Anyone else buy a car with a green rating only to find out their car doesn't get the promised mileage?

Question

2007 Honda FIT. I bought the sport automatic. Honda promised 32 city/ 38 highway. I expected to lose a few mpg but I get from 22 to 27 mpg when driving very carefully. I understand those things that lower mileage but this is ridiculous. . .And then I find out you can only carry a total of 850 pounds total in the car and I have 5 seat. Sure hope nobody has a heavy purse or wants to go shopping. . . I guess I could throw out the spare tire. . .

Answer 1

The problem is that up through 2007 the EPA was estimating mileage efficiency in an unrealistic way. They would drive the cars with most of the systems (like A/C) off, accelerate very slowly, and not do stop-and-go type driving. So their estimates were quite high.

Starting in 2008 they've changed their estimating methods to make them more reliable, so the '08 models should have lower but more realistic mileage estimates.

http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center-article_153/

However, the estimates for the '08 Honda Fit are 28/34 mpg, so you should certainly be getting better than 22/27 mpg.

http://autos.yahoo.com/newcars/model/overview.html;_ylt=ArAis5YB4Ta13uuOyqeoRaoEc78F;_ylv=3?modelId=5492

You might want to bring the car into the dealer and tell them about the mileage and see if they can find a problem. If you live in a very hilly area that will reduce the mileage, and if you drive with the A/C on or with the windows down that will effect it too.

Answer 2

It's common for mpg to increase once the car is broken in. Brand new engines have more internal resistance than engines with about 10,000 miles on them.

Did you get less milage than expected with your previous car? Driving habits can have a big effect on mpg.

An easy way to improve mpg is to put more pressure in the tires. This reduces rolling resistance. Try inflating the front tires to the maximum pressure stated on the tire sidewall. Then inflate the back tires to 2 psi less than the front. It works great on the Prius...I'm averaging over 60 mpg and it only has 4,000 miles on it.

Don't get frustrated...you'll figure out how to get better mpg.

Oh, one thing that's surprising is that "granny driving" often results in worse mpg. That's because you're spending a lot of time accellerating (although gradually) and not much time coasting. Try getting up to speed pretty quickly (don't floor it, but do some nice, brisk accelleration) and then coast as much as possible once you're up to speed.

Also...remember: The more you use the brakes, the more you're wasting gas. That doesn't mean to run into people, but if you have to stop or slow down up ahead, get off the gas early so you don't have to use so much brake.

Enjoy the Fit--that's a fun car.

Answer 3

Don't ever expect the figures from the government test cycle to be obtained in the real world.

If you're in a hilly area or you drive aggressively then you'll of course have higher fuel consumption. You might also want to check that you actually looked at the figures for the model of car you bought and not one with a different engine or transmission because if you managed to get confused there it could explain a lot of the discrepancy.

In general though small cars tend to do worse than the government figures suggest and really small engines often don't give better fuel economy in the real world because they have to be worked harder (this is not an argument for getting a V8 though, in medium sized cars it's an argument for getting the V6 instead of the I4).

Don't throw out the spare tire though, you should have one in your car just in case (preferably a proper full sized tire, not one of those stupid space savers).

Answer 4

There is a Consumer Reports article on this subject.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/consumer-reports-new-epa-fueleconomy-tests-106/

Your difference sounds larger than what might be expected. Do you live in a hilly area? Hills can really screw up fuel economy, for instance Prius's take a huge hit in terms of mpg when the road grade increases.

Answer 5

Surely you jest?