If this is your first car, then you probably have no experience with the concept of driving for fuel efficiency, which can be quite different than driving to get from point A to point B. If you are serious about learning how to improve your mpg, listen to what some of the posters are saying here, or better yet check out fuelly.com, cleanmpg.com or ecomodder.com.

 

And that's how they optimize it. They don't build cars for everyday use, they build cars for the performance benchmarks. When they over-optimize for the EPA test and cherry-pick their test results, that's they end up giving out gas cards.

Honda does a good job of designing cars properly and not focusing too much on the EPA test. If conditions are good and you do the right things, you can smoke the EPA ratings.

 

Not one of my cars have gotten the posted MPG rating (Recent cars, not before the new EPA formula) on the sticker. Not one. They drive a certain way, and we drive our way which will be different in most cases, and keep in mind the Cold/Heat/Stop Lights/Mileage-Short or Long/Traffic, and the list goes on.

I drive a short distance (1/2 mile one way 5 times a week) and I get 22 MPG. When I drive further on occasion, I may get 25/27 MPG. It just depends. That's in the cooler months. It will be different in Summer.

2015 Fit
2013 Civic

 

Last I read the MPG city test is 11 miles in 30 min, with max speeds of over 50mph (LOL)
Detailed Test Information

I commute in SF in the evening/early morning where traffic is lighter, go 6 miles in 30 min with roughly twice the amount of stops as that graph, and I get 26-28 mpg consistently. If I take the freeway home with no traffic it'll go up to 30-32. If I drove in Manhattan in the daytime in the busy areas I'd expect to get 24 or even lower.

Nothing wrong with your car