I have coasted downhill in neutral in several cars, both auto and manual, with the engine shut off. I no longer do that, though. It just isn't safe, and I doubt that it makes much of a difference. Leave it in gear, and take your foot off the gas.

 

There's a time and a place for everything, and doing something when it's not safe... isn't safe. There are plenty of times and places where it's no less safe than anything else.

If the Fit were a lot more aerodynamic I could see the speed getting high, but that's what braking is for- engine or otherwise. I've got one regular hill that's steep enough for me to take in fourth gear.

 

Every day I used to drive up a one-mile hill. Great coming down! The road going down the other side was two-miles long - lots of coasting either way I went, but I always keep it in gear now.

 

To answer your question directly, not taking into concern the valid points mentioned above, you will definitely get better fuel efficiency coasting in neutral than coasting in gear. Coasting in neutral will allow you to maintain or even increase your speed downhill while coasting in gear will cause a slowdown in speed (except on the steepest of hills), resulting in multiple "back on the accelerator" episodes. You should be able to coast in neutral 2-4 times the distance you can coast in gear, which more than offsets the time you're actually coasting in DFCO (deceleration Fuel Cutoff). With that said, I don't neutral coast on freeways but I will neutral coast to stop signs, stop lights, on residential streets, etc.

 

Ive only been getting 30mpg at best. Ive had the car for 1.5months and have 700miles on it. Driving mostly city and small trips. How are you guys getting so many mpgs? What am i doing wrong? I live in seattle wa and temps are highs in 60s and lows in high 30s

 

Turning the engine off is especially unsafe with electric power steering. I assume you can't steer at all when it's off???

 

The cars I'm referring to were small and light, from 1962 and 1987. No P/S on the '62.

 

Pissed me off too. One of a number of reasons I won't go back to that dealer. When I had my bumper recall done, they said they ordered the parts and would call me when they came in. I got the call, took the car in, and then they called and said they had to verify which bumper parts were needed and order them, since 2015 Fits are all different....I said Fits are the same, and demanded to know what they did with the parts they ordered, but now seem to not have. It took a call to Honda to get them to caugh up the parts and do the recall. They had them all along.

 

Too bad. The two dealers I have available are both pretty good, although I avoid them as much as possible.

 

Did you seriously expect the dealer to do anything about it anyway? C'mon man

 

If you're driving in city traffic with many stop lights and only taking short trips, chances are you are doing little wrong. Those driving conditions are not conducive to high MPGs. With that said, be easier on the accelerator, coast to stop signs and stop lights and slow down on the freeway. Our freeway speeds are 55mph and I try to keep my speeds between 50-55. It makes a huge difference vs. driving 60, 65 or 70. My commute is 50miles round trip and my mpg increases the entire time, so unless you drive for longer distances, it will be difficult to see the higher mpg #'s. Watch your MPG meter on the dash and you will eventually learn the techniques that improve your efficiency. You will not instantly get the high numbers you are looking for, there is a learning curve to driving for efficiency, and you must be patient. But keep at it and you will see improvement. Good luck!

 

When I drove into town this morning, I averaged 50.5 mpg. Coming home, it was more uphill, and it was mid 40's.

 

Second tank of gas and I'm averaging around 39.2 mpg

 

Nice Silver! Dang temps dropped back down into the 30's with a little snow on Saturday and MPGs are suffering because of it. We really need spring/summer to show up soon.

 

Not bad at all, work just a little bit harder and you'll be seeing the 40's real soon.

 

This is actually what electric power steering was designed for: it doesn't require the engine to be running to provide power assist. And how specifically is it unsafe? Hybrids would look awfully silly if they had to crank the engine every time someone moveded the steering wheel!

Unlike engine driven assist, the steering feel doesn't change a bit because the PS pump doesen't know or even care if the engine is on or off. It's so much more pleasant than the old systems.

 

I expect a dealer not to run down their own product. Besides, Honda CAN do something about it. They had the same problem with the '09 Fits. Put out a computer upgrade, and it fixed it.

 

Yes Honda can do something, but that's on Honda, not the dealership. There's not much the dealer can really do other than tell Honda about the issue and hope they do something.

Maybe I would expect the dealer to do THAT, but then again I am sure it would be low on the priority list for their engineers.

Also how do you know that's what will fix the problem?

 

My mpg hasn't been exact but its been getting closer and closer with every fill up. I think if the weather ever does stay above 70 for a week at a time that I might nearly have the computer's estimate meet reality. Yep...I am suggesting the temp has something to do with it

 

Yep, the temp has something to do with gas mileage, but not with the correlation between the car's computer. Stop pumping as soon as the pump clicks off.