I am living in Brooklyn, NY. I bought Fit Sport in July, 2006. The total milages are 11300 now.

There are three major problems I feel so far.

1. MPG is low. I got around 200 miles per tank with 80% in the city.

2. Engine is loud. Everyday in the morning when I start the engine at the first time, the sound from the engine is loud, and the rpm goes to 2K. I also find that the green cold engine light is always on no matter it's summer or winter in the morning. It doesn't turn off until the engine has run for 2 minutes. Moreover, I think the engine is really a low-power one. Everytime I start from a full stop, the rpm has to go above 2.5k to get enough power to run, and it's loud too.

3. the ride is very bumpy and rough. Although the technician told me last time that's normal for the small car, I think the bumpy ride is really annoying. The circuit under the dash board is already loose by that. Noise is coming out from there when driving. Is there any way to make the ride softer??? Change springs and suspensions???

I really want to trade-in my Fit and get a strong one since the road condition in New York City is really bad enough.

 

everything you said is normal. *shrugs* unless your last car was a caddilac or something CLAM DOWN!

low gas mileage?!?!?!?!?!! if you're only doing city driving, that's why! only a "hybrid" car gets ok city gas mileage. what model do you have? the AT gets MUCH worse gas mileage than the fit.

if you think the fit is loud, you have EPIC hearing. i have a muffler on my fit and i find it hard to hear LOL.


have you driven a car in the cold before? the RPM is a bit higher on startup. lol especially in cold weather.

the ride is bumpy because it's a freakin small car. and depends GREATLY on the terrain you are driving on.

 

I drive ALOT of city driving also and my car has only 600 miles on it. Got 30 mpg on my 1st tank and 32 on my second.


Do you redline it in every gear, because 20mpg is HORRIBLE. All I have to say is getting a different car isn't going to help you get better gas mileage. Changing your driving habits will. As far as motor noise and bumpy ride I cant comment since my car is so new I have no rattles. The ride isnt bad for me but I came from a lowered 2007 civic si which roude rough stock compared to most cars.

I have a hard time telling if my car is started unless I look at the tach. What cars did you have in the past that were more quiet?

 

completely agree with this. youve got to be riding the gears out to redline to get 20mpg

 

It sounds like you need to trade your Fit in for a 08 Accord Sedan v6.
Everything you said was normal.
No i dont think you can make the suspension "softer", at least ive never heard of it.

Tyler

 

but what about his gas mileage??!?! it'd be possibly worse with the accord.

 

You cant get the best of both worlds lol. I would say get the 4cyl Accord, but it seems like he has a problem with engines that rev over 3k under normal accleration, almost all 4cyls do.

Tyler

 

LOL that's true

 

you bought a wrong car in the first place. omg.

 

Well your from the city, and the roads there are shitty, so any car unless its a big boat and it floats over bumps you're going to have a harsh ride

 

Miles per tank doesn't tell us much... we don't know how low you run it. The AT's don't get great mileage (and that's VERY well documented). I drive pretty agressively (in Atlanta traffic) and still get upper 20's in the city. My friend has an AT and gets around 24MPG... that's around 230 miles per tank if you run it pretty low.

ALL engines do this.
That light is there to tell you the ENGINE is still cold (<200F.. or something like that), not that it's cold outside.
You purchased a $15k econo car with one of the highest MPG ratings on the market... what did you expect?

In theory, yes, but there are no products on the market to do this (yet).

Maybe consider a Civic... it has a softer suspension, a little more power and a lot more sound insulation. Or, possibly, a Versa. I haven't driven one, but it's a little bigger, heavier, and more powerfull. Anything you trade the Fit for (other than a hybrid) will get worse MPG... more weight, or more power will require more gas... there are no magic solutions and Honda generally does a better job than most. You're also going to lose a few $k trading it.

 

Don't consider a Versa. The Versa might fit more room than a Fit, but the engine needs to be constantly revved up at higher RPMs to have power to do pretty much everything. Buying a Civic is a better idea if you still want good gas mileage.

 

MPG is a useless figure if your always siting in NY traffic. sitting idling for an hour puttng on no mileage still burns up some fuel.

 

Thank you for everyone's comment!

The Fit I have is Fit Sport AT.

For my driving habit, the RPM usually goes to 3K-3.5K when the car starts to run. And it stays 2K-2.5K while changing gears from 2nd to 4th. The RPM drops down to 1.5K with a constant speed at 40MPH, and 2K at 50MPH. I seldom let the RPM go above 4.5K.

For the green cold engine light, I don't know whether it's normal or not. It's always on when engine starts from a long parking period, such as 6 hours' parking. Do I have to wait until it's off??? Or the car can just run regardless the light. I feel so strange that it happens in Summer with 70 degrees temperature.

For bumpy and rough ride, I compare to my 92 Toyota Corolla. I feel it's softer. I was told by the technician that the car was designed to let the driver feel the ground. That's why I can feel every bump. But I also feel that the bumpy ride causes the circuit and the equipment inside the car falling apart. Now when the car stop with transmission at D, I can feel the vibration of the steering wheel. But it will calm down at N.

 

From what I read, Fit AT get worst gas mileage than the MT. It's best to try and shift low RPM's to keep good gas mileage.

It's normal to see the cold engine light on when you start the car. You don't need to wait for the light to go off. All you need to do is drive at a slow steady pace for a short bit till the motor warms up and shift at low RPM's. The cold temp. light would go off in less than 10 min. of that type of driving.

 

Trade your Fit in for an 09 model. That should solve most of your problems

 

oh ok so it is an automatic...
ppl bring in their fits alot for oil changes but then like to throw in " oh this makes a noise" "gas mileage is sucking"

to put it simply......ITS A FREAKING CAR!!!! A 15000 DOLLAR CAR!!! IT WAS MEANT TO GET U FROM POINT A TO POINT B NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS!!! IF THE RIDE IS BUMPY THEN COMPLAIN TO THE CITY THAT YOUR ROADS SUCK!!! IF GAS MILEAGE SUCKS THEN U SHOULDNT GET AN AUTOMATIC OR SHOULD DRIVE MORE CONSERVATIVELY!!!

im not trying to be an ass but ppl forget that this is a car its not a home that ur going to be sleeping in or taking a shower or going to the bathroom in. most ppl dont even spend more than an hour in their car a day. if u want to be comfortable, put up with the hour or so of "rough" driving then go home and relax where things are supposed to be comforatable

Happy Driving!

 

Very true lol

 

All good automatic cause vibration at a complete stop in D. It means you have a good relatively tight, efficient torque converter. Only american built and german cars don't wanna pull at idle in "D". Germans have electronic clutch releases. Americans have sloppy inneficient torque converters.

For gas mileage. accelerate more gently. and stop getting caught in bumper to bumper traffic.

 

The cold light is normal. That should be water temp. (You think the coolant should be ~190F in the summer morning?)

The bumpy ride -- that's how it was designed. It's a little too sporty for many people, Honda has said. Many of us around here like it. It rides like a cloud compared to my other sports car. But it's not a heavy cruiser.

200 miles per tank, that's about ~23 mpg @ 8.7 gallons per tank.
(1) check that you don't have the a/c on (which also includes the last 2 settings on the dial, even though the a/c light does not come on!!)
(2) be sure to use lowest 87 octane.
(3) check the pressure in the tires, but that's gonna make the ride even more firm.