I finally did it...40+mpg!

[macbuddy]

Yay! After accumulating over 101,000+ miles, in just over 4 years of ownership, I finally broke the 40+ mpg mark! Tonight, I filled the tank to the "neck," and was able to put in 12.79 gallons of gas. The odometer showed that I had gone 513.3 miles on this recent tank of 87 octane.

513.3 miles / 12.79 gallons = 40.13 mpg!

I am now convinced that I can get my Fit to achieve 40 mpg! I am also confident that a full tank of gas can allow me to cruise 500+ miles. I realize that the main reason for the better mileage was that most of my commute this week, included 2 lane roads that were posted with speed limits of only 45 mph. Of this stretch of Hywy 12, several miles of it were under construction, which included sections limiting the pace to merely 35 mph!
Although I was elated to have accomplished this feat, I hope that I don't have to make this same commute again any time soon.
Driving this way is just too dam boring!
-macbuddy-
BTW, for those that might be interested in knowing, my 195/50-15 Yokohama S. Drives are currently set at 28 psi front, and 27 psi rear.

[claymore]

Myself I would rather get 37 mpg and drive over 45mph once in awhile... I tend to fall asleep at those speeds.

[manxman]

Hey Mike,

Congratulations! I received your texts this morning, and you should be proud of your achievement. However, I agree with claymore in my own driving. It's nice knowing that I can get better mpg, but it is too boring for me to actually DO it.

[VillageIdiot]

I was wondering who texted me with the exited exclamation.... I had never received a text before and was really confused about it. I am having to drive an old pickup until my body will allow me to do the necessary contortions required to get all of the changes done that are needed to complete the high boost 10 PSI upgrade completed.... Ironically I have grown fond of driving 45 MPH in the old truck.... I don't think premium fuel would make any difference at the speeds you have been driving.

[EXWRX]

I did it but only limited my speed to 65. It was still deadly dull, though. I did it for 2 tanks in a row, just to make sure it wasn't a glitch with caclulating or overfilling one tank, but now I'm happy with my normal 37ish.

[VillageIdiot]

I have a real hard time reaching the speed limit if I am listening to any kind of music and dangerously slow when it is laid back blues.... It does improve my mileage figures but some bubba in a big truck is liable to run over me..... I was wondering if when you figured your mileage if you took the change in tire diameter into consideration? The pickup I am presently driving has larger than stock size tires on it and the odometer/ speedometer readings are way off, reading on the low side of distance traveled and speed.... I personally think that since the Fit and every other Honda product likes higher RPM and makes power in the upper part of the power band that reducing tire diameter is a sensible way to gain performance and much cheaper than changing the final drive ratio at the transaxle.

[edwhug]

I've had my 2009 Fit Sport since mid October 2008 with over 27,000 miles on her now. Every time I gas up I record the mileage as well as the "indicated" mileage. Turns up the "indicated" mileage shows about 3-4 mpg better than the actual mileage. I have a MS Excel spreadsheet graph of the scatter diagram showing all this, but don't know how to upload here. Anyway, I wonder if anyone else has run similar figures on theirs. Oh .. and I can push my actual mileage to about 42mpg by highway driving about 5 mph below the limit on cruise control.

[sooznd]

I have a similar excel spreadsheet I have been using for my Subaru & scooters the past several years. I just started tracking with my Fit. The gas gauge light came on, so I filled the tank for the first time yesterday. It only took 9.499 gallons--I do not fill past the first click.

How much gas is in the reserve? I did not want to chance and run out.

Also how accurate is the average mpg readout on the dash? When I went to my daughter's last week it read 40.6!! (on state highway --50- 65 mph roads)
Around town I am getting anywhere from 28 - 32 on short trips, according to the avg mpg readout.

[edwhug]

I have a similar excel spreadsheet I have been using for my Subaru & scooters the past several years. I just started tracking with my Fit. The gas gauge light came on, so I filled the tank for the first time yesterday. It only took 9.499 gallons--I do not fill past the first click.

How much gas is in the reserve? I did not want to chance and run out.

Also how accurate is the average mpg readout on the dash? When I went to my daughter's last week it read 40.6!! (on state highway --50- 65 mph roads)
Around town I am getting anywhere from 28 - 32 on short trips, according to the avg mpg readout.
I'm much more conservative than you. I tend to fill up when the tank is just over half empty. The 115 times I've filled up since October 2008 has produced 115 points on each of my spread sheet graphics. One of these graphics shows "Indicated MPG" vs "Actual MPG", on which two things are remarkable: the "scatter" of Indicated MPG runs between 28 and 40 MPG with a few points higher and lower. Secondly, the linear regression line along the points shows that the Indicated MPG is around 3-4 MPG greater than actual. Thus for my car, I subtract 3 MPG from the Indicated to estimate how many MPG I'm actually getting. This could be different for different cars.

[sooznd]

Thanks for the info on the spread sheet accuracy-but I would like to know the accuracy of the average mpg electronic readout on the dash on the GE8 model. I understand GD models do not have this.

[edwhug]

Thanks for the info on the spread sheet accuracy-but I would like to know the accuracy of the average mpg electronic readout on the dash on the GE8 model. I understand GD models do not have this.
Just a little correction: My (quite accurate) spreadsheet data shows that the accuracy of the average mpg readout on the dash is not exact. Specifically, the mpg readout on the dash is about 3 mpg higher than the true mpg, determined by dividing the miles between fill-ups by the gallons at that fill-up. This error applies to my 2009 Honda Fit Sport.

[sooznd]

Great- thank you! Is there any way to post your spreadsheet here for others to use?
If not, I can pm you my email and you can send it to me. Thanks

[Davo]

That's some awesome MPG's. I've tried to calculate mileage for every tank of gas since I bought my 2010 Fit Sport in January. I think I've missed like three tanks. My mileage went up after 7500 miles on the odo, which was about the time that ambient temperatures went up. I had been averaging 31.5 mpgs and suddenly I started getting 33-34.5 MPG in each tank. I recently hit an all-time high of 35.4 mpg's in the last tank of regular unleaded gas but a higher percentage (about 70%) of that was highway driving. I generally drive 72-80 mph on the highway and average 5-10 mph above the posted speed limit almost everywhere I drive. Overall, I am quite happy with my mileage but I would love to get 40 mpg. However, like others have indicated, I could not drive the way you have to in order to get those numbers so I will settle for what I am getting.

Davo