X2 on the sensitivity. I find the Fit to be VERY VERY Sensitive as well. Treat it gently and you'll get high 30's (maybe even crack 40 mpg!) - Drive it aggressively or sit in traffic and you'll quickly waste gas.

 

I didn;t think of that since i read two posters whom saw immediate increase on their first tank.. weird.. hope it turns out well...

 

Concession on the octane rating: Yes, if your car is adjusting timing to prevent detonation with 87 octane, it COULD slightly benefit from higher octane...

BUT ONLY under heavy load situations. i.e., wide open throttle.

So, it's technically feasible that IF you frequently have to put the pedal to the metal, you MIGHT get a little better performance out of higher octane.

For those of us that rarely ever hit WOT, it ain't going to help.

So, I'd say it MIGHT be worth it to get higher octane fuel if your commute includes you having to open the throttle and run the engine to high revs, OR if you're going to the track to race it.


And for sensitivity, as mentioned, cars that are engineered to get great fuel economy WILL NOT GET GOOD ECONOMY if you beat on it and haul ass in them frequently. If you redline it, make jackrabbit starts at green lights, go 90+ mph and drive it like you stole it - YOU WILL GET $HITTY GAS MILEAGE. PERIOD.

 

X3 When i drive on the highway only, I get 34-36 MPG, nonhighway use I am lucky to get 30 MPG. I live in a hilly area, so I don't really expect to get the EPA estimates. I'm doing my first oil change soon, looking forward to seing if any change in MPG occurs.

 

One of the things I remember from test driving a 2002 Civic was how anemic it felt even when stomping on the gas, stick shift no less. The Fit however seems happy to shovel more gas to the engine.

 

Update on my test: It's been three days now, driven 109.2 miles, and the needle has just barely crossed the 1/4 tank mark. I don't know how much longer I can take this slow driving thing, it's completely against my nature But I am getting MUCH better milage (I'd usually get 55-60 miles at the 1/4 tank mark).

 

Yeah, that sounds about right. I have an itch to drive fast in the Fit once in awhile, but it's my daily. That's why I have a turbo'ed Sentra to mash around when I need to. MPG is the most important reason I got the Fit, next to all the other reasons, but I can't justify driving it with a heavy foot to get bad gas mileage.

 

This isn't entirely fair to her, regardless how she drives she should still be getting more than 20 mpg by far.

I drive my car hard -- WOT and 6000 rpm is a daily occurrance, 4000-5000 typical in most driving. I don't pop the clutch on starts or slam the brakes at the last minute, but I'm not afraid to use the engine by any means. I've got steep hills to deal with as well, so I engine brake often, and I still get 33 mpg avg.

 

agreed i love the car. love the way it drives. but i am now driving a chey colbolt same way i drive the fit and am getting same or better gas miliage!

i cant drive like an old man. If thats how i have to drive this car - slow and miserably i dont want it. i like zipping around cars and being able to move fast. this is what this car does. if it cant get gas miliage doing what it was designed to do then what good is its design?

the car i am driving now has monitor that shows your average speed - mine is 28 mph. also shows your mpgs. mine is 20. this car averages 25 mpgs/city. still getting better gas miliage then the fit.

where i live if you dont move your A@@ at the turn of a green light you get beeped or worse. this is nyc we are always in a hurry. i think i just bought the wrong car if every thing in the post above yours is true.

 

totally against my style too. especially when the car wants to move. i will try this when i get my car back. but i have to tell you i miss my 95 civic - i didnt have to think about how i drove and got 20 mpg. my neighbor has a huge honda van and gets 20 mpg. i would have to think driving like this one can get great gas miliage out of any car. now i know why so many people take forever to react to a green light - they arent slow, just saving gas.

 

NYC stop and go trafic isn't going to help anyones MPG. In Cali where they use oxygenated fuel during the summer you will see a drop in MPG (20%) the window sticker contains an average. AT in sport mode will drop mileage like a rock. Ethanol additives will also adversely affect mileage. just my experiences in the past with other vehicles.

 

Ok, one annoying thing... 'MPG' is a unit of measure. Saying 'my MPG is not good', is like saying 'my car doesn't have good MPH' instead of saying it isn't fast.

In reference to the MPG rating you are achieving, you are talking about your fuel economy, economy or fuel efficiency.

 

I give up. After a week driving my Fit really really slowly, all I could muster was 31.24mpg. After my fill up today I was launching fast, speeding everywhere, even with the rain outside... I needed to vent this frustration that built up for a week of slow driving I'm taking my Fit to my dealer on Tuesday to have it checked. All the best driving efforts should've yielded much better milage than 31.24. To those that did not read what my test was about, it was basically launching very slowly, avoiding VTEC as much as possible, maintaining a 60mph top speed on the highway, and trying to cope with slowness until the next fill-up.

 

really slow launches is actually bad for fuel economy, the most efficient way to accelerate is near WOT (not full WOT because modern ECUs run rich at WOT to help cylinder cooling)

1/2-3/4 throttle is what is usually best for most cars, accelerating "hard" is more efficient because you're removing the throttle butterfly's obstruction allowing the engine to put all it's energy into accelerating, not using the energy to scavenge more intake air

you shouldn't remain at near WOT for long obviously, just get up to cruising speed and adjust the throttle to maintain that speed

this is what is generally considered the most efficient way of driving and atleast for myself, has yielded the most positive results

 

Motor Trend has an article running about fuel-efficient driving tips and this is pretty damn close to one of the tips they give. There are a bunch of others as well of course, but I don't really remember them 'cause I just glanced over the article. It's in the most recent issue though, if anyone's interested.

 

tee hee, i am so confused. Knife edge, normally i was driving like a normal person. taking off from a light or parking spot pretty fast. the tyke would go up to 3 but now cause i am trying to save gas i am taking off slower. tyke up to 2 only. i hate it but i will do it to save gas. just started this week drive only city - also i am coasting to stops. (i know people behind me hate my guts) i know i hate people who drive like this. but i need to know if its my driving style that is causing my poor gas miliege.

so what is the bottom line. take off fast or take off slow?

i can get to about 40 mph before i have to stop at the next light. and if have been trying to slow down that number (i feel like such a safe driver) so when the light approaches or some kind of traffic comes up i dont have to brake hard. this is a whole new way of driving for me.

i will not know the results of this for a few days.

most here said that fast starts would hurt mpg. i guess i should go back to driving the way i always drove.

 

the dealer will connect the fit to a computer - he may tell you that all is well.

you then have to insist on a road test. MAKE SURE YOU GO WITH THE DEALER!! the test will take about 1 hour. i didnt go with him and i dont have any proof of what he did or didnt do. you should also call Honda America and report all of this. The more reports of poor Mpg they have the better for us. once your car comes back clean of any computer problem the dealer will be sympathetic but will think you are nuts and blame everything from the gas you use to your location on the globe to acid rain. Honda America will do the same but you need to be adamant and strong about this and stand by your numbers.

i am waiting one week to see what i get out of this tank, then i want to have my car tested again where i live with me in the car. i will have to call Honda America again for that. but i LOVE my car. i dont want to give it up but i dont want to live with 20 -22 mpg either.

regardless of what other people on this forum may think those are the figures I am getting, if the car improves i will be happy to report that. especially since its cold outside and there is no need for A.C. at full power.


this was the result of my road test:

Road tested 55.1 miles approximately 39 miles highway at 62 mph the remainder stop and go (16.1 miles) took 1.433 gallons of fuel average is 38.45 mpg.

i have no receipts of how much gas he put in the car because he returned the car to me with a full tank.

 

I just purchased a ScanGauge II, wonder if that will tell me something the dealer knows about but won't tell me

Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely insist in being present for the test drive. I want to know exactly how they drive my car, and under what circumstances would it get such wonderful miles per galon figure.

 

I just passed 1000 miles on my Sport Automatic Fit, and my average mpg is 23. My best was 25 on a highway trip, and my worst was 21. Most of my driving is 100% city, rarely getting into 5th gear.

Does doing the idle learn procedure essentially reset the car to how it was when it was new, and you have to "break it in" all over again, or is the break-in period over when its over, never to happen again? If the ILP doesn't reset the break-in period as well, then I'll wait till I have a few thousand miles on the car to try it if i'm still getting low mileage.

I've been using Shell almost exclusively, as it's the only "top-tier" gas around me, but I will try other brands.

I used to drive with a fairly heavy foot, but I've been accelerating very slowly lately, coasting a lot, and even putting the car in neutral going down long hills. I've been using Sport mode almost exclusively, up-shifting manually as soon as I can, so I'm in 4th gear at 21mph.

My tires were a little under-inflated at 28psi so I inflated them to 40psi. The tires are rated at up to 51psi. Is it ok to over-inflate the tires according to the car manufacturer, but still within the tire's rating?

Changing my driving and tire pressure did little to improve my mpg, as you can see:

Miles Gallons MPG
184.2 7.648 24.085
120.7 5.757 20.966
41.6 1.835 22.670
136.8 6.367 21.486
149.7 6.069 24.666
171.8 7.362 23.336
102.5 4.079 25.129
95.7 4.269 22.417
Totals
1003 43.386 23.118

What, if anything, am I doing wrong?

 

not to sound like a dick but if you notice like 90 percent of the ppl getting bad milage have an automatic car and they probably have a heavy foot just cuz you dont go 90 on the freeway doesnt mean you floor it to get up the onramp that will kill your gas milage!!!! also learn how your rpms work and try to stay below the 3300 mark if you can and you should save gas vtec h8s gas so avoid it if you want good gas milage....
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