My friend gets between 32 and 39.5 in hers, but she's got a heavy foot and highway speeds are 75-ish. If you keep to slow acceleration, early shifting, and low top speeds (55-ish), you can definitely squeeze out something well into the 40's. Another friend of mine had a standard 5-speed Civic DX from maybe 1995, and was getting roughly 47 mpg out of it by shifting ridiculously early. Might not seem like the best idea, but it kept the RPM down. The Fit really needs a 6th gear...

 

Hi there

I have about a 5 mile level stretch near my house and I did some steady state last week to see if I could determine the best combination of speed and mileage. This is a 2012 Base Fit MT with 50 psi in the tires, CC locked on to GPS speeds and no coasting or hypermiling techniques. The mileage was reset and then stopped within a foot or two of the same spot each time.

At 40 mph, the mileage was 57 mpg, at 50mph the mileage was 47 mpg and at 60 mph, the mileage was 40 mpg.

I just bought one of those accurate tire gauges and plan on checking the mileage over the same route for tire pressures this week - probably at 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 psi.

I'm a pretty conservative driver and so far have averaged well over 40 mpg on every fillup.

 

off topic: is there a way to adjust the "HIGH RPM" of the manual transmission Fit?
At 60 mph it hits 3,000 rpm isn't it high?

 

Hondas have always been high revving engines... The 250cc Helix motor scooter will run wide open at 13000 RPM all day with out hurting it... I've never did more a couple of 200 mile round trips on mine doing it like that but a guy that did the Iron Butt Rally came in at 6th place on one... These little cars are the same way, they just like to rev high...

 

Well, I'm afraid I'm not believing some of the high 40's mpg claims. Around town I get a consistent 32 mpg, which I'm very pleased with since my last car got only 25 mpg around town. I've had my car for two months now and have taken a couple of highway trips and have only reached 36 mpg doing about 72mph. This was all interstate with the cruise on, a few hills but nothing drastic. Tires inflated to 33psi. The only way I've gotten to 40 mpg is by going about 50-60 mph on flat roads.

 

i always do 60-65 mph and i get 39-40 mpg. (highway)
if rpm can be adjusted, MPG will increase substantially..if only i was in the Manila...

 

Drive about 20% city 80% highway (urban) and i'm getting 39-40 mpg going 60-65 mph on the freeways.

The trick to getting good highway MPG on the Fit is to SLOW DOWN. There's a huge "barrier" above 65 where MPG drops signifigantly.

I will still get around 35-36 mpg going from 70-80 mph on an interstate trip though.

 

Just approaching the end of my 1st tank of gas on my 2012 MT Fit and have the avg mpg fuel indicator is telling me I am getting 26.8. Looks to be the worst in this thread and am sure hoping the this is that 1st tank syndrome.

Fuel needle is just creeping under 1/4 tank and the odometer is at 225. Being in San Francisco may have a bit to do with the poorer mileage results as I have dealt with a number of city hills and Fwy mountain passes but I am optimistic that I'll do better on the next tank.

 

As of today, I'm averaging 35.9mpg over the course of 25,116 miles. Most of my miles are highway (~90%) at an approximate average speed of 60mph. When I first bought the car, I used to pussyfoot around to return good mpgs. The highest was just above 40mpg. Then I quit caring and started driving how I would normally. Depending on traffic, mood, and weather, I get down to 33-34mpg or up to 37mpg normally. I still wish I we had a 6th gear to lower the rpms at or just below the 3k limit. It would likely help fuel economy while keeping the the engine in the powerband to prevent lugging. Regardless, besides speed, the wind here in NW IN/Windy City can vary a lot and thus has an impact on my mileage (headwinds are a bitch!)

 

These little cars seem to keep improving on fuel mileage up to about 18000 miles.. I felt disappointed with the fuel mileage at first also... I was consistently getting over 35 mpg with 38.5 mpg being about average... I did get up to 42 MPG once when down in South Texas on the Gulf Coast but It may have been that I didn't fill my tank completely to the top.

 

Thanks for the reply, and it gives hope my numbers will increase after some more break in time. Don't think they could get much worse so I remain optimistic. I would be ecstatic I was getting 38.5 mpg or even 35!

 

I have found that the amount of throttle you use keeping the car in a taller gear on hills hurts mileage more than down shifting and letting the engine rev freely instead helps... There are to ways to save fuel on hills.. On the highway or on rural roads with rolling hills I use as little throttle as I can without impeding the flow of traffic and then coast down the other side in 5th gear then begin accelerating to build some extra speed before reaching the bottom... It is difficult to do in traffic but it does lower fuel consumption and is easier on the engine and drive train..

 

Yea, Ive been reading picking up fuel saving tips such as your and doing some refining to my shifting & driving technique. I'll report back here after a couple more tanks and hopefully it will be with some higher mpg numbers.

 

I have been learning to drive the MT and in almost all city driving with plenty of hills. With over 700 miles on odometer am averaging about 29 MPG. I expect it will improve as I become a more skilled shifter.

I also use puregas with no ethanol, and have been practicing launching from hills a lot. I am not too disappointed in my mileage considering.

 

This is very important.

It seems counter-intuitive but downshifting to 4th at a higher RPM but lower throttle input is actually better for gas mileage on hills than lugging 5th.

Higher RPM does not always mean worse gas mileage.

 

Glad I'm not alone in getting the lower end of the Fit mpg scale.

I've actually been practicing the no gas into 1st when I find myself in level city streets in low traffic neighborhoods. No idea idle rev on the Fit wold be enough to actually pull that off without a stall. That's gotta save some gas.

But then again I'm not reserved when it comes to letting the engine rev high when climbing or descending hills. Good to know that doesn't burn the gas like I thought it would.

 

Sounds like you have an automatic.

The people who are getting 40-ish MPG are doing 50-60 mph on flat roads. The people who are getting more than that are going even slower, plus they are employing hypermiling techniques such as pulse-and-glide. Some of them go as far as to shut their cars off when coasting.

Keep your speed down, put some more air in those tires, and you'll see 38-40 MPG on the highway without too much trouble.

 

No, I have the 5 speed MT. I guess my driving style isn't conducive to high mileage. As a note of full disclosure my other car is a Mazda Miata which I usually drive like I stole it. I don't want to increase the air pressure of the tires, the ride becomes more harsh and the understeer increases (I like to "hustle" the car).

 

Absolutely correct! RPMs are neither good, nor bad. THROTTLE POSITION makes all the difference.

You save fuel if you can gently press the pedal in 4th (despite 4000+ RPM) to keep your speed up, opposed to flooring a lugging engine in 5th. On the flip side ... a flat road, upshifting to 5th means less drag = more coasting = less fuel.

Ignore the RPM gauge. Pay closer attention to the throttle pedal.

 

Yes, absolutely the Fit will launch in first using no gas. I spent an entire night in a parking lot practicing no-gas launches when teaching myself to drive MT. Not sure but think this means the Fit is not the most torque-less car out there, a good thing? (torque is a pretty new concept to me).

I have also found (by accident) I can sometimes take off from a stop in 2nd, though probably not without gas...not sure what this says about the car, if anything. It does say I forgot to put it in 1st!

It will be interesting to see what the mileage is when I get around to some serious freeway driving.