Decided today to at least open a file with Honda on this and took it to the dealer.

Could have sworn the window sticker said 31-35 mpg. Of course can't find it...lol. It's somewhere around here.

Went to the Honda website.

http://automobiles.honda.com/fit/environment.aspx

They say 28-35 for the base fit automatic. Which should be very close to the Sport. Same engine. Sport might be a touch heavier with air skirts, etc...

I'll let ya'll know what the dealership says. Not looking forward to the finger pointing game.

And btw, when I took it in, first thing the tech said was break-in. And break-in might take 15,000 miles. lol.....I'll give break-in a nod, but not this much.

True, am getting 2mpg more. So is trending upwards. Lets see if it continues.

Steve

 

In that case you should have considered a hybrid car. How far is the round trip to the airport and is it filled with stop signs and stop lights? My commute to work is 24 miles round trip, with stop signs, some stop lights, and a bit of a hill to climb at the start of my trip home. That's a mere 12 miles one way. Instead of being wonderful on gas mileage, it can be a struggle. It's hard to get great mileage on such short hops. Then throw in more short hops during the week for errands, and I'm always short hoping. No car does well with that except a hybrid. I fill up at about the 1/8th mark and I'm not exact about it. Sometimes if I have driving coming up I'll fill up at 1/4. I generally get around 260-270 on the ticker at fill up. I fill up every two weeks. Only when I get the Fit on the open road unimpeded do I get the tally up, obviously. I fill up on average every 14 days and it costs me around 30 bucks a fill up. That works for me!

 

It will trend upwards. My 09 took upwards of 10k to hit it's stride. My 2012 now just over 1k- still breaking in.

 

If your usual trip is under 8 miles your 22.8 mpg is the right direction.

 

I hear ya shockwave. I think the Prius might have more fit the bill

Commute one way is 25 miles Two miles to highway, three miles once off the highway I don't got to work much though. Maybe twice a month.

I'd say overall, love the Fit. However, was in it for the mpg. And should have paid the extra 5k for the Prius C and have been done with it.

 

Shoulda got a Leaf. Access OK stickers and no gas at all.

I'm going to echo what everyone else here says though, DO NOT baby/short shift. I tried doing that when I first got the car and could not break 30mpg for the life of me. Just drive it normal, shift at 3-4k, maybe 1/4 throttle. I drive in stop and go traffic on the freeway every day and around town and still return 37mpg.

It's either the driving or something is wrong with it. Did you ever try resetting the PCM like was suggested?

 

Didn't try resetting the PCM. Do have the radio codes. How about the factory alarm? Need code also? I'll ask at the dealership when I pick it up.

Didn't reset PCM because I figured the only purpose of this would be to reset the onboard computer on ave mpg. Figured since was doing manual calc, didn't need to reset. Other reason(s) to reset PCM?

 

You just need the radio codes, the alarm/key pairing is saved.

A PCM reset forces to computer to relearn the idle characteristics.

 

Maybe obvious, but did you also check tire pressures cold?

 

Yes. Tires checked cold. Good point!

Car back from the dealership. Their position was they won't do anything as long as everything running correctly and Computer showing no codes. They're done as far as they are concerned.

My position is Honda doesn't discuss break-in required for such a drastic differ difference in mpg. Maybe it's just break-in. But Honda should address that. I mean, 3mpg improvement is one thing. 16mpg, going from 22-38 is another.

It's a Honda. So I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now. The Fit is still made in Japan. Quality control should be top not notch. Nothing against th good ol' USA! But I travel a lot to Japan and know the drastic difference in their society. Even the guy at the 7-11, when it comes to simply making change, the world stops until that change is given absolutely correct. It's just the way society is over their.

Let's see how the next tankful turns out.

My mini-S also crushed the Fit in mpg to date. It was 28mpg when I traded it in.

At least not running premium!

Steve

 

First post -- hello everyone!

I own a 2012 Fit mt Sport and a 2010 Prius.

I can't speak about hybrids in general, but the Prius does suffer an mpg penalty on short trips. Initially it puts most of its energy into warming the catalytic converter.

Regards,

 

First welcome to Fit Freak. Just a little correction the Cat does need more fuel but its because the fuel does not vaporize and the cat is the first thing to be at temp in about 3 minutes. It cools off just as fast too. The alternator does not start charging for a minute or two depending on outside temperatures and then more fuel is used to load the alternator to recharge the battery. The water temps is the main reason it takes about 10 minutes or 10 miles before the engine and radiator is at temp. I can drive 3 miles in 10 minutes in stop and go traffic and drive at speed on the highway for up to 7 miles before there is heat but that also depends on the temp out side. Short trips are a big killer of mpg.



As far as 22.8 mpg, you need to do a road trip and see if it goes up. Drive it for a few hours and it should give you a better indication if some thing is wrong. I just got rid of the wife's car because of bad mpg and other problems, We had the same car 2 Honda Civics and I have a two year average of 36 and she had 22 and nothing I did brought the mpg. Premium made it run better and cleaner but the mpg did not come up that much when I drove it to work. Your car is too new for knock problems but doing the ECU reset/idle learn procedure should help. Some times the dealer does not prep the car right as my 08 Fit had the prep procedure done twice before the car worked right. That is what I get for buying a car at night.

 

Driving a 2007 Fit base with 96000 miles and our last tank average was 42 MPH for mostly highway driving.

 

I'm not an expert on the Fit. I've run only 2 tanks so far. But, for the past two years I have followed similar discussions on Prius Chat.

Slow and steady acceleration certainly seems best for mpg. With a light touch on the gas, little fuel is being used. That certainly seems best for mileage. The problem with very slow acceleration, at least in the Prius, is that the engine generally does not run efficiently under slow acceleration.

Automobile gasoline engines generally run most efficiently when they are producing relatively high torque at moderate RPM. The problem with very slow acceleration and early shift points may be that they keep the engine running at low torque.

It is really a paradox (to me, at least), but efficiency / mpg can be better at faster than slower acceleration, as long as RPM are not too high. This is part of the reason why hypermilers pulse and glide rather than running at a constant speed.

 

Thanks for the great info! I don't have any data but my sense, after a month of driving the Fit, is that it may suffer less penalty due to short trips than the Prius.

 

Hi. My worst is 18mpg (city driving, flat roadways). My best is 41 (expressway, interstate driving). Stock wheels & tires. I guess I've got a lead foot. Mostly inner city driving (in Chicago) I average about 23-24.

It's true city driving kills it. Take a look at the data my iPhone app has compiled. The 34mpg peaks are when I took road trips exceeding 600 miles. The fairly large one that I got my record 41mpg was on a tank of 87 during a 2000 mile trek. The smaller 28 mpg peaks are 30-40 mile trips on expressway trips combined with my usual city driving of 4-5mile trips of stop/go traffic.

iPhone app "Gas Cubby"



Note that dip that went to 11mpg, is an oddity. I suspect some jackass siphoned my gas tank, but I can't rule out user error. I remember that record was taken when I filled up after using only half a tank of gas.

 

I drive a lot and all my Honda's except my wife's Civic seems to get the same mpg. From my 04 Civic,08 Fit, 10 Civic all got around the same average of 36/37 mpg. That is mixed driving with Interstate driving 70 mph. Chicago winters I get around 33 average but the summers I see 42 mpg most tanks.


Knock is the other killer of mpg but that is another story and should not apply yet. That usually happens after 5000 miles to 15000 miles. I am getting info together about oil effecting knock and here is a teaser.

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehicles...er11_alger.pdf

 

Even on the worst day, in the worst traffic, I don't get less than 32. From the first tank on. Maybe you should get thee back to the dealer?

 

The car is too new for the dealer to do anything. They should save receipts and log miles and type of driving for how long each trip. They also need to do a highway trip to see if the mpg goes up to normal EPA mpg averages. No need to baby it just drive normal.

 

Hate to see you're getting such awful mpg. Something is definitely off though. My mpg was down a little in the first few tanks but I don't remember it ever being that bad. I beat on mine sometimes and usually still return around 33mpg.