I just bought a 2011 automatic Honda fit with 11k on it and I'm happy with it. It's very responsive on the city. But just curious one thing I notice when on the freeway going 80mph,the rpm is at 3000. Is that bad thing? or lessening the life of the engine? I would think 2500 is normal but that is when I go 65ish.

Do you guys use the fit on the highway or primary the city? How far is pushing the rpm to where it's harmful to the engine? How many miles can these Fit last? This is actually my first honda, coming from a toyota camry.

Thanks for the help

 

I have a GD3 and don't put it over 3500 RPM's, I try and stay under VTEC as much as possible.

 

oh george, don't mess with the new guys.

new guy: it's a small engine that needs RPMs to develop power. It's also a Honda and built for it.

What george is alluding to is the vtec feature doesn't even kick in until high RPM (5,400 in GEs, the 2nd generation).

Rev it to your heart's content. and welcome to the forums.

 

+1 don't be worried about damaging the engine OP no reason to be paranoid

If you were driving around hitting the Rev Limiter all the time you would have a greater chance of damaging something but not just driving around at 3500 RPM

 

Normal operation. This is obviously your first small engined car. It's always people downsizing to a small car that get freaked out about reving these small engines. It's fine, it's designed for it.
How long will it last? Up to you. Maintain it properly by following manufacturer service intervals and no reason you can't drive it for 200,000 +.

 

I commute to work @ 4000 RPM for 45 minutes three days a week

The other two days are at 1000 RPM idling in traffic for an hour

Don't worry about it, it's designed to do that. The M/T cruising RPM is even higher than the A/T.

 

3K rpm at highway is OK. If you had bought a manual, it would be like 4K rpm, so don't worry about the "high rpm". In fact, at highway speed, if you want to pass a vehicle and push down on the throttle, Fit will kick down to 4th gear and REALLY start making noise, but that's fine too. The 4th gear ratio in auto is almost comparable to 5th gear in manual.

 

my 2013 5mt is around 3500rpm at around 65-70mph, sure it's not a quiet car but is there really a quiet Honda?

to pass someone I usually downshift to 4th and let the vtec rip haha

 

The body will dissolve into rust before the engine gives out. Drive it like you stole it.

 

I had the same concern with my '13 Sport MT, and for same reason Moniz pointed out - coming from a 6sp V6 sedan that lopped along at 2000 RPMs at 65 MPH. I've gotten used to it and love the power on tap, w/o having to even down shift sometimes!

 

yah, the mpg guage drops significantly above 65mph on my MT due to high rpm.

 

I suspect it drops more due to increased air resistance than due to increased RPM. Air resistance is a complicated phenomenon to model exactly, but it increases exponentially with velocity (specifically, with the cube of velocity)—doubling one's speed increases air resistance by eight times. The air resistance at 80 MPH is about double what it is at 65 MPH. At highish speeds, the majority of the engine's power is used to push air out of the way.

That's not to say that I disagree with the Fit being geared for high rpms, nor that I don't sometimes think there ought to be another gear above 5th, just that changing the gearing wouldn't make a vast difference in the milage at 75mph.

 

I averaged a speed of over 80mph and averaged 28mpg on my trip to wisconsin the other day from fort hood texas.


Highly recommend you buy spark plugs for an 01-04?? Honda S2000 (2.0 liter model, not newer 2.2) and run 93 octane

Made great gas mileage!!

Rpms were over 3500rpm 95% of the trip

 

That's not great mileage at all.

In fact, that's bad mileage.

 

Its perfectly fine gas mileage for driving 1200 miles or so in less then 17 hours and having 45 minute spurts of 95mph

last time I made the trip, I was 100% stock and followed speed limits to the T and averaged 35mpg or so.


You forget/dont realize up til northern arkansas, speed limit is 75mph

EDIT plus, this time, Im 250 pounds +/- a bit, and I had about 300 pounds of tools, parts, clothing, electronics, car audio in there

 

Something still seems weird.

<-Got 38-42 in a stock '12 5MT, 4 people totaling <600 lbs, a dog, luggage from WI to CO in 17/18 hours.

 

Part of it might be my setup though. Colder plugs, short ram intake with no heatshield, one pound heavier tires that are slightly taller.

Also, I am over 20k miles. Im planning on getting an alignment, wheels re balanced, new tranny fluid, and its coming up on another oil change.


I shall see what it gets on the way back to forthood, Im hoping for 30+



I did have to drive for 200 miles on 87 octane in place of my usual 93, norhtern states dont have very many 93 octane offerings! I should have been running 91 prior to this trip.


La Crosse only has one station to my knowledge, Mobil on Jackson street

 

Excellent response! The Fit's tall roofline and huge air brake windshield are a bit much for the L15 to overcome. The low gearing makes up for that lack of oomph. Though I do think it gets to 100+ fast enough for what it is and doesn't feel like it's coming apart doing it and is stable enough.

Not getting in octane debate though I have an opinion.