I came from driving a 2001 Toyota Echo, which is a hard act to follow for any gas economy car on the market today. I reached 207,000 miles on my Echo without it ever being serviced for anything besides oil changes and tires. I never got below 32 mpg in the city. It was truly an amazing car and I imagine it's still chugging away somewhere. When I traded it in for my Fit the Echo was still driving like a brand new car, without any indication of stopping. Sometimes I wonder just how far I could've taken it.

When I got my used 2007 Honda Fit Sport, I was unimpressed by the gas mileage I was getting, but it was suitable for what I gained over the Echo. It is a heavier car with wider tires which makes it much more stable on the freeway than my Echo, which blew all over the damn place. But as I drove my Fit the gas mileage got worse. And soon, I became a little frustrated with the Fit. I even went so far as to begin seeking out other Echos on craigslist.

But then I performed a fuel injector flush at an oil change center, and holy crap, everything changed. I cannot explain to you the difference in my Fit now. I'm not saying this is a solution for all Fits, but it really did help mine immensely. I'm back to getting the advertised fuel economy for the car and I've stopped looking up used Echos online.

Now I'm all smiles while driving. And the only thing left to dislike about my Fit is its cheap rattling, plastic interior. Man, does this car squeak and rattle. It rattles like a maraca. The Echo didn't make half the sounds the Fit does. But the Fit looks 500 times better than the Echo, so it's give and take. There are people out there that hate the way the Fit looks. I'm guessing they've never seen an Echo, because man, the Echo is one ugly car.

Anyway, this was a long post for a simple solution. If you're having gas mileage issues and your car has over 30,000 miles on it, you might try a fuel injection flush. I guess carbon build up on the fuel injectors is a real thing, because the service worked wonders for me.

 

+rep

Thanks for sharing. Somehow my Fit don't rattle like some are complaining about. How much did you pay for the fuel injector flush or did you do a DIY? If you did a DIY can you post the procedures that you performed? I'm planning on doing it on mine. My car still get 35-39mpg on regular driving but before I used to get 38-39mpg contantly on regular driving.

 

Hmm nice to see ur happy with the Fit once again.

 

The echo hatchback 2005 at my works average 25MPG of city driving...
But the Fit would probably make 22-23 in the same conditions.

The Echo hatchback is much better than the fit except for room. And it has 175 tires just like the base fit, so it handles better (since it's like 150kg lighter).

 

there is a guy on MotorTrend Forums that has an Echo @ 415,000+ miles right now, his screen name is Harvey if you want to hit him up over there

 

I'm interested in this "Fuel injector flush".
Did you just run fuel injector cleaner through your gas? Like one of those additives?

 

Black01 - My Fit has over 100k miles on it, so I'm sure that's why it rattles so much. Still, it's worse than my Echo and my Echo had twice the miles on it.

I had the fuel injector service performed at Midas. They hooked up a big machine and flushed out everything. It took about an hour and I paid $70 for it. Honestly, it was a last resort. I've never had a fuel injector flush before. I've always figured that it was some superfluous service that Lube centers could charge you extra for. But amazingly, it really did work. There must have been a lot of carbon build up on my fuel injectors to work as well as it did.


Broody - My Echo was the best car I've ever owned in my life, and the gas mileage I got off it was astonishing. It was a manual and it held its own against some of the first generation hybrids out there. I don't know why, but I was getting much better gas mileage than what was advertised. And I am very confident it could've reach 400k miles in my Echo much like the car SleepyJon is referring to. I'm very sad I sold it. Unfortunately, we're in a recession, and I need to stay ahead of any potential breakdowns. I couldn't risk having a car die on me right now, and the Echo was 10 years old. So, I jumped ship and decided to take my chances on a Honda. I've never owned a Honda before, just a Toyota and a Nissan. I'm hoping the Fit lives up to its reputation. My goal is to hit 250k without any major service. I'm at 107k right now. Fingers crossed.

 

So Q: If your experience with the Echo (Yaris apparently) was so good, why didn't you stick with the Yaris/Echo?

 

Robot, have you pulled the plugs? What do they look like? Might be time for a change, if you haven't already.

If the injectors were clogged just think about the plugs.

 

My Fit rattles less than my 350z did (on the interior)

 

I installed a bunch of chassis bars on my 2007 Sport Fit. I put in a Mugen front tower bar first, then I bought a bunch of Ultra Racing chassis bars. A set of fender bars, front and rear lower bars and a “C” pillar bar. But why I’m posting here, after I installed the Mugen Front Tower bar, I installed the Ultra Racing Fender Bars. I installed those second, because I honestly didn’t think they would add anything towards the handling. Boy was I in for a shock! Not only did my handling improve, but most of the rattling/squeaking noises disappeared. These are a lot of work to install, but definitely worth it! Next I installed the front lower chassis brace with a mild handling improvement. Then the rear lower chassis brace…again with a very mild handling improvement and finally the “C” pillar bar. I did not feel any handling improvement but it makes a great clothes hangar across the width of the car.

 

What kind of gas mileage were you getting when you bought your car?

 

29 to 30 mpg! But, I got the car with the 16" X 6.5" Honda Accessory wheels...it goes through the corners real good at the price of gas mileage. I'm much more interested in handling performance than gas performance. But I would trade the 8 explosive devices we have inside the car (called air bags) for an additional 8-mpg any day!

 

My question was directed toward the OP.

 

Actually, the Echo predates the Yaris platform. The Scion variant is the xA and the Yaris based Scion is the xD. To answer your question, it appears that the OP got the Fit based on looks and the reliability of a newer car. Have you seen a Yaris? Blech!

I got 40.5 mpg on my last tank (GD3 Base AT). Time to check my tire pressure.

 

Listen, to the OP I'm not saying your engine flush treatment at an Oil Change center did not help. It probably did.

But my problem would be trusting the engine oil center technicians. At most of those places I barely trust them to do an Oil Change correctly let alone the more intrusive, indepth services they want to always upcharge me for.

In the past, after watching them put the wrong oil in my car, screw up a simple coolant change, and remove and improperly re-install my air filter, If I use one of those quickie Oil Change centers, I clearly state I want ONLY an Oil Change...I don't even want them removing the air filter so they can frown and show it to me and try to charge me 3 times it's cost, to exchange it...

I'm glad it worked out for you, but I could never trust a Quickie Oil Change Center to flush my engine. If they screwed it up the damage could be irreversible.

I'm going to rely on occasionally running techroline or another fuel injector cleaner through my fuel system...and hope that my fuel injectors never become so bad they need a major flushing...and if they ever did..not going to have it done at the local Speedy Oil Change Center....don't trust em.

 

hey robotfist!!!!!!!!!!!! ....you said your gas mileage sucked and then after the flush it was great.......... BUT you gave no numbers.

so what's your gas MPG, before and after???

 

i did the flush to my old car. $100 here in ny, i saw an improvement, but the car still hesitates when its cold. Im gonna check the spark plugs next

 

This is why I dont buy cheap gasoline. Valero, ARCO, etc to not have beyond the minimum legal requirement detergents. Chevron and Texaco include Techron, excellent for preventing carbon buildup. Shell, Mobil and 76 are also "Top Tier" gasolines. In my Ford, a bottle of Techron did the trick and did not need the expensive professional flush. Buying a used car, especially from a dealer instead of private owner, you dont know how it was treated.

 

I've only had over 40 mpg once on my 2010 automatic Fit Sport driving down hill. I was wondering how many miles you have on your car? I am just over 5000 miles on my car and I am averaging in the gas mileage in the low 30s.