The Soul now has a 6 speed. Easier for it to find a gear. In general the Soul is a much less quality product but, for fuel economy, it is better. The cars are often cross shopped.

I agree, drive another Fit. Preferably one of the same year (2012s may feel different as they got some drivetrain tweaks). If it's the same, odds are pretty good your car is operating normally. If not you have something to compare it to.

I think probably the truth is that it's a really small engine and as such isn't going to be great on hills. I recommend a Camaro.

 

Funnily, I was reading Edmunds review of the 2012 Honda Civic last night, and found this little gem:
"the automatic transmission's propensity to upshift early can be annoying."

And this nugget from epinions.com:
"The transmission upshifts quickly and sometimes seems indecisive."

Couldn't have said it better myself regarding the Fit's shifting pattern- and they both use 5 speed autos. Maybe it's just a standard Honda auto tranny thing and I never knew about it because both my earlier models were manual.

 

Try an Idle reset as described here:

1- Disconnect negative battery terminal for at least 30 mins. There might still be some juice left in the radio that is still powering the ECM/EPM.

You can also try pulling the fuse to the ECM. (If you can find it. It's not labeled properly. Mine is labeled "backup" and it has a little removable guard on top of it)

2- Reconnect negative battery terminal.

3- Turn off all equipment. Lights / A/C etc. Make sure your knob is not set to defrost as the a/c will cycle even if you have not selected it. There's a mod on this site to disable that annoying feature.

( Hey this might also be your problem. I used to drive with the knob selected to defrost because I liked fresh air to travel from the very front of the car. Guess what? the A/C compressor cycles on to remove moisture from the air in the defrost mode even if the A/C is not selected AND the little A/C light doesn't even come on to let you know you are wasting gas!!!!!Rude!!!!)

4- Insert key turn to the number two (II) position for two seconds. The key position right before the starter engages. These two seconds will allow the ECM to power up.

5- Start the engine

(The idea here it to let the car learn the idle and other characteristics of the engine)

Let the engine warm up for a bit. Some people say to give it some gas to speed up the process. I say they are wrong. Let it run for 10min. Go check you email. If the fan comes on good that means it's at operating temp.

6-Let the car run for 5 mins after it's all warmed up. Don't touch anything. No gas, no lights, no radio.

7- Shut the car off.

8- Turn the car back on. Enter the Radio code. Drive as normal.

I went from 11 L/100km to 8 L/100km mashing on the gas in the city doing this. With my TC set at sport 8.

If all went well the car should Idle at 750 rpm with everything off and at 850rpm with some accessories turned on.

Now the car will learn the rest of your driving habits as you go from a fresh start and will regulate itself accordingly to get you good mileage.

This also will reset your O2 sensor. Get's rid of the black soot coming from your exhaust making a mess of that polished chrome exhaust tip.....

 

I have a 2012 A/T and I have mastered this transmission and modulating the throttle.

It took lots of driving in different conditions but I love this A/T

I'm comming from many years of V8 cars with both manual and auto and this little Fit is a real gem.

If there is no actual mechanical issues I think you just have to become one with your car and learn all the little things to make driving it easier.

I really mean it when I say I've mastered this A/T hills are no problem and I use the paddles in both D and sport mode to control the shifts.

I hope things work out for you but if not I totally understand.

 

Dwalbert320:
Thanks for the info, I will give this a shot when I get home and see if it helps.

zilla8:
I also understand what you are saying, and it is good that you have succeeded in figuring out how to get the Fit to shift accordingly, but IMO no driver should have to spend a load of their time having to try different pedal pushing styles "mastering" it to get an auto tranny to shift the way they want, OR to get it to give you the promised fuel mileage. Especially in this day and age. Manual shift, maybe, but automatic, no.

 

Hey great! Let me know how it went.

I am assuming that your mum gets her maintenance done? regular air filter changes? A crutty air filter is bad news.

Tire pressure: My Fit is reccomended at 33PSI. They look kinda flat at 33PSI. I put 35PSI in all 4 and WOWSERS. performs way better.

Another thing you can try is installing a better drop in air filter (Like K&N). An engine that breathes better also performs better.

 

Yes indeed, although it only has 8000 miles on it so at this point all it has really needed is its first oil change. However I will definitely check the air filter. I checked the tire pressure the other day (cold tire pressure, after the car had been sitting overnight) and they are right at 35psi, so that doesn't appear to be the issue.

 

Resetting the car by disconnecting the battery will not help your problem. Automatic honda fits shift alot. I like this quote from the 2012 yaris review on edmunds.com 'Given that there are many six-speeds in this segment, the 2012 Yaris' four-speed automatic may seem archaic; still, the setup deserves credit for going about its business without the excessive, fuel-conscious race to top gear by 45 mph we've seen in other models.'

 

 

sigh... it's a 1.5L car with a 5 speed that locks out the torque converter whenever it can. It's going to feel busy compared to mom's 86 Buick.

It doesn't learn anything from your driving habits. Just drive normal. If you don't want to use as much gas go easy on the go-pedal.

If you have an older version (2010 and back?) there is some slight advantage to doing transmission fluid drain/fills with the newer Honda DW-1 fluid. This reduces some noises and makes it a bit smoother. The dealer will gouge you for this so consider doing it yourself (it's 3 quarts out of about 6 that get replaced with one drain/fill).

 

I could not help but laugh at your post about having to do all these things to drive this car

you are right though you really should not have to master anything.I guess a better way to describe my adapting to different cars and their shifting comes from years of driving .

and riding motorcycles and even scooters.I rode Moto Guzzi bikes for years and you talk about quirky I loved all the things that most hated.

The main thing I see with this Fit A/T is if you are smooth with the throttle you can control everything including the hunting and gear changing.

 

Well I tried resetting the ECU as Dwalbert suggested, absolutely no difference in shifting patterns but I will wait a tank of gas or two and calculate fuel mileage to see if there is any difference there.
I took it to the Honda dealer this morning and the service tech informed me for them to do any kind of diagnostic on the car without there being an obvious problem (other than lower than expected fuel mileage) would cost me the dealer diagnostic fee of $96. When I informed him of the car shifting indecisively and more often than seems necessary, he informed me back (as predicted on here) that "that is the way those cars shift."
When I asked him why anyone would want to deal with an underpowered econobox whose only real saving grace is fuel mileage, only to not be able to get that fuel mileage, especially when cars from other manufacturers get the same gas mileage as a Fit in a much more powerful (and larger) car. his response was:
a) I hate Fits, am not a fan at all
b) Several Civic owners have complained of the same thing, but you have to give a Honda about 15,000 miles to be "fully broken in" before you will start to see the fuel mileage increase.

While stating all this, he was never rude or condescending, but he did seem to have a frustrated tone, as though lots of people have been coming in with the same issue I am having.
Sorry but I can't help but wonder what Honda expects of their customers if this is indeed the case, and if I have to pay $96 when THEY aren't living up to expectations.

 

Thank god I got the MT.

 

EPA estimates are 31mpg (base) 30 mpg (sport) for the automatic, 29MPG for the manual. This is for combined city/hwy driving.

Sorry you're getting exactly the average EPA estimate. I don't think Honda promised you anything you're not getting.

That said, most people get better than EPA estimates from my observations. I've never gotten worse than 32MPG and currently average 35mpg. But traffic patterns (metro atlanta) are probably better than where you live. Lots of freeways, can't drive too fast due to traffic.

I did see an improvement when I changed tires, had it aligned, and started using 0W20 synthetic oil (the increase from 32mpg to 35mpg). I think the tires and alignment helped.

The stories on this forum and elsewhere of people getting much more than this are pretty hard to believe, except for short periods that are not representative of any real-life driving.

 

Wrong. Not even getting 31, and most of my driving (I would say over 80%) is interstate/highway, where I am setting cruise at 65mph. If that's too high, according to Honda or anyone else, to get the estimated fuel mileage, well, they need to wake up and smell the real world where anything less will get you killed.

Tires only have 8000 miles (as does the rest of the car)-- hard to believe it's that.

 

I would agree with this sentiment, except that the manual gets lower fuel mileage than the auto, and again, if you aren't getting the fuel mileage, why in the world buy a car this small and underpowered when there are so many other options that equal or exceed the Fit's real world fuel mileage and are bigger and have more power?

People are going to start thinking I am a troll fishing for trouble on here, and I guess I can see that, but I used to be a Honda loyalist myself, with 2 previous Accords, and am just wondering what incentive there is to keep this car OR go with any other Honda until they understand this?

The fact is that I feel like I got duped, and I doubt I am the only one.

 

sounds like your mom should have bought a hybrid.

 

Maybe....

But not a Civic hybrid!

Honda Hybrid Lawsuit: Heather Peters Wins $9,867 From Honda In Small Claims Court (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

 

I traded in my 2011 Honda CRV because the automatic was constantly hunting for a gear...drove me crazy. The manual 2012 Honda Fit Sport we got is great...love the 5 sp manual...wife loves it as well...42mpg on the Interstate and last fill up around town 37 mpg....
I would never get an automatic with a little 4 banger again.

 

Well, personally (and I think there are a few members that agree with me)... it's bullshit.

An EPA estimated claim is based on very specific conditions and driving styles. She can easily clam she drives "conservatively" while actually being very wasteful. No one took it on a long term test to verify.

And the fact they sued Honda, not the EPA is another factor. Honda abided by the EPA's guidelines. And the EPA is a federal agency. So, it shouldn't been tossed out from the start.