Which car is more versatile in terms of fuel efficiency? For those who don’t know, the Sonata PHEV has 47 km of pure electric, 6.3 in city, 5.6 in highway and 6 combined, all in L/100km. It has a tank size of 54.9L, capable of driving for 925 km (575 miles). It has a HP of 202 I’m curious about the strengths of each car because my driving style varies from time to time. Some days of the week, I drive more in the highway. Some days of the week, I drive more in the city. I want to know if one of these options fall in the middle. Or at least an insight of which one falls better for more city driving and/or more for highway driving Not sure if my question makes sense and if so, just message down and I’ll try to clarify it more
I think that the Kia and Hyundai PHEVs require the engine to run for cabin heat. If that's true, this would drive me bonkers since most of the time, even in cold weather, I don't need the gas engine in the Clarity.
In case you are metrically challenged: 47 km equates to 29 miles of range. 6 L / 100 km equates to 39 mpg, and 54.9L equates to 14.5 gallons. I think many Clarity owners would love to have the 14.5 gallon tank (Clarity is only 7). The 39 mpg is similar. I tend to get more like 45 mpg with the Clarity With the Clarity, it is common for the EV range to drop as low as mid to upper 30's in the winter so if the Sonata starts with a nominal 29, it will likely drop below 20 when it gets cold. Performance seems nearly identical, A quick Google shows 7.7 seconds 0-60 mph for both cars.
That's true for the older Hyundai/Kia PHEVs. However, some of the new Hyundai/Kia PHEVs have added an electric cabin heater. Hyundai can't seem to make a reliable gas engine. So be aware that the gas engine in the Sonata PHEVs is garbage.
The versatility with a PHEV comes from the ability to drive in urban areas using electricity. Few owners, at least the ones who participate on this forum, drive around town using the gas engine. Such practices relegate the City MPG figure to a somewhat meaningless status. Honda lists the Clarity at 44/40/42mpg, for city/highway/combined. Very close to the Sonata. While the Honda has a thimble for a fuel tank and some peculiar road manners, it has significantly more EV range than the Sonata. Kilometers and liters indicate that the vehicle will be operated in Canada, where electricity is cheap and gas can be costly. I’d opt for the PHEV that allows you to travel greater distances on electricity. That decision would likely reduce your operating expenses to a point where a slight difference in highway fuel efficiency would be of little concern.
I haven't found any information (Google) on the Hyundai Sonata PHEV that shows it has added anything for cabin heat other than the gasoline engine. I would definitely make sure it has either electric heat or a heat pump before I would buy one.
It also appears that the Sonata PHEV was only sold from 2016-19. There was a “refresh” for 2018, which seems to have been mostly changes in styling, infotainment, safety features and options. It’s possible that the cabin heating system was changed, although I’d put it in the unlikely category. The electric heat or heat pump systems in newer cars probably pertains to other models.
Just minutes earlier I saw the same response from a different forum member on the Kona Electric forum:
Interesting. Both of these people are "brand new". They both joined the forum on Wednesday, and they both have only 2 messages - their original post, and the wierd "I got this"... @Domenick - Do you have a thought as to whether these members are somehow fraudulent?
Just briefly, my friend got the 2017 Sonata PHEV. I rode in it and decided to buy one too. I couldn't find it. Just one of those periods where the car was not available new -- maybe too close to new model or whatever. I can confirm the 2017 *always* starts the gas engine when the driver turns on the heat. So for those of us who like to go all electric, not so much in winter time on Sonata PHEV. I eventually found Honda Clarity. A Eugene, OR dealer when I was looking had six on the lot. Their sales people knew nothing about Clarity but I'm glad I landed on the Honda Clarity. I will say some of the high-trim features on Sonata are better than Clarity. Things like heated/cooled seats, or safety features like blind spot detection. -Dan
Yes, they were spam accounts and they've both been removed. I think I'll leave the threads up, because they actually asked interesting questions before they went beep bop boop.
Since the posts lacked the common characteristics of spam, such as irrelevance, a sales pitch, a nefarious link, inappropriate language, etc., was it determined that it was the construct of artificial intelligence? Some college kid has developed a program that can distinguish, with a great deal of accuracy, the difference between an AI created article and one created by a human. It is unclear whether the program can distinguish computer generated AI from human generated AI, although I believe even a moderately intelligent human mind can make the distinction.
