Long story short, I bought a 2011 Fit Sport w/ an auto transmission. I'm new to all this and am not a mechanic. Two issues:

1) It seems like it goes right thru first gear nearly instantly and thus ends up bogging down 2nd and 3rd. I can use the paddle to downshift and it has the power there, but yeah, with no paddle you barely get any 1st gear.

2) I'm only getting 25mpg instead of what I see is the average, 35mph.

Any ideas on these? Where to start?

 

Have the transmission fluid and filter ever been changed?

 

Not that I know of. I really don't know too much history on the car, and I haven't done anything to it myself yet since I don't have a garage and it's been cold as hell here in WV.

 

I think that all automatics are programmed to up-shift ASAP for fuel economy ratings.
Accelerate hard (pedal down to floor) from a stop and see if it revs higher in the first gear. (NEVER DO THIS WITH A COLD ENGINE!!!)
If you drive civilized, then it will always up-shift right away.

When it warms up outside, pop the hood and look at your AT dip stick for the colour of the fluid.
If red = OK.
If brown = time for fluid change.
If black = good luck with that one!

Also here's a long list of conditions that will significantly reduce your mileage from the 35 mpg average:

1) "it's been cold as hell here in WV":
* cold air is more dense than warm air, so it's literally harder to drive through it.
* the engine will need much longer to warm up, burning more fuel in the process, especially if you blast the hot air inside the car right away.
I use a front grille block in the winter with pipe insulation, but also have a Scangauge2 tool to avoid overheating the engine if there's a warmer day. I can remove one pipe insulation piece in seconds, as they are simply wedged inside the gille.

* all mechanical components are "frozen" and will need more fuel to get them moving.
* tire pressures are likely low right now, heavily impacting rolling resistance and gas mileage.
I wait until it's not cold as hell and then pump them higher than recommended, so that when it gets cold as hell again, they don't deflate so much.

2) winter gas is different from summer gas, having less energy, but easier for starting cold engines.

3) driving over snow and/or using winter tires also impacts rolling resistance & gas mileage.

4) you likely do more short trips than in the summer.

I still manage to get 30-33 mpg in the winter time, but I try to hypermile and avoid short trips as much as I can.

Here are my recommendations:
* check tire PSI's
* check engine and transmission oils
* check your engine air filter
* if all of these are fine, reset the current mileage average on you dash and take the car for 1 hour highway drive at speed limit (not in stop & go traffic). If you don't have the trip avg. mileage on your dash at 33-35 mpg then it's a sign something is mechanically wrong with your car.

Hope this helps!

 

With a smaller engine, the miles per gal (MPG) vary a lot because of the reasons Andrei mentioned. This graph is the result of 368 fill-ups and hand calculated MPG (not dash meter) on 2011 Sport AT and for most of its life, I've been running 205/50-16 tires (stock are 185/55-16) on 16x7 rims and have a Tanabe final muffler / tailpipe (if it matters). Everything else is stock.