Love my van. HATE the gas cost!

[bethng]

I have a 2006 Kia Sedona which I LOVE. But its costing me $70 every 5 days to drive back and forth to work and various errands. I am really considering downsizing even though I have 4 kids. But is there a smaller more fuel efficient car that can fit a regent, DC and room for a 10 yo in a seatbelt in the back? My 14 yo (15 in July) sits in front. On the rare occasion that all 6 of us (DH included) had to travel together (almost never happens due to wacky schedules) then we would just take two cars. Any ideas at all? I hate to give up my van but the gas is killing me!:mad:

[agurlsride]

LOL...Sedona's have like the worst gas mileage of most minivans...I have an 03 and we spend about as much as you do..and I only work 3 days a week!
It eats the freakin gas!

[mommy2env]

I know the feeling...

I have a 2006 Sienna, but I fill up every 8-9 days. :whew:

I wont give her up though, I lurve her!!! :p

[sunnymw]

If you want to stay in the Kia family, maybe get a loyalty discount, you could do the Rondo :) The sedona's gas mileage is 16/21, the Rondo is 19/26. I don't know too much about them though, DH and I were just looking based on gas mileage and the fact that we're planning on having at least 4 kids ;)

And that way you can all vacation together! :D

And I know how you feel filling up. Only I'm angrier--we have a turbo-charged 6cyl Buick Regal... so, tiny car, big engine, lots of gas :( I think I may be able to tolerate the $70/wk+ if it were a LITTLE bigger!!

[southpawboston]

the thing is, it really doesn't make financial sense to get rid of a perfectly good car that otherwise fits your needs just to gain a little more fuel efficiency. in the long run, it will simply never pay for switching.

think of it this way. let's say the sedona gets 21 mpg highway, and that you drive the national average of 15,000 miles per year. at $4/gal, you will spend $2857 in gas each year.

if you had the rondo, which gets better mileage at 26 mpg hwy, you'd still spend $2307 per year. you'd only save $550 by having the more fuel-efficient car. now, $550 is not insignificant, but is it worth losing $1000's of dollars in value by trading in a vehicle and paying registration fees on a new vehicle just to save $550/year? trading in a sedona for a rondo will cost you at least a few thousand dollars... it could take up to 10 years to recoup that loss by the savings in gas.

however, if you traded in the sedona for a prius which gets 55 mpg hwy, then you're going to have much more significant cost savings. (a prius would cost $1090 per year for gas based on the above numbers and would save you $1767 per year over your sedona).

[bethng]

the thing is, it really doesn't make financial sense to get rid of a perfectly good car that otherwise fits your needs just to gain a little more fuel efficiency. in the long run, it will simply never pay for switching.

think of it this way. let's say the sedona gets 21 mpg highway,).

I figured that in the long run I would be taking a loss. But Everytime I fill up I just about pass out. And my sedona is only getting maybe 17mpg and thats with about 1/2 my driving being freeway. I kept track for months (stopped a while back) but it was about 17mpg every time. That sucks! I want a hybrid van! lol Are there any hybrids out there that would seat 5 (1 being a regent and one a DC)?

[sunnymw]

Heck, you could go check out a Prius and a Hybrid Civic and put the car seats in, and pile in the rest of the family... every time we've went car shopping we always take car seats ;) AND fully install them if we're super interested.

[tweetykl]

That is not good gas milage.

On average I get 23 mpg for in town and 25 for when it is half and half. Driving back from Oregon the other day, I got 29 mpg. All of this is with my 2008 Sienna. The gas prices due make me miss my Corolla.

[tweetykl]

Double posted.

[Heather98012]

I considered trading in my Tucson, as I was getting 17 mpg. It's pd for, so that would make it a bit better, but I only drive about 7500 miles a year, so it doesn't make sense. And I love my car!

My dh's 01 Toyota Sequoia (what a big SUV) gets about 17 mpg as well. But he has 145,000 miles on it & we need to put about 1k into it this year. On Kelly Blue Book, it's only worth about 4500-5000 due to the high mileage. My dh doesn't want to do it, but I'm trying to convince him to get something else. I know he doesn't want to give up a SUV completely & he likes the Honda Element, which gets better mpg, so I'm researching that.

He keeps saying he'd rather pay higher gas costs, but my feeling is, the savings in both gas & the maintainence costs we will start incurring every year (last year we spent 2k on it with new brakes & other stuff) will only get worse as the car gets older & gas gets more costly. I'd rather trade it in & get a '06 or '07 Element. The pmt would probably be the same as we'd currently be spending with higher gas bills & repair costs, but we would have a newer car with less miles on it.

Am I making any sense or am I rambling?! :rolleyes:

[*Spoiledinmyhouseofblue*]

My 2007 kia sedona's gas mileage is awseome! (But, I have the base and not long version)! :whistle:

[chay]

We rented a Prius a couple years ago on a trip and loved it. We had 5 adults (I'm the only small one) and a TONNE of luggage and it actually still had some kick to it. Not sure how 2 car seats and a person would fit across the back but it might actually be worth a try. I've fit in the middle of a snug ride and a ff AOE (I'm not a big person though) in the back of a Matrix so it might be possible but if you like doing long road trips your kids probably wouldn't be happy.

We're probably getting a Mazda 5. We want something that can fit 4 tethered car seats (my 2 plus my sister's 2) and the gas mileage on the 2008's is in a completely different class compared to any of the bigger mini-vans (at least for the Canadian versions we're comparing).

[Heather98012]

Chay, read up on the Mazda5 in Defrost's threads. She talks about the 3rd row being a PITA to install some seats due to the seatbelts.

[chay]

I'll have to re-read it again in case I missed something but I thought the issue was with backless boosters and the seat belt being off of an older kid's chest. I'll have to re-read to be sure my 4 MA and eventually 4 Frontier plan will work (I think someone posted the Frontiers were good 2nd row and they were going to update about the 3rd but I don't remember seeing the verdict - gotta dig that up). In my case all 4 are under the age of 2 so we have a long time before we're at the backless booster phase. Back to reading - thanks for the tip.

I was thinking your littlest one would be in a full harness or hbb for a while yet so it might work (but maybe I'm overestimating how long they stay harnessed, or missed something about some harnessed seats also being a problem, anyways it sounds like you've considered it and it won't work for you). Good luck with your search!

[Mama!]

I figured that in the long run I would be taking a loss. But Everytime I fill up I just about pass out. And my sedona is only getting maybe 17mpg and thats with about 1/2 my driving being freeway. I kept track for months (stopped a while back) but it was about 17mpg every time. That sucks! I want a hybrid van! lol Are there any hybrids out there that would seat 5 (1 being a regent and one a DC)?

I have an 07 and I get AMAZING gas mileage. Seriously. A tank of gas lasts me 2 weeks, unless I have to go to the city more than once.

Why are you guys getting such horrible mileage? I get 25 mpg easily :confused:

[BW1426]

I figured that in the long run I would be taking a loss. But Everytime I fill up I just about pass out. And my sedona is only getting maybe 17mpg and thats with about 1/2 my driving being freeway. I kept track for months (stopped a while back) but it was about 17mpg every time. That sucks! I want a hybrid van! lol Are there any hybrids out there that would seat 5 (1 being a regent and one a DC)?

How fast are you going on the freeway? I just about passed out when I realized going 60 mph got me 34mpg and 75 mph was getting me 21 mpg. Obviously I wasn't driving the Sedona, but the same theory applies. Before you consider something else, I think I would adjust the way I drive (if even just minimally) and see what kind of difference it makes.

[bethng]

How fast are you going on the freeway? .

Speed limit on the freeway I drive is 60mph. I set my cruise control for about 62mph. I will have to start tracking my gas milage again. I am only on the freeway for 10 minutes. Its 10 minutes to the freeway. 10 minutes on the freeway and about 5 minutes from the freeway to school in stop and go traffic.

[BW1426]

Speed limit on the freeway I drive is 60mph. I set my cruise control for about 62mph. I will have to start tracking my gas milage again. I am only on the freeway for 10 minutes. Its 10 minutes to the freeway. 10 minutes on the freeway and about 5 minutes from the freeway to school in stop and go traffic.

Hmmm. 60mph range should be where you get the best gas mileage. I wonder if there's something wrong that could be accounting for your mileage. If all of your miles were city miles I'd be more apt to belive 17mpg, but it should be at least a little better than that.

[Heather98012]

I'll have to re-read it again in case I missed something but I thought the issue was with backless boosters and the seat belt being off of an older kid's chest. I'll have to re-read to be sure my 4 MA and eventually 4 Frontier plan will work (I think someone posted the Frontiers were good 2nd row and they were going to update about the 3rd but I don't remember seeing the verdict - gotta dig that up). In my case all 4 are under the age of 2 so we have a long time before we're at the backless booster phase. Back to reading - thanks for the tip.

I was thinking your littlest one would be in a full harness or hbb for a while yet so it might work (but maybe I'm overestimating how long they stay harnessed, or missed something about some harnessed seats also being a problem, anyways it sounds like you've considered it and it won't work for you). Good luck with your search!

Chay, you might be right....it may have been boosters.

I was the one who posted about the Frontier installing in the Mazda5. I test drove one this week & they let me bring it home. Had an acceptable install in less than 5 mins using LBP in the second row.

[Heather98012]

I have an 07 and I get AMAZING gas mileage. Seriously. A tank of gas lasts me 2 weeks, unless I have to go to the city more than once.

Why are you guys getting such horrible mileage? I get 25 mpg easily :confused:


What are you driving? Hyundai owns Kia, so a lot of the stuff is the same. My mom, dad, grandma & myself all drive Hyundais. My sister did until about 6months ago. None of us gets 25mpg. Granted, 3 of those vehicles were SUVs, but even the 2 that are sedans don't get that good of MPG.

[southpawboston]

What are you driving? Hyundai owns Kia, so a lot of the stuff is the same. My mom, dad, grandma & myself all drive Hyundais. My sister did until about 6months ago. None of us gets 25mpg. Granted, 3 of those vehicles were SUVs, but even the 2 that are sedans don't get that good of MPG.

it's ALL the same now. the kia sedona is the clone of the hyundai entourage. same engine, tranny, everything. hyundais are typically above average when it comes to fuel efficiency. my elantra used to be able to squeeze 36-37mph highway.

[Mama!]

My post got eaten in the server downtime, but what I said was that I wasn't sure about the length of my van.

I do have the 2nd row captains chairs, 3rd row bench that folds into the floor 60/40. Does that help anyone?

[bethng]

My post got eaten in the server downtime, but what I said was that I wasn't sure about the length of my van.

I do have the 2nd row captains chairs, 3rd row bench that folds into the floor 60/40. Does that help anyone?

Thats what I have in my 06 kia. Stow and go seats. And the storage in the back is pretty big too as it is deep rather then just flat like my 02 kia sedona.

[suzyandkids]

We just got a mazda5 :) I have a regent installed in the back row and it installed very quickly and easily (I've also got 2 rfing marathons in the middle row) We love it so far!

[aisraeltax]

How fast are you going on the freeway? I just about passed out when I realized going 60 mph got me 34mpg and 75 mph was getting me 21 mpg. Obviously I wasn't driving the Sedona, but the same theory applies. Before you consider something else, I think I would adjust the way I drive (if even just minimally) and see what kind of difference it makes.

i am just amazed that more ppl dont realize this. i am driving AT the speed limit all the time now and everyone is speeding past me.

i read that for every 5 miles you reduce in speed, you save approximately 20 cents per gallon of gas. of course, it basically levels out around 60-65 i believe (its a bell curve).

im ok w/ ppl passing me....they are paying for that speed and im not. :)