KamakuraKid

Hi,

Let me firstly say I am thrilled with my 2008 Fit Sport, simply thrilled. Also, I have been getting the expected fuel economy as posted by Honda.

Now for the past few weeks I have stumbled upon a couple of owners who are indicating they are getting "poor" gas mileage. My owner's manual states the Fit is to be filled to the FIRST CLICK ONLY and not to the second as some might be doing from past habits. I am thinking some of the owners are getting "bad" mileage due to their less than accurate/scientific record keeping. After all, there are so few with issues there has be be a reason, it is either mechanical, driving habits or amount of fuel being placed it the tank.

This is how I have been measuring my fuel economy:

Step One
Fill the car up with the type of gas you normally use. Try to use the same grade and gas station(brand) that you normally fill up with. Different grades will yield different results and sometimes the quality of gas may vary from station to station.

Step Two
Reset the trip odometer to zero.

Step Three
Do your typical weekly driving until the orange fuel light comes on.

Step Four
Drive to your gas station and fill up the tank again. Write down how many gallons/litres it took to fill up the tank and the mileage shown by the trip odometer.

Step Five
Calculate the gas mileage by taking the total number of miles/kms driven and dividing it by the number of gallons/litres used to fill the car up the second time.

Step Six
Repeat these steps several times and compare the results to get a more accurate reading. You will get better gas economy on highways at a normal speed than city streets. Use this method during road trips to measure the highway gas mileage, assuming a flat road with no wind. You will never have perfect conditions.

Any comments about the "formula"?

runhopskipendub

when you say drive till low fuel light comes on then drive to fill up and check trip i think it would be better to check trip at illumination of light. if you check trip when you arrive at the gas station, the amount of reserve fuel used will be different every time depending on how long you drive with the light on.

CivicWagonRUS

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by runhopskipendub &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">when you say drive till low fuel light comes on then drive to fill up and check trip i think it would be better to check trip at illumination of light. if you check trip when you arrive at the gas station, the amount of reserve fuel used will be different every time depending on how long you drive with the light on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's irrelevant, your trip meter is still going after the light comes on. Those miles that you drove be they a lot or a little will get factored in.

runhopskipendub

yaeh, i see how you guys are doing it.

Duane_in_Japan

Keep a running total of milage from day one and a running total of gallons from day one and use this as your calculation, these arent correct numbers but lets say 12000 miles and 800 gallons = 32 MPG, each month, or quarter can be used as a second opinion (calculation). I just read an article on this in the last day or two.

Solscud007

that is how I do it. is there any other way? i mean its pretty simple math and not that hard to figure out fuel economy.

fitfreak3

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 20ls01 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if you want the most accurate results, REFILL AT THE SAME PUMP. Each pump stops at a certain amount. The 76 at my house usually fills 10.4 gallons when my light comes on, but at a nearby chevron it usually fills close to 11. </TD></TR></TABLE>

That really doesn't sound right to me

Duane_in_Japan

Maybe what he is saying is to fill till the pump kicks off automatically and stop, do not try to top it off, another reason for keeping a running total from day one.

Guzzie

do you guys not get the trip computer on your fits that tell you MPG's???

overe here we do it looks like this...

Sturmmann

iTrader: (3)

Nope we don't have those on the North American continent.

Is fuel mileage calculation that hard? Who hasn't gone through grade school yet?

Simple arithmetics...Distance Traveled \/divide\/ Gallons Drank

Duane_in_Japan

The math is simple, the accuracy is + - 25%, more accurate if you fill from almost empty to full each time, have ran out of gas doing that before.

KamakuraKid

Seems simple to me as well, I am left shaking my head at those who post claiming they are not getting the fuel economy as advertised by Honda. I know I am fine, better than fine.

Perhaps these few econoplainers (economy/complainers) need to shift out of first gear on the highway?

kk

KamakuraKid

Not since 1976 here in Canada. Metric baby. We also need to be reminded USA and Imperial gallons are different in size.