Archive for September, 2009
Fuel Efficiency in the Honda Fit
If you drive the Fit for maximum fuel efficiency with very light throttle applications and you shift into the next highest gear as quickly as possible, the Honda Fit gets amazing gas mileage. On our best tankful using this method, the Fit averaged 37.3 mpg—and that was combined city and highway driving. Hey, who needs a hybrid? But if you keep up with the rest of the lead-foot drivers in Los Angeles, the fuel economy does drop. And so the average for the past nine tankfuls works out to 33 mpg—still quite good.
As the odometer rolled past the 3,000-mile mark, it got me thinking about the first scheduled maintenance. Call me old-fashioned, but shouldn’t there be some type of schedule printed in the owner’s manual? Instead, our Honda Fit has a “Maintenance Minder” computer, which tells us at 3,361 miles that we have 50 percent of our engine oil life remaining. I’d like to know when Honda’s engineers recommend I should change the oil—especially under severe-duty useage. More importantly, if you don’t get your car serviced at a Honda dealer, you’re forced to reset the Maintenance Minder yourself—and remember to do it. How many owners are going to be up for that?