Hello everyone.

I am new in this forum and I just bought a new Honda fit (fun version. Mexican version lower than the lx) in gray diamond also not sold in the USA.

I have never driven manual before but I can only afford it at the moment. Never too late to learn.

I bought a fit because Gas prices in Mexico jut got so ridiculous expensive. An day of minimum wage gets you a little over a gallon of gas.

My question is: what tips and how to drive manual in order to get the most fuel economy in the city. My city has a lot of ups and downs so I can not stay at a specific speed.

Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Avoid flooring it and driving aggressively. Basically just keep the revs down.

 

Thanks. Any suggestions in what rpm should I change gears. I guess that would affect the most.

I am in city all the time. Do you think putting away the spare tire will improve mgp.?

 

The owner's manual tells you the recommended shift points.

 

I have been trying on mine but I am not sure when going up hills what is the most economical… I think keeping it in the largest gear to keep the RPM low yet not lugging the motor is the best. If possible speed up a little before the hill to try and carry momentum over it.

With MPG you can do a lot however. I think I will start to try some tricks just to see. Around town right now I got 37.9mpg my last fill. I bet I can get 45 around town and we are hilly.

I tried this on a motorcycle once and here is what I did:

I always accelerated slowly and if I were in traffic with lights I would try and time the lights. If I got stuck at a long light I would turn the bike off. Just don’t let it idle much (warmup etc).

Also be very conscious about using brakes. In general avoid them by driving more smoothly with less acceleration. When you start to do this you will really notice how people accelerate hard then brake hard at the next light or turn etc. It is eye opening actually.

Down hills are free so coast don’t accelerate.

On the motorcycle I went from around 45mpg to a best of 70mpg!



If you drive a lot of freeway there are some very cool techniques you can use also. You can for instance drive a little slower. driving 50mph in general, due to wind drag, is more economical than 60mph.

For the car don’t use a cargo rack or bike rack and make sure your tires are correctly inflated.

Good luck.

 

Regarding tire pressure, which is important for mpg, two separate people on different occasions at my dealer told me that my tires are fine until the TPMS light comes on. I told them that I thought the light came on when the pressure was significantly low, and that I should still check to keep it optimal. They both replied that Honda TPMS is pretty sensitive, and that I should go by that. I said ok and hope that's the case, but I'm still not entirely convinced - what do you guys think?

 

About 2000 below redline should be sufficient, but really as long as you aren't flooring it constantly the Fit will get great mpg. Yes, technically removing the spare tire would help as it is removing weight but not enough to where it would be noticeable. For every 100 lbs you remove you will gain about 1-2% in fuel economy.

 

Around 2k rpm gets good economy. Keep your tire pressure high. I keep mine at the sidewall rating, but I know folks who keep it higher. Whatever you set it at, check it yourself- by the time the light comes on you're way lower than you want to be.

And keep the speed down- the Fit is very unaerodynamic.

 

The 2015 Fit doesn't use TPMS sensors. As I understand it, it uses the ABS to look for a rotational speed difference you'd see if one tire was going low.