A few not-so-hypermiling questions

[FitsThe18]

Hello gang,

My Pearl Blue Five Speed MT Fit Basic should arrive on July 20th. Before that, I've been reading the Eco Fit section of this forum to try to absorb some of the techniques that will bring my new car up to the fantastic milage (40ish combined, 50/50 city/hwy) that I was getting with my 1994 Civic hatch.

In my Civic I've driven fairly cautiously (no tailgating), not too fast (usually around 63 mph in 65 mph zones), and sometimes anticipated stops a little ahead of time, and ususally got around 40 MPG, but I'm looking to get a bit more out of the Fit.

First, what I won't do:

- Shut of the engine while driving unless at a dead stop in heavy traffic.
- Take corners at uncomforatbly fast speeds
- Inflate my tires above 45 psi
- Tailgate semis
- Lower the chassis (I must occasionally drive on rough dirt roads)

I have a few questions about what other steps I can take:

- How should I accelerate? I've read that "moderately fast" is suggested, but what, specifically, does that mean? How far should the pedal go the floor. How much should the engine seem to be working?

- What engine speed should I shift at? Does this vary per gear?

- Tailgating large vehicles such as Semis clearly cuts down on wind resistance, but I'm relucant to get too close to large trucks because of the safety issue. I've heard that one can get a similar drafting advantage not in the same lane as the truck, but one lane over and more or less in line with the back of the trailer or perhaps a bit back to allow the truck to safely change lanes if need be. Is this true?

- A/C robs mileage, I know, but do all settings of A/C rob mileage the same? Will A/C on at a moderately cool setting burn less fuel than the A/C cranked up to freezing? Does the speed of the fan matter? Does one gain any advantage by turning the A/C periodically off and on when needed? (In my Civic, I occasionally turn on the A/C for a minute or so to cool down the car and then turn it off for five minutes or so until the car gets too hot inside.)

[solbrothers]

using the AC at any setting is running the AC compressor, so if you're going to run the AC, make it the highest setting so you get cool the quickest.

[solbrothers]

btw, i only tailgate professional truckers. not "uhaul" trucks lol.

[mahout]

[quote=FitsThe18;357048]Hello gang,

My Pearl Blue Five Speed MT Fit Basic should arrive on July 20th. Before that, I've been reading the Eco Fit section of this forum to try to absorb some of the techniques that will bring my new car up to the fantastic milage (40ish combined, 50/50 city/hwy) that I was getting with my 1994 Civic hatch.

In my Civic I've driven fairly cautiously (no tailgating), not too fast (usually around 63 mph in 65 mph zones), and sometimes anticipated stops a little ahead of time, and ususally got around 40 MPG, but I'm looking to get a bit more out of the Fit.


Drive your just the way you drove your Civic. You may not, probably not, get 40 mpg but you will do as well as you could expect. Because the Fit weighs more than your 94 Civic you might want to run 40 psi front and 36 psi rear tire pressures.

[solbrothers]

btw, if you are even remotely interested in getting good mileage, get a scangauge2

[NEK FIT]

I have a manual Sport, and I'm getting 41 mpg on average. I bought the car this past April, so my first 3500 miles have all been summertime driving, and a lot of those miles were on the highway. I drive conservatively in general. I do some coasting on long grades when traffic is light, try to set myself up so I don't need to back up in parking lots, anticipate upcoming stops and turns and take my foot off the accelerator in advance, and when I can, I follow tractor trailers at a safe distance (3 seconds).

I have considered learning to use the pulse-and-glide technique and drafting a bit closer to the semis, but you know what? I don't want to think only about mpg when I'm driving. So I believe I will settle for around 40 mpg and be happy with that. (I know my mpg will drop off during the Vermont winter.) I've been running my tires at 35 psi and may up the pressure a bit on the front ones. But I really can't think of a whole lot more I want to do. I think the manual Fit is basically a 35-40 mpg car (it's fun to try for a 45-mpg tank now and then, when conditions are favorable), with superb design and quality, ample safety features, and a whole lot of usable space. Plus it is really good looking. Mine is red. Very, very spunky color, particularly in the Sport model.

I have owned and driven a lot of cars in my life, everything from a big honking Pontiac GTO to a Plymouth Valiant with a 170 cube slant six to a couple of Subaru station wagons. I like the Fit the best of all of these vehicles by far. And I like the first-generation car's lines/aesthetics better than the photos I've seen of the new-gen model coming along in '09.

[Fitcapo]

I have gotten my best mileage with my automatic making the car shift between 3-4k rpm's for the first two gears and coasting when possible like going up to a red light or going down a big hill.

Those would be my only two suggestions.

[pb and h]

First off - shift at 2.5k, do not shift above it and do not shift below 2k.

Second - as far as tire pressure the Base has different tires than the Sport model. Using the recommend MAX PSI on the tire side wall has proven good results on the Sport tires and MAY prove the same on the Base tires. That will be for you to decide.

Avoid A/C usage for better results and it sounds like you use it conservatively.

I would try your same techniques that you used in the civic and then change one thing at a time until you are satisfied.

Also, when drafting you can draft/ride next to the truck and not directly behind it.

As far as accelerating, I usually accelerate at a rate that it will take me 3-5 seconds to reach 2.5k and shift at 2.5k.

I think some of us here termed "P&C" as pulse and coast - which means pulse/ increase speed say from 40-50mph in 6-10 seconds, put gear in neutral and coast(ICE on) down to 40phm and repeat. The longer it takes you to coast down to desired speed the more mpg assuming you are moving at a decent rate and not creeping at 5mph.


I use to think the extremes were stupid until I started experimenting now I am in what you could consider the extreme and I am loving it.

[FitsThe18]

Thanks, everyone, this has been very useful. Once I have some real world figures, I'll report on how things are going.

[henryd1981]

Originally Posted by solbrothers

btw, if you are even remotely interested in getting good mileage, get a scangauge2

+1 definitely good advice

Just got mine last friday, and in trying it out and not driving like a madman, my current tank seems to be lasting longer in terms of miles driven. Can't wait to see how accurate the average MPG is compared to doing the actual math.

[bonsaikc]

I just started working on the mileage on my Fit. I pumped the tires to 45 PSI thinking that at hot temps that should be close to the 51 on the sidewall. I do shut off the engine for longer glides, but as soon as it has died completely, I turn the key back to position 2 so I get guages and steering back. I don't do this when there's traffic or when going uphill, for those times I use "ICE-on" coasting.

I do a warm-up Pulse and glide, and try not to run the AC excessively. The MPG you see in the graphic below includes my tanks before using these techniques. My last tank was 40.85 MPG.

[solbrothers]

Originally Posted by henryd1981

+1 definitely good advice

Just got mine last friday, and in trying it out and not driving like a madman, my current tank seems to be lasting longer in terms of miles driven. Can't wait to see how accurate the average MPG is compared to doing the actual math.

you will LOVE it.