I live in Phoenix, AZ, elevation 1300'. When you wanna find out how much power your car has, you take a drive "up the hill", from Phoenix to Flagstaff, elevation 7000'. Takes about 2 1/2 hours at the speed limit (75 MPH). I bought my '13 Fit Base 5 MT in Jan 2014, and have been wanting to see how it would do going up the hill.

Well, it did good. Only had to downshift to 4th twice, to pass trucks and slow cars. Had a couple of times where it was floored in 5th and I was barely doing 65 MPH, but it picked back up when the road got a bit more level. What really surprised me was that I got 33 MPG on the trip. We filled up in Flagstaff getting ready to go home. That's going uphill and 75 MPH most of the way. Did hit 80 a few times, but I was trying to watch the speed, as our friendly Hiway Patrol is usually lurking right where you think they wont be. Arghhh

So, just thought I'd share. Fit passed the test with flying colors.

 

I've had my GD Fit climb some steep elevations through the Colorado Rockies on I-70,5(eisenhower tunnel - which is at 11k+ feet elevation. Downshifted quite frequently via paddles, sometimes even to third to maintain speed. I think it did pretty darn well too.

Weather was cold, but air - naturally - wasn't dense at that elevation so the engine wasn't performing too well, all that considered, it did well.

 

Yeah, there is a power loss at higher altitude. I used to drive my old Civic Si up to Flag, and I always felt the loss of power. Didn't notice it too much this time.

We actually went to a place called Bearizona, about 30 miles West of Flagstaff on I-40, a drive thru "zoo" like Out of Africa, only this one has bears and wolves and what have you. Went back to Flag to get gas, so didn't spend too much time on surface street, but it seemed to drive OK.

Biggest hassle was downshifting to pass slower cars and it took a while to get up to speed in 4th, then back to 5th. Little engine was doing some "R"s, but it got the job done.

Love my Fit!

 

If you got 33mpg going uphill, I can only assume going downhill on your return trip, you must have gotten 70mpg+....LOL

 

Hmmm, I just filled up this morning and got 36 MPG on the way back. Granted that was 75 MPH, but the indicator was saying all kinds of stuff, like 50 MPG, etc.

I always fill up and do the math by hand. We filled up at a Conoco station in Flagstaff before coming back; then at Quick Trip, my "home" station in Phx after we came back.

I'm wondering if the 33 MPG we got "going up the hill" was off, and maybe we got lower??? There was a thread on FF about using the trip MPG calculator and doing the math by hand; which was more accurate?

Well, anyway, at least I know the Fit does the climb OK.

 

When we go east we can really feel a falloff in power above 2500 feet MSL or so. Definitely have to downshift out of fifth.

 

Thats good to hear and I did the same thing last week.I took the Family to Vegas in my 12 Fit sport A/T.I'm talking fully loaded with 2 adults and 2 teens in the back plus our gear.I had no problem on the grades on the 15 and rolled between 75-80 most of the way.

I used cruise control for the first time on the Fit and set at 80 that little sucker chugged right along.I stopped for gas at Barstow and filled up but I could have made it easy to Vegas.I averaged 35mpg according to the gage.

The key with this little car is momentum and keeping the 1.5 in the power band.I would shut off the A/C when going up hill and that helped a bit too.

My luck in Vegas well that's another story lol

 

Using the car's mileage calculation, resetting the trip odometer, should be more accurate than measuring the amount of gas you put in it, because the auto shutoff varies.


If you want hill issues, I used to drive a 1979 diesel VW rabbit, 48 hp for a 2000 lb car. That struggled up some hills, there's one near my house, couldn't get above 25 mph, and that was with just me in the car. Once I had 7 people in the car and I could easily feel the difference.

 

Easy to forget how little power our cars used to have. My '76 Chevy Vega had 70 horsepower with a three-speed mt and felt pretty strong—very light car—but we never went anywhere in it.

Cheers.

 

You had a Vega with a 3 speed MT???? Wow, I thought they were 4 speeds. I had a 71 Pinto with 2000cc engine & 4 speed, and it did pretty good. I don't remember what the stock HP was, but it could run the 1/4 mile around 17.5 at about 77 MPH stock. I actually put a header, different intake manifold (used stock carb) and Mallory iginition, and got the ET down to 17.0, about 78 MPH. That was back in the smog control 70's in Los Angeles, and I could actually beat some V-8 cars with the smog controls on 'em. That was how bad the cars were choked back then.

 

Hah hah! Yes I did. Our 1971 Saab 99 was eating us alive and we bought a Vega. By 1976 it wasn't a bad car at all by '70s standards. We both really liked the little car. My wife always insists that small cars must have Mts, so she was right at home. If I could find a running '76 today, I'd probably buy it. Saw a rusted out 76 on a trailer two weeks ago, but I think it was just passing through. If we would have had any money, we probably would have tried to take it over the mountains.

Cheers.

 

I bet you could find a Vega on line. Once I googled Pinto and found a ton of stuff. There are still folks today who find Pintos and restore them. Some stock just like they were back then, and some modified.

I bet there are people who do that with Vegas. I know a small block Chevy can be put in that car and it goes like stink!

Well, hope you find another Vega. That would be a fun project.

 

Just took the Fit '12 Sport up and over Mt. Hood and back with me and three teenagers and all of our camping gear and it performed like a champ!

It revved pretty hard at times but I never felt like it didn't have enough power. And amazingly, I got 32 MPG overall, which is about 4 MPG more than I get driving around town.

I love my Fit!

 

That's interesting you got 32 MPG. I got 33 on my trip and was surprised it did that well. Fit is an interesting little car, can surprise you with how well it does even under conditions where you think MPG will be poor.

 

How did you fit all of your gear in there? Or did you have a roof or hitch rack?

 

Everything fit in the back. I should have been clearer about "camping" gear, though. It was mostly overnight stuff like sleeping bags and such, no tents. Some of it was poking out above where the cargo cover would have been if we hadn't taken it off.

Four people and a bunch of backpacks and sleeping bags and it all fit! Woooo!

 

Ah, "minimalist" camping.

I'll have to wait until my kids are little older to attempt something like that.

 

Tents were provided where we were staying. Like I said, it was a simple overnight trip.