2024 Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige

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thurstoc

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There are so many things I love about this car--namely the smooth, quiet ride. I also love the weird and eery sound the hybrid makes when I'm idling and backing up. It's also very comfortable, shiny, and loaded with features that make being in the car a luxurious experience.

But, and it's a big one, I cannot believe the HUGE discrepancy between the estimated 38 city/highway mpg and the actual, abysmal mileage of less than 27mpg I've been getting.

Thankfully, there are things like online forums where I can learn that I need to learn how to drive a hybrid differently than how I drove my Honda Crosstour V6. (Sad though, because, even without all the luxury, the Crosstour beat everything else I'd ever owned--hands down.).
 
I should point out that I'm an experienced hypermiler - I was able to get up to 40 MPG out of a Chevy HHR on back roads at 50 MPH in my highest gear. But it was old and wasn't good for towing, so the Sportage.

Mine is a 2024 LX Hybrid, so the base model in the same line as your SX. It's also just FWD - I had no need for AWD and it dings you 5 MPG.

The first weekend I had my car, I took a back roads cruise of 175 miles or so, with a light foot and keeping the speed around 50. When I got done my accumulated MPG was 47.

Over the next few weeks of driving short trips around town, I was still above 44 MPG.

I've found over the next few thousand miles, several factors that influence my mileage. The first was speed. My back road 47 MPG at 50 MPH dropped to more like 43 at 70, but maybe came back up to 44 at 65 - hard to tell with short samples. Another thing that makes a difference is hills. I live in Tucson where the city is flat, but on a recent trip I found that the mountain passes were having an impact. The last thing is your load. My early readings were with just me and no cargo. Of course I take a major hit when towing my 950 lb. trailer, and you could see a considerable effect from several passengers and their baggage.

But all in all, I've been pretty happy with my fuel economy.

There's also some technique involved in braking to maximize your regenerative recharge. I do not have a good grip on this yet.
 
I have 7000 on mi e 2024 sxp hybrid getting 32mpg. Disappointing.
 
I have a little over 12,500 miles on my 2023 EX hybrid and have gotten 38.8 mpg overall since I picked it up. That includes the break-in period and one winter of driving (battery is less efficient in cold weather.) This summer, I have consistently gotten 40+ mpg per tankful.

A lot of it probably comes down to driving technique and speed. To oversimplify, the harder you push the accelerator, the poorer your mileage will be.

Wayne
 
The basics - check tire pressure (My Costco has self serve nitrogen, yours might also) use nitrogen if available. It's okay to boost a couple of pounds in the summer, but go back in the winter for traction. And turn AWD off unless you actually need it for better traction - snow, mud, etc.
And take off the horizontal cargo bars on top if you have them and don't haul anything on top.
And depending on your circumstances, keep gas at 1/4 tank to save weight.
FYI: 2024 X-Line Prestige.
 
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Make sure you are driving in ECO mode. Sport Mode is basically no EV, and SMART mode doesn't seem much better.
 
ucinn35 – After reading your reply, I got my owners manual out of the car to see what “EV mode” means. In my HEV, I have a plug in the spot on the console where the EV Mode button would be in a PHEV. (Even after a year and a half, still so much to learn, it seems.) Apparently you have a PHEV.

I once changed to Smart Mode, but now I leave it in Eco Mode. I am currently getting over 40 mpg each tankful in my AWD 2023 Sportage EX HEV. I wish I could find a better explanation of the difference between Eco and Smart modes. What is written in the manual is not very helpful.

I wish this forum had a feature where we could enter the year and type (ICE, HEV, PHEV) of Sportage we have, and it would display with each post, so that readers would quickly know the context for which our answer applies.

Wayne
2023 EX HEV
 
WNJeffers said:
ucinn35 – After reading your reply, I got my owners manual out of the car to see what “EV mode” means. In my HEV, I have a plug in the spot on the console where the EV Mode button would be in a PHEV. (Even after a year and a half, still so much to learn, it seems.) Apparently you have a PHEV.

I once changed to Smart Mode, but now I leave it in Eco Mode. I am currently getting over 40 mpg each tankful in my AWD 2023 Sportage EX HEV. I wish I could find a better explanation of the difference between Eco and Smart modes. What is written in the manual is not very helpful.

I wish this forum had a feature where we could enter the year and type (ICE, HEV, PHEV) of Sportage we have, and it would display with each post, so that readers would quickly know the context for which our answer applies.

Wayne
2023 EX HEV
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I just added it to the location tab and it now shows up
 
WNJeffers said:
I once changed to Smart Mode, but now I leave it in Eco Mode. I am currently getting over 40 mpg each tankful in my AWD 2023 Sportage EX HEV. I wish I could find a better explanation of the difference between Eco and Smart modes. What is written in the manual is not very helpful.
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Yes, Smart mode is a bit of a mystery. Everything I've read on these forums suggests using Smart mode during highway driving, as it is more responsive/smoother when used w/cruise control, so MPG can actually be better than w/ECO, as that mode will wait too long to accelerate to keep up w/CC on hills or after slowing down for traffic, so will "jam" down the pedal harder/less efficiently.

The other day, I left it in Smart mode after exiting and then re-entering a highway, and I happened to look down at my driver display and saw that the "Smart" indicator had turned blue (normally purple) when still moving slow on the on-ramp. So it must switch to full-on ECO mode when best for the situation? Otherwise, why change the Smart indicator to the blue/ECO color? Has anyone else notice this? Never seen the Smart indicator switch to red...(I guess that wouldn't be "smart"!)
 
steveo said:
Yes, Smart mode is a bit of a mystery. Everything I've read on these forums suggests using Smart mode during highway driving, as it is more responsive/smoother when used w/cruise control, so MPG can actually be better than w/ECO, as that mode will wait too long to accelerate to keep up w/CC on hills or after slowing down for traffic, so will "jam" down the pedal harder/less efficiently.
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I have done some internet searching and have not found a useful explanation of Smart Mode. I am not sure what adapting to individual driving styles means. If Kia would share a technical explanation, I would read it and either get an understanding or admit that it was above my head.

I live in the mountains and up and down hills is the normal thing here. I purposely go up hills more slowly for the most part unless someone is behind me. (I try to avoid being a rolling roadblock.)

I find that If I have needed to slow bar below the set speed on level ground or downhill, reengaging the CC is more apt to rely on EV to accelerate back to set speed compared to my pressing the accelerator, however gently. Uphill is a different matter.

Wayne
 
WNJeffers said:
I have done some internet searching and have not found a useful explanation of Smart Mode. I am not sure what adapting to individual driving styles means. If Kia would share a technical explanation, I would read it and either get an understanding or admit that it was above my head.

I live in the mountains and up and down hills is the normal thing here. I purposely go up hills more slowly for the most part unless someone is behind me. (I try to avoid being a rolling roadblock.)

I find that If I have needed to slow bar below the set speed on level ground or downhill, reengaging the CC is more apt to rely on EV to accelerate back to set speed compared to my pressing the accelerator, however gently. Uphill is a different matter.

Wayne
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I just found this in:http://webmanual.kia.com/DA_GEN2_V/AV/KOR/English/010_Settings_car.html#:~:text=SMART: This drive mode enables,is optimized for dynamic driving.
The explanations are in settings, but not cut and paste able (at least for me)
 
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basically in smart mode, if you floor it, it will put it in sport mode by itself. If you are accelerating abruptly or going up a hill, it will put it in normal mode. If you are cruising along with not much throttle, it puts it in Eco mode. It indicates this by the color of the word smart on the dash.... red for sport, purple for normal, blue for eco.
 
Thanks.

On mine, a 2023 HEV EX, the 4 modes are ECO (defaults to this on start-up), SPORT, SMART, and SNOW. They are different colors on the dash, but I have not noticed them changing. I am going out today and will experiment.

I used SMART for a while, but have been leaving it in ECO. I live in mountains and am more than satisfied with the performance in ECO. My last car was a Honda S2000, so I know what it is like to drive a truly high-performance car. The hybrid Sportage in ECO mode does very well from a performance standpoint. And I am extremely pleased with the fuel mileage. My last tankful, I drove 464 miles, much of it Interstate, and in 464 miles I used 11.34 gallons, for an average of 40.9 MPG.

Wayne
 
I'm still experimenting, but IMO, Sport Mode, mimics the general "no nonsense" feeling of a normal gasoline car.
Do I want ECO today?
Well, it's hilly. Should I use Sport for a more authoritative and firmer ride like a race car?
Lots of people buy a hybrid and drive the crap out of it just like a normal car: "Green light = floor it"
ECO is for enviro-weenies. ;)
 
My last car was a Honda S2000 that I had for 20 years. It cornered like it was on rails and could do speeds in excess of 150 MPH. It is often literally used as a race car. I aged out of driving it mostly due to its low seat and my arthritis and bad knee.

I am more than satisfied with the performance of the Kia Sportage hybrid in ECO mode. I live in the mountains of WV and few other places have hills like we do. Our mountains are not as high as the Rockies, but they are steeper. The Kia handles them fine in ECO.

I chose the Kia in large part because of its promised fuel economy. I probably would have bought a Chevy Equinox from my local dealer except for the fact that its fuel economy was really little better than my pickup truck.

Wayne
 
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