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Hey all!
been seeing this forum used in a few sigs on my main forum, www.fitfreak.net, so I thought I'd check it out!

I live in FL, originally from Maine, have made the trip between the two states twice by car, and multiple times by plane.

I have a 2007 Honda Fit Sport 5-speed. Modified intake and full cat back exhaust, lowered the springs.
It's a road tripping machine. I've been all across Florida with it since I've moved here a little over a year ago. I've consistently achieved an average of 30+mpgs without even trying, except when I haul 2 kayaks and camping gear on top/inside the Fit, then it drops to mid/high 20s MPGs.
BUT I WANT MORE!

I am planning a 2+ week road trip cross country, Florida to California, and back. Roundtrip will be somewhere in the vicinity of 6000 miles.
I'm not looking to make any substantial modifications like fuel cut-off switches or anything, but any tips/tricks/techniques people can offer or point me in the right direction that I can use will be helpful. I also have a ScanGauge II which has been extremely informative and useful!

I know the obvious ones like slowing down, or no hard acceleration, coasting in neutral, keeping it in higher gears as quickly as possible, etc. but I'm new to the hypermiling thing.

On my trip down from Maine to Florida I was able to see one tank get almost 400 mpgs. I'm confident I can get that on this upcoming trip!

Anyway, looking forward to meeting and learning all sorts of new things from you all.

Best regards!!! Cheers!:Banane35:

Welcome! We love our 08 Fit Sport with Automatic. I would have picked the manual, but I wasn't choosing. My best tank is 42 mpg.

We have guys hitting 60+ mpg with your rig. Search the forums for Honda Fit. There are extensive threads specific to this car. Consider Pulse & glide (with or without shutting off the engine, it will help). Also, get psi to max sidewall unless on rough roads.

Among non-hybrids, you have a very capable car. If only it had taller gearing.

Look for Larry (lnmcmahan) from NorCal, for example, for some amazing results.

Be sure to read the general whys & hows article by xcel. Many here reread it often.

Good luck.

On my trip down from Maine to Florida I was able to see one tank get almost 400 mpgs. I'm confident I can get that on this upcoming trip!

(in tribal voice) UNGAW-WA! You our new leader! j/k

I know you meant a 400 mile tank. Welcome. What psi are your tires? Sounds like you already have alot of the techniques down that I just learned recently.
Do you whitewater kayak? - Dale

just basic all-around rec kayaking, no whitewater - yet. Maybe later down the road.
There's not much in the way of whitewater in FL anyway...

And yes, thanks for catching the typo... I have a nasty habit of never proofreading.

so, 400 mile tank, ~40mpgs.

I run 42psi. No real reasoning behind it except I *think* i'm getting better mpgs without compromising tire wear - from what I hear the higher you go to max sidewall the faster the tread wear. I might bump it up a few psi more for the road trip especially with the long stretches of highway between FL and Cali.

It's encouraging to hear 60+mpgs out of our Fits. I got it just for that reason - hearing the 5speed was so great on mileage, along with its great features for an econobox. When I first purchased it under the understanding I could easily get 30+mpgs I was already psyched. Knowing it's capable of even more makes it feel like I just got a whole new car.

thanks for the suggested topics - I'll be looking into them in between exam studying this upcoming week!

just basic all-around rec kayaking, no whitewater - yet. Maybe later down the road.
There's not much in the way of whitewater in FL anyway...
What color is it? Just kidding.

And yes, thanks for catching the typo... I have a nasty habit of never proofreading.

Welcome to the club :)
so, 400 mile tank, ~40mpgs.

I have several tanks above 600, and we have one person on the forum who has hit 700. I don't remember if it was Shawn or Ryan. Both of these guys have multiple tanks above 60 mpg, as have I. But it take a LOT of work.

I run 42psi. No real reasoning behind it except I *think* i'm getting better mpgs without compromising tire wear - from what I hear the higher you go to max sidewall the faster the tread wear. I might bump it up a few psi more for the road trip especially with the long stretches of highway between FL and Cali.

That is NOT the experience of the people on this forum. when combined with slower driving, pumping up your tires can actually lengthen their life. My sidewalls are rated at 51 psi. I am running them at 60. Some people run them even higher with excellent results.

It's encouraging to hear 60+mpgs out of our Fits. I got it just for that reason - hearing the 5speed was so great on mileage, along with its great features for an econobox. When I first purchased it under the understanding I could easily get 30+mpgs I was already psyched. Knowing it's capable of even more makes it feel like I just got a whole new car.

The FIT has an excellent 1.5 l VTEC engine that is capable of very efficient operation. The problem with the MT FIT is the very short gearing that makes it turn over 2900 RPM at 60 mph. This means that extreme measures have to be taken to coax the best FE out of the car.

thanks for the suggested topics - I'll be looking into them in between exam studying this upcoming week!
Here are the things I have done or do to get high FE:
Sidewalls at 60 psi
Use Mobil 1 0w-20 synthetic motor oil.
Use Scanguage II to monitor engine conditions.
Have my grill fully blocked except in hottest part of summer.
Try to time all stop lights so that I roll through on the green. This requires searching ahead for the next few stop lights. It also requires memorizing the timing of all the lights on my regular routes.
Cut my engine at all stop lights, train tracks, and dead stop traffic stalls.
Never run the engine over 2000 rpm in gears 1-4. Never over 2500 rpm in 5th. This limits my top speed to 50 mph.
Never use my brakes if possible. Drive far enough back so that in a traffic jam I can coast down until it start moving again. This is called Driving Without Brakes (DWB).
Use a technique called FAS P&G between 40 and 50 mph. This means I accelerate mildly from 40 mph to 50 mph, cut my engine, coast in neutral back to 40, restart and accelerate again. I always restart by letting out the clutch (called bump start around here). When I am driving in town, I will FAS P&G from traffic light or stop sign to stop sign, timing the light, or rolling to a stop just and I get to the stop sign. Be careful not to run your battery down if you use this technique at night :eek:
I am sure there are others but that is all I can remember right now.

Finally a few words on the Scanguage. In the first place, it is an excellent feedback mechanism for how you are doing on fuel economy. I have two of the guages set on instantaneous mpg, and on current trip average mpg. In addition I use the LOD guage (percent engine loading) to tell me how hard to accelerate on my pulses. I typically pulse at between 75 and 85 LOD. (higher when engine is cold, lower when warm). However, neither of these are where the SG is a lifesaver. I stated above that I use a grill block to warm up the engine quicker and keep it running warmer. I use the FWT (water temp) guage to tell me how hot the engine is. If it stays above 215 or gets above 220 at all, I take the grill block out. This only happens in hottest summer. Secondly, if I do FAS P&G at night, I run the risk of discharging my battery. At night I keep a guage on VLT (battery voltage). When it drops below 11.1, I know I have to leave the engine running to recharge the battery.

OK. That is the whole litany. I am sure that you won't want to try ALL of these things at once. They take a while to learn and master, and you could be a danger to other drivers if you try some before you have practiced for a while. Others will tell you not to FAS until you have practiced in where you have no other traffic. I never heeded the advice, but I am the competitive type. Still, it took me a looooong time to get where I am now. Take a look at my mileage log, and see what my averages were a year ago.

Good luck,
Larry

Yea, Serious elevation drop from the world famous Florida Falls, intensive whitewater at 2:15,:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Zz7_r4tBA

But in West Virginia (on your way back to FLA) you have the New and Gauley Rivers, some of the best in the nation, The upper Gauley is in the top 10 best white water rivers in the world. http://www.strimoo.com/video/13550874/Sweet-s-Falls-Rapid-on-the-Upper-Gauley-River-MySpaceVideos.html

and there are some in New York state (I haven't done NY...yet), the Moose River 2:45 and Black River 3:14 on this video of crashes including The Gauley too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cahuSALfJss&feature=related

Makes you wanna go, huh? It's really just a bunch of hypermiling techniques like high speed P&G, potential parking and ridge riding maneuvers with alot of DWB....:eek: - Dale