low mileage in NYC? :(

[MIZZZFIT]

hi guys! i'm sorry for posting a new thread for this as I see the low mileage in major cities has been previously discussed. Unfortunately, I didn't notice anything listed recently (sept 07) after searching through a bunch of the posts.

here's my issue: i've had my car now for a lil less than a month and have refilled 3x (currently about 650 miles but the car already had about 90 miles when purchased). perhaps i'm miscalculating but i think i'm only getting about 20-22 mpg. i'm getting about 200 miles per tank (refilled 8-9 gallons). Does this seem normal for those of you also driving in major cities?

i've done mostly city driving with some hwy miles. I've read that it may take time for the engine to "break in" so maybe that's it? I've done a mix of driving with a/c on or windows down (mostly a/c on though).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!



EDIT: 9/17/07
SO!! I had my first lil road trip this weekend!! what a difference hwy miles makes (i knew this but damn - who knew i could almost double the mileage?!) i got about 360 miles per tank! AND i also hit the 1000 miles mark on my lil baby!! today she's one month (since i've owned her)! how quickly she's growing!

[Wave]

Quickly reaching 50,000 miles on my car. My observations:

City driving kills MPG.

Try to keep engine RPM's under 3K...it's hard to do in NYC!

Tire PSI should be kept as high as you feel comfortable with. Don't go over the max listed COLD PSI on your tires!!!!

I tailgate 18 wheelers when I can. (that NASCAR is good for something after all! )

A steady 60 mph on the highway will get you great mileage, drive constantly at 85mph and the gas stations will love you.

Car Pool - have some other sucker drive!!!

[LizardKing]

My 10 mile commute is right through Philadelphia, takes 40 minutes and I go through about 34 traffic lights. When my Fit was new, I got about 22-24 mpg. After 5000 miles, inflating my tires to 42psi (cold), using paddle shifters constantly to keep my rpms as low as possible, shutting the car when I know I'll be sitting at a VERY long light, having my oil changed (that was a week ago, too soon to tell), and possibly from performing the Idle Learn Procedure, I'm now getting 24-26 mpg, which is a 10-20% improvement! Its still really all over the place; for instance, on the last tank I had my oil changed, I only got 22 mpg, but I'm looking at 25+mpg on my current tank.

Maybe some Fits just have a longer break-in period than others, but if mine's improving, maybe yours will too!

[Gordio]

Hills will always kill MPG.

Do you have a sport or base? If the sport, learn to use paddles. There's tow schools of thought of how to save mileage.
1) The first is keep RPM low, and press the gas pedal hard, but keep the RPMs less than 3000 or 2500RPM
2) The other (the one I do) is feather foot it. If you need more power, downshift, not step harder. Preferably keep RPMs low, but if you climb a hill, don't mind it going higher even to 4500rpm.

Also, one of the biggest techniques to learn to do is drive so u use brakes as little as possible. Anytime you hit the brakes, it means you pressed the gas too much a moment of time earlier.

[cityfit]

I live in NYC too, and in Manhattan to boot. I have to drive to places you would never take a car - like midtown and times square - and I spend a LOT of time sitting stock still, burning gas and going nowhere. So i wasn't really surprised when my tanks were averaging 25-28.

I did notice that when i drove on the highway - and I'm talk out to the Delaware Water Gap or the Hudson Valley - the mileage improved dramatically, but even then only to an all-time best of 31-point-something.

The fact that my highway miles yielded mileage lower than expected, it leads me to believe that I have one of what I've started to think of as 'class 2' fits, which for some reason get lower mpg than some others. i don't know if there's a reason for this and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I have noticed that the mpg difference between drivers who have similar profiles is too big a swing to chalk up to just differences in driving style.

But it could all just be a bit of a disappointment at my car not being as fuel efficient as I want. Honestly, I would have considered a Prius when i bought my fit but it was just out of my price range, so maybe I just have hybrid envy

That said, I love everything else about my fit and wouldn't think of driving anything else!

[Zangoose GD3 Blue]

i live in Long Island im rocking a big 26-28 mpg what the crap...

[kaydens]

would love to hear from more NYC FIT owners on their MPG!
I live in Queens and use my 2008 Sport AT to commute in traffic-light-every-two blocks traffic. I've only had the car for a little over a month (almost 900 Miles) on my last tank of 100% city driving I only got 18.4 MPG. I am a little discouraged. As much as I love my FIT, the fuel economy is just not satisfactory. I am not an aggressive driver by any standard. Just wondering if any other NYC FIT drivers out there is sharing the same pain.

[pbrain]

hello i'm usually just a lurker on these boards but felt i wanted to reply to this.
i got my 2008 vbp sport a/t fit in early october. i do 90-95% city driving in brooklyn,ny and on my very first tank i went 220 miles before the fuel light went on (all city driving if i remember correctly).

since then i haven't kept track of every tank. but the few times when i did keep track of how far i could go on a full tank before the light went on:
1)twice it was approx. 190 miles
2)one time it was approx 180 miles
3)a little over 200 miles.

way below expectations. some time after getting the 180 miles on a tank, i checked my tire pressure and raised to it 33psi from 27. and thats when i think i was able to go over 200 miles again, but that may also be because i had to go to nj to visit relatives and logged 75-100 hwy miles on that tank. but still i haven't reached 220 miles , and i'm very disappointed.
i keep my rpms under 3k, and i try not to accelerate to hard but i guess i am a little
everything else about the car is great tho

[Wave]

keep in mind it's colder outside which affects usually decreases fuel economy and also the "winter blend" of fuel that we're now using.

[Crucio]

i'm around queens/long island and only averaging around 20mpg....

[kaydens]

good to know, but i guess it just sucks to be us New Yorkers

[sy11580]

WOW!!! So many NYC Fit members here!!! Guys want to meet other Fits someday??

Kaydens, pbrain, Crucio, MIZZFIT, cityfit.........COME ON Join our NEFC to help us make our club BIG.

[Chingwa]

I've had my fit for over a year, and my first tank of gas (half hwy/half city) I got 40mpg! I was so psyched! Haven't seen it since though... my worst tank was 21mpg, and my average tank is right about 29-30mpg. I'm a bit dissapointed with these numbers, though driving around the block in Jackson Heights over and over again looking for a parking spot certainly dilutes the fuel-efficiency of this car.

I'm currently trying a few things to boost my "score"... upped my tire pressure to 36 all around, and tried premium gas for the first time on my current tank. I'm also trying driving only in "S" and keeping rpms as low as possible.

[Zangoose GD3 Blue]

with the T1r Voltage stabilizer im back to 33 mpg...

[kaydens]

so you have an AT sport too... something must be kind of wrong with my car, since you really are getting better average MPG than me.... =P I've long heard about the big MPG variance for the FIT... wasn't hoping that it isn't true... but recently seeing more and more evidence of that from reading these forums.... so sad~

[Zangoose GD3 Blue]

Originally Posted by kaydens

so you have an AT sport too... something must be kind of wrong with my car, since you really are getting better average MPG than me.... =P I've long heard about the big MPG variance for the FIT... wasn't hoping that it isn't true... but recently seeing more and more evidence of that from reading these forums.... so sad~

if you addressing to me i got a 5 speed M/T, not A/T

[tin]

I'm also in NYC. My first tank I got around 23MPG with mostly city and lots of merging into highway and getting off 10 minutes later. I drive around 150 miles last weekend on mostly highway and only used half a tank, which I'm assuming is around 30MPG taking into account the 10 gallon tank.

Well, it's better than my old car, it seems that I lose 1/4 gallon every time I just turn on the car. I haven't even went anywhere and the needle is lower than the last time I saw it. Weird.

[Zangoose GD3 Blue]

Originally Posted by tin

I'm also in NYC. My first tank I got around 23MPG with mostly city and lots of merging into highway and getting off 10 minutes later. I drive around 150 miles last weekend on mostly highway and only used half a tank, which I'm assuming is around 30MPG taking into account the 10 gallon tank.

Well, it's better than my old car, it seems that I lose 1/4 gallon every time I just turn on the car. I haven't even went anywhere and the needle is lower than the last time I saw it. Weird.

did what i did, i got the T1R V2 voltage stabilizer it help a lot bro...