I am driving an AT Sport. I have been experimenting with driving styles to see what the differences are. for my first tank, I drove my normal driving style and got 26 MPG. The next tank I drove VERY lightly on the gas and got 27 MPG. Then I drove VERY aggressively and got 24 MPG. Then I drove with the paddle shifters exclusively (I normally don't use them) and tried to keep the RPM's down and got 23 MPG. Since then I have driven my normal driving style. I seem to get 26 MPG on average (all city driving).

The thing that really shocks me is that I started monitoring my milage in my 2002 CRV. I use the CRV on exactly the same route, at the same time of day. In the CRV I am averaging 22 MPG! The CRV estimate is riht on the EPA estimate for city driving. I have a hard time believing that my Fit (smaller, lighter and smaller engine) is only getting 4 MPG more than my CRV. There has to be something wrong!

While I have not really collected enough data yet on my 2002 S2000, it seems that I am also getting about 22 MPG in that vehicle (but this is mostly weekend driving).

 

Your results are very consistent. Seems to me that you are driving in an urban/city area that doesn't allow for very good mpg. No open freeway or expressway driving with speeds allowing for good cruising about 45-55 mph.

You likely have much congestion, stop and go traffic, many lights and lots of idling. Then expect about 20-24 mpg which is what you get. Cars going nowhere fast don't get good gas mileage no matter how light and how small the engine is, unless you get a hybrid with an electric engine.

Your same test cars could be taken for a 400 mile open road test. I bet the FIT would do alot better under those conditions.

 

I'd love to find out what the difference is between your Fit and mine (mine's the sport auto, for all that's worth). I hope I never get to 30 mpg because I'll probably have a heart attack. Grrrr.

bob

 

I find it pretty interesting how you also live in Vancouver, and get within 1 -2MPG of my test results too. Such is the life of living in a city with one highway total.

 

So far first tank for me was 32.7 and today's second fill up I got 37.6mpg

 

Our highways are very hilly and my fit constatly has to rev to 4000 RPM area to get up these hills. If the roads are flat and Im just cruising, I get 35+ mpg, but lately with hills and since I live in the mountains and have been driving around a lot of people, Ive been getting 22-30mpg. Are there any tips at all to getting better MPGs?

 

why are you hitting 4000 rpms for hills? even going up to the top of the cascades here i don't hit that. or the other hill by me.. which is a 2 mile down, 2 mile up, and running it at 50-60 mph uphill in 4th.

 

Not to offend anyone’ (haven’t read this entire thread so forgive if this is reapeated) but you have to consider that your own body weight will affect the MPG. There will be a huge difference in MPG when you compare a 150-lbs person to a 260-lb person driving the Fit. Right now I’m getting about 31-33 MPG driving 54-highway+6-street miles-per-day with my body weight at 160lbs.


Another thing I’m not hearing much is what “add-ons” does your fit have. Are you carrying the doughnut in the trunk or a full spare wheel ext…?


I also found that by not filling up the gas tank, you’re hauling less weight thus better gas mileage. I understand it’s hard for some people to drive on a half tank and have to make frequent gas stops but it is a gas savings option (if it’s convenient to you).

 

Thing is that I do mostly Highway driving. I work 35 miles from home so my commute is 70 miles daily. My '02 Impala gets me 29 mpg and it's got a V-6 and is much faster than my fit. I was hoping to do better. Pretty much the reason I bought the car in the first place. My '97 Chevy S-10 pickup was getting me 20 to 21 mpg, I was looking for a large improvement. If things don't change I'll take it to the dealership and have them take a look at it.

Fuel efficiency should be a little more consistent. Based on this thread it's all over the place.

 

I have 18000 miles on my FIT and I get a at least 34 mpg constantly.

 

Wow, what gives? I've read a ton of WRX gas mileage threads and frankly I know of many, many people driving an AWD car that weighs 3,100 lbs. and has 227 HP/217 lbs./ft torgue that get better gas mileage in mixed driving than the Fits are getting? Is there some sort of nonsense emissions on the vehicle that is robbing it of 15mpg or something? I really like the Fit but can't justify considering one if they're getting 25mpg.

 

My daily commute consist of 100% city driving during rush hour to and from metro station. 75-80% of the time on the road, the Fit Sport gets stuck in stop and go traffic. So, 25 to 26 mpg isn't all that bad. If I did indeed went with a WRX as planned instead of the Fit Sport, I highly doubt I could get near 20 mpg. After all, my old sub-compact with 2.0L engine could barely do 20-21 mpg in exactly the same situation.

 

I'm finding that I can get the quoted 38 mpg at 55-60 mph, even with two adults, two kids and the dog. The other day I did 140 miles on flat interstate with the cruise control at 70, and got 32 mpg. I've noticed that going above about 60 really drags down the mileage. Even with a light foot around town, I'm getting around 27. My commute is short, so the engine doesn't get very warm.

 

I drive a base MT. My last half tank was semi-deliberately very agressive driving, hard acceleration, on and off the gas in traffic, high rpm shifts, lots of town driving with lights and stop signs, but no real hills or grades. Tires at 37psi, BP gas, 198 miles 6.03 US gallons. Do the math. For me thats a low.
So what is causing these lousy mpg numbers. Sounds like it's Sports AT's, city driving, lots of grades and hills. Add in high average highway speeds (75-80) and probably the easy revving VTEC which encorages spooling up the RPM. Are the Mt's inherently more economical? Does the Base with narrower tires and without skirt and spoiler thus cleaner aero do better? (doesn't look as cool, I still wish I'd bought that white MT sport I was offered) Is anyone in one of the groups able to do a side by side test, 2 different models same route, same time, same gas, same speed, not a race, just adrive in company or convoy if you could get most or all 5 variants together. Base MT, Base AT, Sport MT, Sport AT, Sport AT with paddle shifter, wouldn't that be interesting. Be a great Fit commercial too. But maybe you 'cool' Sport drivers don't want to mix with us 'boring' Base people.

 

I can see there should be a small mileage difference between the base and sport, with the base being aerodynamically cleaner. I'm still trying to figure out what is causing the wide range of mileage reports on this forum. I saw a significant mileage improvement after break-in ~1800 miles, but since then, it's not been close to the EPA estimates. I've noticed a lot of engine or brake (stuck caliper?) drag in the lower gears when I take my foot off the gas. It seems to decellerate much more quickly than other cars I've owned. My next strategy will be to go to the highest gear the computer will allow once I reach a steady speed.

 

You raise a good point about brake drag...remember folks, we have rear drums...sometimes if not properly adjusted, they will drag slightly. Ever notice how short the travel is on the parking brake handle to set the rear brakes? I'm not sure, but pumping a few times while backing up usually 'adjusts' the drum shoes. Also, give it some time & mileage for them to wear in.

 

I dont know about others, but traveling 50 mph on hills chokes traffic around here, if you go that slow. maybe were talking about different steepness of hills, or driving freeway or 2 lnae country roads, are there big dips, turns, blind corners, during the uphill? when you say, 50mph, do you mean thats as fast as you drive, or only as fast as you can go? if you went 70 to keep up with traffic, what gear would you be in? how would you have to drive, to get to 70 at the top of the hill, would less than 4k in the fit do it?
no criticism, just curious. it takes me 3rd gear to keep 70mph on uphills.
at 50 it seems like i could get out and walk.

 

That is a brisk walk.

 

I get a run at it just before hitting the bottom and probably when I hit the bridge i'm doing 70 or so. by the top of the other side, i'm down between 50-60 it's steep. this is a hill that the close a lot in winter cause if its bad they end up with a party at the bottom. (last one was 25 vechiles) And that didn't include the emergency ones that joined it. and it's a hwy but it's a rural one. but in the day time lots of us use the shoulder to let those driving faster go by.

The others around here. you can't do them at over 20 unless you are nuts.. switchbacks, hairpins etc.. had a friend put his lancia into the bushes cause he didn't heed my telling him to do the speedlimit for the turn or lower. (yes he does listen to me on some curves now snicker)

 

I seriously doubt its speed thats making the big issue.. While I was driving from San Diego to Yosemite and back, I was getting 37 MPG. My speeds were between 70MPH to 85MPH.