The tire pressure monitoring system is not sensitive enough to show a couple of pounds difference from the optimum pressure. So, you need to check the pressure yourself.
It isn’t fully broken in yet and it may need another 700 miles. The fuel economy starts to get better at 2,000 miles but isn’t ready yet. It’s still too new.
You still need to check your tire pressure, especially if you are worried about fuel economy.
Is there an information center that you can page through to tell you what the measured tire pressure is? Some manufacturers off that as well as the low pressure light.
I also read that there’s a Fit TSB for optimistic mpg readout, that they can update the software to correct it to some degree.
And one more thing on the tire pressure, make sure you’re using a good gauge. We just had a recent discussion on that, looks like the digital ones are pretty good.
Unless you have a habit of driving until the tank is dry, you need to try a different gas station. Honda says the Fit only holds 10.6 gallon of gas.
The Fit is a small, light car, with marginal aerodynamics. The faster you go the harder the engine has to work and down goes the mpg. A bigger car carrying more momentum might not lose as many mpg at 75 vs 65 mph. The difference between 65 and 75 in a Fit will be rather dramatic. The federal tests that shows highway mpg was not done at 75 mph. The old standard was at 55 mph and while the new standard is higher, it isn’t close to 75 mph.
Let the other motorists in big cars pass if that’s what they want. Try a couple of tanks of gas and keep your speeds between 65 and not over 70 mph and check your mpg then. My guess is you get about 20% less mpg at 75 vs 65 in a Fit.
I agree with the rest of the gang. Break-in time is needed. Those little motors are built tight to last. Tire pressure is also important.
Your Fit also has a smaller engine. This means it’s going to work harder to do the same thing and this affects the mileage.
Consider the following example. My daughter owned a Mitsubish Galant 2.4 (perfectly tuned, etc,) and that car would get about 16-17 in town and 27 on the open road.
My Lincoln Mark VIII with the DOHC 4.6 V-8 will get 18-19 in town and 27 on the road. At times it has even hit close to 30 on the highway.
Engine torque/design is what moves the much heavier Mark with a much larger engine to best the Mitsubishi as far as mileage goes.
Aerodynamics has a bigger effect on highway gas mileage than weight does. My motorcycle will only get 35-40 highway mpg if I insist on cruising at 80 mph even though it is many times lighter than even the smallest car. If I slow down to around 65 mph or so, it will get over 50 mpg, still there are cars that can match that. Bikes are light but their aerodynamics are horrible.
However, thanks to the bike’s low weight, I can accelerate like a jack rabbit without getting horrible gas mileage, in fact, I actually get better gas mileage by doing a jack rabbit start to a lower cruising speed than by creeping up gradually to a higher cruising speed, achieving the same average speed in both cases.
Fuel quality and your motor oil could both contribute to lower MPG. My Mazda 3 has a 9.5 to 1 compression ratio, yet is rated to use regular 87 unleaded. It does this by automatically detuning slightly when lower octane fuel causes the knock sensor to trigger. I swear that I get better gas mileage with mid grade 89 octane. And a higher viscosity oil than necessary will also give you lower gas mileage. Make sure that you have the right viscosity oil, and consider switching to synthetic oil. I have found synthetic oil worth 5-10% improvement in MPG. BTW, the Mazda 3 with 2.5L 4 cyl, at 3000lbs, averages 27 around town, and 30 on long freeway trips. My neighbor has a Honda Fit, and he beats me with up to 38 MPG.
I was disappointed, and surprised, at how the Insight turned out. Compared to a Prius, the Insight is noisier, rides worse, has less room, and uses more gas. It is cheaper than a Prius, but not that much cheaper than the “base” Prius II, which is very well equipped.
or what it’s worth. I once did a very unscientific study on mileage on my '67 Cougar 289 Auto. I kept track of mileage and repairs over the life of the car. My record showed increasing MPG numbers from new until 200K miles when I did a complete overhaul, going from 11-13 new, to 17-18 just before overhaul. Afterward MPG reverted to the original low numbers then continued to increase as the mileage built up.
Perhaps it’s driving style. I recently rented a Chevy Cobalt with no cruise control and drove from Dover to the Toledo area. Mileage sucked. Then, a week ago I rented a Toyota Corolla with cruise control and mileage was great. It stayed set at speed limit +5. Lacking anything more than the most rudimentary observation, I credit cruise control.
Some thoughts:
E10 potentially = -3% to -5%
Running AC = -5% to -15%
Running vehicle in = +?%
Oh, I forgot 0 to 60 in less than 12 seconds (from a FULL STOP) can easily cut fuel economy by up to 20% … particularly if you do much city/stop/start driving.
Best guesses …
Recently I observed on each of two-two hour legs of a 4 hour trip looking at the MPG computer on my Honda CRV that using the cruise control resulted in about 2 MPG LESS than my foot. (about 21.7 vs 23.5). The road was not excessively hilly and obviously there are a lot of possible variables. The speed was about the same around 70 +/- 5 mph. What I did notice was that there was significant acceleration by the cruise control to maintain the speed on slight hills which I didn’t do with my foot.
I bet its the break in oil from the factory is heavier than what Honda recommends you put in the engine.
My 2011 Mazda RX-8 was getting consistent 16 mpg in mixed driving.
As soon as the first oil change happened, my gas mileage jumped up to 18 mpg, on the same exact route to work, under the same traffic conditions.
Just the other weekend I changed the oil again, and now my mileage is right at 20 mpg. Same route, same traffic, just an oil change.
BC.
I agree with OK, the smaller the engine, the harder it has to work to keep the car moving. It’s also why you’ll only see an mpg or two difference between 4 and 6cyl models of the same car.
My uncle used to own a single cab Silverado with the V6, then traded it in for an extended cab Siera with the V8. He claimed he was getting better mileage with the V8 than the V6.
I hope you didn’t cruise on the interstate with the cruise control during the first 500 miles.