We bought a 2008 Sport last year with only 12000 miles on it. Have driven 8000 miles and average 25 mpg or less in San Francisco Bay Area. What should I inspect/replace?

Car is totally stock. Most driving is on highways, 60-75 mph. During our vacation trip I averaged 27mpg over 3,000 miles to Glacier National Park and through Pacific Northwest. Drove solid at 90mph fully loaded with camping gear, food and stuff.
(Around town, my partner does have a heavy foot on the pedal, quick starts included.)

Appreciate your suggestions.

 

"What should I inspect/replace?"
Your driving habits :P

25-27 mpg is right on what I would expect for any one of the following:
1) Lots of hills (never been to San Fran myself, but ...)
2) 90mph on the highway
3) Anytime someone admits to "heavy foot."

Sorry. No escaping laws of physics. You want to work against gravity, air/rolling resistance or inertia, you need to expend energy to do it. The faster you want to move against these forces, the more energy is used to do it.

Hope that helps. Oh also what might help is, a hybrid. Quick starts imply (in my experience) equally enthusiastic use of the brakes, and a hybrid recaptures a portion of that energy instead of transforming it to heat. But driving more conservatively is the inexpensive solution. Enjoy

 

I agree with ^^^^

Driving 60 mph I get around 37 mpg but when I drive in the city or at higher speeds I get around 24 mpg and now that I use my remote starter in winter I get around 20mpg.

Your numbers are right on but I would still do all my regular maintenance items religiously too insure a nice safe ride.

 

do you think you might have a gas leak?

 

i only filled up once a week and my fit was great on gas

 

on the fwy stay under 70mph, 65-67 is a sweet spot for me

 

And yes, change driving habits! I'm 21 but I get lots of people who drive around me b/c I don't accelerate quickly at green lights... Not that I drive extremely slow but I am mindful of wear and tear on the car and wasting gas

 

let's see: heavy throttle foot, hilly terrain, and 65-75 mph in those hills... 25 mpg is about right.
I used to go there a lot from SD and except for the I5 betwen SD and SF I'd not expect you to get more than 25 mpg. I think you'll find your area one of those locales wherethe usual mpg is at the bottom of the EPA rating.

 

90mph fully loaded?

25mpg sounds about right to me.

Slow down.

 

Thank you for everyone's suggestions including the hybrid notion. We considered the new Prius C but could not afford the price even if I could tolerate its lack of acceleration.

To clarify a bit, when I drive it is usually keeping with traffic which flows around our freeways at or slightly above the speed limit which varies from 45-60-65 mph. (The 90 I mentioned was on a lovely cross state stretch of smooth 2 lane road with almost no traffic during our trip through the northern states. I was impressed by the stability with the extra weight.)

Totally agree about mileage affected by hills. I am actually in the East Bay so mostly flat roads. My partner is the one with the erratic pedal work; I will encourage smoother and shallower effort.

Since the car has only 20k miles on it, I only replaced the air filter and am running Mobil 1 oil (the service light indicated the change with ~7,000 miles). Original spark plugs; thinking of splurging on replacements now just due to age.

Tires are good and at correct pressures. About to replace 2 of the original Dunlops this week.

 

check your brakes, some do sticks which cuase bad mpg from my experience...

 

28mpg is average for me! 07 Automatic.. i tried to granny shift in Sport Mode and in the end all that extra work(shifting asap under 3,000rpm) yielded me +1mpg more lol

 

Do you use the front window defogger? If you do, did you know that it turns on the A/C? That really hits your gas mileage...

 

I granny shift and rarely use A/C and ive still never made it past 30 :/

Also windows up on the highway makes a difference as well!

 

x2 QFT

 

I've driven SF on many occasions and I will asure those who mention hills as a reason not to get over 30 mpg that they are valid. Likewise,quick starts and stop and go traffic, even on interstates eat my mpg's too.
there's not a lot to do about it; well a Prissy (what else do you call a Toyota Prius C?) would yield 45 to 50 mpg (I added one to my fleet this year and just took a trip to Ohio and back and averaged 48 mpg for 1135 miles including the WV turnpike both ways at an average 65.9 mph, taking no prisoners. I have no doubt the upcoming Fit hybrid will do as well) My hybrid Civics got 41 mpg on the same route conditions.
When you run 90 mph mpg's will drop to 20 mpg about what we get on track with our fit see youtube 'Fit set new 1500 cc record at VIR'; unfortunately we just might breakj that record with Prissy.
Anyway, enjoy your Fit; 25 to 29 mpg is pretty good for SF. I never got anywhere near than in my Mustang.
cheers.
PDS try raising tire pressure to 38 psig.

 

I am still getting great gas milage - my Fit is a 2007. I normally fill up every 2 weeks.