ROE, take note... Stomping on it a lot obviously causes sjitty fuel economy.

You've GOT to be doing SOMETHING to contribute to your 20mpg. If your dealer drove it on the highway, and it got 38mpg, it's got to be something between the steering wheel and driver's seat.

I'm not really going to consider Roe's problem as applicable to the realm of Fit owners getting less than expected efficiency. There is SOMETHING not kosher with his situation.

 

lol after a 300 mile 39mpg trip i managed to get 25mpg on my last fillup ...

it's definetly my driving style that's having an effect having proven my car is capable of 39mpg i have to know why i'm not achieving it currently, ill try to refine my "theory for best fuel economy" after testing out some stuff namely

-close to WOT acceleration up to cruising speed
-babying it all the time
-cruising at different speeds

and for those of you getting horrible (below 30 mpg) consistently try this, on a weekend go fill up the tank (first click) and take it on a 60 mile (30 each way) on the highway, then fill up again at the same gas station, at the same pump if possible (to minimize the error from the auto stop device)

cruise at 65-70 (stay below 3500 rpm to avoid usin the 2nd stage of vtec) with as little variance in speed as possible, also dont follow anyone closer then 4 seconds to eliminate drafting from the equation, also make sure the engine is nice and warmed up before trying this (for consistencies stake)

post your results, i'm guessing alot of people should yield better mileage this way but if not maybe we can further investigate into what may be the problem

 

I've done *exactly* as you've asked and drive it in the manner that you describe as far as being gentle at starts, etc. I drove 55 miles each way to work; 49 of each way was freeway. The one difference is that with a speed limit of 75 here, you have to do at least that or get run over. After refilling at the same pump, same gas, yadda yadda, I pulled a whopping 24 mpg. There is something definately wrong and I won't except that it's me. I have two other cars that gas milage is exactly as expected, in fact it's more than advertised.

bob

 

wow ... beats me

the only other thing i can think of is either the gas ur using has a problem, or the ecu has a problem

running too rich would increase fuel consumption by up to in worse case scenario up to 20 percent

 

@@@ edit: you are replying to me but quotiing someone else!!! i never said i stomp on it -- please i am not here to put down this car i love it. i just cant afford to fill up at 30 dollars every week. it seems i am always at the gas station.


i dont trust my dealer. funny how he got exactly 38 mpgs. he didnt do actual driving - city driving anyway. i have never taken the car on an actual highway triip except for short runs. it needs to be tested in a real life situation.

in fact if you read the government webs site fast stops and starts only contribute to 2% loss in city driving. much more in highway. i only do city. and i am trying to drive like an old man with hat. i swear. it doesnt help. great that i bought a car that drives so well and i have to drive it like its a Ford. i also changed the gas i use to shell or other high detergent gas. There is nothing i can do about where i live. its the city. i drove my 1995 honda civic in the same way and got 20 mpgs and the car was on its last leg.

i will ask honda to have the staten island dealer test it. if they will not then i have to file a complaint. i have been driving for 25 years - standard and automatic. i am not an idiot. i have tried and read everything.

 

just recorded 34.35 mpg in my Man Sport. no ILP yet

 

Regarding my post of my new mpg record-46.4 I have to say I would not have beleived it if I had read it from somebody else on the site. There is a guy who has said his son commutes and consistanly gets over 40 mpg. This I had a hard time believing... Keep in mind my worse is 28 mpg. I have the receites and I do this all the time. for years I have been checking mpg on all my cars. The drive I acheived 46.4 mpg is the same drive I did when I picked up the car with 4 miles on the odometer which yeilded 38.5 mpg. I had 38.5 stuck in my head and had accepted that I would not probly get 40mpg.

 

It's not the gas (tried three different brands so far), it's not the driver (after driving for over 40 years I have a clue), so it's something to do with the car. I can't imagine that the ECU doesn't have *something* to do with this or the transmission is doing some weird thing. The tailpipe doesn't indicate a rich mixture...I'll pull the plugs this weekend to see how they look, but I'm sure they'll look fine. The car performs well, idles smoothly, and is pretty much everything it's supposed to be except that cubic inch for cubic inch it's hungrier than a modern V8. Crazy.

I've made a decision...if the mileage hasn't improved significantly by the end of this month and if Honda has not found some problem that can cause this and offering a fix, my Fit is history. I was getting ready to sell my MR2 but I'm glad I didn't yet. Bigger engine, more power, far more comfortable, and far better gas mileage. Go figure. Yeah, you bet I'm pissed off.

 

Bob - what's the traffic like in Phoenix? I know its a very rapidly growing area, but can't imagine its that bad.... you drive in the city? or mostly highway?

If what you are saying about you driving with good mileage habits is true (i have no reason to doubt it) than there seems to be no other explanation other than ECU or transmission...when does your AT shift typically? Mine shifts between 2600 and 3100 depending on how agressive it thinks it has to be (how fast i'm accelerating).

There are plenty of people (Myself included) afterageing mid to upper 30's. I'lll post my total mileage records below in a separte post. So its not the car in general....perhaps there's a few w/ something wrong....

Maybe some of these cars w/ terrible mileage just need their ecu flashed

 

Wow bobthenuke, My other car is also a 2002 mr2 spyder that I will? be selling. The Fit took its place, but like you the milage (right now 28) does not match my expectations. Spyder was always 30-35 even with spirited driving.

 

20% highway, 26 MPG
Took a drive today after my last day at work for the highway portion. The city mileage consisted of 4 mile commutes. With 18 traffic lights

 

I'm just amazed that Honduh is apparently leaving this issue to the owners to solve.

Lets see; gas milage problems, paint problems, tire inflation questions and different pressure labels on different (but the same model) cars. What a joy it is to own this POS.

 

Bob - i understand your frustration. You, roenyc, and a few others have had disspointing results, but i'd hardly call the FIT a POS! lol - its a pretty amazing little car by any measure - even with a few kinks in the USDM to work out

 

I'll be out in Phoeniz September 15th-17th and I'd love to check out your car. I have absolutely no problems. I'm sorry for you, but you need to call Honda directly and submit a letter to them to make it official.

 

car space.com and yahoo has a lots of people complaining about low gas mileage.

one guy said he gets 20 mpg and lives across the street from a fit owner who gets 30mpg (same driving spaces)! now you might think people on message boards lie or work for Toyota or whatever, but i think these people are a lot like me. people who LOVE their Fit but just want it to perform more efficiently. or at least find out whats wrong with our cars that aren't performing.

The EPA states that "even slight Variations in the way vehicles are manufactured and assembled can cause mpg variations of the same make and model. Usually differences are small, but a few drivers will see a marked deviation from the EPA estimates!!!."

could be my fit was assembled by a person on their first day at work or on a bad day or when they didn't feel well or were rushed. nothing is perfect or 100% so out of 100 cars rolling off that line one or 2 will roll off with a problem that will go undetected.

 

I wouldn't put too much stock in something like discussion group postings as far as evaluating overall quality. People with problems post more often than people who are seeing normal results. Even in this thread we have a lot of single posts by folks with normal mpg, and lots of repeats from a few people who are having problems.

It isn't unheard of that online forums reflect widespread user experiences, but, in general, they reflect a small but vocal group of people with a specific issue.

I'm not saying that anyone getting 20mpg from a Fit should be happy about it, but slathering forums with complaints and hijacking every possible thread isn't doing much to help.

 

My question is, what are these people doing about it? Have any of you contacted the proper people? I mean, no offense, but I agree with yo fitty on this one. You people need to contact Honda North America OFFICIALLY. If the dealership can't help you, go above that.

 

i have done that. i have had my car tested by my dealer and he says all is well computer wise. he then took it on a road test - he says he drove "55.1 miles highway at 62 mph. the remainder stop and go (16.1 miles) took 1.433 gallons of fuel averave is 38.45.

i really dont understand the above. but he says thats all he can do there is nothing wrong with the car.

i have no way of proving he did this cause when i got my car back the tank was full and there was no reciept for the amount of gas he actually used. although the B odometer was 55.5 miles.

also the driving he did is very different from the "city" driving i do.

but hey if you guys dont want to hear that there are problems with this car then i will go away. some people just dont want to admit that their purchase might not have been wise. If your car is performing well - then great. good for you. I love my car, love it and so glad its back home. but that doesnt mean i have to shut up and accept the low mpg.

But i am having problems and i am not an idiot - i am complaininig to the right people i am not sitting around doing Idle learn and things like that. let the dealer do that.

next they will have to do this road test at the honda dealer where i live.

 

question...does anyone here have scangauge and if so does it display air/fuel ratio? My reasoning is that if the ECU is running rich that would throw off the MPG significantly.

 

\
what is ECU - and i really want scangauge. i had a thing like that on the rental i had and it was fun to tract the miliege and see how different driving styles and loads changed the results. I was getting around 22 in the chevy colbolt. 2007.