Honda Fit Real World MPG

fitman548

Filled up 8.554 gal last night.
309.1 miles since last fill up

36.13 mpg

sport AT, 80% freeway with AC (50% of that at 80 mph. On my car, at 80 mph you're right at 3000 rpm. 75 mph is 2750rpm, and 70 is around 2500).

frogdaddy

Manual states it can use 10% of blended ethanol. Can anyone explain?
That means 90% Ethanol 10% Gasoline? So, I can use what's known as the 85% blend we hear lately?

I don't even think they have this in Atlanta area.
Thanks.

fitman548

it's the other way around. 10% ethanol, 90% gas.

frogdaddy

ah. Sorry. I think I meant that. So I could not do a 15% ethanol, 85% gas? Sounds like it will be hard to find if it's not the norm.

jethaden

Note that E85 (which is what you are hearing about) is 85% ethanol and 15% gas, not the other way around. This can not be used in FIT.

fitman548

really, 85% ethanol? Sorry, I guess I was wrong.

hungarian83

No, you were right.

There are many different ratios of ethanol to gasoline...E5, E10 (gasohol), E15, E20, E85, and E100 (pure ethanol).

E5 and E10 are supposed to be OK for cars that were designed for pure gasoline, but fuel economy is usually adversely affected.

E10 (10% ethanol) gasohol is the most that should be put in the Fit according to the owner's manual. Some states have E15 (15% ethanol, 85% gasoline). I know there are some people on these forums who live in these states and have used this fuel...to the detriment of their fuel economy.
E85 is the fuel commonly used for "flex-fuel vehicles" with 85% ethanol. Ratios like E20 and E100 are used in other countries like Brazil.

The Fit owner's manual says not use gasoline containing more than 10% ethanol or 15% MTBE.

mebman

I wouldn't recommend E-10.
It Is the mandatory fuel in all counties surrounding Houston (where I live) and I have found that I get about 5-7mpg worse on E-10 than when I go to the next county over and fill up with regular gasoline.

johnnyvj

I wouldn't recommend E-10.
It Is the mandatory fuel in all counties surrounding Houston (where I live) and I have found that I get about 5-7mpg worse on E-10 than when I go to the next county over and fill up with regular gasoline.

That seems odd... ethanol has about 70% of the energy potential of gasoline, so with E10 you should only be losing about 3% of your mpg. Which is more like 1 mpg, instead of 5-7 mpg.

Your results sound more consistent with either a) a car that just isn't dealing with the E10 blend properly, or b) E85 usage.

carfanatic007

Filled up with BP Amoco regular 87 Octane. 9.585 gallons, 320.7 miles = 33.45 mpg. This is 60 percent highway, 40 percent city, driving not conservatively, but not "beating" it. 5 spd MT.

getnfittywidit

Yeah, tho' still great compared to what I had, I filled my tank for the first time yesterday. 260 miles with 9.53 gallons. Only 27 mpg?

I don't do much highway driving, but it's not really city either...more suburban...I'm over 40 alot. Did have several short trips this week (I'm only 12 miles from work) but I hope it will get a little better...up to 30 at least.

amazinglyfit

1585 miles
46.037 gallons
34.4 MPG

30% freeway 65-75 mph
65% two lane 30-60 mph
5% town/city

Sport A/T

randydriver

Guys dont forget, in a lot of cities starting this summer they will be switching to the Ethanol blend gas and your mileage will drop.

bprenderson

Randy,

That's what I always thought, too. Yesterday or the day before, there was an article in the local fish wrap by some expert saying that Ethanol has higher octane and will "increase mileage". I didn't think higher octane led to better mileage.

Thanks,

Bubba :confuse:

johnnyvj

That 'expert' sounds like he's either incompetent, or is shilling for the ethanol industry. :sick:

Ethanol has a lower energy potential than gasoline, and will always REDUCE mileage, not enhance it. This isn't even argued by anyone serious anymore.

bob104

The current issue of Popular Mechanics takes a look at four subcompacts. Based on their loop test track, here is what they report:
Yaris 37, epa 34/40
Fit 35.8, epa 33/39
Nissan Versa 27.8!/ epa ?
Kia Rio 30.3/ 29/38 with a/t

Finally! Anyway, the figures bear out what people have been reporting herein. It also marks the first time I've seen cars, the Fit and Yaris, get a realworld average mpg completely in agreement with EPA estimates.
They highly favored the Fit. My quest is ended. I will buy a Fit when they offer it with a 1.3 liter conventional engine--should average 40-42mpg, but that's a topic for another forum. And I will only drive it when my 2000mpg ebike won't get me there.

johnnyvj

Those results pretty much mirror the May issue of Car and Driver, where in their econocar comparo, the Fit and Yaris blew everyone else away on mileage.

Sorry Versa, Rio, Accent, Caliber, and some kind of Suzuki (forget). :shades:

gearhead1

They highly favored the Fit. My quest is ended. I will buy a Fit when they offer it with a 1.3 liter conventional engine--

You will be waiting for your Fit for a very, very long time if your waiting for a 1.3 litre Fit to come to America.

getnfittywidit

Correct, and the ethanol proponents are sort of glossing over these facts. Yes, it'll cost a tad less to fill your tank, but what you're saving at the pump, you'll spend in mileage.

Might be why my mpg is lower than I expected. We are already using the 10% blend here in VA.

familyofmoon

driving back DC the low fuel light came on, the gas seemed to disapperar rapidly from that point on so i put 3 gallons in. When i got home i filled up 7 and a bit more gallons - had 340 miles that gives me 34 MPG.
mostly highway at 65 MPH
some heavy traffic when I first picked up the car from the dealer near Hershey PA (some event, traffic was just sitting) - some more traffic on my DC trip.
i'm hoping it does better after breaking in.
LOVE MY FIT

getnfittywidit

CNNMoney (on-line) did an article called The Battle of the Mincars yesterday. The Fit is #1 there too! Winning mostly due to styling, handling and cargo space for the price!

familyofmoon

OUCH
only got 26MPG what happened?????
wondering if it is SHEETZ gas??????
anyone know where i can find stats on fuel from different gas stations?
not happy with 26MPG
still love my fit :shades:

fitman548

2nd reading
311.4 miles
refill 8.991 gallons

34.63 MPG. That was on Costco gas. I filled up with convenience store this time.

ALERT: The "gas" light came on just as I was pulling in. I refilled 8.991 gallons. I think the light goes on when you've expended 9 gallons, maybe, leaving 1.3 gallons in the tank when the light comes on.

mrcaveman

No choice? Wish I could get fuel without ethanol. All fuel contains 10% ethanol here. Not cheap either.

mtngal

I'm trying to figure out what some of the little things that can affect both mileage and pick-up. Some days the Fit (AT Sport) will flow up the steep portion of the Grapevine in 4th gear, maintaining 60-65 mph. Other days it struggles up, having to downshift to 3rd to maintain 60. There's only 2 different gas stations that we fill up in. About the only thing that I can think of might be headwinds - with the Fit its harder to tell when its somewhat windy (but not strong enough to justify posting wind advisory messages on the freeway). Our humidity is usually really low, but this week we've had monsoonal moisture and its been unusually muggy. Does anyone know if that could have an effect?

kingpenguin78

My first fill up after the dealer 'filled' it up came to 12.9mpg. Of course this is because they didn't fill it up completely and I put about 130 kilometers on it before I topped it off.

Kinda freaked me out tho!

nippononly

High humidity can affect fuel economy and available power a bit, as can temperature extremes.

IIRC, the engine runs more efficiently the colder the outside air is, because the air is more dense and so contains more oxygen per unit volume.

mattschechter

it's true that engine efficiency increases on cold days but I could be wrong, but I always thought that cold day efficiency increases have to do with the second law of thermodynamics and the fact that the temperature difference between a hot engine and the air on a cold day is greater than a hot engine on a hot day and therefore more closely approaches the perfectly efficient Carnot engine. Air density might indeed be greater on a cold day but i don't think that the overall partial pressure of ambient O2 would change... if this were really the case we'd be sending all the folks with heart and lung disorders to Alaska (J/K).

as for the uphill power, i took my Fit up the Canejo grade (also in SoCal, also during this yucky heat-wave) and found that the uphill power and acceleration were great as long as I was already moving at a reasonable clip. Acceleration starting from slower speeds on a steep grade was definitely less impressive. Does this match your experience mtngal?

carfanatic007

Thats funny because I always get much better mileage in the summer than I do in the winter.

hungarian83

"Thats funny because I always get much better mileage in the summer than I do in the winter."

That might have something to do with the difference between summer and winter gasoline. I really have no idea how that works in the US...but if the entire country gets "winter gasoline" and someone in southern California with a milder winter get the same as Minnesota, it would probably affect mileage to some degree.

In regards to mtngal's Fit's performance in this humid weather, I have also noticed the car to be a bit more sluggish in certain respects, but not too bad.

johnnyvj

Thats funny because I always get much better mileage in the summer than I do in the winter.

Certainly that's possible. One factor no one's mentioned is that warm air is less dense than cold air. So presumably, wind resistance is reduced in summer (read hotter) air.

Sounds crazy until you hear Phil Mickelson describe how he can hit the golf ball significantly further when its hot out.

fit_ness

Except when a tree gets in the way.

nordo

I am still waiting on my Fit, so I don’t know when the VTEC kicks in on that engine.
From my test drives in the AT Fit the transmission really lets the engine rev. From my experience with my VTEC Civic on the Highway it makes a 5-8mpg (33-35 to 26-28) difference cruising above or below the VTEC point. Some of that is from just plain going faster.
Having an AT in the Fit makes it hard to “stay off the pipe”.

As for worse gas mileage in the winter,
1. When you start a cold engine the fuel does not vaporize as easily when cold so the computer richens the fuel. It also holds the idle higher. Both use more fuel.
2. All the rest of the oils in you car are thicker when it is cold, wheel bearings, transmission and engine oil. All this makes for more rolling resistance.

mattschechter

With VTEC, depending on engine load and rpm, an electronic controller determines which cam profile will be used and exactly how the intake valves will operate. For the Fit, this is usually around 3,400 rpm. (See http://www.vtec.net/articles/view-article?article_id=529738 ). In my AT Fit crusing at 80 mph RPM is about 2900 so VTEC doesn't engage unless you rev to pass or accelerate big... I've found the AT is very smooth and good at knowing when to let the engine rev. Hope this helps.
-Matt

mtngal

This is an interesting discussion - my experience has been that the differences aren't huge - it's more a matter of if the car (an AT Sport) can stay in 4th gear going up the steep parts of the Grapevine. Sometimes it maintains 60-65 and 4th gear without much problem, other times it will shift down to 3rd to maintain 60 mph. The gas mileage has gone down a bit, but not much (I really need to update my mpg figures) - it's been more like 33-34 this week.

I guess my Fit can be considered "broken in" - it's well over 10,000 miles now (10400, I think).

getnfittywidit

Geez, thought it was only me. Sorry, I had you beat by 1mpg. :-) My 2nd fill up yesterday, exactly same number of miles by the time the fuel light came on and I decided to stop; 260 miles, it took 9.3 gallons. (took 9.5 last time).

Yeah, I still love my Fit for all kinds of reasons, but I expected better than 27 mpg. How long before the engine is "broken in?" Service guy at the dealership said his Civic didn't "break in" until it was close to 18K miles. It'll take me year and a half to get better than 27 mpg?????? :confuse:

shneor

My last fillup resulted in 37.4 mpg; 60% highway, the rest commuting, air conditioner going 80% of the time. I'm up to about 2,900 miles. What a terrific car this is.

mattschechter

regarding the AC, do you notice that in the first 10/15 minutes of a drive with the AC on (no recycle) and the car interior hot the AC blows noticeably warmer for 5-10 seconds after you rev the engine (like accelerating from a stop at a stoplight)? Is this just me? Also, when using recycle after the car cools off a bit, is your AC not super cold for the first 20 minutes or so? Should I get my AC checked out at the dealer?

tonks

I too, have noticed that the air conditioning takes a long time to get to the "cold" or "super cold" stage. I've actually had a back-seat passenger complain about the lack of cooling power.

carfanatic007

I haven't had any problems with my Fit Air Conditioner. It always blows very cold air. Even after sitting in the sun for hours (its a Black Fit on top of it), it cools the car within 5 minutes.

hungarian83

I have noticed the same thing, and even with the fan on 2 it cools the car pretty quickly and the A/C always gets cold fast. Yesterday it was quite warm, and I did a lot of parking the car in the sun. When I started the car it felt like the system only needed to get the hot humid air out of the ducts before cold air started coming.

mattschechter

any mechanics or techs out there with advice? Could the coolant levels be too low? I'd love to get AC performance like hungarian83 and carfanatic007!

oldguymitfit

I have noticed the same thing in my Fit, but I first noted it in my '04 Civic. The A/C cools the car fine, but I do notice when I am accelerating from a light, the cool air coming from the vents becomes warm for a few seconds, then returns to cool once I am cruising. I always thought the car was being smart and switching off the a/c compressor to give more power for acceleration. I don't know whether it exhibits the same behavior after the for 10 minutes or so, since most of my trips are short, most of my daily trips are 3 miles to work, 2 miles to the grocery store,...and my biggy, 6 miles to the gym. Today was an exception, we drove through the Catskills and around the Ashokan Reservoir. We put about 125 miles on it today. It was hot, but the a/c performed well, as did the Fit! I love this car!

mattschechter

yup, this is the exact issue... i'm going in to the dealer later this week to have my refrigerant levels checked and to ask the tech's about this occurrence. I'll report back.

fitman548

third fill up.

35.31 mpg.

cdnfit

The Honda dealer lent us a 2004 Corolla until our Fit came in and it got 33 mpg versus 29-31 mpg for our Fit. (Both are AT's - mostly highway driving).
And my brother-in-law's 2006 Corolla gets 36 mpg.
The 2 cars are very close in weight even though the Corolla seems quite a bit bigger. I knew the Fit's mileage wasn't that great - but I wanted a hatchback.
On our 4th fill-up, I will try driving at the speed limit. That should improve the mileage, but it will also make the cars following me very angry.

mtngal

Just figured up my mileage again for overall figures. They are:

10,895.1 miles
302.002 gallons
36.076 mpg

My mileage does seem to be going down during the summer - could be the winds, the fact I'm driving a bit faster, it's been a whole lot hotter and more humid than normal recently (AC on all the time). I'm still not complaining at all - the mileage is in the range we had hoped for. The Wrangler's mileage always went down in the winter (assumed that was because of the change to winter grade fuel), so I'm surprised that the Fit seems to go down in the summer. I suppose it's possible that the smaller, more efficient engine is more prone to atmospheric changes, while the heavy, powerful inefficient in the Wrangler reacts more to the change in fuel.

The mileage is almost all freeway - some Los Angeles slow-n-go, some high speed, most involves some type of large elevation gain or loss.

johnnyvj

The Honda dealer lent us a 2004 Corolla until our Fit came in and it got 33 mpg versus 29-31 mpg for our Fit. (Both are AT's - mostly highway driving).
And my brother-in-law's 2006 Corolla gets 36 mpg.
The 2 cars are very close in weight even though the Corolla seems quite a bit bigger. I knew the Fit's mileage wasn't that great - but I wanted a hatchback.

That '04 Corolla is broken in. Your Fit is probably not yet. Your bro's '06 Corolla? I wouldn't know how many miles are on it.

A lot of Fit owners report that their mileage improves as the car is broken in.

fitman548

Even a brand new Fit should get better than 29-31, unless you're accelerating hard in stop and go traffic with the AC on and 500 lbs in the back sorta thing.

familyofmoon

speaking of AC, my AC smells funny - kinda like an ion air filter!
it takes a while to get really cold too.
wondering if there is something wrong with the AC and if that is affecting my MPG.
probably take it to the dealer this week.