I would think that the test drive would be quite the same as the Fit Vs Civic sedan... if the 4-door hatchback is really just a natural extension of the sedan...same platform, just no trunk...? yeah? my other friend has both, an 07 civic ex, and an 09 base fit auto (his wife's). The civic is much less choppy; it has a more even-keel ride, not so bouncy as their Fit. Yet their Fit is more peppy. Of course his civic is not nearly as helpful when loading objects and cargo, however. Oh, they also say that their civic is quieter than the fit. not just engine sound, but road noises are more dampened in the civic than in the fit. How would you rate your fit as far as cabin noise goes? interested...

 

For now, I'm attributing my less-than-EPA mpg to the fact that my daily trips are so short (5 miles each way), so I figure the engine isn't really fully warmed up for at least a few of those miles. The drive includes 3 stoplights, and a brief stint accelerating up to about 60. Plus when I hit the hill, I watch my instantaneous MPG meter plunge to about 5.

I'm just a little disappointed, when members here are boasting about 40+ mpg, while my most recent tank was only 26.5 mpg. And I guarantee I accelerate slower than your grandma.

 

yeah. understood.
Hey, when you go up the hill try keeping your foot pressure on the accelerator the same (try not to accelerate going up any more than you are for the level) and see what happens. Obviously you'll be going up the hill much much slower than everyone else, because you will not be maintaining your speed, but you will be maintaining the amount of gas that you are giving the engine. experiment by even watching the MPG meter and let us know what you observe...

 

Coast up and accelerate down can help keep the instantaneous mpg bar near 40 mpg, but it's just not practical in traffic. In city traffic, the most effective technique I have found is turning the engine off at stoplights when I know I'll be stopped more than 15 seconds. But carries its own liabilities. Screw the gas mileage, just drive it and enjoy.

 

Mine are pretty consistent...38 mpg on the highway and 36-37 in town. I suspect the 40+ reports are MOSTLY, but not all, from people who read the mpg indicator on the dash. From the factory, before the service bulletin, they were off by 10-15%. Hypermiling works, but for me, is too much trouble.

 

My mileage figures come strictly from miles driven,gallons used, calculations. I knew since first tank the MPG meter was way off,and a waste of a gauge. I drive a limited access highway daily through the rolling hills of southeast PA & northern Maryland. On several occassions I have hit 42 mpg,and once 43mpg,average is 40.2 during warm weather. It comes from driving in cruise,easing into the throttle if needed,and staying at or slightly below the 65 posted limit. For a 2 week period as a test I traveled with the rest of the insane 70+MPH drivers,and those tanks yielded 38mpg highway same roads and weather conditions. So over 70mph DOES cut into gas mileage. I have a 5 sp manual,and 40+ years of driving experience with manual cars, trucks,and heavy equipment,so I know my way around a gear box and RPMs. I even fly,where RPM's play an important part in GPH usage,and could spell disaster if not monitered.

The Fit has amazed me with the mileage overall. The worst mileage I got was a camping/ canoe trip. 2 canoes on top,and loaded to the windows with camping/paddlling gear,a passenger, up & down the moutains of of northwest Pa,with some highway driving,and still yielded 31.4 mpg. I still can't figure out how some posters here get less then that on daily drives,solo?????????????? I have a summer trip to South Carolina with same canoes & gear and girlfriend,mostly highway driving and I am looking forward to seeing those mileage figures.

PaFitter

 

This is my first post but I thought I'd add to this MPG discussion. From what I've seen, 5 mile trips are absolute mileage killers. According to my Scangauge, my mileage for the first 5 miles of any trip usually does not climb out of the 20's.

My normal commute is 15 miles of mostly rural roads without many stops. MPG continues to climb until I get to work (or home) and usually ends up close to or over 40MPG.

 

Stop and go, every few hundred yards, accelerating from zero to 25 or 35mph burns fuel consistent with the EPA city rating. If all I do are grocery store runs to publix 2 miles from the house I get about 27mpg (according to the gauge). Once I return to my commute routine it improves. I haven't had a tank less than 30mpg (calculated manually) over 7,000 miles. I haven't had one over 35mpg either but I have yet to do any pure highway driving over a full tank.

Get your PCM flashed if you haven't. It was annoying having that animated mpg graph in front of my nose when it was so inaccurate. The flash puts it accurate +/- 1mpg of manually calculated mpg. Manual calculations, tank for tank, probably aren't any more accurate as the gas-station pumps cut off at slightly different fills.

 

That is a fast drop in the oil meter. During the summer, mine went more than 1000 miles usually between 10% drops--it reached the magic 15% level at about 10,500 miles. Now during the winter here, it's been significantly quicker--it's dropped to 50% in just about 4000 miles since my first oil change. So yes, 3300 miles and 20% seems crazy fast.

Is your drive to work really short? Does the car ever have a chance to warm up? Do you make the drive every day? Do you rev it hard when it's cold to accelerate quick?

Cold weather and short trips can really wreck mileage a lot. That wouldn't change between a Fit and a Civic though. You can really see the trend of what I've lost from cold weather on my fuelly page too: The Fit M/T (Honda Fit) | Fuelly

 

so when in the break-in period, we should not be driving how? and we should not be doing what exactly? thanks...

 

The break-in period is the first 600 miles, although there is anecdotal evidence that this continues through 10K miles during which efficiency improves.

Owner's manual:

 

Stay away from the cruise control, if you have one. Fifty 12-mile trips provide a better break-in experience than one 600-mile trip on the slab.

 

Thanks a bunch. curious...can you read what it says regarding the MTBE? I know that here in CA we used to have this crap in our gas...but i'm not sure if it's all completely banished, or if we are still weaning off of it...thanks again Steve!

Seldon, cool, thanks for the sum-up. this puts it in perspective for me (the more shorter trips vs. one long trip). basically it's better to have varied rpms and varied times rather than cruising at the same range for prolonged times. gotcha. thanks again...

 

 

okay. thanks!

 

Five days a week to work at a whopping two mile commute........lots of short trips to the grocery store, etc.............never revs hard in any weather.

Dropped to 15% Monday night and had the dealer change the oil today at 3455 total miles.

Also had the MPG gauge update done.

 

Heh, would you have considered your driving "very severe service." Apparently the minder does.

 

lots of very short trips is considered severe conditions in and of itself. never revving hard is also bad for the car. sometimes what's good for the car isn't good for the mileage and vice versa. just gotta try to keep a balanced approach to these things.