Hi folks,
I noticed that if I'm cruising at 90 km/hr (55 mph) and above, the eco colour indicator around the speedometer is rarely ever green.

I would expect it to be green since the engine is not revving at high rpms. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting.

Does your Fit indicate green at 90-100 kmh? What is your experience?

 

My econ button is always on (someday I'll try a tank with it off) and I do almost all highway miles 60-70mph. The light is generally only green when I am going down a hill (even a small one).

As I understand it that econ button really just messes with your acceleration and stuff like your a/c and other non-engine related things that might suck away power. So when you're on the highway and you are at your cruising speed the econ button doesn't really do much. It does affect how you get to that cruising speed and it would also impact your a/c (if you were using it). But once at cruising speed it won't impact the light much.

 

Thanks Evesowne. Your explanation makes a lot of sense. I thought it was related to current fuel economy/consumption vis-a-vis distance traveled or current speed.

If I'm going down a hill, even as small grade, mine is also green. On flat or on slight ascend, rarely green. Yours?

 

At best its that transitional blue-green when on a flat road at highway speeds. Though often just blue.

I do still manage 40-45 mpg on my trips to and from work. Heck, I hit 46 when I was almost home one day... then I got stopped at a couple lights and it dropped to 45.3. Stop and go traffic or red lights are far more harmful to my mpg than a steady 60-70 mph trip no matter what the light says.

 

Thanks. Just the comparative info I was looking for. Happy my Fit is not misbehaving with its indicating "coloured brackets"

 

It seems to go green when the instant mpg indicator hits the midway mark, or 45mpg.

 

Thanks FitFolksinger, I'll check this on mine.

 

I've only seen the eco-crutch indicator green at hiway speeds with a strong tailwind.

 

Thanks for the feedback

 

I took my wife's LX CVT from home (southeast of Pittsburgh, PA) to southern Michigan this past weekend. Filled up nine miles from home, then took the "scenic" route (bit of interstate, but mostly 45-50 mph two lane roads, with hills, curves, lights, and stop signs). This is about a 340 mile drive. I had a lot of green showing on the indicator on the way up, as there was light traffic and I used a gentle throttle foot. When I arrived (no local driving), I filled up again, and calculated 46.0 mpg. I don't stuff the tank; I let it click off and pull the nozzle from the car.

On the way back (and I did not do any local driving; I was using another vehicle there), I took the turnpikes. Being early Sunday morning, I set the cruise control at 71 mph as verified by my GPS and encountered no delays or construction. This trip was just a bit over 300 miles; filled up as soon as I exited the turnpike in PA. 35.8 mpg. I rarely saw green on the indicator while on the turnpikes, unless I was moving downhill.

The car looks to be very aerodynamic, particularly with the underbody cladding, so I was a bit surprised at the disparity.

 

I'm assuming that at 70mph, we've left the sweet spot as the engine revs higher and no longer purrs as it does at say 50mph.

 

My limited experience has me believing the sweet spot ends just under 65mph

 

The engine load increases as factor of wind resistance and that seems about right.

 

If I had a new Fit I would just paint that part of display black. A rather useless feature.

 

I can cruse on the highway at normal speeds with the green on for quite a bit. You just have to get up to speed and tuck in behind someone best way to work it. I've found that my car's sweet spot is right around 65 mph.

 

Agree - I can fairly easily hit 38-42 mpg at 55-60, but it drops quickly over 65. Especially if there's a wind blowing (other than tailwind). Drop to 45 mph, and it really makes a difference.

es

 

I also note that I have made that exact trip to and from Michigan many times with a previous car, which was a 2001 Toyota Echo. On the "scenic" route, I achieved an identical 46 mpg, but on the turnpikes, I consistently achieved 40 to 41 mpg. At that time, the speed limit was 65 rather than 70, so I set the cruise control (aftermarket) to 68 or 69.

That car had a five-speed manual transmission and weighed around 2000 pounds, but of course had no underbody cladding, so I doubt it was as aerodynamic as the Fit.

 

So on one of my last fill up i reset the TRIP A odometer to see what I would average on the highway. I got up to 65 and turned on the cruise control and ECO. Got 62 MPG on my 8 mile drive to work which included getting going through a little bit of city from the GAS station to the highway. Very impressive.