Well it's been over a month and the OP still hasn't posted an update.

I really wonder what's wrong here because I drive 2 miles to work, everyday, and I put on about 40 miles on Sunday for church, and in the summer average about 36 mpg/tank and in the winter when I can't drive over 25 mph I get about 28 mpg. Maybe I just know how hard to push the accelerator.

I mean holy crud my pop's Taco with the 4.0L auto 4WD averages about 21 mpg and it gets about 3000 miles a YEAR.

 

Something is really fishy here. Posts one message, and has not visited the site since posting that message? I smell a troll.

Either that or he did something really stupid and embarassing, like maybe realizing that he calculated his mileage incorrectly?

 

He was really bummed out, at his wits end..... I hope that he wasn't so depressed and hopeless that that he decided to end it all, after all he did kind of disappear you know.

 

Emailed him.

 

exactly what i was thinking. never heard anything like this ever happening to a fit before. maybe it's just a rare odd case.

 

18mpg? Troll? Never to be seen again?

The last I heard he went out and bought a Hummer.

handymus

 

Maybe he just got rid of his Fit for the cash for clunkers program, lol.

 

Never got a reply.

I think this we've been hoodwinked. None of this ever happened.

 

Either that, or he realized his emergency brake WAS on, and is too ashamed to admit it.

 

Are you supposed to drive without it on?

uh...oh....

 

I drive my 09 auto like it's stolen and still get 32+ mpg.

 

: rotfl:!!

 

dude never responded back..... maybe he was some mustang red neck owner dissing Fit's..... maybe.... oh well, I'm getting like 300+ miles to the tank so I'm good. I'm not too worried about mpg so yeah.

 

I have a similar feeling of dismay with my new Fit...been getting 20-22 mpg since I got it in August, and I'm an excellent driver.

I think I'll create my own post, though, cuz you all seem done with this guy. I wrote down some of your ideas to take to the dealer when I go there this week.

 

combined driving i can get around 33mpg, local only around here might get me around 22-23 mpg. Lots of hills here and the speed limit around local is like 45-50, but people often go faster.

 

I've driven my car like I stole it and I still manage 22-24 mpg

 

Same here, in my 2008 Sport worst I have seen was 22-24, and that is spending lots of time at High Load or WOT. Best I have ever seen on a tank (9.9xx gallon fill up) was 42mpg.

I routinely see 32-35mpg combined even with that sort of driving in the mix.

ChicagoFitChick:

So I don't know what excellent driving constitutes for you, but you may want to look into changing how and when you upshift/downshift as well as throttle input.

Do you brake late and hard? Conserving inertia through corners and coasting up to stop lights and trying to time it so you don't have to start from a dig all make a big difference.

If the car can cruise control at 80mph and still return ~30mpg for me, you are doing something with your driving habits to kill your mileage. Especially since we both live in the same area at the same altitude and you are not reporting any issues with the Fits operation outside of fuel economy.

 

Alright, this thread seems to still be alive so I'll tell MY story here, and I swear I'm not "hoodwinking" you...

Diamond - "I'm an excellent driver" (don't we all think we are?) means that I don't drive aggressively at all, I do do a lot of coasting and I accelerate gently, I only gun it if I have to change lanes quickly for an unusual reason, but I really don't like to. That being said, my commute is a lot of stop and go, though there are days that I hit green lights the whole way. (The measure of this is if I have to do my makeup in the parking lot since I usually do it at red lights. ) I have done some highway driving up to Wisconsin and back, and I think the mileage wasn't very different than the 20-22 range.

Here's why I think my case is special (aren't we all special?)...
I bought the car used this summer from a private seller. It's a 2008 and it had 2,966 miles on it when I drove it out of his driveway. No, that's not a typo (I thought it was when I saw the ad on autotrader!)...It is this weird situation where his niece had bought the car new in North Carolina and was supposed to get married but then she broke off the engagement and drove the car up to her uncle's house in a Chicago suburb and then went off to Europe to 'find herself' and instead found a European guy and now she's going to live there, so she asked her uncle to sell her car. In the meantime, it's been sitting in his backyard for 2 years. SO, the engine is in good shape in that it hasn't been abused at all (the car looks perfect), but it's been sitting, basically unused until the uncle's daughter started practicing driving in it for a little bit this summer. I had a mechanic check it out and he said it looked great, and the price was a steal (sweet uncle guy had priced it as a base, but it's a Sport, so it was underpriced by about $3000 I think) so I should get it. This same mechanic has looked at it a couple times since then for an oil change and also because I think something is wrong with the gas mileage. He says everything looks good and he can't find something wrong, but since it's still under warranty I should take it to a Honda dealer to see if they can figure it out.

Could there be something wonky because of its extended vacation in a suburban Chicago backyard? There are pine needles and leaves and things in the crevices of the hood, but the parts look pretty clean and new, according to my totally untrained mechanical eye. I'm taking it to the Honda dealer on Thursday and the list I have going for things they should check (based on my research in this forum) include:
-Air filter
-Fuel injector
-Check for leaks
-Brake friction
-Exhaust pipe
-Are the fuel lines clean?
-Is the engine broken in? (Has 4,883 miles now)
-Does gas quality matter?

Can anyone think of anything else?
Thanks! ChicagoFitChick

 

And I'm surprised the mechanic didn't check valve clearances.
First, if you do a lot of stop & go in Chicago 18 mpg is expected; 20-22 to Wisconsin isn't. i've done it a lot and even in bad weather never got down to 20 mpg with a fulk sized rental. So there's something amiss.

Second, buy an OBD check device like Acton for under $50 at an autoparts place like Advance and check the OBD to see if anything is amiss.
Then as you suggest, check not only the air filter but the intake passage to be sure no leaves are stacked there, rags, whatever.
If its an automatic, make sure its shifting into fifth gear by checking rpm at 60 mph; better be about 2000 and not 3000. Likewise a manual only a few hundred higher rpm.
And yes brake not freeing when pedal not depressed, exhaust pipe crimped somewhare or otherwise partially closed are sources of poor mpg if its not OBD related. A clamped brake will be noisy, the exhaust visual.
Good luck at your dealer. The things I mentioned are things you can do without visiting a dealer so you can save a bit of cash.

 

Since its still under warranty and wont cost you a dime... Take it to them asap.