Naughty Kia?

I have just got back from a very long drive, from Perth in Western Australia to Coober Pedy in South Australia. it was partly sightseeing, but also, I had seen a news item that Coober Pedy and Andamooka have the cheapest houses in Australia. Was contemplating moving there.

There is an earlier post showing the fuel consumption of my Kia Picanto 1.2 litre manual car:

"Camping in-car sleeping"
https://bkhome.org/news/202603/camping-in-car-sleeping.html

...4.8 litres/100km.

Wondered whether this is true, so on the trip to Coober Pedy, recorded the amount of fuel (unleaded 91-octane), price, and distance at every bowser. Just checked on that word "bowser"; that is a common word used for the fuel-dispenser in Australia -- that would be "gas pump" in the USA. I think in Britain it is "petrol pump".

Did calculations over most of the journey and between segments of the journey, and got consumption figures between 5.27 and 5.29 litres/100km ("liters" in American English).

Whereas, the display in the car, a short time after starting the journey dropped to 4.6 litres/100km and stayed there the entire journey. Not quite, there was a short segment where I pushed the car to 110 - 116 km/h and consumption indicated 4.7, and when I eased off to the usual 95 - 110 it dropped back to 4.6.

...snapshot taken near end of journey.

Significant difference; which is correct?

What could account for the difference is the bowsers under-pouring. There are inspectors who check metering and impose a fine if incorrect. A couple of reports are that 1 in 20 bowsers were found to be under-pouring in 2019:

"Petrol bowser audit reveals under-pouring, Government authority issues fines"
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-17/australian-petrol-bowsers-caught-under-pouring-by-auditors/11804344

Then another study in 2026, the under-pouring has grown to 1 in 10:

"1 in 10 Petrol Stations are Short-Pouring Aussies, Audit Reveals"
https://manofmany.com/auto/cars/1-in-10-petrol-stations-short-pouring-australians

...and the fines have been massively increased.

Hmmm, I wonder how often those fuel bowsers out in the middle of nowhere, the Nullarbour Plain, get checked?

In summary, it is possible that the Kia screen readout of 4.6 litres/100km (51.1 mpg) is correct. However, I doubt it, as Kia's own publicity states consumption to be no less than 5.0. See also this independent table, a figure of 5.0, which also shows how much better the manual is compared with the automatic:

https://www.carsguide.com.au/kia/picanto/engine

So 4.6 is likely wrong, meaning that Kia is cheating, showing better fuel economy than actual. That's how it seems anyway.   

Tags: nomad