Bad Experience from Fit

[saiko]

holy crap...

hahaha i even when I drive like a psycho (no pun intended) I still get a minimum of 28 mpg's.


the engine will always be cold, in just needs to warm up


you ride will always be like that in a car this size. if you want a smooth ride, go buy an suv. hahahaha

[BBGorson]

Thanks a lot for everyone's comment again!

Now I feel better about my car.

What type of gasoline do you use for Fit? Lower one? 87? 89? or 92? Which one can make the best MPG?

I have tried at around 2K RPM to accelerate from a full stop. But it's slow, and I feel I block the car behind me. So I have to step on gas harder to get a faster acceleration with RPM at 3-3.5K.

I also heard that to add an intake can make the car more powerful. Does anyone have a suggestion about that?

[ChrisG]

You also have to think that your Fit is really not even broke in yet. I have 60k on my Fit right now and never see less than 300 miles to a tank of gas, sometimes 380. I would say you need to drive it more.

[gimme]

i'll give you 10k for it

but seriously, driving habbits are what effect someone's gas mileage. I average 34mpg driving 10 miles highway at 80-90 then the next 10 in traffic. stop and go, stop and go. Last week my wife borrowed the car to see how much better i really got than her Pilot. No guessing for me what the difference would be. But she took the same route to get to her work as i do, then add another 15 miles one way stop and go for her, yet she averaged 37mpg. Go figure

[sortanewinatl]

Shifting at lower RPMs isn't allways going to improve your MPG. I generally shift at just over 3k (before the VTEC stuff starts to happen). Trying to shift at 2.5k is just too low for a 1500cc engine (in my opinion)... it just doesn't have enough torque at that speed and you end up with the gas pedal on the floor.
Also, I wouldn't worry so much about the people behind you... i mean, it's one thing to just be a rude ass and hold people up, but a Fit (even an AT) easily accelerates quickly enough to keep up with traffic.

[gimme]

i don't think it is mostly to do with rpm range for shifting. i think it has a good amount to do with how fast you get to those rpms.

[xorbe]

Originally Posted by sortanewinatl

Shifting at lower RPMs isn't allways going to improve your MPG. I generally shift at just over 3k (before the VTEC stuff starts to happen). Trying to shift at 2.5k is just too low for a 1500cc engine (in my opinion)... it just doesn't have enough torque at that speed and you end up with the gas pedal on the floor.

Originally Posted by gimme

i don't think it is mostly to do with rpm range for shifting. i think it has a good amount to do with how fast you get to those rpms.

Bingo and bingo. It's these two things that kill the a/t Fit. You can't get to the higher rpms without smashing the gas pedal, and it's too eager to shift under light acceleration, resulting in either crawling + great mpg, or zipping + below average for an econocar mpg. It's too polar, no good balance of okay acceleration + okay mpg. And paddles are tiresome after a while, I tried -- there's a reason we bought a/t you know.

[a fit called umeko]

i have an AT fit sport that is a little less than 3 weeks old and has about 850 miles on it. my usual driving is probably 95% city and 5% highway, so for every tank i get about 25mpg, which is understandable because i don't drive with fuel efficiency in mind at all. and my former car used to get at best 13 mpg, so i'm happy with my fit's mpg considering all the factors that affect it. my engine light is on always when i turn it on saying it's cold. i just wait for it to turn off which usually takes like 1 minute. anyway, i took a trip from orange county to san diego this past weekend and i was impressed with my mpg. the trip was about 85% highway and 15% city driving and there was probably an extra weight of 800 lbs AT LEAST and the air conditioning was on the whole trip because it was so goddamn hot. so i was thinking eh, ok it might not get that great of highway mpg because the added weight and the air conditioning and such. but i got about 33 mpg on the trip which impressed the shit out of me. went about 250 miles total and filled up with 7.7 gallons after the trip. sucks i don't have highway driving usually but i'm in love with my fit and wouldn't wanna trade it for anything.

if you are expecting to get great mpg with city driving you probably should have gotten a prius which gets (or so i've heard) 60 mpg city. i don't have any rattling in my car and my car is so quiet i barely even know it's on. i agree that you feel every single bump and groove in the road, but that's what happens when you have a small car with small tires. i feel everything in the road, but i think it makes it fun to drive. i had a huge SUV before i got my fit and couldn't feel anything and with my fit i feel it all. i guess it's just personal preference. sorry you are not happy with your fit you can give it to me, i'll take care of it.

[fai07]

Hi,

I drive a Fit Sport AT and I too live in Brooklyn, NY. Believe it or not, I get similar mileage, like low 20's mpg. I occasionally drive from Brooklyn to downtown Manhattan on weekdays enduring endless morning rush hours traffic on BQE. I used to drive a 92 Civic and I would get very similar gas mileages. Though I am not totally happy about it, I guess it's quite common. I think a combination of being light footed, keeping up with maintenance and a clean air filter would help things a bit. My mileages in the summer is better, I would usually get around 23~24 mpg. Highway mileages for me is excellent, drove up to Toronto last year around April and the best tank I got yielded almost 38 mpg.

As with the rattling noise from the dashboard, sadly it's actually quite common for the Fit when the weather gets cold. I brought it to BayRidge Honda to have them fix this issue and now the car is much quieter.

I must say the ride is quite bumpy, especially for backseat passengers, but the fun factor of driving this car pretty much offset this for me.

[fitdeaf]

ChrisG is correct; keep driving: it is how you drive – your style (proactive/defensive), awareness (environmental-wise), and most importantly, anticipation.

Damien

[Be1up]

Your listing a decent amount of problematic issues. Frankly, Im surprised to hear that considering every Fit was built totally in Japan.
NY has horrible roads and hilly at that. You could try lowering the air pressure to the low end of the recommended range for your tires, that may help a little on small bumps, the cold eng. light should go off in like 2-3 minutes, the eng is so small that it doesnt take much to get to normal operating temp.
Your running at high rpms, which tells me the car is trying to cool itself, sounds like there might be a sensor defect or maybe a bad thermostat.
City driving is going to net you the lowest gas mileage due to start/stop/ideling,

OH yeah, this is for ALL Fit owners, I noticed my Fit doesnt like any gas that has ethenol in it, I get poor mpg, and sometimes a rough idel when I use even 10% ethanol. My suggestion stay away from any ethanol ladden gas. Thats just been my experience here in south florida.

[vile10]

Originally Posted by sortanewinatl

Miles per tank doesn't tell us much... we don't know how low you run it. The AT's don't get great mileage (and that's VERY well documented). I drive pretty agressively (in Atlanta traffic) and still get upper 20's in the city. My friend has an AT and gets around 24MPG... that's around 230 miles per tank if you run it pretty low.

ALL engines do this.
That light is there to tell you the ENGINE is still cold (<200F.. or something like that), not that it's cold outside.
You purchased a $15k econo car with one of the highest MPG ratings on the market... what did you expect?

In theory, yes, but there are no products on the market to do this (yet).

Maybe consider a Civic... it has a softer suspension, a little more power and a lot more sound insulation. Or, possibly, a Versa. I haven't driven one, but it's a little bigger, heavier, and more powerfull. Anything you trade the Fit for (other than a hybrid) will get worse MPG... more weight, or more power will require more gas... there are no magic solutions and Honda generally does a better job than most. You're also going to lose a few $k trading it.

couldn't agree more, MPG has a lot to do with driving habit and condition, my MT Sport only gets around 30mpg because i am stuck in traffic to get to/off work so i know it'll hurt me; if you live in NYC, i could imagine the traffic is a lot worse than mine

if you mainly drive in the city and traffic is bad, you should seriously consider a hybrid, that's designed for the condition

power and MGP does not go along, if you want a more powerful car then you'll expect to loose MPG, i know because i downgraded from 200hp prelude to 108hp fit, but i pick up on MGP

[vtec just kicked in yo]

Originally Posted by BBGorson

I am living in Brooklyn, NY. I bought Fit Sport in July, 2006. The total milages are 11300 now.

There are three major problems I feel so far.

1. MPG is low. I got around 200 miles per tank with 80% in the city.

2. Engine is loud. Everyday in the morning when I start the engine at the first time, the sound from the engine is loud, and the rpm goes to 2K. I also find that the green cold engine light is always on no matter it's summer or winter in the morning. It doesn't turn off until the engine has run for 2 minutes. Moreover, I think the engine is really a low-power one. Everytime I start from a full stop, the rpm has to go above 2.5k to get enough power to run, and it's loud too.

3. the ride is very bumpy and rough. Although the technician told me last time that's normal for the small car, I think the bumpy ride is really annoying. The circuit under the dash board is already loose by that. Noise is coming out from there when driving. Is there any way to make the ride softer??? Change springs and suspensions???

I really want to trade-in my Fit and get a strong one since the road condition in New York City is really bad enough.

1.) You need to learn how to measure actual fuel economy. You may be getting 200 miles between fill-ups if so that's because you are filling it up long before it is empty. The car only has a 10 gallon tank and you are driving 80% city. What do you want? Buy a hybrid.

2.) The engine light is there to let you know to drive gently as the engine oil warms up. This is normal.

The engine is loud?

2007 Honda Fit db @ idle = 40.5
2007 Honda Fit db @ full throttle = 77.3

2008 Honda Accord db @ idle = 41.7
2008 Honda Accord db @ full throttle = 78.7

SOURCE: Edmunds.com

3.) It's called a test drive. Did you ever take one? If you bought a car without an extensive test drive first to see if you liked the way it drove and rode then that is your fault, not Honda's. Sorry if you are disappointed with your car. If you want a softer ride and more power you might check out the Nissan Versa or the Scion xD. I'm sure you will find there are things you don't like about those cars too though. If you are spending less than $20k on a car you should EXPECT to make some compromises. The Fit is easily best-in-class according to any serious car magazine but I totally understand the desire for a softer ride or a bit more power. Next time do your homework and take a test drive before you buy a car though.

[gimme]

Originally Posted by vtec just kicked in yo

1.) You need to learn how to measure actual fuel economy. You may be getting 200 miles between fill-ups if so that's because you are filling it up long before it is empty. The car only has a 10 gallon tank and you are driving 80% city. What do you want? Buy a hybrid.

2.) The engine light is there to let you know to drive gently as the engine oil warms up. This is normal.

The engine is loud?

2007 Honda Fit db @ idle = 40.5
2007 Honda Fit db @ full throttle = 77.3

2008 Honda Accord db @ idle = 41.7
2008 Honda Accord db @ full throttle = 78.7

SOURCE: Edmunds.com

3.) It's called a test drive. Did you ever take one? If you bought a car without an extensive test drive first to see if you liked the way it drove and rode then that is your fault, not Honda's. Sorry if you are disappointed with your car. If you want a softer ride and more power you might check out the Nissan Versa or the Scion xD. I'm sure you will find there are things you don't like about those cars too though. If you are spending less than $20k on a car you should EXPECT to make some compromises. The Fit is easily best-in-class according to any serious car magazine but I totally understand the desire for a softer ride or a bit more power. Next time do your homework and take a test drive before you buy a car though.

nice find!

i will get our DB meter from work and do a DB test the next time i go home....just to be sure it's accurate

[drzenitram]

for a more comfortable ride you can change all your bushings... but removing bushings is expennsive..