Nearly as good as the 1.2L A2 (1999-2005), unfortunately these were never sold in the UK :-(

Alas it seems that in the US the EPA monkeys with the numbers and plays with the data to aid some manufacturers while punishing others. Europe has had several generations of high effiency small diesels over the past 3 decades or so that were kept mostly out of the US for one reason or another. Unfortunately, many US drivers associate diesels with the rattling smokey beasts of 40 years ago and that has made the manufacturers more than a little shy about fighting to import them since they often receive luke warm at best sales over here. Fortunately the Germans have done a great job recently with the TDI in VW and Audi and other diesel engines in BMW that are showing the fickle US buyer who truly extraordinary these new generation powerplants are. I hope that this Kia Rio will make its' way over here, but I seriously doubt that it will. Good luck with your planned aquisition and I hope that you break the 100 MPG barrier.

Draigflag
Oct 21, 2011
12:04 AM

Hi bates. Yes i understand. I get a lot of comments from Americans on my YouTube vids, they seem to believe that diesels are banned from the US due to "emission" standards, despite the fact that Europe has higher standards anyway, and the fact that diesel emit lower C02 as well! I ask them why that the past 5 times i've been to the US and seen 5.0 Litre V10 diesel trucks, how a low emitting 94 MPG car could possibly emit more than such monsters? Thats usually where they back off a bit...

That's awesome! Finally shows how ridiculous hybrids are in comparison, huh? I wonder if this will get to the US anywhere near that. I, too, would like to know why we act like we're alergic to efficiency. I get really annoyed at the repeated car commercials proudly advertising figures that are at most on par with the Model T. I mean, really?

Hey, just imagine if someone hybridised one of these super-economic diesels. 110MPG?

Draigflag,

I understand and know that diesels are NOT banned in the US, but the US EPA does make it difficult for manufacturers to import and sell them here for passenger vehicles, why I don't know. Further, the Manufacturers are understandably gun shy over selling clean diesels in the US due to the lackluster sales performance that they have received in the past.

I'm just glad to see that there are people out there who are championing these vehicles and I hope that it will translate into some additional sales and importations into the US for our market.

For the record, I owned a 1980 VW Dasher Diesel Wagon and loved it, 50 MPG no matter how I drove it, freeway, city streets, or any mix thereof. I've also been working on and driving diesel boats for more than 30 years and have watched the Heavy Duty Marine Diesel industry evolve over those past 3 decades. The switch to low sulfur and now ultra low sulfur diesel has had a nominal effect on emissions but a drastic effect on the life expectancy of these engines due to decreased lubricity of the fuels.

Once again, well done, I'm glad to see you getting such great mileage and economy.

Car company's need to do a better job of marketing diesel in the US. The problem is that diesel cars are really only sold by higher end Euro bands. If you're going to drop top coin on a car do fuel savings really factor in. For a BMW X5 I think not.
There is a hugh desire for small lower end diesels, like the Kia mentioned here. There has got to be a way for Kia to get that car US complaint. Even if the mpg fell to 55 mpg it would still be the highest mpg car you could buy off the lot in the US.

Draigflag
Oct 25, 2011
12:37 PM

I'm not sure what the problem is. I think fuel prices determine the market a lot. I mean fuel is still 2 and a half times cheaper in the US than in the UK for example (we pay the equivalent of $10 for a UK gallon) so maybe if fuel in the US hit those prices, you would see more economical cars being developed.

Oh another thing, since Fiat bought a big Chunk of Chrysler in the bail out, expect to see way more economical engines in the Fiat/Chrysler franchise. Fiat build bulletproof award winning economical engines, they have the lowest C02 emissions in Europe already.

DTMAce
Oct 25, 2011
8:02 PM

Just a question, unless I missed it in the reading...

Are we comparing the MPG based on UK gallons instead of US gallons? Just thought I would ask. I know that makes a difference too.

I do agree that US needs to be offering vehicles to the US market with this type of mileage ability however.

UK MPG

Draigflag
Oct 26, 2011
9:56 AM

Yes sorry, UK MPG, so take away around 17% for the US equivelent (about the only thing in the UK that's bigger than in the US!)

DTMAce
Oct 26, 2011
7:50 PM

Yeah, so about 75-80 MPG in the US. Still, that's pretty good!

I think that it's some sort of conspiracy. I've often wondered why more diesels aren't available in the USA when they are plentiful everywhere else in the world. Someone must be paying off someone. I would love to have a car that averages 75 miles per US gallon. The US diesels aren't as economic as the Euro's. The only new import ones I see around here in California are the VW's. I would love for Toyota to import some of their diesels here too. Thanks for the info.

BDC
Oct 28, 2011
1:21 PM

What has been curiously omitted is that why one would ever choose to buy a 73hp car when the 138hp version costs no more, unless you were financially prohibited from doing so.

Lots of internet speculation on why we can't get 70mpg subcompacts here in America, but usually it takes a test drive in a car that is so slow as to be dangerous to merge onto the highway to convince someone why it's not sold in America. Autocar found that this diesel Kia took 15 seconds to get from 0-60. That's almost five full seconds slower than any car you can buy in America (save the Smart car) and a full six seconds slower than the gas 1.6l version. Even a Prius will do 0-60 in under 10 seconds.

Further, the Smart car and the nuova 500 both got significantly better mileage ratings (adjusted for MPG-US) from the Euro cycle than from the EPA. What's to say this would live up to the 75mpg-us Euro rating in the EPA's test cycle?

>but usually it takes a test drive in a car that is so slow as to be dangerous

Ridiculous

I can honestly say that my 1980 Diesel VW Dasher wagon was at least 15 seconds 0-60 and probably closer to 20 seconds. I knew it and drove it in a manner that didn't expose me to unnecessary danger while merging. I absolutely conceed that there is an acceleration issue that could potentially be hazardous to an inattentive or inexperienced driver, but I propose that it is probably safer than driving an exotic that can light up the rear end in a burn out on an onramp and put a driver into a retaining wall or K-Rail and that doesn't seem to be a major safety concern.

As for buying lower horsepower for the same money, when the life expectancy of the engine with the lower horsepower is significantly longer then that would be a factor to me. I've seen boats repower with higher horsepower at significant costs due to new transmissions and propeller shafts only to continue to cruise at similar speeds to the previous engines in an effort to keep fuel costs down and often at added maintenance expense for the new engines due to excessive coking due to not running the engines hard enough on a regular basis to clear out the carbon.

I'll take the longer life expectancy and reduced maintenance costs for my commute vehicle over added horsepower. I also like the idea of having a lower horsepower slower accelerating vehicle for my kids to drive. It takes away the impluse to race when you're driving the slowest car on the block, I know this from personal experience.

Draigflag
Oct 31, 2011
11:17 AM

One of my cars has 26 BHP and cruises nicely at 70 MPH. It's not all about speed. It's not dangerous, in the UK only 135 people are killed on the British Motorways, compared to 30,000+ in the US!?!

It seems little diesel engines are not allowed in the US :/ The only good diesel we can get is a Cummins; designed to pull a house off it's foundation... My dad drove a 1983 turbo diesel Mitsubishi pickup for years, averaging 38mpg.
Can we please get some diesels in our light trucks and cars? Obviously the manufacturers know that most US drivers think like BDC. How is a slow car dangerous? ridiculous. How fast does a school bus accelerate when merging?
Why waste all the natural resources producing dual drive train prius when you could be doing better with a little diesel?

How come I can't see my vehicules in browse vehicules? I`ve done 2 fuel up already and I don't see it anywhere except in my garage.

It takes 3 FULL (non partial) fillups before it's visible.

dz302
Nov 13, 2011
4:33 AM

I live in the US and would love to purchase a small diesel powered vehicle. However, the only one we have available here is the TDI and it's highest rating is 43 mpg (US gals.). Factor in diesel fuel costs of approx. 15% higher than regular unleaded and the "effective" mileage is lower. This is too bad because I love the characteristics of the TDI with it's abundant low end torque. I have driven Jettas and New Beetles with this engine and they are a joy.

We need to wake up and embrace more clean diesel vehicles in this country. I can tell you I would certainly purchase a 70-80mpg vehicle in a heartbeat.

In the meantime, I am driving a Prius and returning well over 50 mpg. That's about the best one can hope for here.

Along with the UK/US gallon difference, there is also a considerable difference between the EU and EPA test cycles.
I would think the EPA cycle might rate this car closer to 60-70 mpg. Still darn good.

Good point about higher costs for diesel fuel. Availability can also be limited in some markets. I would say maybe half of the stations around here have diesel pumps, and usually only 1 or 2 out of 10 or 20 total pumps. Might be waiting a long time behind the 40 gallon tank diesel pick-ups :) Today I filled up and 87 octane was $3.19 and diesel was $3.98 a 24% difference. that means economically the theoretically 65mpg EPA rated Rio would be equivalent to a 48mpg gas vehicle. Still pretty darn good but not the 100mpg from the post title. I think I would take some of the newer gas cars hovering around 40mpg like the Cruz, Civic, Accent, or Elantra. They will at least get out of their own way on the interstate when you have to go from 70 -> 90 to merge lanes as a tractor trailer barrels down from behind you on a hill. :)

I don't believe the emissions for the Kia Rio are lower than the Prius. I am glad you are getting this kind of mpg. The question came up about why these vehicle are not sold in the US. It is not an emissions issue, it is a poor demand issue. Not enough people will buy these types of vehicles in the US to make export worth it until gas prices start hitting $6 or $7 per gallon. Look at the rebound in monster truck and SUV sales with gas hovering at $4 per gallon. People want to drive these big petroleum hogs around, often single occupant, and will as long as they can afford the gas, the hell with globel climate change. Remember, never underestimate the selfishness and stupidly of the American public.

The average person will never see those figures, they've done tests and the car averages 50-60 MPG (Uk). Little engine has to be ragged a lot to get it up to speed which affects MPG.

Draigflag
Dec 5, 2011
11:52 AM

I doubt that very much. You're probably talking about a different engine, there are a few available. I've never had less than the "urban cycle" test on any car, and the minimum this car will do is 80 MPG so i would expect for the first 10,000 miles or so for the car to do 70 to 75 MPG whilst it's run in.