I don't think I could do worse than this if I wound it out to red line in every gear for an entire tankful.

I've had my Sport AT for 6 weeks now, and put 2,600 miles on it. I bought it specifically to do an early morning newspaper delivery route - about 250 stops in about 3 hours covering about 43 miles every morning. Across 10 tankfuls, it's averaged 22.7 mpg on the route, which is lower than I'd hoped, but not unexpected given the way it's used.

Over the last few days, we had heavy rains every morning which meant I used high beams/fogs the entire run, as well as the defroster. The last fill-up results: 151.5 miles/8.127 gals for 18.64 mpg.

I really need to drop the heater controls and disconnect that switch that turns the A/C on with defrost.

 

It will get better once you do your first oil change.

 

Whoa! You are the epitome of stop-and-go man. I wonder how you would do with an auto-FAS hybrid.

Still, those numbers should be shown to Honda. I'd be very interested to hear what they say.

 

Yeah, I suspect a hybrid would really shine in this kind of stop and go use.

The amount of room, and especially the magic seats make the Fit a great newspaper delivery car though...I can only hope they get the hybrid out sooner rather than later, since I really like the car.

The one tankful I had that was totally highway mileage, it did do a little over 33 mpg, so I suspect it'd have no problem hitting rated numbers in a more normal environment.

I wonder if anyone has any solid numbers about the break-even duration between letting it idle vs. shutting it down. I only shut it down a few times where I have to walk for more than a minute or so. I'm sure the Scangauge users have good numbers on the cost to idle, but I'm not so sure about measuring the cost to restart.

 

I'm assuming you posted this because you want some help???

Having delivered paper on a bike, I know there is a time limit here, but I'm almost 100% sure you are accelerating and braking hard and that's the real issue. If you want to kill the AC compressor see if you can find the fuse, maybe that will be the easy way.

If you can extend the deliver time some, I'm sure you would see some FE gains. if you put a small block of wood under the gas peddle either physically or mentally.

good luck

 

I've hit 18 mpg before...by accelerating agressively to speed limit on city driving with AC on. Otherwise, if you want to improve your MPG by alot, pretend that the fit redlines at 3,000 RPM. Also prentend that the car is going to explode if you hit the gas too hard at 3,000 RPM.

Then there's the traffic jam situation... When you accelerate during a traffic jam, don't bother going the same speed as the car in front of you. Just accelerate slowly to the average speed of the traffic. You'll see the guy in front of you hitting the brakes more frequently while you just cruise on after he accelerates again.

 

Other than disconnecting the AC switch on the defroster controls, I don't honestly think there's too much room for improvement, except for general break-in and first oil change. I think I posted more to let some of the folks getting 23-25 mpg know it could be worse.

Time pressure isn't really an issue except if I get a very late delivery, in which case mpg becomes secondary. I already have the feel of the gas pedal/AT shift to the point where I run virtually the entire route with it shifting at or under 3K. (I was reading this forum before I even took delivery on the Fit, so I already knew what to shoot for.) I *do* wonder if I might be accelerating too slowly sometimes, which I know can also give worse FE, but it'd take a Scangauge to really know for sure I think.

As far as traffic jams go...not in Suburbia at 4:30am. I appreciate all the suggestions, but as far as the driving technique goes I *think* I have it pretty much under control. I guess I was more surprised than anything that the defrosters (and hence the AC) would cost me nearly a 20% reduction in FE.

Edit: Oh, and tire pressures are at about 37psi cold, I don't expect pushing into the 40's would make a significant difference, although it could be worth a try.

 

Yeah... I think you have your driving technique under control at 18-22 MPG.

 

No SG needed to answer that one, I'd bet the farm that's not even close to your FE issue.
Anyway sounds like your opposed to help and in denial.

 

He's not in denial, he's delivering papers for crying out loud. You might want to try improving your reading comprehension, or maybe you're in denial about that?

To the original poster: I'd definitely try more air in the tires. I had mine up to 50 (sidewall max is 51) but found it to be too uncomfortable, so I'm at 46-47 and very happy there. Also the AC disable on defrost is a piece of cake, takes 10 minutes tops. That is a very good idea in your situation as well. Finally I'd suggest toying around with coasting in neutral.

But you're right, low speed stop/go in an automatic of any kind is going to beat you up on mileage. Hey, maybe you can get the MPG nazis to create a new category for you!

 

Guess you must of missed this comment he made after he was given some help.........
I don't honestly think there's too much room for improvement,

I'll help you out

I don't honestly think there's too much room for improvement,

 

isnt the ac NEEDED for fast defrosting... heh heh....

 

Yep, it's just nice to be able to turn it off when you don't want it.

 

I agree with there probably not being much room for improvement. I've constantly been on the low end of the scale as well. I am not as stop and go as paper delivery, but a lot of stop and go nonetheless. My navi units trip meter shows over the last 550 or so miles my average speed is only 17mpg. How sad is that!

 

Yeah, there's definitely a problem with reading comprehension here. I'm not sure why I got such attitude from Apple and pcs, but I guess the fact that I'm ALREADY DOING THE THINGS YOU SUGGESTED is beyond belief to you both. So be it. Prove to me that it's all in my technique:

Fill your tank to your normal fill level (oh, make sure it's E10, since that's what I'm dealing with, OK?) Find a nice suburban neighborhood you can cruise around in. Found one? Good. Put on your high beams AND your defrosters (if you've disabled your AC on the defrosters, then put the AC on too.)

Reset your trip odometer. Now let's give you a reasonable simulation of my morning run. Start driving - drive 0.1 mile and stop. Drive 0.2 more miles and stop. Drive 0.2 more miles and stop. Repeat that sequence for 43 miles. Oh, and every 3rd stop, get out of your car and walk around it and leave it idling please - this will simulate the number of times I have to get out of the car to put papers in mailboxes/porches, etc.

How we doing so far? Great! Make sure you do the full 43 miles in 3 hours, since that's the maximum amount of time I have from when I receive the papers until I have to have them all delivered. Oh, and since I'm driving an AT and you're both driving 5 speeds, let's say that you do no coasting in neutral, and no starting in 2nd gear - sound like a reasonable way to simulate the effect of an AT? Probably shouldn't ever go higher than 3rd gear either, since I very rarely see anything above that.

Finished up those 43 miles yet? Cool...go refill your tank to your normal fill point and let me know what kind of mpg you got, and I'll have a pretty good idea what to expect when my Fit is broken in with more than 2900 miles, and has had the original oil changed out.

You could put some extra weight in the car too, to simulate the weight of the papers, but I'll give you a pass on that. Let me know how you do...I'll be waiting eagerly.

 

Thanks for the comments, wdb...I probably will give even higher pressures a try for a tank to see if there's any impact.

I've thought about this as well, but the reading I've done here led me to believe that there are more savings in getting totally off the gas and letting the injectors shut down (which I do where I can) vs. coasting in neutral. Maybe using the paddles to downshift and get more injector shutdown time as I come to a stop would be helpful?

It's also interesting to note that there's a small surge in the idle everytime I put the car into Park. (You notice this when you do it 75+ times a day.) It's not huge, but it does pop up to 1200 rpm or so every time, and I'm not sure why the engine mgmt. would do this.

 

I just noticed that you're in Bethlehem PA! I bought my Fit at Lehigh Valley Honda. We're almost neighbors.
Especially considering the weight of the newspapers, I think this is worth a try.
The only way to really tell if the injectors are shut down (they call it DFCO, Deceleration Fuel Cut Off) would be to use something like a ScanGauge or other device that reads from the OBDII port.
Is it practical to pop the car into neutral and pull on the handbrake instead of going into park each time?

I'd also suggest posting up over at cleanmpg.com. Those folks are MPG monsters, they know every trick in the book.

 

I'm not sure, I'll have to do a little experimenting and see. A little more thought on the idle surge (it *does* settle right back down to normal) makes me think it may be nothing more than the normal reaction by the engine to having the load of the trans removed until the mgmt. system can catch up. I may well see the exact same thing if I pop it into neutral...will have to test.

 

Wow, and I thought I was the only one being attacked on this Eco Forum for getting good mileage. (not trying to aggravate, just stating opinion guys!).

Anyway, on the issue of AC/Defrost. The sole purpose of the AC compressor cycling on and off with defrost is because the compressor NEEDS to cycle occasionally. The TYPICAL time A/C is not used is the winter, when, guess what? Defrost is needed.

That's the whole point of defrost/compressor cycling. Seals, bearings, veins and such are exercised via deFOG and deFROST.

Here in Santa Fe, NM, I won't use the A/C at all from late September until mid June. That's a long time for the A/C compressor to not be used at all if I pulled the fuse.

And Jondar, I run 51 psi in my tires. While I can literally feel every rock on my gravel road, I've become used to the increased 'feel'. I don't even notice it anymore and love how she corners now....Much reduced understeer from 35ish psi.

--D

 

I'm not about attacking anyone, believe me...I have a lot of respect for anyone who can get 500+ miles out of a Fit tankful. I *don't* have a lot of respect for elitist attitudes, or people who don't know me assuming I must be full of it and stating that "I'm in denial and don't want any help." I offered up the best description I could for someone to recreate my typical morning - I'd love to see how the hypermilers' tricks and skills perform in my day-to-day use.

(As a matter of fact, upon re-reading I realize that I totally neglected to account for all the stop signs, turns and U & K turns I have to do every morning. It's more likely that a more accurate simulation is to stop every 0.1 miles, with 2-3 per mile being rolling [maybe 5-10 mph] stops. Doesn't really matter, as I don't expect anyone to follow-up.)