So I was all prepared for my Fit's first tankful to not give me the kind of mileage I was expecting. Boy was I wrong! With my old car, by now I would have had to stop at the gas station twice (it's been a week.) The gas light finally came on and I went to the station and filled up. It only took 8.6 gallons!

(I wasn't quite at E yet. I was going to try to get a few more miles and a little closer to empty but when I got home there was a cop blocking my driveway arresting some guys on the street so I decided to just go get gas and come back lol.)

So my MPG's for the first 8.6 gallons were:

Manually Calculated: 26.7mpg
Fit's Display reading: 22mpg

The difference was expected, though - I've been idling A LOT in the morning to let things warm up. It was cold out the last week!! But that's mostly city driving with some cruising down larger streets, stop and go stuff. I haven't even taken the car on the highway yet! Fastest she's done is 50mph.

I'm so impressed! I thought I was going to have to wait a while for the car to be broken in more before I got anywhere near the estimated EPA numbers. Yay, go Fit!

 

You ain't seen nothin' yet. With a little care (read that as "driving like a little old lady"), you can easily get mid-40's on the highway. My last tank was 60% highway/40% city and my mileage was 40.2! The EPA numbers are waaayyyy under-rated.

 

I don't understand idling. Why waste gas and pollute, while you can simply dress slightly warmer? Such a waste...

 

I guess it's all about priorities. In winter, my wife lets her Taurus warm up several minutes before she even gets in it. I start to get antsy at just the thought of sitting at a traffic light and idling more that 5 or 10 seconds. She just rolls her eyes when I even THINK about telling her how wasteful it is to let that V6 rumble in the driveway for 5 to 7 minutes. I pick my battles with her, and this one is not worth getting bloodied up over.

 

Because I am a delicate flower!!

But seriously, I let the car warm up because it was so cold over the last week, with wind chills making it below zero and even worse for me since I get all the wind from the ocean where I am, that even with wearing three layers PLUS a scarf PLUS a coat rated for -15 degrees PLUS gloves, my steering wheel would be so cold without warmup that it HURT my hands to touch it. O.o So yeah, I paid for the gas and I figure if I want to not be in pain from the cold, I can warm her up for a few minutes before getting in.

That was the point of getting a remote starter! My other car hardly had working heat and I suffered the cold in that one for years. I would see my breath while driving! Now that I've got a new car I'm not going to drive it like it's the old busted up one! I want to enjoy it.

 

My starter motor has't even stopped spinning and I am already backing out of the driveway even at below zero.
When I had my Jetta with the manual trans I wouldn't even use the starter. I would just bump start it in reverse while backing down the drive.

 

I'm with you on that one. I have to park nose-in at the top of a hill, so I use gravity to roll out backwards, cut the wheel to change directions, coast down the hill to a stop sign. If traffic allows, I do a California roll through the stop sign and then coast another 1/4 mile to the first (and only) traffic light of my commute. As I approach it, I do a bump start then right-on-red and off to work. On a good day, my first half-mile is all gravity powered.

 

I understand that people appreciate a warm car. Hey I'm from Canada OK I know! lol...

But your car just needs 2 minutes to safely get the fluids moving around the motor only very cold days. After that the warm up time while idling is lengthly and costly. Also No good to the worlds environment.

Everycar I have owned can warm up to operating temperature within 3 minutes of driving after only 2 minutes or less of idling and thats in severly cold temps.

I have researched this topic and written articles on it.

Anything more than 2 minutes warmup is a waste.

If anyone would like I can paste in the articles here that are factual and have been researched from independent companies.

Some warm up is good.... 5-15 minutes for a hot car... not good.

 

Hey, whatever! She wants a solution for starting her car and letting it warm up (it is, after all, her right to do so if she chooses), not a lesson in environmental hysteria!

Only your opinion. With all due respect, again, I don't believe she's looking for a lecture on the environment or a coaching session on how to live her life as you think she should!

Please don't... if we need further hysteria we'll just call The EPA and Greenpeace!

Some meddling, not good! Lots of meddling? Arrogant and boring as h3ll!

5-15 minutes of warm-up and resulting warm interior? Absolutely wonderful!

 

Hey VAMPKISS, get your remote starter, and do anything else you want/need to do in order to make your life more comfortable for you!

Let the boring, "environmental dictators" feel guilty, sweat and worry themselves into deeper personal misery and fear than they've already put themselves in. You don't need that type of neurosis in your life!

This world belongs to you as much as it does anyone... certainly as much as it belongs to them. Don't let anyone make you feel guilty for your chosen lifestyle. You're not ruining anyone else's life by wanting to be warm before you drive your car... contrary to popular hysteria.

My wife agrees with you... gotta' have that remote start for cold days/nights.

 

And I live right on the second largest freshwater body in the US. I still don't see the need to warm up a car in the winter. We live in a northern climate, I expect it to be cold in the winter.

 

Hi,

Sorry Vampkiss I am not here to offend or change your lifestyle.

You had commented that you want a warm car and as all Honda Fit owners go we mostly bought these cars for the best gas mileage.

I do not belong to Greenpeace nor do bash yell or get rude with people who want something simple like a warm car to get into.

I have read and investigated that you can get your car warm up up faster by just driving it.

In the end you will save a lot on fuel beacause if you overheat your catalytic converter while idling it will effect your gas mileage on that drive.

BTW... Trick for cold steering wheels..... Always wear some form of a leather glove in the winter. you will find that its not only warmer but also gives better grip than dry hands on cold plastic.

Annunc8 check your PM's.

 

I could drive to Burlington on the gas she uses to warm up her car. Well to IKEA at least.

I am so glad I am getting new neighbours. Current one is a 15 minute warm up at least with a broken muffler.

 

Fitegra, while I don't completely buy into ALL of the theories surrounding the environment and global warming, and I was truthful about my commentary and suggestions for VAMPKISS, I was also just having a little fun in my response regarding the entire thread, after your post.

Don't take it personal... it wasn't meant to purposely offend you, or anyone. We all have our beliefs and resulting opinions. Sometimes, while possibly truthful, maybe even serious, it's fun to add a little humor at the expense of certain commentary.

I wasn't purposely trying to rag on you, or anyone. It just happened to be how I responded at the time of reading the thread. If you were anyone else I still would have taken the opportunity to respond the way I did.

Cheers!

 

Then aren't you glad you don't have to do that? Hey, come to think of it... you'd burn the same amount of gas or more going to IKEA. Is that drive to IKEA really all that necessary?

Ever stopped to wonder if they're just as glad to be leaving their neighbors?

 

BOL. Wow.

And here all I wanted to do was start a thread to say I was happy with the mileage I was getting despite all my idling. Whoops, didn't realize idling was a no-no word on this board. ROTFLMAO.

Don't worry everyone, I'm not taking offense. It's my car and I can do what I want with it in the end. Discussion never hurt anyone. Besides, everyone is just giving their opinion and some people feel very strongly about gas mileage and any waste of anything.

But anyway guys, my original point was that the Fit impressed me! LOL

 

PS, if it makes people feel better, I haven't idled to warm up this week because it wasn't cold enough to bother. Just so you can sleep easier at night LOL

 

Do what you want Hun. Don't let them tap into the novelty of owning your first new car. You have every right to enjoy your car, just like any of us do, in our own lil way. Glad you're enjoying it ! =]

 

Maybe too much testosterone from your fellow respondants?

Hey, enjoy your life, and enjoy your new ride... they're both yours to decide what you wish to do with them, and to do with them as you please!

BTW, nice ride! (Hey, may I recommend a Remote Starter System for your new Fit? )

 

LOL anunc8. . Sounds like we're on the same page. .