Fuel Economy - Korea vs Germany

[Stinger167]

I am very interested in picking up one of the new cars from under the Hyundai brand (Kia or Genesis). Both the Stinger GT and the upcoming G70 have my attention! One thing I'd like some clarification on is fuel economy. A close competitor (though much more $$$) to the Stinger GT seems to be the Audi S5 Sportback with similar displacement, horsepower, torque, and curb weight.

EPA fuel economy numbers:
Audi S5 Sportback with 3.0 Turbo: 21/24/30
Kia Stinger GT with 3.3 Twin Turbo: 19/21/25

Car and Driver got 34mpg from the Audi during their simulated freeway testing (impressive!).
Car and Driver got 27mpg from the Kia in the same test (meh, at least better than EPA).

So my question is... how do the Germans get such great fuel economy and why can't the Koreans do better? The engines seem very similar with just a small displacement difference and a single turbo on the Audi vs dual turbo on the Kia.

Is it just superior German engineering efficiencies or is there some other factor that comes into play here?

Granted this is not a major issue with my upcoming choice of which car to buy, but I was hoping some of the more experienced members here could shed some light on the subject. Gas prices are going up and efficiency is an important metric! - Many thanks

 

[mldavis2]

I posted this elsewhere, but it bears repeating for this new thread. I just completed a 2,000 mile road trip in my GT2 (3.3TT) beginning with 4K on the odometer. About 2/3 of that was with 2 adults and cargo full of luggage headed northeast from Missouri to Michigan and back. The other 1/3 of the trip was with 3 adults and more luggage. About 3/4 of the trip the air conditioner was on. The mileage on the digital display (reset at each fill up) ranged from 27.3 to 29.3 mpg. with the average around 28. That was using 91 octane fuel and interstate highways at 77mph most of the trip.

I'm sure wind direction was a factor. No full throttle blasts, just highway cruising 95% of the time and little need to accelerate on 4-lane roads. So I have no idea how Kia came up with the 25mpg for the EPA figures unless there is some mandatory regulation that you must use the same drive mode for 0-60 times that you use for mileage testing (Sport mode which likes to keep the RPM around 2K,) OR if the digital mpg readout is incorrect. I have not done a gallons/miles manual calculation so all that is dependent on the digital readout.

 

[Bear]

Ask Volkswagen about how you can increase MPG...by cheating emissions.

 

[SteveCo]

Ask Volkswagen about how you can increase MPG...by cheating emissions.

You can be sure that anything the VW/Audi group currently have on the road has been subjected to the most stringent of emissions tests. Highly unlikely we'll see a repeat of that fiasco ...

I have noticed the published fuel economy numbers on the Stinger are lower than the competition, but I consistently beat them, by a considerable margin, in real world driving. I can easily make them go up or down, depending on what the right foot is doing - a benefit of these modern GDI engines. Wasn't long ago that high horse power and performance meant miserable fuel economy across the board, so I've been more than pleased with the real world numbers.

As for the cautious estimates, it may be that Kia is still gun shy after paying heavily for their overly optimistic FE numbers a few years back. They're still paying regular cash rebates to the owners of those cars based on mileage, and will continue to do so for the life of the vehicle.

 

[CaliSting]

Audi has combined engineering resources of VW and Porsche. Top notch talent. The new Audi turbo V6 with top mounted twin scroll single turbo is more efficient our traditional old school twin turbo design from Kia/Hyundai. Even though Kia did great job integrating turbo to heads the Audi single twin scroll will be more efficient . Also suspect that Audi drive train is more efficient than our traditional rear drive layout. Also think that Audi motor runs Atkinson/Miller cycle as well.

 

[mldavis2]

It's worth noting that the 2.0L Stinger uses a twin scroll.

 

[Stinger167]

Good to hear a couple of you reporting that you are indeed getting better MPG than EPA ratings. Makes sense that it's all about the pedal pressure and driving conditions. Hoping to hear others corroborate your thoughts and that in reality there's not much difference between these cars. It just seems like I've read so many posts in other threads of people complaining about the mileage they're getting.

 

[Schpok]

I am very interested in picking up one of the new cars from under the Hyundai brand (Kia or Genesis). Both the Stinger GT and the upcoming G70 have my attention! One thing I'd like some clarification on is fuel economy. A close competitor (though much more $$$) to the Stinger GT seems to be the Audi S5 Sportback with similar displacement, horsepower, torque, and curb weight.

EPA fuel economy numbers:
Audi S5 Sportback with 3.0 Turbo: 21/24/30
Kia Stinger GT with 3.3 Twin Turbo: 19/21/25

Car and Driver got 34mpg from the Audi during their simulated freeway testing (impressive!).
Car and Driver got 27mpg from the Kia in the same test (meh, at least better than EPA).

So my question is... how do the Germans get such great fuel economy and why can't the Koreans do better? The engines seem very similar with just a small displacement difference and a single turbo on the Audi vs dual turbo on the Kia.

Is it just superior German engineering efficiencies or is there some other factor that comes into play here?

Granted this is not a major issue with my upcoming choice of which car to buy, but I was hoping some of the more experienced members here could shed some light on the subject. Gas prices are going up and efficiency is an important metric! - Many thanks

well maybe it's german engineering but I'm sure they cheated on ther numbers like every EU car Company does. Maybe it' a little bit of aero too. But for the most part I would blame the engine, it's by far the biggest they sold yet and I rather have it this way, so it's more robust. Not like a big BMW engine, where you know it's done after 200k Km, if not taken care of properly.

but I like the numbers on the 2.0, it uses as much fuel as my 100HP 2015 Civic

 

[voon]

I drove tempomat and comfort mode (aka calmly) from Solothurn in Switzerland to Uzes in France on mostly highway at 120 and 130 km/h as well as a bit of main country roads at 80 to 90 km/h. The trip computer showed me 8.6l/100km fuel usage. Which is percectly fine with me.