So I'm on my 4th tank of gas since buying the Fit...for the first 3 tanks, I drove rather spiritedly (is that even a word?) and got about 320 miles per tank.

For this 4th tank, I'm trying everything I can to sip gas as slowly as possibly without dramatically increasing my commute times. As it sits right now, I've put 58.7 Miles on this current tank and have just barely broken below the 'F' line. This is 100% city/suburb driving...haven't even touched the highway with this tank. (I drive a '08 NHBP Fit Base M/T)

My question to you more experienced gas savers is this: How far do you think I can go on this tank if I stay disciplined enough to keep driving like this?

I am very light on the throttle, shift below 3k, coast in neutral or just shut the engine off whenever possible, and try to utilize the smoothest lines through corners I can get.

What else can I do?

 

Pretending you have no brakes is a useful AND safe technique for improving mileage. That and going UNDER the speed limit are very hard to get used to but, with time, become more tolerable.

 

I'll bite:

Assuming all of your variables remain constant, I'll guess and say your tank will be 395 - 402 miles with at 9.8 gal fill.

40.3 - 41 miles/gal is my supper swami crystal ball prediction

Of course you can simply wait a week or two and find out next time you fill!

--D

 

Well considering our gas gauge doesn't really keep track all that well until the gas light comes on it is really hard to tell. You will notice that the first half always runs a little longer and the second half of the tank seems to go by quicker. I have gone what I thought was 200 for half a tank driving really crazy then the next time I turned the car on the meter was 1/4 full.

 

Ya I have noticed that on almost all cars it seems that the 2nd half of the tank goes much more quickly than the 1st half. Anyone know why this is? Is it because the fuel gauge is that inaccurate or does the car actually burn more fuel when it's lower on gas?

Also, Fitcapo...which episode of Scrubs is your avatar from? I can't remember for the life of me!

 

Theoretically it would burn less because a 1/2 tank weighs less than a full one... but maybe its more psychological.. make you think you're getting good mileage

 

Well, from my experience I have actually achieved more mileage on the last half of a tank. However, that will depend on your driving habits, conditions and your consistency throughout the whole tank. I have squeezed 300miles to the half way mark and I have squeezed 307 aftet the half way mark and the fuel gauge needle was not past the E or to the left of the E.
It depends on how far are you will to go -

Paul just posted some good info on the gas tank amounts from personal experience in a thread here:

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/eco-...tml#post388479

 

That's real hard to say as it's coming off 'E'.

Start tracking your mileage at 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and fillup mileage/gallons. That'll help you to better predict your tanks in the future.

Just an off-the-wall guess, Id say your looking at high 30s (38-39 MPG) for that tank.

 

So...final numbers are in for my first attempt at hypermilling...

347.6 miles on 8.858 gallons of gas

39.24 mpg. Not exactly hypermilling figures I guess...but almost twice what I got in my last car and about 35% less price. So I win

 

After seeing so many threads like this I'm glad my motorcycle doesn't have a gas gauge b/c all of the people on that forum would be doing the same thing they are here. Everyone knows that fuel gauges are not 100% accurate, they are an assembly of parts that each have their own manufacturing tolerances for example angles typically have +/- 1* machined features may have +/-.005" or more depending how these tolerances stack up determines the accuracy of your gauge.

The worst part about your question is that you asked with such a bad reference point "have just barely broken below the 'F' line" that's like asking what do you think I'm getting for mileage if I have 278 miles and I'm the width of my left pinky below the 1/2 tank dash?

Don't get me wrong I keep looking and guessing until I fill up and it's kind of fun, but I don't use this information to reference another vehicle with different tolerances, drivers, driving conditions, etc...

I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just trying to point out that using uncalibrated gauges, and arbitrary units of measure is not a very scientific way of calculating gas mileage.

 

No but it's all we got until we fill. True many will be different slightly, but surprisingly many are close enough for an estimate to be drawn.

--D

 

I've got an '08 Accord currently while I wait for my '09 fit, but I also notice the first half passes slower than the second. I wonder what causes this...

 

There are several things I feel need to be said about this....

1. I was not...nor will I ever be looking for exact scientific calculations to tell what my FE would be. I was simply looking for a prediction(see title of this thread).

2. Of course everyone knows that fuel gauges are not 100% accurate. But we all appreciate your presentation on the +/- 1° tolerances of angles and the +/- 0.005° tolerances of machined parts. Really...thank you, Bill Nye. The fact that AppleMac*Fit was able to almost exactly predict my FE for that particular tank of gas shows that it IS feasible to ask people to draw upon their past experiences without using exact units of measure to estimate figures such as fuel economy.

3. I am a new Fit owner and an even newer forum member...you, having only 3 posts on this whole forum at the time of this response, are even newer than I am. Not to claim that I know more about Fits than you do just because I've been here longer, but flaming other members posts right out of the box is probably not the best way to earn the respect and camaraderie of the other members.

I am usually not very confrontational and will be quiet most of the time...but people who act like know-it-alls when someone is just asking for help/advice (especially over the internet) need to be put in their respective places.

I hope that your future posts, whether they be in this thread or others, are more positive and helpful rather than just pointless and snobby.

oh...and by the way...welcome to the forum

 

That has been true in every car I have owned, and here is the reason why.
<WARNING>Blindingly obvious statement follows.</WARNING>
The distance between Full and 1/2 is longer than the distance between 1/2 and Empty.

Think about it. When you fill your gas tank, the needle goes to "above full", right? When do you get nervous about filling your tank? Before the needle gets to empty, right?

Now, look at (or think about) your gas gauge. Compare the distance from "above empty" to half with the distance from half to "above full". Assuming a linear correlation between the position of the gas gauge needle and the amount of the fuel in the tank....

At this point, I sense many light bulbs going on.

--Barry