At 34 mpg highway, there are quite a few heavier vehicles with larger engines including the Civic that have higher stated highway mileage, why is that? Does that hold true in real life in that a Civic (140 hp engine) will get better highway mileage then the Fit? The Fit does have stated superior city mileage then the Civic. Just curious if there was a reason for that.

 

you can get 40+ on the fit mt if you baby it...i wouldnt pay too much attention to the epa stated mpg...

 

the 07 fit is rated higher than th 08. there are people on this forum getting 60+ mpg in their fits. im getting constant 50mpg trips. so, the EPA isnt all that accurate

 

im gettting 45 around town... epa is 28... its all how u drive

 

I read somewhere that the fit is less aerodynamic than the civic and thus has more drag on freeway.

 

For one, as stated above the Fit is a lot less aerodynamic than a Civic. Two, the MT version is geared low to make the most of the 1.5L engine. This means high revs at high speed. Three, if people get *better* than the EPA estimate, they'll be happy. If they get less they're going to bitch and moan and complain and want money back, etc.

It's business as usual.

 

I just got 42.41 mpg in my 06 civic with 90% highway driving.
Still on my first tank in my fit though, so can't compare yet.

 

Most of my driving is in crowded, high-traffic suburban roads, lots of stop-n-go.. Never really get to 50mph ever. I get between 27-33mpg regularly

 

do you both have AT or MT? i'm wondering from the comment about how the MT are geared lower than their AT counterpart.

kepani

 

Sure is. The EPA mileage 'test' is run on a dynomometer where the 'course' is computer programmed to precisely follow a specific route of starts, stops, turns, grades, speeds, acceleration. and decelerations that will equally apply to all vehicles. As such, aerodynamic drag has no input. The 'loads' on the engine are specified by the computer controlling the dyno resistance and try to account for the weight of the vehicle involved. Sometimes the results are 'corrected' by 0.5 mpg to 'adjust' for known poor aerodynamic Cd's (drag coefficient compared to a barn door of same section). The tests are run for two different programs; the first is simulating city driving and the second simulating highway driving, hence the city and highway ratings.
Google the EPA testing for a full description; following the speeds on the graphs may give your eyes a headache.

Few people drive like the EPA tests so don't be alarmed if you don't match the 'official' test results. They are purely to compare one vehicle against another.
For small manual transmission cars its easy to beat the test mpg; for heavy cars its tough to even equal the mpg. One of the interesting things I see on these posts are how much people are using P&G without even knowing.