If you want to get the milage they get in Japan just drive at the speeds they drive in Japan. That means never more than 80km/hr (49 miles per hour) on the freeway and between 30 and 40km/hr (20 miles per hour) in built up areas (city). Also accelerate a lot lot slower. Reduce your body weight to 50kg (110 pounds) and don't carry anything else or anybody else in the car. Also need to run the car on premium unleaded 95RON as that's the absolute minimum standard fuel in Japan.

It won't take you that much longer to get to your destination but most other road users might throw garbage and hurl verbal abuse.

 

I'm new to this forum and don't own a Fit. Came here to learn more as I'm giving some consideration to buying one for my wife.

Frankly, the range of mpg results I've seen posted here are somewhat surprising-and disappointing.

I'm driving an '05 Mazda 3i with the 2.0 L engine (148hp) and 5-speed manual transmission. Mostly the car is used for commuting to work w/about 50% of the trip on local freeways and the rest on suburban and rural roads and highways. Each morning of my 28 mile (one-way) commute to work I pass through 5 stop signs (2 are four-way) plus 17 stop lights. So my results obviously can't be attributed to "all highway" driving .

To-date my average mpg based on all fillups since purchase has been 37.33 mpg (23,651.2 miles/633.638 gallons). Note: my results are all posted @ www.brianbauer.org. See '05 Mazda 3, 2.0 L, manual transmission. I'm the guy from Chesterfield, VA.

Based on the results posted by other Mazda 3 owners, it appears the reward for my admittedly conservative driving style has been mpg results which appear to be superior compared to what most other Mazda 3 owners are reporting. Still, I really expected the results posted by the majority of Fit owners to at least equal the results I'm getting with my more powerful and heavier Mazda 3i. Also note that my car's EPA ratings (29 mpg city/35 mpg highway) are lower by four and 3 mpg, respectively compared to the ratings for a manual-transmission equipped Fit (33/38).

Although the results I've seen posted by a few Fit owners are encouraging and closer to what I expected (ie mpg in the high-30's to mid-40's), finding so many posts from owners who are claiming they're only getting mileage in the 20's with their cars is discouraging. Of course these results are still a bit better than those which have been reported by some Mazda 3 owners (especially some of those w/3s models equipped with the larger 2.3 L/160hp engine and and automatic transmission. Some of these owners have been complaining of getting mileage limited to the high-teens to low-twenties. I'll also add that for ten years I owned a manual-transmission '87 Acura Integra which had a slightly larger (1.6 L) and more powerful (113 hp) engine vs the Fit (1.5 L/109 hp). Also, my Integra had lower overall gearing which allowed the engine to turn 3,200 rpm @ just 60 mph. As I recall that car averaged 31-34 mpg and on trips got as much as 40 mpg.

Based on what I've read here, I'm not convinced that a new Fit would provide mileage results that would be much better than our old Integra although it probably could be expected to top the 18-20 mpg result when my wife is primary driver of our '98 Toyota Sienna. I on the other hand have gotten as high as 27 mpg w/our Sienna and in general get more than 22 mpg when I drive it exclusively.

 

after my third tank i only got about 28 mpg with all highway driving and no AC... yes.. i did not turn on the A/C to see how many mpg i could get..

it was less than last time.. last time was 28.5mpg and first tank was 26mpg..
i hate this.. all highway driving and i get crappy milage still!

 

I have noticed that with other cars. It almost seems like the tank is shaped like a martini glass, with most of the volume in the top half. If I could get 400 miles out of a tank, I would hit 250 on the first half and 150 on the second.

 

i drive mainly highway% and still only get about 28mpg..

Can anyone tell me how to remove the battery?
I opened the hood and see the battery.. there are two clips connected from the car to battery.. am i suppose to use a wrench and loosen them off or am i suppose to remove the bolt from the car to unplugg the battery? Is it possible to be shocked when removing the battery? Any advice and instruction is appreciated..

 

I have yet to fill my tank since I drove the car from the dealer, so I don't know yet what mileage I'm getting (I'll do a fill tomorrow and see). I don't know what the fuel gauge linearity may be, but I'm getting vibes that my mileage is lower than I expected, but this is my first tank and its been mostly city driving with the AC on.

My overall reaction to reading through this thread is that the Fit can get the advertised gas milage if one is *very* careful with driving habits and where the car is driven (flat highway as opposed to curved with hills, in town, etc.). What bothers me is that if the ideal driving and roads aren't part of the equation the mileage for the Fit is rather crappy, for what it is. I hope I'm mistaken.

But this thread brings about some additional questions:

1) what is the *proper* tire pressure?. I know the book says 32 all around, but this seems a bit low, especially for the front. My front tires look like they really need some more pressure. Naturally, this will affect gas milage immensely. I've seen references to 36-38 pounds but how does this affect handling and tire life? WHen I got the car three tires were at 34 and one at 37pounds. So much for the dealer's careful check.

2) what *is* the proper idle speed? This "learning" sounds a lot like the computer sorting out the engine/gas quality/driving habit relationship like it does in a lot of OBD I computers, but I don't see what this should have to do with idle speed, per se. I would expect the idle speed to be a constant when the engine is up to temp. Mine seems to idle at 1K (AC on or off) which seems a little bit high - is this what you guys see?

bob

 

8th tank 33.9mpg at 2011 miles

 

I was told by the dealer they wouldn't change my oil out till it hit at least 3700.. so I didn't change it till 4800 or so.. (I was busy what can I say..) anyway.. put the castrol in it, dunno if there is really a difference but, they sent me a coupon for a 12.95 oil change so....

last tank was 39.95......etc..

 

Just took a weekend trip with my wife to san diego. Set the cruise on 73/74. just before vtec kicks in. a/c about 75% of the time and averaged 27mpg. not sure what the hell i am doing wrong here. there was NO traffic.

 

Ummm....getting using the california cocktail for gas??

 

I just connected my Scangauge this weekend and I'm watching both the rpm's and the MPG in the real-time digital readout. I think that 73/74 is a little high to avoid V-TEC (at 3400 rpms) in my m/t, but maybe you have the automatic?

Anyway the readout is super-accurate for rpms (more than the tach). I'm setting cruise control to 3300-3350 rpms in my highway cruising. I should conduct some comparative drives at different speeds to see what mileage the same route yields at say 60, 65, and 70 mph.

I'm still trying to learn to drive for fuel efficiency. One thing that I've noticed with the Scangauge is that at low rpms more throttle kills the MPG and doesn't make you go any faster.

I'm going to post some pics later.

 

AHH YES THE CALIFORNIA COCKTAILS


and JRLNC, maybe my tach isn't calibrated good enough. because I can hear when my vtec kicks in in 5th gear. and it kicks in around 75/76mph. my ears could be wrong. but that's what I went off of

 

peopel with M/T travel at higher rpm than auto.. but they save more gas.. what is the reason? i've always thought that keeping it low on the rpm side will save gas.. but it doesn;t sound like it.. so stay above 3-4krpm is good for the car?

 

I was around 3500 RPM more or less on my highway trip this weekend and still managed 36 mpg. I don't have any answers, but that's just from one trip. I'm going to help collect data for everyone to share with all my gas mileage.

 

From my limited knowledge, low rpm not necessarily means gas saving, as the torque force of the engine in low rpm usually weaker than at the high rpm, and sometimes no matter how hard you step on your gas pedal, the car just not accelerating (e.g. uphilling). The "extra" step on the gas is a WASTE and it does HURT the MPG.

Therefore, the best or most gas saving rpm is not the lowest one but the most suitable one, and plz don't ask me what it is because it varies at different situations

 

You will see an improvement in gas mileage by at least 2-3 mpg if you drive in 5th. I routinely get 40+ mpg at 55-60 mph. It is well known that you should always drive in the highest gear possible, even at lower speeds, to improve fuel efficiency. I think the stories you have heard might be fallacies. If you look in the manual for the Fit, Honda even recommends shifting points to better fuel economy. I just don't buy the idea that this is bad for the car. I have been driving like this for years and have never had problems with my cars.

 

I agree with the above post. If I'm trying to save gas, I'm in 5th at 50 mph.

 

25.9 MPG (US gallons), 9.1L per 100 km

Pretty much same driving. Lots and lots of traffic lights (sometimes twice in one block!) <-- Not saying there are two sets on one block, just too many cars to get by the first green

 

Melvin - How long did you wait for the radiator fans to turn on? I tried the idle lean process and waited more than 30min for the fans to turn on but never came on So when I shut my car off, waited 1min and started up my car the fans came on

 

Talon is my MPG hero lol - seems to consistently get upper 30's - don't know anyone else that is so lucky.... I'm jsut happy that I am averaging 34/35 with my sport AT....