and back from around 6:30-8:00am and 5:30-8:00pm...

[vermicelli]

Do you have a source for the estimated life of the starter? Just curious.

And you need to clarify what kind of start. A "hot" start is different from a "warm" start is different from a "cold" start. There's a hell of a lot of wear from a cold start, but not so much from a hot start, since all the fluids are up to temperature and the engine is much easier to turn over.

Of course, you could avoid starter wear by parking nose down a hill every morning...

Hi Sir Niky

Sa internet ko lang nakuha yung estimated life info hehe.

The numbers may not be exact but for the starter and battery you basically take "life" out of it everytime you start the engine offsetting the savings in the first place. I do agree with the cold and hot start thingie though.

Plug-in actual numbers and we might arrived at a number of allowable "starts" per unit km of a particular vehicle at a particular route to still realize savings. Just a thought.

I know of at least a car from toyota (forgot the model) made to automatically turn-off engine at long idle and starts when go but these are built to have better engine starting mechanism to endure repetitive starts. It has alternator/motor combo to drive a/c compressor when engine is off (crank disengage via clutch pulley) and I think it also act as starter if I remember it right.