Lower MPG b/c car is new?

[mattftl]

when i first bought my Fit three months ago...the dealer told me not to expect great MPG because of the extra thick oil Honda puts in the new cars...he said that after my first oil change i should see more MPG...i am getting an average 30 MPG...but is he right? has anyone else heard about this?

[hotwheelz]

they use 5w 20. i'm not sure why they told you they use extra thick oil. with the extremely tight tolerances that these engines have, the cam shaft, crank mains and tons of other stuff would never even receive oil if they put extra thick oil in the crank case. the reason you don't achieve the best mileage for a while (around 2000-5000 miles) is because the engine is brand new and needs to be broken in. if you read your manual is actually says not get do any full throttle starts until 600 miles. (seriously tho, who does that? i know i drove the piss out of my car before buying it lol) the engine will essentially loosen up, cause less friction and resistance and with this yield you with better mileage. i'm guess i'm fortunate, i'm getting 35 city/hwy with only 1500 on mine. what are your driving habits? 30mpg is still freakin awesome.

[mattftl]

for the break-in period (0-1,000 miles) i made sure not to accelerate or stop hard. now with about 2300 miles on the car, i still don't floor the pedal or stop very hard, rather let engine braking slow down the car.
when pulling away from a stoplight, i try to keep the RPM under 3,000 rpm and always use the highest gear possible and use cruise control...in the city i am averaging 30mpg. and on the highway around 36..i wish the Fit had a larger tank for the gas but i am still very happy with my mileage...

[hotwheelz]

yeah me too, even tho i average around 34mpg, the 300 miles or so i get per tank seems to dwindle fast. i get around 400 miles in my silverado which means longer between fill ups, but my truck has almost a 30 gallon tank lol.

100 bucks to fill up the truck vs. 36 bucks on the Honda, I'll take the 100 less miles per tank LOL 36 bucks, ahh just think if gas were still 1.50 or 2 bucks, heck even 3 would be nice!!

[hotwheelz]

as far as always making sure you're in the highest gear.. you probably already know this but i'll say it for somebody who might not. you want to make sure you're not in too high of a gear and thus causing the engine to lug and idle too low. the torque converter will never let the car die (unless there's a vaccum leak other things wrong of course) but it can still cause the engine to lug. i had mine in sport mode and shifted into 3 going pretty slow and the car wouldn't let me do it, just to make sure it didn't happen. yeah its the ECU telling me it's smarter than I am (it's probably true) but it's still pretty cool.

[mattftl]

as far as always making sure you're in the highest gear.. you probably already know this but i'll say it for somebody who might not. you want to make sure you're not in too high of a gear and thus causing the engine to lug and idle too low. the torque converter will never let the car die (unless there's a vaccum leak other things wrong of course) but it can still cause the engine to lug. i had mine in sport mode and shifted into 3 going pretty slow and the car wouldn't let me do it, just to make sure it didn't happen. yeah its the ECU telling me it's smarter than I am (it's probably true) but it's still pretty cool.

when cruising, i tap the paddle shifter to make sure i am always in 5th gear. and i use my cruise control around the city if i am in a steady flow of traffic over 40mph, which is most of the time.
also when pulling away from a stop, i accelerate slow and always change to a higher gear before i reach 3500rpm.. i also make sure that i don't slam on the brakes or brake hard...when going down a hill, i will change to a lower gear to slow down the car instead of using the brakes...

[fit_cycle]

I'm just under 1,500 miles on my new Fit, and I'm getting 24 MPG in the city. Pretty disappointing. Should I be concerned? Seems like I am filling it up way more often than my old Civic, which I traded in for the Fit.

Also, the fuel guage doesn't seem to be calibrated correctly. It drops really fast, and the fuel light comes on with about 8.5 gal. remaining in the tank. So, when I'm topping it off, I only put in 8.5 - 9 gal. of fuel in a tank that's 10.8 gal. Doesn't sound right to me.... Again, on my old '02 Civic, when the light came on, that truly meant that it needed fuel. Light would come on, and when I would fill it up, it would definitely take a full 10 gal.+

[mattftl]

I'm just under 1,500 miles on my new Fit, and I'm getting 24 MPG in the city. Pretty disappointing. Should I be concerned? Seems like I am filling it up way more often than my old Civic, which I traded in for the Fit.

Also, the fuel guage doesn't seem to be calibrated correctly. It drops really fast, and the fuel light comes on with about 8.5 gal. remaining in the tank. So, when I'm topping it off, I only put in 8.5 - 9 gal. of fuel in a tank that's 10.8 gal. Doesn't sound right to me.... Again, on my old '02 Civic, when the light came on, that truly meant that it needed fuel. Light would come on, and when I would fill it up, it would definitely take a full 10 gal.+

it does get better the more mileage you put on...i didn't start getting 30mpg in the city until 2000 miles. i know it sounds strange but it's true...before i was getting 25mpg. also i changed the way i drive..in the city there is so much use of the gas and brake..i started watching my RPM's and realized i would press on the accelerator harder than i thought, rpm's going up to 3500rpm-4000rpm. as soon as i started watching my rpm's and shifting to a higher gear before 3000rpm's using the paddle shifters, my MPG went up pretty quick.
yeah after the gas gauge leaves F...it goes down pretty quick..but i have never had the gas light go on..i usually fill up around 1/4 tank of gas left.
i had a 2003 Civic and it had a 13 gallon tank..so at first it does seem like you are filling up more with the Fit..and you are but only because the gas tank is so much smaller.
also the kind of gas you use can affect MPG..i did several tests of my own and found that with Shell gas, i got around 26-27 mpg. with Chevron i get 30-32mpg..i also use Chevron with Techron concentrate Fuel System Cleaner every 1,000 miles.
next time you fill up, be VERY aware of your driving habits..

[acmech52]

got me a 07 fit new mar 07, 49k to date. From 3 miles new to now, I get about 38-41 mpg driving the fwy, 60 / 70 but I do put it in "N" on down hills not more than 5 miles. city driving with the ac on, 32-36. Now if I drive 80mph and drive in the #1 fast lane, and 65 through the 138 "bloody ally" I will drop down to 32 mph with no air no "N" coast. Depends on how fast and how hard you step on the throttle. ( I don't advise anyone to drive in "N" due to dmv codes You don't have control of your car when in "N") I use cheveron, shell, sam's club, arco, All give the same milage so far. car runs great. oil change done at 20%, every so often I will floor the throttle to catch up with another Fit. I have gotten this
fit up to 105 on the interstate going up a hill, handles great. When I drove off the dealer lot, I got on the interstate and was up to 65 mph. I broke in my 02 civic and 85 nissan king cab the same. 02 civic is at 167k, the nissan with the new owner is at 425k all have original engines, no smoke.