I have a fairly new (purchased 4/14/08) MR Sport manual. My wife and I took it on its first long road trip yesterday, driving from northern Vermont to Troy, NY, and back, bringing our son home from college.

I was very pleased with the way the car performed, letting me dodge Vermont potholes on the rural highways and maintaining a steady, relatively quiet 65 on the interstate. When we got to Troy, I laid down the larger of the two rear seats (my son sat in the other one), and the Fit proceeded to swallow up all of his stuff -- duffels, crates, boxes, etc.

We went all the way to Troy and then halfway home again before stopping for gas. I put a little over 8 gallons in the tank (only the car's second fill-up) and discovered that we had been getting 43.1 mpg. I was not really employing hypermiling techniques other than using a very light foot on the gas and putting in the clutch on long downhills. On VT 11, we were behind a tractor trailer for 40-some miles, including going over the Green Mountains, and I just hung back and drove at about 45. Tank number two showed a big improvement over the first tank (supplied by the dealer, who may not have filled it quite as full), which gave me 34.9 mpg with mixed town/country/fairly brisk shifting through the gears.

So now my Fit is broken in. I have another road trip to southern VT on Monday, and the following week my wife and I are driving to Pennsylvania. It will be interesting to see what kind of mileage I get.

I saw a grand total of three other Fits on the road yesterday: a SSM base, a black base, and a SSM Sport with NH plates that passed us on I-91 like we were standing still.

 

Nice MPG numbers! Ive had mine since Feb and have only driven mostly city...small city with not much stop and go. I might be taking my first real highway trip in a few weeks...250 mile trip one way and look forward to seeing what kind of numbers I can get.

Does anyone have any tips on 'hypermiling' with a MT?

 

that is because you drifted the truck. I seeit on my scan gauge when i drift and go down hill in nuetral or just coast in gear.your a hypermiller LoL

 

Check out these sites:
Hypermiling :: No more need to compare gas prices
CleanMPG, An authoritative source on fuel economy and hypermiling
They have lots of tips on hypermiling techniques.

 

I'm sure it helped to draft the truck, but that was only for 50 or so miles out of 353.1. Still, that and the occasional coasting no doubt helped get the mpg numbers up there. I also did a lot of driving at 55 on US 7 south of Manchester, and 45-55 on NY 7 east of Troy.

 

nice MPG numbers! im jealous lol

 

Mabye that ssm base was me yesterday. I was passing thorough Lyndonville late afternoon. I got 39.1mpg driving back & forth to Montpelier everyday on rt2 on my last tank. I am impressed. Didn't start getting this kind of MPG until after the first couple thousand miles though.

 

Hi, nice to hear from another Vermonter with a Fit. Actually I saw the SSM base getting onto US 7 near Manchester at around 11 AM. But I will look for you in the future.

I was amazed to get that kind of mpg on only my second tank. I wonder if it will improve even more when I get some additional miles on the car -- right now I'm only around 600.

 

Putting the clutch in on downhills uses more gas because the engine has to idle. If you just let off the gas it shuts the injectors off completely, as with pretty much any modern fuel injected manual transmission car.

Also you don't want to wear that throwout bearing.

 

Its because its MR.

 

Nice! Sounds like your new Fit is breaking in nicely - thanks for the report. It is interesting to learn of others' experiences with mileage, city v. highway, etc... I've only had mine since April 26, and it has yet to get to 400 miles. However, at my first refueling (after the dealer-supplied fill), I was pleased to see that I had averaged 35 mpg - all city driving.

Now, it's time for us to get in some roadtrips - I, too, want to see if I can manage a 40 average!

Keep the reports coming, and keep having fun.

 

thats probably it
mr is sexy!

 

Thanks for this information.

 

Nice numbers, I hope to get that one day lol! At my first fillup I calculated only 25mpg, which disappointed me a little, was hoping for more. But I do have an AT, and thats pretty much all stop and go driving. Hope I can improve on it next fillup.