When I am exiting the freeway, and take my foot off the gas, or turn off the cruise control, I notice that my car doesn't seem to coast for very long. It seems there is something that is slowing it down much faster than I would think it should.

I have a 2012 Sport with a little over 18K miles. My last car seemed to go forever when I would do this. There is a spot on my way to work that goes from 60 to 45mph and I usually coast down to 45. In my last car it took much longer to get to that 45mph than in my Fit.

Does this happen to anyone else? Is it mormal? I get great milage. So I don't think the E brake is stuck on or anything dumb like that. I'm guessing that it is just the way the transmission works or something.

Any thoughts?

 

Wind resistance / weather.
Tire pressure (made difference for me).

Great to hypermile if address the tire issue.

 

I noticed the same thing moving from a ’91 Accord to my ’09 Fit, and I’d say that it’s normal operation. Part of the difference might be that the Fit is a very light car and so hasn’t as much kinetic energy as heavier cars. As well, the Fit is not a very aerodynamic car, and so you’re probably losing a bit more energy to wind resistance than on your previous car. Mine’s an MT and so I can easily coast in neutral, taking the drivetrain out of the equation, and when I do so I get the same result. Hills that I would gain speed coasting down in my Accord I lose speed coasting down in my Fit. As a benefit of the Fit’s light weight, however, I find it gets much better mileage in the city than my Accord did. On the highway, however, I think that the Accord was a bit better in terms of mpgs.

 

There's a couple of reasons.
1. The Fit is fairly lightweight and not very aerodynamic and air resistance slows it much quicker than most cars.
2. The manual transmission has higher gear ratios which aldo tend to slow the Fit more quickly.

 

Yep to the above, but, if you have an auto and at low speeds (40mph) you can go FOREVER on a flat road! The low-friction, small-displacement drivetrain really shows :P ... I often fetch up to the back of big SUVs that were previously going faster than me, even without throttle.

But on the highway, yes, it loses speed fairly quick. It's like a streamlined brick and the aerodynamics match that.

 

According to Car & Driver Magazine, the Fit's top speed is 115 mph, drag-limited. Aerodynamics keep the Fit from going any faster, even though there's RPMs to spare before it reaches redline. Yeah, it's a brick. A lightweight brick.

 

If you have a manual transmission engine compression braking helps the car slow down. As mentioned putting the transmission in neutral will allow it to coast further/longer.

Clifton

 

but you wont have engine braking if you do that

 

You don't need engine braking if your coasting

 

whatever .

 

Lol what? Its true. You want to coast as long as possible to increase mpg's engine breaking isn't gonna help.

 

it will if you need to stop

 

brakes

 

yes because they are so amazing without the gearbox