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Poor mileage 2016 2L Soul

23K views 67 replies 38 participants last post by  FLHamster 
#1 ·
My new 2016 Soul, with a 2 liter engine, doesn't come close to the sticker EPA mileage estimates; I'm getting about 21mpg city, and about 24 mpg highway, the car has 3000 miles on it.

I use top shelf fuel and drive moderately.

Anybody experiencing the same issue?
 
#3 ·
Give it a few more miles to loosen up, 3000 miles is nothing. My Soul had close to 10,000 miles before it got it's best mileage.
 
#5 ·
That's about what I got before the first oil change.
After that, 25 around town
and much more, on the open highway!

Though, I drive like "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena," mostly.

Aggressive (moderate?) driving, Jackrabbit starts, accelerating
up to red lights. Even air conditioning usage, all play a tiny role,
in the big picture.
 
#8 ·
I'm getting around 21 mpg around town as well. About 7K on the odometer. My freeway mileage varies a lot, but 28 to 30 mpg is typical. Driving out here (Palm Springs) from Michigan I got as low as 18 mpg, but was doing 80 mph against a 50 mph head wind!
 
#11 ·
Listen to the comments posted.
I have a 2L .Even though its in a Gen1 Soul,my mpg at the miles you mentioned were
pretty much the same.
Can't figure out why(does it matter?),but the Soul is a new vehicle set in a old school
way of doing things.It does need an extended break in period before it starts to get
comfortable and give the performance promised. Much more of a break in than other
new vehicles I have owned.
I'd give it at least to 10k before you will note any difference in mpg.
From what I see on this forum,the gen2 Souls give a bit higher mpg than gen 1.
I get near 30mpg on extended hwy driving. This is at 70mph +speeds.
Around town,27-28mpg.
You factor in the drive out price for a Soul + conservative insurance costs,its not
a bad deal.
Its a easy in,easy out knock around ride too.
Whats not to like?
 
#12 ·
Sounds a little low - my '16 2.0 consistently is 25-26 with minimal highway driving. Highway (if you reset the MPG thing) - is 23-33 for the time on the hgihway. My wife's '16 with the 1.6 L gets 1-2 more MPG.... That's my input! DT
 
#13 ·
Its the Average of a Full Tank, Start to Empty for Gage Readings... Join Fuelly, and tell us what you get after TEN TANKS "FULL"...

I get EPA numbers... I new the stats were middle of the road for this Class of Car... Enjoy your car...!!! When your car says FEED-ME...!!! FEED-IT...!!! DON"T STRESS OVER-IT...!!! A SOUL is a BOX-CAR...<:))

LINK: Kia Soul Mileage | Fuelly

 
#14 ·
A lot of the variation comes from what people mean when they say "about town." Is your town a fairly small town/city out in the midwest without lots of traffic jams? Or is it the soul-sucking hell that is DC or Boston or LA? If it's the latter, your mileage is going to be much lower. I, for example, live in DC and it takes me roughly 50-60 minutes to go 12 miles home in the afternoon, with frequent waits through multiple light cycles. I almost never get above 50 MPH on my daily commute. As a result, I'm averaging between 22-23 MPG. A few weeks ago I did about 100 miles of highway driving part of the way into a tank of gas, and it was fun to watch the average MPGs climb from 21.8 to over 26 (or was it 27?) in the course of a day and a half.
 
#18 ·
8,475 on '16 2.0. Horrible commute, more stop than go. Mileage is now starting to show some improvement, going from 20-22 up to 23-25. Highway cruise mileage is up from 25-26 to 27-28. So patience pays off. Happy to see mine improve with time/miles. Oh, and I leave my climate control in Auto mode, so air is on most of the time.
 
#23 ·
many people compare their full tank run calculations to EPA figures, that is not the way they test them. If you drive the way they are tested your will probably get their figures. You see they do not do very long distance for their tests and the mph average is not very high.

 
#26 · (Edited)
I purchased my Soul + 2.0L back on May 23rd.
I have filled up 11 times. Full fill ups every time.
I have 2052 miles on the car.
I live in Las Vegas, NV
The summer has been HOT! 107 degree average since owning the vehicle.

I'm getting less than 200 miles per tank. I babied the first thousand miles. Now I open it up here and there. Mostly city miles. However, it's not that stop and go. I never have weight in the car but what for my 200lb arse. 17-19MPG just seems absurd. And the notion that it needs thousands of miles to "break in" is rather ridiculous! i can understand 1-2000... maybe even 3000, but 10,000, as many others are quoting...?

Any time i drive it for over 20 min, then pull into the garage, the whole garage smells like gasoline for hours! This happens all the time. It's a bit disconcerting. I took it to the dealership and they gave me the hoo ha that all the levels are correct and readouts on the computer look good. I said, cool, what about the smell? Yeah, we don't know what that is... HAHAHA. I'll take it to the other dealership in town!

Anyone have anything like this happening?
 
#33 ·
I purchased my Soul + 2.0L back on May 23rd.
I have filled up 11 times. Full fill ups every time.
I have 2052 miles on the car.
I live in Las Vegas, NV
The summer has been HOT! 107 degree average since owning the vehicle.

I'm getting less than 200 miles per tank. I babied the first thousand miles. Now I open it up here and there. Mostly city miles. However, it's not that stop and go. I never have weight in the car but what for my 200lb arse. 17-19MPG just seems absurd. And the notion that it needs thousands of miles to "break in" is rather ridiculous! i can understand 1-2000... maybe even 3000, but 10,000, as many others are quoting...?

Any time i drive it for over 20 min, then pull into the garage, the whole garage smells like gasoline for hours! This happens all the time. It's a bit disconcerting. I took it to the dealership and they gave me the hoo ha that all the levels are correct and readouts on the computer look good. I said, cool, what about the smell? Yeah, we don't know what that is... HAHAHA. I'll take it to the other dealership in town!

Anyone have anything like this happening?
Your car should NOT smell like gasoline. That's a major health and safety issue. Dealer should be reported to KIA and NHTSA for negligence.

And under 20 MPG is absolutely NOT ACCEPTABLE. It sounds like you have a gas leak. Shame on the dealer.

You have a reason to be concerned, not any car should smell like gas. I would return to your dealership and have them keep it overnight inside to see it the smell can be duplicated.
Yeah, I decided to go to a different dealership tomorrow. We'll see what they say. The service rep was much more accommodating than the first dealer. He wants to lift it up and have both of us go underneath. That way I get to see all the lines and have a bit better understanding of the car. The other dealer simply said "couldn't find anything, sorry." I hassled and hollered, but he didn't care.




Here's to hopin', I guess... Just seems so strange to me. I've driven Honda's and Acura's for years and years and I swear I got the best gas mileage from day one. Either way, many of you are saying the same thing. I'll take the advice, quit cryin', start prayin, and see if anything changes in a few months.
Good move on the second dealer.

I'm going to go over my Fuelly numbers but I don't think my MPG varied a whole lot from Tank #1 to Tank #93.
 
#27 ·
Most of these posts like the one above & the OP are bogus. One and done trolls bashing the #1 brand in the world for IQ.

Their decision to make fake posts probably reflects the bad decision they made when buying their used Fiat.
 
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#30 ·
You have a reason to be concerned, not any car should smell like gas. I would return to your dealership and have them keep it overnight inside to see it the smell can be duplicated.
 
#32 ·
Yeah, I decided to go to a different dealership tomorrow. We'll see what they say. The service rep was much more accommodating than the first dealer. He wants to lift it up and have both of us go underneath. That way I get to see all the lines and have a bit better understanding of the car. The other dealer simply said "couldn't find anything, sorry." I hassled and hollered, but he didn't care.


Have faith, at about 6K miles you will notice a surge in your mpg. My 2.0 went from 22.5 to 27 avg mpg seemed like over night.
Here's to hopin', I guess... Just seems so strange to me. I've driven Honda's and Acura's for years and years and I swear I got the best gas mileage from day one. Either way, many of you are saying the same thing. I'll take the advice, quit cryin', start prayin, and see if anything changes in a few months.
 
#36 ·
Actually I can believe that mileage, you're driving in some very unusual and tough conditions that can causes poor fuel economy. Do checks on shorter time frame like just highway for a distance by resetting your average gauge reading just for that period and see what you get and same for various city conditions, resetting it each time, you'll soon find out what is causing the bad fuel consumption.
Also see how it goes when the temperatures get down to a more reasonable level. How is your driving - a steady city stop and go, crawling, lots of stop lights, etc.?
 
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