i'm one of the not-so-proud owners of low mpg fits. my dealership tells me to take it up with honda manufacturing, then honda gives me the runaround.

for a while, i was convinced that it was my driving habits (light footed acceleration, shifting between 3-3.5 rpm || 70/30 city/hwy) and where i lived (san fernando valley, approximately 250-1500 ft. above sea level) but that can't be the cause of my 22-27 avg...

there's nearly 3.5k on my odometer, and i've read that after engine break-in and the first oil change it's supposed to get better; however, i read these miracle stories of people getting 35+ mpg off the lot.

jeez, if i knew i was going to get less than 30mpg i would've kept my alltrac.

C_O

 

My Fit has approx 3500 miles on the clock and my mileage has been all over the charts. Someone posted here earlier that due to the Fit's fuel tank location and the resultant long horizontal fill line, it can be difficult to fill the tank completely if the car's nose is not lower than the rear.

The station where I regularly fill up has a slight grade to the pump area. If I fill the tank with the car's nose pointed down the grade, I can get an additional 70+ mile range out of each tank.

My latest fill-up with mixed driving and shifting at 3000 RPM or less, netted 370.1 miles and 38.5 MPG. That's the kind of mileage I anticipated when I bought the car.

I'm grateful for the previous poster solving the erratic fuel economy mystery!

 

After 20 fillups I have came to some conclusions. First some statistics. We got the car June 13, 2007 and we filled it up the first time on June 17. At that time it took 9.871 gallons and netted us a mpg of 37.3.

After logging 8424.8 miles the car is averaging 37.3 mpg. My lowest mpg was 34.8 (the second fillup) and my highest was 39.1.

I drive 70 to 80 with bursts up to 85 or 90 sometimes. AC on most of the time. Most of these miles were put on it commuting back & forth to work (70 miles a day).

Great car for mileage and cruising!

 

I feel w/ you guys that are getting really low mileage. The fact that it's unexplainable and Honda won't acknowledge it sucks.

My mileage has been pretty much "as rated." With normal highway driving I average between 36 and 39 mpg -- average highway speed between 70 and 75. I drive quick but real aggressively. I've got a 5sp base Fit and the A/C is almost always on. Tires are inflated to 40psi.

With mixed around town and highway mileage I get between 32 and 34 mpg.

I'm at 4500 miles now -- ready for the first oil change. I'm gonna run Amsoil Ea oil filters with RLI oil for 15-20k oil change intervals. I'll be posting my initial and subsequent oil analysis results on BITOG.com

regards,
Dave

 

If you seriously wanted to show high numbers, warm up the car first, fill up the tank preferably near the freeway entrance, drive with the cruise control about 30-60 miles @ 60mph, no more than 65, fill up the tank, and you'll see. It'll get the high mileage, but damn is it boring. I would gladly pour down more ounces of fuel to hear the engine roar.

My old '96 EX Accord can pull 35-37mpg doing that 60mph trick. But with my regular mixed driving, spirited, I pull in 17-20mpg consistently.

 

I just recorded my first tank on my new 5 speed Fit. Unfortunately for me I spend 3/4 of this tank without the A/C Defrost modification complete so a great deal of my driving was with the A/C on. I also had the car idling for about 15m in a friends driveway.

Total results for the first tank was 7.69 L/100km or 30.59 US MPG. I'm a little disappointed since people on here are rocking 35-40mpg. I drove the car very conservatively, hit 5th gear for most city driving above 35mph and plenty of coasting down hills and whatnot. No rocket starts either just nice and steady going. The breakdown was probably 70% city 30% highway but city driving here isn't massive traffic its just street lights and 40mph speeds.

I'm wondering how many tanks of recorded mileage at 30 I need before I start to wonder about the efficiency? I'm going to double check the air pressure on the tires and call the dealer to see if the Idle Learn Procedure was done on my car when they PDI'd it.

Any thoughts?

 

AC defrost mod? Care to point me to the link please?

 

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...ing#post108654

:P

 

Very nice, thanks!

 

I don't think anybody should be posting their first tank. Drive it down and then fill it up. And also, I don' t think any car would be efficient in city driving or fast freeway. Honda's are worse on the freeways compared to most Toyota's. Toyota's on the freeway have lower rpms. I'm talking about 65mph. Toyota's are between 2200 - 2600, honda's go and hug 3000. Plus the way people drive on the freeway and all roads shows that nobody will get close to any reasonable mileage. I'm always on the boulevard coasting at a constant speed because the lights synchronize, everybody else always cuts me off speeding, and ends up having to hit the brakes. Everybody is gas, brake, honk. Everybody is in a rush for some reason. When was the last time you saw people driving at 65mph? If you can find a long stretch of road, drive 35-60mph, lower being the better. Keep the cruise on, and report your mileage. Keep in mind that a small engine has to pull harder than a larger one, resulting in bad mileage.

 

You are shifting to 5th at 35? You are lugging the hell out of your engine...don't do that, its hard on the motor and will make your gas mileage worse (there is no power under 2k rpm, you end up giving it more gas and making it work harder). Try not shifting to 5th until you are at atleast 45 mph, you should see your city mpg increase.

 

I shift to 5th at 40mph, but once if I happen to slow and it gets to 35mph then i downshift to 4th. Seems like enough power to me. I rarely go below 2000rpm.

 

I'm psyched! My fit is rocking! I filled her up last night and after 55mph/65 mph highway cruising* she got 43 mpg! Wow! I've gotten 42 several times before but this is a first. Man this car is awesome!


*I think that the IL speed limits are just plain weird but they are good for the gas mileage and so I follow them and I don't let it bother me.

 

I agree with your statment about not posting the mileage on your first tank, but in my case, the first tank average is incredibly close to the total average. My first tank averaged 36.44 MPG. Now, after 12 fill-ups, I am averaging 36.42 MPG--a difference of 2/100ths of a mile per gallon!

I feel bad for the Fit owners (especially the M/T's) who are not getting the mileage they expected, and I'm sure that most of them have legitimate complaints. However, I'm constantly amazed at how many cars I see on the road, wherein the drivers are in such a hurry to get to the next light, just to sit there and wait for it to change to green. Is it any wonder they are getting bad mileage. With a little planning, and without any vehicles behind you, in your lane, you can keep you foot off of the brake, and coast up to the signal, without having to come to a stop. Of course, this does not work in rush hour, but otherwise, if you practice it, you brakes will last longer, you'll spend less time idling, and you mileage will improve. Works for me

 

I know what people are saying about not measuring your first tank of gas and whatnot, but I fail to see what can mechanically happen to an engine such that its fuel efficiency can increase from 30mpg to greater than 36mpg. We're talking a 17 to 20% increase in fuel economy and that seems somewhat unlikely no matter what the break in might yield.

I stop my fill when the nozzle clicks off and my odometer is showing around 250km (155miles) at the halfway mark. My gas light is coming on at approximately 415-430km (257-267miles). To get to the advertised 6.4L/100km (36.75mpg) rating I will need to see another 75-80km per tank before that light comes on. I'm already driving it pretty lightly with no A/C on etc. Obviously Im not going to worry about it until I record ten or so tanks but Im certainly weary of a 20% less than spec discrepancy with fuel efficiency.

Time will tell, I love my car I just wish it was phenomenally better than my RSX in fuel economy (it got 9L/100km and Im sitting at 7.69/100km).

 

First tanks are nothing to go by because you don't know how full or empty the tank is. In my opinion, MT drivers suffer more because of the higher revs required to shift, especially going uphill. Weather plays a big role as well, cold weather will kill your mileage, warmer weather will be favorable. Lots of starts will also hurt.

 

Picked up my 08 5M Sport on Saturday at a dealership almost 50 miles from my house. Since I kept my "trade in" I had to go home to get my wife, return for the car, and then go back home again. That 150 miles netted me 30.4 mpg in a stop-n-go / highway mix. Sunday, I drove the car a little over 300 miles to a conference in to a 20mph headwind, and recorded 32.6 mpg. Coming home by a different route with a 30mph cross wind, I got 34.5 mpg, with about 40 miles of city driving on that tank while at the conference. My fuel light comes on just below 300 miles also. Highway speeds were always in the 70-75 mph range, and the A/C was almost always on. I don't really expect to see 40, but upper 30's would be really nice on a semi-regular basis.

 

Have completed three tanks of gas thus far on the Fit. Tank 1 which I topped up from the dealer was 7.69L/100km. I did the AC trick and my second tank came down to 7.39L/100km. I switched it up to supreme gas for tank 3 and Im down to 7.07L/100km so its getting better at least.

 

33.6 mpg average so far. It seems to be getting better over time, too. If I just count the last 5 fill-ups, it's 35.3 average.

 

Just over 11,300 Miles, overall mpg average is 37.3. (5mt sport, drive it normally, coast sometime, sometimes get on it, shift at 4K. In commute traffic I'll shift to 5th at 30 to 40 mpg and let it drop down to 15 or 20 before I go to 3rd.