[Drew Bryden]

My average fuel economy 12k into ownership of my leftover 2017 Niro was 56 mpg. My driving habits and trips have not changed, but since immediately after my last oil change the mpg has dropped dramatically. I am now averaging 43 mpg and I have run through several tanks of fuel since this change.

Could the dealership have put the conventional oil in the engine (or perhaps the wrong grade of oil) to cause this? The temperature has dropped here in New England, but I purchased in March and it was by no means warm at that time.

 

[yticolev]

My mpg has dropped by over 10% in the last couple weeks due to a dramatic drop in temperature from the 80s to the 40s but yours is quite a bit higher. Cold plus the wrong oil still wouldn't add up. First thing I think about when I hear such a story is injectors. Anecdotally, sometimes that is the issue and no error codes result to pinpoint the problem.

So I'd check it out with your dealer, you will probably have to raise a fuss to get this resolved. I'd ask them about oil as well. I brought my own oil to the dealer for my first service. They claimed to have the right weight of oil (0-20) and that it was synthetic, but when I found out it was bulk instead of containers I could verify, I used the oil I had brought just in case. I guess I have trust issues! I could have asked to look in the service department at the (I'm guessing) drum they used, but I had this mental picture of a unlabeled nozzle from some back room with no way to trace it out.

My first tank in Feb this year was 42 mpg. Despite similar weather in the next few fills, I've never gotten below 49 mpg since. My 14,000 mile average is over 52 mpg if that helps. That is every drop measured, not the highly variable displayed mpg. If you have the 18" wheels, 43 mpg in cold weather is actually not bad.

 

[KK6PD]

So, I have noted that my onboard MPH indicator was displaying results that were 3 MPG higher than actually calculated out by myself & Fuelie. Now that I have had my 7500 check which included 3 TSB fixes, it now reads almost spot on to my calculated results. My second fill up yesterday was within .1 of calculated.
Has anyone else noted this???
Wondering aloud!

 

[yticolev]

Might be random. My usual fill estimates 3 mpg above measured, but in 14,000 miles I've had exactly three fills that were below 1 mpg difference.

 

[Roadkill401]

Now that I have had my 7500 check which included 3 TSB fixes, it now reads almost spot on to my calculated results. My second fill up yesterday was within .1 of calculated.

Does your work order list the TSB numbers that were applied? I just got mine and I have asked if there are any outstanding TSB's and was told no. But it's worth while knowing what others have had done to see if my dealer is just blowing smoke up my ass and don't want to actually do additional work until I bring it in for my first check.

 

[KK6PD]

Does your work order list the TSB numbers that were applied?

Why yes it does, I love how you can take pics of receipts in Fuelie, from the paperwork....
SA325 BRAKE FEEL IMPROVEMENT... and it does improve the feel, at least from my driving POV!
SA343 FRONT WIRING HARNESS....probably not responsible for fuel thing...
SA350 BATTERY MANAGEMENT.... who knows on this one...


all were done NO CHARGE, first oil was free, so out the door, $0.00 and ON TIME!


MY KIND OF SERVICE VISIT!!



still, 2 fill-ups both accurate on paper and on the MPG display, I'll take it!

 

[badyellowvette]

As soon as it started getting colder my mileage went from 60 MPG to 54 MPG.

 

[Amyga]

Same here, Boston area. I was doing 60-62 mpg in September (when in used AC is on auto and set at 74F). Since I started using the heat (on auto, set at 72F), I experienced the mpg drop to 54 mpg.
Frankly, this bodes well, since when I bought the car last July, I was expecting to do 50 mpg, not >60. So, I am fine even it drops at 48-50 mpg this winter.

 

[bigreddog]

what is "fuelie"?

 

[Fishlee]

I’m in California where there are winter or summer blends of gasoline along with E85 gas could this be why your having MPG lowered

https://newsroom.aaa.com/2013/06/what-is-the-difference-between-summer-and-winter-blend-gasoline/

 

[charlesH]

what is "fuelie"?

Fuelly - Track and Compare your MPG

 

[evilstevie]

It's likely the weather, and the switch to winter blend gas. Our Touring dropped pretty significantly, from around 42 mpg to around 35 mpg, on average, over the past few weeks.

 

[Dwag0n]

My LX has had a similar drop. I was averaging a tad over 42mpg last month and the past week or so since the drop in temp and the gas switch to winter blend I am only getting about 36.

 

[Roy]

I think the hybrids are more affected by the cold weather than non hybrids although even in my cold climate the Niro is still my fav car.

 

[redevil]

Had mine in to the dealer today because MPG has dropped drastically since the dealer installed software update SA350 about 3 weeks ago. I was told this update changes the percentage of power distribution between the battery and gas engine in favor of more power coming from the engine. Apparently, the battery charging was not adequate. They told me a number of their customers are complaining about the same thing. When I say my mileage dropped drastically, I mean going from 52 - 56 MPG to 27 MPG which is totally unacceptable. My driver characteristic is 77% efficient and 23% normal. No aggressive. I spent the extra cash for this car over a Soul for the great mileage. Not happy right now. Plan to write to Kia Executives as all should do who are experiencing this.

 

[cockedandglocked]

That seems like it was a totally unnecessary software change for them to make, it always seemed like the power distribution was fine to me. When I take mine in for the first service next month I'll talk to them about that and maybe request that they omit the software update on my car.

 

[yticolev]

Your car likely came from the factory with the BMS update. Mine did. First report of anything negative after update, many say that perhaps the EV mode lasts a bit longer, but most see zero difference in behavior or mpg.

In fact, I've only read of one report of such a drastic drop in mpg and it had to do with the injectors if I recall correctly. Could be a coincidence, but Kia has to fix it. Clearly not in spec.

 

[deltasmith]

Had mine in to the dealer today because MPG has dropped drastically since the dealer installed software update SA350 about 3 weeks ago.

That's a troubling thought. Please let us know how you make out.



On a related note, does anyone know how to discover the names of any software updates that have been applied?

 

[yticolev]

On your service printout.

 

[deltasmith]

Yeah, but service printouts are subject to various kinds of omissions (inadvertent or otherwise). I was hoping for something that I could find via a head-unit menu or a UVO menu.



Most modern vehicles seem to support a variety of service commands that aren't advertised to the owner. For example, a truck I was driving a few years ago supported a complicated sequence of events with the turn signal lever and the door lock switches in order to turn off the MIL light (Check Engine light). It was a diesel and due to recent emissions laws changes, it was designed to turn the light on and leave it on indefinitely if you made the mistake of leaving it idling for more than some number of minutes, which someone had done before I got in the truck. You had to know the "secret handshake" in order to turn it off if that happened. In a related respect, there's a service procedure for the Niro to force the ICE to start and continue to run, but it requires a complicated series of taps on the accelerator peddle, moving the gear shift, etc.



My guess is that there's probably some arcane sequence of taps on the head unit that would cause it to display a bunch of low level tech information, including the names of installed software updates, and that's what I'm really fishing for. Has anyone purchased access to the Kia Service Manuals?