New owner. First post after much research on Fitfreak.

[trapdoorshane]

For a little over a week now I have been the proud owner of a Honda Fit Sport M/T. I have viewed this forum for over four months researching this car. I feel like I landed a good deal at $17,000.00 OTD with the actual car pricing at $15,800.00. I could tell that my dealer may have suffered slightly because they acquired the manual transmission model that I desired from over 200 miles away. Anyways, I'm fairly sure of what to expect out of this car, but I do have a few questions.

As far as the break-in period of new cars, what do I need to expect? My previous cars were 2-4 year-old Honda Accords. I'm an avid fan of some concepts of hypermiling. I was able to coax 34 MPG mixed driving out of my 1999 Honda Accord LX. Withing a week of owning my Honda Fit, I've gone from 36.9 MPG to 39.1 MPG within two fill-ups. The MPG gauge is completely useless. It serves as a guideline, I assume, but it obviously fails to reflect the real numbers that are happening. Should I be less stingy right now with this new car and drive it fairly hard in order to break it in instead of trying to achive 40+ MPG?

The main things that I do in order to increase my gas mileage consist of coasting in neutral as much as possible, avoiding braking, sweating my ass off due to sacrificing A/C, and decreasing my speed through changing my daily routes. I REALLY want to get over 40 MPG out of this amazing vehicle, but I'm wondering that maybe it's a lost cause until temperatures drop below 90 degrees. Any ideas? By the way, I completely refuse to turn my car off while in motion. I admire Wayne Gerdes, but that shit scares the hell out of me.

Thanks!

[Black01]

Congrats on your new car and welcome to Fitfreak.net! Your OTD price is excellent!

[FITFOLLY]

I hear all sorts of different things about break-in, I'm sure you'll be fine as long as you don't drive it super hard all the time. Welcome to the community, what color is your Fit?

[polaski]

Don't forget to do engine braking during break-in. Vacuum is what pulls the rings out and seats them, not the pressure.

[supaumar]

If it's 90+, turn the ac on.

[doctordoom]

Originally Posted by polaski

Don't forget to do engine braking during break-in. Vacuum is what pulls the rings out and seats them, not the pressure.

but you'd get vacuum right when you let off the gas pedal, or whenever you're not flooring the gas. there's really no need to do anything out of the way.

[Selden]

I'm not sure how knowledgeable my salesman was about Fits, but he said to bring it in a 3500 miles for a free oil change. Based on what I've read here, the oil meter will probably show about 30% by then.

First impressions after ~350 miles:
-- Quieter than expected on smooth surfaces. Engine revs at highway speeds are about 500 rpm lower than my Subaru Forester -- with corresponding effects on acceleration (nil) without downshifting by two gears.
-- Ride is fine on smooth roads, but the ride and noise are pretty bad on PA 4-lane highways.
-- Steering/handling takes some getting used to. 3 turns lock to lock means it's a little twitchy on the interstate.
-- I love being able to control an iPod through the sound system, but the user interface of the big dial know takes some adjustment. I'll probably get used to it eventuallly, but initially it's pretty frustrating.
-- Can't wait to get to the mountains, where the paddle shifters and quick steering promise to be a barrel full of fun.

[Uncle Gary]

Originally Posted by Selden

I'm not sure how knowledgeable my salesman was about Fits, but he said to bring it in a 3500 miles for a free oil change. Based on what I've read here, the oil meter will probably show about 30% by then.

Not unless you're racing that Fit. Mine didn't hit 30% until almost 8500 miles!

My dealer still won't change the oil until the meter reads 15%.

[Fitsup]

Congrats on the new Fit.
I have a little over a year on my 09 SP MT SSM and 13k miles.
I hit 15% oil at about 7500 and changed it myself.
If you keep good oil in it and drive like your having fun you can't bust a Honda.
Enjoy!!

[jcschlic]

I too had longed for the 40+ MPG mark (not the guage) and purchased a K&N drop-in. I installed it with a fresh tank of 87 octane, 38 psi on all tires, and drove it like a grandpa.

The thread is somewhere else on this forum but if I remember correctly I got 353 miles and filled up with 8.8 gallons which equals 40.11 MPG.

You're obviously not going to see a world of a difference with the K&N but it's a decent investment considering the cost ($43 with free shipping) and it's life span...not to mention it's better on the environment.

[Cat]

Congrads on the new car and welcome to the Fit Freak Family!

Cat :x