I have recently purchased a 2005 Santa Fe with 22000 miles on it. My city MPG is about 14 and highway about 17. Is this normal? Also it shifts relatively rough. Any comments/feedback would be most appreciated.

Mike

 

Sounds pretty low to me. How are you keeping track of your MPG's? I average about 17 MPG with a mix of
city and highway driving. On a recent trip to Pennsylvania from
Massachusetts with three kids, myself and my wife along with
our luggage I averaged about 22 MPG on the highway.

I would start with the basics such as air filter, PCV valve and
checking the spark plugs
which isn't really the easiest thing to do, at least not on mine
which is a six cylinder 2.7 L engine.

Some fuel system cleaner may also help as well. Changing the oil
to synthetic helps, but either way make sure it's 5W30 that
you're using.

As for the shifting, I would check your transmission fluid to start with
to make sure it's where it should be. Also check the condition of the
fluid. Being a used vehicle, you may want to go ahead and do a bunch
of the service such as oil change, transmission service etc. Unless
you have the service records from the previous owner you have no clue
of knowing what they did and didn't do. It's better to be on the safe
side. If you're somewhat mechanically inclined it's all stuff you can do
on your own.

John

 

I have a 2004 Santa Fe that I bought new. I'm a little obsessive about MPGs -- I've kept track of every drop of gasoline that's gone into it over the 106,000 miles I've driven it. I am averaging 20.93 MPG over the life of the vehicle. My driving is a mixture of city and highway, with a higher percentage of city driving. I'm pretty easy on the vehicle and that accounts for some portion of what I think is a pretty high average MPG, but 14 & 17 sounds really low to me. Good luck -- I do love my Santa Fe and hope you'll love yours.

 

Do the maintenance stuff as for shifting something you have to know is you just purchased this vehicle. It needs shiftpoints relearned and for that you need to reset adaptives. Easy way on old cars is disconnect both battery cables and connect a test light in between them or just hold brake down for a minute. Now drive vehicle really light throttle through all gears (I mean really light). Do this about 4-5 times and you wull notice a change. This clears everything and starts over learning new shift points. Good thing to do every 30k miles .I do this any time I service a vehicle for tune up,,02 sensors and even trans services.