I have a Fit 2011 MT and as everyone know the RPM is very high at highway speed.

I usually drive at 85 kph, which is about 2500 RPM and a very good 4.8 L/100 KM.

I want to keep my Fit for at least 12 years or 250 000 km.

Should I continue with my 2500 RPM plan or would it be safe for the engine to drive at 3000 or 3500 RPM ?

I know Honda makes high revvying engine, but I don't want an engine that will burn oil in 2-3 years. We all know some Civics who burn more oil than gaz.

What do you think about this ? What is a good RPM to keep the engine good for 12 years, considering I always put synthetic oil?

Thanks

P.S. I know that driving at 3000 RPM+ will make MPG worse, but sometimes time is as important as money.

 

honda motors are built to rev so if your driving just under redline and do your maintenance the motor will last a very long time.

 

I am skeptical. I know that Honda motors are built to rev, but if I want to keep it for 250 000 km (or 200 000 miles) and more, I mean... at 5000 RPM there is no way I would be able to do this !

 

yes it will last with maintenance. i have seen many hondas with 250.000+ still going strong and they are not puppied motors. just drive it hard take care of it and it will take care of you.

 

Slow down then.

 

So you think 5000 RPM it would last 250 000+ ?

 

why are you driving at 5000rpm in 5th gear....or 4th if you have a auto. that seems kinda fast

 

5000 was only as an example... But what about 4000 RPM...

 

4000 is fine. most Honda motors don't start making power until after 3k so you'll be ok. ALL well maintained Honda's are almost guaranteed to run for 200000miles if not more. I had a 91 accord that I sold at 23000 miles with no serious problems and my mom has a Odyssey that has almost 300000 miles on it and that thing is flucking bullet proof.

 

I think Odyssey has lower RPM at highway speed, but what about the Accord ? I am 100% sure I can make it to 200,000 miles at 2500 RPM, but at 4000 RPM it seems to me it is a different story. The MPG gets worse, and its revvying to fast... I'm wondering if it's good for the engine on a longer-term scale.

 

OP stated he has a MT. What are the speed limits on the highways there that you are just doing 85km/h and pulling 2500rpms? Speed limits here in Japan are mostly 80km/h and some parts 100km/h on the expressways, but I'm always doing around 125km/h+ and keep the revs over 4000 easily on my expeditions. If anything you are doing more harm than good by not letting the engine sing.

 

How much mileage on your Fit and is it in good shape ?

Speed limit here is 100.

At 4000 I feel like the engine wants to get out of the car and take the bus !

I know there is no problem at 4000 RPM on the short term, but I wanted to know more about the longer term. I don't want to have an engine the burn oil in 4 to 5 years because I decided to drive at 4000 RPM when I could drive at 2500 RPM...

But if it makes no difference...

 

I'm not sure what you're looking for in this post.

It seems you already have your mind made up, because it doesn't seem like you care about other people's opinions other then what you already have decided. If that's the case, just make a decision what you want to do with your car yourself.

There is no doubt if you run your car at lower RPMs, it will be equal or less wear. If you run it at higher RPMs, there will be more wear; but whether that is negligible or not will matter.
But expected normal usage of the speedlimit of 100kph is well the envelope where car can run practically forever with practically zero wear. There usually are special instructions for extended usage over 100mph, but mainly related to tires and perhaps using severe service schedule.

No one can predict the future of your car and more importantly no one is going to take responsibility for it.
There will always be stories of someone who pushed their car and it runs fine, and the person who babied their car and it ends up burning oil.

Imagine 10people said go ahead and race your car, and 10people said no run at lower RPM.
Or if it went 5/15, or 15/5. What's the point, what are you looking for? They are all just opinions, you'll have to decide yourself what you want to do with YOUR car

 

We're all looking for opinions and arguments here. I think my question is straight forward. If you can't answer it, then whatever. But maybe someone else can.

 

Most of the wear happens at start up. As long as engine is warm, revving the motor there is little wear. The only other wear is knock but at cruise you can see where the least fuel consumption is and run it there. When I had my Fit I would do 70 mph in fifth gear around 3400 rpm all the time.

 

I think the other guys has a point...it looks like you've made up your mind and waiting for others to back you up.

I drive all my hondas beyond 4k for extended periods of times. around 380-400 miles. My integra had 250k miles on it before it was stolen. My s2k 50k and my fit around 9k.

All over 4k. All without problems.

 

85 kph - Wow. I drive the 401 a lot so run around 110-120 kph. I believe that is not much over 2500. I though getting 6.5 was good -) Never knew they would get below 5.

 

My prelude ran higher rpms (3K-5K) and I traded it at 196,000 Miles. A/C was dead and it was a Black/Black Car in NJ in the middle of July - 98degF.... Not good.

My GS-R also saw higher rpms regularly (it had an 8100rpm redline) and while I traded that at 85,000 Miles (for family size reasons only), I'm sure it would have easily lasted 200,000 Miles.

If you want a little piece of mind, use Synthetic Oil.

Also, Highway miles are easy on a car.

~SB

 

Just to add another data point, my sister drives a 97 CRV with about 150,000 miles (~240km). On the highway at 70 mph, it runs at about 3600rpm or so. It's lasted this long and doesn't seem to show any signs of dying.

My dad drives a 97 Odyssey, and that runs about 3500rpm or so at highway speed (again, 4spd auto, 2.2L 4-cyl engine in a minivan... it has to work pretty hard when it's got a full load in it). It's at over 200k miles, and if anything kills it, it will be the one time it lost nearly all oil at highway speed...

Also, since nobody has mentioned it yet, lugging the engine is also pretty bad for it. Not sure about the area you live in, but around here, there's some hills you won't be able to maintain speed at 2500rpm.

 

This is what I tried to do and this is how I usually get 4.8 L/100 km.... but 85 kph is... so slow! At 100 kph consumption is about 5.7 to 5.9 / 100 km. and at 105 it is 6.1/100 kph. (All other things been equal... this is an average)

I've read other comments about Acura and other cars running at higher RPM, but was the engine in good shape after years high revvying? At some point is it possible knock would be a problem, even with synthetic oil?

I know Honda engine are made to rev... I have an Honda CB550 Knighthawk 1983. Of course it's different because it's not a car, but still after 50,000 it started to burn oil, and it was revvying at 4000 RPM on highway.

The Fit 1.5 engine is larger, but the car is much heavier and it feels like a bike a lot. So this is partly what I am afraid of : I want to be sure I can keep it in good shape for years.