I've been following the various mileage threads here and wanted to dive a bit deeper into a post I made in @possiblefitbuyer's thread below about manual vs CVT mileage.

I have a recently purchased 2015 EX CVT with ~49K miles. The car is in beautiful shape and was well maintained by its previous owner with all maintenance performed by the dealer on schedule.

The car's a blast and I'm enjoying everything about it, except city gas mileage, which is really mediocre.

I average between 38-42mpg on the freeway, but in the city I'm lucky to break 20mpg, especially for the short hops.

I'm in San Francisco which has hills and a lot of stop and go traffic, but I'm easy on the pedal and coast when I can. I love that the car has oomph when I need it, but for regular city driving, I'm a lightfoot and try to save gas.


Questions:
Is 17-20mpg city really the best I can expect?
Or do I need a checkup at the dealer?
Is there anything I can do to improve city mileage?
What kind of city mileage are you getting with your Fits?

Thanks All!

 

20mpg, ouch. Can't say I am of much help as my Fit (M GD) and my daughters Fit (CVT GK) both get much higher city MPG than yours but we are in the flats of central Florida.

 

Same car, same results as you report. I routinely get 45-50 mpg on highway drives. I live in downtown Boston and given the number of lights and stop signs, I'm lucky to get 20 mpg when driving around town(econ on) and often see far less. The hyper milers have some tricks(coasting) to increase mpg but it does not seem to be worth the effort when driving in the city. They say I'm a great candidate for an electric vehicle. Alas.

 

I haven't had a whole tank of just city driving, but I can see the mileage falling like a stone when I have to run errands close to home. Your experience doesn't seem too surprising.

 

Unfortunately, I suspect there is nothing wrong.
Nearly any vehicle, standard Internal Combustion Engine, is not going to do well with short drives, in stop and go traffic, and throw in hills? You've got the perfect recipe for lower MPG's.

I see the average being shown as a whole is 26.4, and if the OP is doing a lot of city driving, short hops, in traffic, up and down hills...that's probably pretty good.
Outside of buying a Hybrid, which will utilize a battery, there's not much I think that can be done.

The usual suspects could be checked, such as tire PSI. Maybe the easiest factor to check, that can have a big impact.

But I think, if you are getting 38-42 on the highway? The fault probably isn't the vehicle, it's just conditions. Can't prove it...just opinion.
Appreciate that if you were driving a big truck or SUV, you'd probably be wishing you could maintain an overall average of 26.4 in mixed driving.

 

I have some experience that might affirm what other posters have noted.

When I visit SF, I have access to my parent's 2007 Fit Sport AT. It has low miles on it (less than 10k or so). It was barely broken in at 5k miles when my mom passed away. Anyway, driving in SF is all about hills and stop signs.

I've done all maintenance, run fuel cleaner, etc. MPGs had started at 15-17 mpg. I am now getting 20-22 mpg in the city. Mileage improves with a long trip down the peninsula or across any of the bridges.

I do wonder if the 2007 Fit could be getting better mpg's.

In contrast, I live up in Portland, where I have a 2017 6 speed EX. Just hit 2,800 miles after giving the car its first oil change. I have seen a slight increase in my mpg's, according to the on board calculator.

My driving in these parts is mostly suburban and urban, with hills that are similar to but not as prevalent as SF's hills.

I average 34 mpg most of the time. I got 44 mpg on a recent highway jaunt.

Pure in town driving in Portland gives me 30 mpg's.

Recent trips have me believing that my mpg's have improved slightly, but it is too soon to tell. I need to gather more data.

 

Something doesn't sound right...17-20 mpg city? I'm getting anywhere from 31-35 mpg pure city driving. Lots of hills, but not like SF...5 spd MT.

 

SF streets have a max grade of 34%. Add stoplights and stop signs to the equation, and it's not surprising that the OP is unable to get over 20 mpg, especially when driving on short hops with a cold engine. Plus, the mpg will drop even further when the temps get colder.

 

I got a digital tire pressure gage from Amazon and lo and behold, every tire was off. Three of the tires were low @29PSI. The front right (which was punctured by a bolt on the Grapevine necessitating a quick repair at Tejon Ranch) was way high @45PSI. Yikes!

I set everything to the specs inside the door - 33 front, 32 rear. Let's see if mileage improves this month.

 

Doubt very much if you'll see any noticeable increase in mpg by raising the tire pressures a few psi. The main reason for your low gas mileage is the huge amount of energy that's needed to drive your vehicle in stop-and-go traffic on SF's super steep grades.

 

yikes.

i run between 36-38psi cold on the factory all seasons all around.

 

5 spd MT, very very light on the pedal, in dead flat Toronto. 25 mpg all city. 40 mpg all highway going never over 65mph. So disappointed with city mileage that I'm using it as little as possible in the city, using a bicycle instead when possible.

 

In NYC stop and go traffic, I get between 24 to 28. 20 is too low...you were right to suspect something was off.

 

2012 5 speed MT. The city driving results in 39 mpg according to the gauge.

 

2011 5 speed mt, in New England with pure city driving + hilly crap every city has to deal with I'd average 27-30.

 

About 36. Highway it drops due to doing 80+ but still get about 33. The in dash meter is pretty much spot on for me. But my city driving is local freeways at 65 and 0-40-0 stoplight to stoplight. Not much stop and go.

 

Any advantages or disadvantage running higher psi than the 33/32 door specs?

 

@ David Lawrence
I believe your city mileage is perfectly normal given you live in a busy city with large steep hills everywhere. Also you mentioned short trips - the first 5 minutes of driving are horrible for mileage.

Before you drive yourself crazy or spend any time & money at the dealer, ask all your family & friends what kinds of city mileage they get. The ones that have large sedans, SUVs and trucks are probably getting somewhere between 5-10 mpg if they also do short trips...which makes your 20 mpg great.

Since you get 40 mpg highway it's proof your car is running in excellent shape and there's nothing to worry about.

On tire pressures, I run 40-42 psi in front and 38-40 psi back because it helps reducing rolling resistance and you can coast further / faster. Also helps with better thread wear, because running at 32 psi the edges wear out faster than the center especially as the pressure drops to below 30. And I like the tighter steering feel that higher pressures allow. When I drive company cars at 32 psi the steering feels mushy. Give it a try and see what works for you. There's hypermilers out there driving on 55-60 psi with tires rated for 44, so have no worries going up to the max side limit.

A trick to getting better mileage is how you approach hills.
The worst way is to start slow at the bottom and accelerate up the hill.
The best way, if traffic conditions allow it, is to accelerate hard right before the hill and gradually reduce your speed while climbing to the top while keeping an eye on the instant fuel gauge. Then accelerate back on the way down since gravity will help too, or coast if you can.

 

Seen my MPG go as low as 22-25 on tanks that were almost entirely city driving when combined with a heavy foot. Not to say you have the same heavy foot as me, but you’ve got more hills to contend with than I do.

30.7 MPG average over 227 tanks and five and a half years of ownership of a 2012 sport with manual transmission. Most tanks were at 50-100% city driving (Boston fwiw).

 

Also 22-25 mpg. This is an area ruled by mistimed traffic lights. It's almost as if they are set this way on purpose.