[ayankm]

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Hello experts, I need your help in getting to the bottom of this problem that I am having with my Eon. Vehicle is about 5 months old and has 1500 km. In the city the vehicle gives a mileage of 9kmpl (10 if I am lucky enough). During city drive, I can hardly go upto 4th gear and average speed is 20kmph, given the traffic conditions of Bangalore.

However, on the highway, when the vehicle is driven 90% of time in 5th gear, the mileage shoots up to 19 kmpl.

Right now, I am at the Hyundai Service Centre and just spoke to the manager here as part of the complaint that I had raised. What he explained me is this:

1. The engine takes around 5 mins to warm up and reach optimum driving temperature. During these 5 mins, fuel consumption will be more.

2. Using more of 1st and 2nd gears will use up more fuel because of higher torque.

3. For each minute of idling, the car takes up fuel equivalent to driving 1km.

After hearing the fact that the car is giving 19 kmpl on highway he seemed to be convinced that there is no problem whatsoever. I don't feel convinced somehow since this is a 1.0 car and the mileage that I am getting is really really low.

Please advise if I need to get anything specific checked by the mechanic here. Any help will be much appreciated.

[pkulkarni.2106]

Do not worry. Even I used to worry about horrible mileage in city (I own a Santro Xing), but I get around 18KMPL on highway.
What I was told by helpful users in this forum is that our smaller engines are very sensitive to driving style. That's why we get drastic difference between city and highway mileage.
I have similar situation like you. My office isn't far from my home, and I have to drive between 2nd and 3rd gear most of the time. Rarely I can go till 4th gear. I also get ~11KMPL in city without AC.

So, I think what you're getting is OK and I also think that it'll improve slightly after first few services.

Thanks!

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by ayankm

Please advise if I need to get anything specific checked by the mechanic here. Any help will be much appreciated.

Whatever the service manager told you is correct.
Plus, my experience is that smaller engines tend to give a lot less average in stop and go traffic with AC as compared to the ARAI ratings.

Your car is fine.

PS: You could have posted the query on the EON test drive thread instead of creating a new thread.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by ayankm

1. The engine takes around 5mins to warm up and reach optimum driving temperature. During these 5mins, fuel consumption will be more.
2. Using more of 1st and 2nd gears will use up more fuel because of higher torque.
3. For each minute of idling, the car takes up fuel equivalent to driving 1km.
After hearing the fact that the car is giving 19kmpl on highway he seemed to be convinced that there is no problem whatsoever.

1- Difference would be very marginal since it would take max 5 mts.

2- Yes coz RPM Vs distance covered Vs Time taken is very different that when we are cruising on highway.

3- Again very rough and improper way, 1 liter an hour of idle maybe more correct.

But what he said is true and in reality the situation seems to be normal. Keep in mind this is a small cc engine, so crawling in stop and go traffic with AC on would be too much work for it. And if you are getting 19 kmpl on highway, it is a clear indication that engine is otherwise in good health.

I would say do not worry much, unless it is deteriorating downwards. You can also check if there is a difference if you do off peak commute in city, say from 9 to 12 kmpl.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by ayankm

Any help will be much appreciated.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

I would say do not worry much, unless it is deteriorating downwards. You can also check if there is a difference if you do off peak commute in city, say from 9 to 12 kmpl.

Trying to avoid peak traffic is probably the best way for you. Apart from this, you could try varying your driving style (i.e. changing gears at lower vs. higher RPM, accelerating slowly, letting go of the accelerator much before a signal, switching off the car when you have to idle for more than a min). After a few weeks of experimenting, you can arrive at what driving style your car loves and then you can stick to it.

For reference, I own a wagonR 1.0 and I have observed that the car doesn't favour early upshifting of gears. The ideal RPM is 2.5-3.5k range for a good FE. Anything beyond hampers the FE badly. I also try to avoid peak traffic as much as possible to going to and returning from office early. This also reduces strain on the engine components due to stop-go traffic.

[Adi22]

Would advise you to practice defensive driving skills, anticipating & avoid sudden braking, use engine braking as much as you can, & move into higher gears as much as possible. Since your engine too is pretty new, it would improve going ahead.

I drive a civic and managing to navigate in traffic in the highest gear possible without lugging the engine. Thought it took time to get used to this driving style.

Have to admit, i have got used to it so much that have forgot to drive spiritedly now on highways :-) One reason why civic's mileage closely matches yours on highways.

Good Luck...!!!

[skandyhere]

Originally Posted by ayankm

1. The engine takes around 5mins to warm up and reach optimum driving temperature. During these 5mins, fuel consumption will be more.
2. Using more of 1st and 2nd gears will use up more fuel because of higher torque.
3. For each minute of idling, the car takes up fuel equivalent to driving 1km.

On an average, what are the distance and driving time you do in your city runs? For instance, 9 kmpl is only to be expected if it's a 2-3 km drive to work that takes 10 minutes with a good mix of crawling and idling.

By the way, a quick technical digression may be interesting even if it isn't going to help you practically:
1. Driving in lower gears uses more fuel per km travelled not because of higher torque but because of the unfavourable rpm vs. speed combination, as already mentioned by friendly mod Jaggu.
2. If a car uses fuel equivalent to driving 1 km for each minute of idling, it would consume an entire litre from 10 minutes of idling. This is grossly overstated. You will find numerous discussions on the internet on how much fuel is consumed by idling, and from them, you'd likely conclude that a 1L engine probably consumes around half a litre over an hour's idling time. Of course, all that is theory; there's only one way to practically find it out on your own car.

[manishkapadia]

I have used a 0.8 eon for about 3 years and can confirm that even in my case the within city mileage was quite dismal. The same is true for our Honda Brio as well.

Surprisingly my Honda city G3 gives me the best mileage within Mumbai city. It performs better than Brio, and our earlier Eon as well as the i10 Automatic. So I would say a 9 KMPL mileage that too in Bangalore is nothing to be bothered about.

[dhanushs]

Extremely sorry, but I find it rather amusing to hear about a FE complaint in Bangalore traffic. Well if your office is in HSR and house in BTM, you might go ahead and sell your car!

Jokes apart, my Ford Ikon, my Fiesta 1.6, Manza 1.3 diesel, zen, all give similar figure 8-9 in peak city traffic. So, I think you really don't need to worry as long as the vehicle behaves well on highways

[Karthik Chandra]

I drive the 0.8 ltr Eon and I get 11-12 KMPL in Chennai and 17-19 KMPL on highways. So do not worry about mileage in city.

Just make sure you don't read the following thread

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...fficiency.html

The figures reported will give break your heart. I don't visit that thread

[silverado]

My Nano gives me 13-14 in city with AC, whereas on Highways it has gone as high as 26-27kmpl on occasions with it consistently being above 22-23mark on most occasions.

I am not sure if this is down to small size of engine, but Nano is not a frugal city car.

My advice is to try a different route and check mileage.

[Ravindra M]

Originally Posted by ayankm

....
Please advise if I need to get anything specific checked by the mechanic here. Any help will be much appreciated.

9 kmph in infamous Bangalore traffic is perfectly fine for 1.0 Lit Petrol engine, especially when AC is mostly on.

You said "excels on highway (19kmpl)" - that clarifies all - everything is fine with your engine. No worries.

I suggest, just for peace of mind :

1. Give feedback to Hyundai customer care.
2. Make sure the Engine ECU software is up-to-date ( by visiting ASC)
3. Try Shell petrol.

[Sebring]

Even our Eon 0.8 is returning around 9-10. So there must be something wrong in the engine design. How come a Maruti always scores above 12-14 in city under the same conditions?

We bought it thinking small engine would mean great mileage, but the service advisors are helpless.

[vsathyap]

Our Alto K10 AMT delivers around 10.5kmpl in BLR city with 100% AC. The average speed is 12 km/hour during the morning hours and it drops to 10km/hour in the evenings. With such speeds, the car is constantly in 1 or 2 gear and hence the poor mileage.

A recent highway run with the K10 AMT and it delivered a staggering 22kmpl with speeds of 90-110kmph. if i had been a little more sedate, it would have easily done 23-24kmpl.

Quarterly airport runs (which is a mix of city and highway) delivers 15-16kmpl.

Your car is fine - just give it what's commonly referred to as the "italian" tuning treatment - a 100+km drive at speeds of 80-100kmph to free up the engine. It makes a difference in the next couple of fill ups (mileage increases by =~10%) and after that, its back to the usual abysmally low 10kmpl mileage.

I'd like to say this to justify the mileage: Traffic - you're a part of it

[Mortis]

Yup this is completely normal. In Mumbai traffic and shorter trips, my Beat gives me a mileage of 8-10kmpl and on flat highway stretches it is often 18+, sometimes touching 20kmpl with the AC on which is higher than the ARAI rated mileage of 18.6 kmpl, that too with a free flow exhaust and K&N filter and 4 passengers. So as the statement goes 'your mileage will vary'