Joe Fit:

I have a theory that maybe the hills where you live might be the culprit. When i commute to work i notice that i need to rev up a little to maintain 65mph (speed limit).. and any rev at all makes a really loud noise and burns gas.. maybe this cuts into the mpg.. I'm bummed out because i was driving about 95% hwy..with slight slope.. and was getting 28 mpg.. even less than 33/city and 10 miles less for 38/hwy..
now if those hills caused a potential 10 mpg shortage then the engine must really drinks gas when it has to work.. i'll probably take a trip to LA soon and will see if the flat road will give me better mpg..

 

um.. i'm not sure what you are talking about but i do have 28mpg.. see ur quote of my post. hope you don't read road signs tdifferently on the road kiddo.. starting to wonder if it was really the teenagers fault.. hehe j/k

 

Read the bottom of your original post my friend....edited by hgly 4mins after the original. I obviously saw the unedited version. Thanks for looking out anyways.

Oh and I'm glad we can joke about my fractured skull and hospital stay.

 

Obviously I edited it before you post it.. let me commend you.. good job on finding an obvious typo.. you get an A..

I think you meant hqly instead of hgly.. but anyway...
poit is does it matter?.. nope..

 

I didnt mean it personally, I just didnt think you should have let a idiot teenager in a suv drive your car.

who's complaining. this is a comments thread about gas mileage. I'm glad I got 30.1 and 30.8 mpg twice. but average is 26.0. similar to what others get, besides 40 mpg also doesnt reflect mpg estimates either, but I'm not saying your complaining. you a flatlander? I concur, maybe some words of wisdom for us in how to arrive at that magic 40mpg, eh?
(picture of me next to what I wish I was driving and info, http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...THISWEEKSISSUE ... just so you dont think I'm a flatbiller) joe

 

In all seriousness.. the front, rear and side airbag wasn't enough to keep ya out of the hospital with a fractured skull??

 

what I meant was, this is the type of car I wish I could "learn how to drive".

 

While I suffered some injury, I and those who provided medical care at the hospital believe I should have been dead or at least have had more severe injuries. The first response team called in a helicopter rather than ambulance because the initial evaluation of the scene did not look pretty.

This is what nearly head on with a Mercury Mountaineer does to your Fit.

 

WOW count your blessings, if anyone deserves good milage after that YOU certainly do!!!

by the way I still only get 28-29 after four fill-ups. Conservative driver but mostly stop and go. Driving my MR2(5speed MT) spyder over the same areas i was getting 32-35. Thought that the smaller fit engins and the auto trans would be the same. I am trying the "resetting the computer trick" this weekend and see what it does.

 

School is now in session.

Here is what I do to ensure that I get top MPG.

1. Take it easy on your starts from any stop. Unless you are "qualifying" let off the gas pedal some, but no slow starts either.

2. When you drive always drive in the highest gear possible. Even if it means driving in fifth at 40 MPH. Unless you need the torque to pass or something, this will yeild better MPG.

3. On your way to 5th, shift through the gears quickly. Don't get your RPM up too high before shifting. You will find Honda's recommended shift points in the manual. I prefer to shift even earlier.

4. I use cruise control whenever possible. This helps me get better MPG even in Automatics.

5. Try not to use the brake so often. This is more relevant to highway driving. Slowing down and speeding up or vice versa will do nothing for your MPG.

I know these are probably all things you have heard before, but they work. So train yourself to use these and you may see an improvement depending upon your driving location.

You asked for it, and there it is.

 

I'm going to have to complete agree with the above advice. I'm pretty good at eeking out mpg when I drive like this. Hell, my turbocharged Sentra gets 29 mpg when I drive like this on the highway. Not to shabby, huh?

 

All well and good, but you left out one of the most important things that will help Joe:

Joe, you are gonna have to take a road trip to another state that sells better fuel, the California Cocktail is just not fuel efficient.

 

I'm currently driving a 95 EX Civic, automatic. I drive pretty hard. I usually accelerate quickly and do 80-85 on the interstate. Despite this, my Civic averages 31 MPG. I'd say my driving is 90% highway 10% city. If I drive the Fit similarly can I expect to get anywhere near 35 MPG? I need a new car and I'm trying to decide between the Fit and the Rabbit. One of the main deciding factors is gas mileage. I know the Rabbit's is pretty shoddy, so I'm trying to figure out exactly what I can expect from the Fit.

 

The 24.52 is average for the class not the fit.

 

Mine seems to shift a bit higher - in the 3300 area - so I try for the upper 2k. The biggest difference is that I get to 5th gear faster - 35-40 mph - than the automatic does. I found out the shift points by playing around in "D" mode by using the paddles.....

 

I tried shifting to 5th on the paddle at 35mph and it won;t let me.. nothjing happens until i hit 45 i think..

 

That's interesting, I can shift to 5th with paddle around 30mph. I think you can try to release the gas a little bit before shifting, it helps

 

If it wont let you shift to 5th until 45 then you are still leaning on the gas pedal too heavy. It knows that your milage would be worse shifting earlier. Its seems that people forget that gas milage depends almost exclusively on how much pedal you are using. If it accels and therefore you are going faster with the same amount of fuel than would be in a higher gear, it is beneficial for milage and accel. Simply shifting sooner doesnt save you any fuel if the gear you are going to if you still are at 3/4 throttle. In fact it would be worse if it shifts too soon. Hope that helps. The engineers figured that into the tranny design to assist with milage and it shifts when most appropriate...
Sooooo, if you lay off the pedal a bit and its in auto...if it shifts in that 2.8-3k range, then you are pretty light on the pedal and the transmission is helping to make the engine most efficient.
I used to have a friend with a standard pick up, and would shift very early and have the pedal mashed into the floor with the engine shuddering. Needless to say it took forever to get to highway speed and got milage in the low teens (2.2L engine).
Sorry to drone on, but hope that helps.

 

good advice by actionimpulse!

but for me to get good mpg, it looks like I need to move out of state, and drive like the people I pass everyday.

....whats cruise control?
laughs, all I know is "S" mode on the shifter and how to use the left paddle, and can someone tell me why my FIT misses, only way to make it go away is to use the right paddle, but in the next gear, it does it again?
ok, ok, just kidding....
joe

 

I dunno about you guys but everytime i move form the stop light or excel from 0mph.. ev en if i excel slowly in auto.. it feels like the auto trany doesn't change gear until it revs up to about 3.2k. then it kicks a bit then change gear.. i dunno why.. even when i try my best to start out slow.. it revs up.. to a point where i can hear it before changing gear.. could it be the gear is missing a beat?

also... when using the shifter.. on a turn.. i have a hard time shiting up because the wheel is in the process of turning.. i don;t feel that i've reving high at all but halfway into the turn the engine revs up a bit waiting for the gear change and i can't press the + on the laddle until my wheel is straight.. feels awkward..