I watched a video about taking better care of your car. One recommendation was to avoid using the ECON Mode. It supposedly interferes with the smooth operation of the engine and CVT. It can cause the engine to lug - run at too low an RPM - and increase wear on the CVT. I'm switching it off for a while, and I'll see if there is a dramatic change in MPG. A friend bought a used 2020 Fit, and she switched off the ECON Mode after a few miles. I noticed slightly reduced performance when driving my son's car compared with my 2015 with ECON selected.

Another No-No is using the shift paddles - not good for the CVT. As I said, this was from a YouTube video, so flip a coin.

 

So ECON blunts throttle response and decreases the amount of power available to the A/C.

And this is supposed to be bad for the engine and CVT?

I had ECON on pretty much from the day I bought it. Never noticed lugging or any CVT issues.

The car was totaled at 117K. You'd think that if there were a problem, it would have surfaced by then. I don't buy it.

 

This was advice from YouTube, so take it with a grain of salt. I know of two people who prefer to drive in regular mode. The car is definitely more responsive when not in Econ.

 

I don't use econ mode at all. I've had a couple of cars now with this "feature" and I never noticed much difference. Fuel economy is good as is. Seems more of an advertising gimmick than anything substantial.

 

Econ mode is helpful for folks who want to be more efficient but don't want to engage their brain in driving or don't have good right foot control. If you are already an efficient driver and do all the recommended things (e.g., avoid jackrabbit starts, slamming on the brakes, speeding, etc) Econ mode won't improve your efficiency because you're already doing all the things it tries to help you do.

Regardless of how useful Econ mode is, I am very doubtful that it is bad for the car and frankly don't see how it could be. Also not sure how you lug the engine in a CVT car. You don't have fixed gears so there's no way to force the car to hold a potentially problematic gear ratio. And, to beat a dead horse, I'm not sure how the flappy paddles are bad for the transmission in a Fit. The computer won't let the transmission do things that are bad for it. In other words, the shift paddles make suggestions but the ECU decides whether your request is OK.

I can find Youtube videos that tell me the Earth is flat, we never went to the moon, January 6 was a peaceful protest of love, and on and on. There have never been more charlatans, con men, and fools in the world, and modern tech unfortunately allows far too many of them to reach a wide audience.

 

Like bargainguy, I ran econ mode most of the time as my fit was a commuter car. 114k miles before it was totaled and still routinely got mid to high 30s mpg. My best tank ever was 47.848

In the summer I would turn off econ mode though. AC seemed to really cause the fit to be sluggish in stop and go traffic.

 

But there are also people on YouTube who know what they're talking about.

"Honda ECON mode problems often include sluggish acceleration, reduced air conditioning effectiveness, and sometimes even lower fuel efficiency in specific driving scenarios, such as highway merging or hilly terrain. While designed to save fuel, it can lead to frustrating, underpowered performance and may increase strain on certain components, such as the engine and transmission, if left on continuously."

 

Just curious as to why a manual transmission Fit wasn't given the ECON mode option.

 

That would make it an automatic manual transmission. 😁

 

Sure, but since anyone can say anything, anywhere, you (i.e., the consumer) has to be able to sift the wheat from the chaff.

Those aren't problems, at least according to Honda, as they are literally the desired features of ECON mode -- reducing acceleration and limiting the air conditioner to reduce load. As for reduced efficiency, I'm going to call baloney on that. The car is the car, all ECON mode does is try to make Vin Diesel drive a bit more like my dear departed grandma. If you floor the car in ECON mode you're going to get poor efficiency, same as when you floor the accelerator with ECON off or in a car without drive modes.

Again, the "underpowered performance" is the whole point of ECON mode. If it's frustrating don't use ECON mode. As I said previously, I don't see how there can be increased strain on the drivetrain as the ECU controls what the engine and transmission are doing.

Question: does your CVT have a manual mode? If so, drive steady at 25 mph in manual mode and use the paddle shifters to shift up to the highest "gear." What happens? Does the computer let you do it? I have never driven a CVT, Fit or otherwise, but I'm guessing it won't, precisely because that would be lugging the engine.

 

Guess manual transmission Fits are built with ECON Mode. No need for an ECON Mode select button.