My wife and I bought a beautiful new Fit Sport in December that we love. We live in Washington DC and most of our driving is in the city. We've used four tanks of gas and have driven around 800 miles so far. I've been disappointed in our mileage. We're averaging about 22 or so per gallon. I've read a lot of people's boasts of well over 30mpg in the city. Is anyone else having similar MPG? Maybe it's because of the cold weather, but I was hoping for better gas mileage than this.
Thanks.

 

wow 22 mpg? i've had my fit for about 2 months now and been averaging aroudn 29mpg myself

 

Driving habit has a lot to do with MPG. You really have to watch your foot and not drive too hard. Stepping on the peddle nice and easy and short shift if possible. Use cruise control if you can it really helps with MPG. I'm getting 33MPG combined 40% highway 60% city. If I drive it harder I get 27MPG combined 40% highway 60% city, I'm in Richmond VA.

 

Even if you were conducting max acceleration tests and driving it like a getaway car, you shouldn't be getting anywhere near 22 mpg. Something's wrong.

For example, Car and Driver registers their mpg including their test sessions. They got 31 mpg for this car.

You may want to inform your dealer and keep record of you mpg, so if you have multiple, consecutive 22-ish numbers, they can look into it and take care of it.

 

Do you have a lot of idle time in traffic? With the engine running, just sitting there, that's killing your MPG.

 

22 mpg is extremely low. I've changed my tires to 205/50-16's, which drops mileage by about 2 mpg, I drive a mixed commute (50:50 fwy/city streets), I drive without regard to maximizing fuel economy (no hypermiling techniques), and I get 29-30 mpg on my commute (measured by actual fuel consumption, not the economy gauge, across at least 5 tanks of gas). You should take the car in and have the service department look at it.

 

43.1 MPG!!!! (This isn't a reset and roll down the hill for 100ft kinda thing either...this was my avg after 402 miles)

 

I've gotten damn close to 22 MPG, but that's because I start my car for at least 10 minutes or so each time during the really cold days here in Edmonton. So if you're getting that kind of mileage because of idling or warming up your car, it's not surprising.

 

Keep the RPM's around 2k or so and your MPG should improve.

 

Doing this may also result is using more gas as well though, Drive the car as its meant to be drivin. if you try too hard to not use gas and keep the rpm's as low as possible, this will cause the engine to work harder thus resuting ina great gas consumption.

Dont brake hard, try and downshift to slow down, Dont be gunning it light to light.

 

Wow I wasn't aware of that. Maybe that's why my best average was 37. I was trying to do better than that. The only time I ever go above 2k is uphill.

 

It's the gas. Try a different gas station. But either way, whatever the refineries do to winter gas, it sucks.

 

I highly doubt it's the gas station, although nothing is impossible. A bad batch of gas, maybe possible on one tank and could also pop a CEL. However, 4 different tanks suggest something else, IMO. I'd say extended idle time or driving technique. Highly doubt the bad gas or bad engine theory, although not ruling it out completely.

BTW, all winter blend is extra ethanol to make the cars burn cleaner. It helps alleviate the smog problem during winter (colder) season.

 

That's the thing. The chances of he and his wife ripping up the streets every chance they get is very unlikely. 22mpg is just ridiculous.

So ruling out a bad engine (doubtful), long idles in DC traffic (doubtful), aggressive driving (doubtful), it has to be the gas.

I'm a passive driver and I sometimes got 25mpg average this past Fall. And I use various gas stations around town. Again, my vote is gas.

 

lol, I tried the same thing with my echo for some time and the gas was way worse, went back to normal driving with some spirited and actually got better mpg. This all done under the same summer conditions.

have fun!

I only use shell gas, always givin the best results, Used to use sunoco only and dyno test shoed that shell under the same conditions yeild tad better results, No biggie but we spent some time with this using different gases.

 

Well, all opinions, I guess, but for me, I’d think long idling time in DC would be more realistic than bad gas. I’ve been in DC quite a few times, and depending on the time of the day, the traffic just plain sucked. I’d say bad driving techniques, long idles and then maybe bad gas, but still, I even say that gas that’s bad enough to drive the MPG down that much would’ve tripped a CEL.

 

Maybe it's a faulty odometer. That would definitely explain 22 mpg. The only other explanation would be that they're driving in reverse half their commute.

 

I live in Atlanta... don't even get me started. And I still get 30mpg city.

Who knows. Hell, anything's possible. We're all making guesses anyway!

 

Yeah, either way, the OP needs to figure out what’s wrong, because if I were getting 22MPG, I’d be PISSED!

 

Mileage is very dependent on driving habits and conditions. I get around 25-28mpg in the city, mainly because my commutes are short, they are usually in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and then when an open stretch of road does come up, I am not exactly easy on the throttle.

Also, the gas formulation can play a role. Gas with ethanol will have slightly worse mileage because ethanol doesn't contain as much energy as the same volume of gasoline.

Also, you didn't mention if you have a manual or auto transmission. What are your tire pressures? Do you check tire pressures only when cold? If you have a manual, do you coast to a stop with the clutch pushed in? Do you drive alone or with several passengers or cargo? Is the heat set to defrost mode (which will engage the AC)?

Again, so many variables that can affect gas mileage.