Having a Fit June 07, 2009, 11:30:37 am Yahoo Message Number: 103038Andy how are you liking the 'FIT'? Robert
Re: Having a Fit Reply #1 – June 07, 2009, 05:03:36 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103059"Andy how are you liking the 'FIT'?" I'm absolutely delighted with it! It's fun to drive, carries more stuff than you'd ever believe from looking at its small exterior, and has averaged 48.5 mpg in its first 1,600 miles. :-) Plus it's so lightweight that I don't even know it's there when I'm towing it.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Having a Fit Reply #2 – June 28, 2009, 09:56:34 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103588Pete & I are loving the Fit too. Tows like a dream.Andy, it sounds like you're doing all your driving downhill with a tail wind. But since we drive up mountains & sometimes head into the wind, we only get about 38-39 mpg.SarahSent on an iPhone (;-)
Re: Having a Fit Reply #3 – June 29, 2009, 08:59:04 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103590"Andy, it sounds like you're doing all your driving downhill with a tail wind... we only get about 38-39 mpg." I've been driving fairly hilly country here in northern New Mexico, and still getting surprisingly good fuel economy. One thing I haven't been doing much of, however, is stop-and-go driving in town. That really kills gas mileage, and of course that's the situation where a good hybrid would undoubtedly outperform the Fit. But my typical drive is ten or fifteen miles into town to get groceries... most of it on country roads where I'm going 35-50 mph in fourth or fifth gear, without needing to stop. The hills don't seem to hurt economy nearly as much as stopping and starting would. I just added up all my numbers for the first 2,000 miles of driving (not including towing, which doesn't register in the Fit's odometer). At each fill-up, I had recorded the indicated gas mileage for that tankful shown by the Fit's digital mpg gauge, as well as the actual miles driven and gallons added. It looks as if the Fit's mpg gauge is a bit optimistic: over the course of 2,000 miles, I averaged 42.8 mpg based on miles driven divided by gallons used, but the average of the Fit's readings was 48.8 mpg. So it's not quite as good as I said it was, but still pretty damn good! :-) I should note that unlike most RVers, I haven't loaded up my toad with surplus stuff. I carry a fairly complete toolkit (the one recommended in Eureka), a set of good jumper cables, and a backpack with emergency supplies and water, but that's all. Traveling light probably helps my fuel economy somewhat.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Having a Fit Reply #4 – July 06, 2009, 05:47:00 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103726over the course of 2,000 miles, I averaged 42.8 mpg based on miles driven divided by gallons used, but the average of the Fit's readings was 48.8 mpg.Andy, I only hope we can come close to the mileage that you are getting! We won't be starting our towing experience for a couple of weeks yet, but so far, our Fit is getting about 28 mpg around town with LOTS of stop and go. We have less than 1000 miles on it so far, so it may improve somewhat. Of course, getting out of southern California and into more highway driving will cause the most improvement. We purchased a manual transmission, Sport model which, interestingly enough is "rated" for slightly less fuel efficiency than the automatic transmission.Kathy2006 Red MB (and Red Fit!)
Re: Having a Fit Reply #5 – July 06, 2009, 06:27:58 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103727"getting out of southern California and into more highway driving will cause the most improvement." Yes--it's the stop-and-go driving that really kills your gas mileage. Once you get out on the highway, you'll see much better numbers (though as I noted, my Fit's mpg meter reads about 13% high)."We purchased a manual transmission, Sport model..." I should have noted in my last post that I too have a manual transmission Fit... and I rarely drive faster than about 57 mph. That probably helps my fuel economy.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Having a Fit Reply #6 – July 06, 2009, 10:01:03 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103728"my Fit's mpg meter reads about 13% high" Our Fit's mpg meter reads high as well. We're only on our third tank of gas so far so we don't have a lot of data on our "real" mpg yet. We have actually considered in the future replacing the 16" tires on our Sport model with the 15" tires that you have. Honda confirms that this can be done. It would cause a 'correction' in the mpg meter as well as raising the car by another 1/2". That would help with towing since we went with Blue Ox, expecting a 4 " difference between the car and the LD and ended up with a 5 1/2" difference. Our current plans are to lower the LD hitch receiver by 1" (remove bolts, add 1" spacer, reattach) and hope that when fully loaded we get another 1/2", reducing the difference to 4".Kathy
Re: Having a Fit Reply #7 – July 07, 2009, 02:00:46 am Yahoo Message Number: 103729"Our current plans are to lower the LD hitch receiver by 1"... and hope that when fully loaded we get another 1/2", reducing the difference to 4"." Kathy, you should check with Blue Ox about this if you haven't already, but my understanding is that three inches is about the maximum difference in height recommended by most towbar manufacturers, so your 1" spacer may not be enough. And remember that the motorhome will tend to "nose dive" to some extent when brakes are applied, which will raise its rear end, aggravating the mismatch. You may want to consider a "drop hitch" adapter instead. Roadmaster, for example, offers "Hi-Low" hitch adapters in sizes from 4" to 10", and Blue Ox probably has similar products. A four inch drop would get you close to even, which is highly desirable. It's not good to have the car under-ride the RV when you put on the brakes.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Having a Fit (Tow bar NOT Level) Reply #8 – July 07, 2009, 04:46:24 am Yahoo Message Number: 103730An example of the Hi-Lo drop hitch is: http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/product/high-low-hitch-drop-downs/5454A drop=down can be used inverted for when the toad's hitch point is higher than the RV - like my Jeep Wrangler's bracket on top of the bumper. If you do use a drop-down be sure to extend the break-away cable or you will learn (as I did) that going around a sharp turn can pop the break-away cable. The drop down increases the distance between the toad and the RV thus removes some of the slack
Re: Having a Fit Reply #9 – July 07, 2009, 10:47:18 am Yahoo Message Number: 103733" You may want to consider a "drop hitch" adapter instead. Roadmaster, for example, offers "Hi-Low" hitch adapters in sizes from 4" to 10", and Blue Ox probably has similar products. A four inch drop would get you close to even, which is highly desirable. It's not good to have the car under-ride the RV when you put on the brakes." We are in an 'optimizing' mode right now. Blue Ox and Roadmaster have both said that 4" is the maximum difference that is acceptable. We have considered the drop hitch but even 2" will have us scraping bottom very frequently. We've had discussions with Steve at Lazy Daze as well as Blue Ox and lowering the hitch rather than a drop hitch adapter will help to keep the low point of the hitch closer to the LD and help with the scraping issue. The light weight of the Fit is also in our favor, also minimizing the physics of the downward force on the hitch. We will be setting up the entire tow configuration later this week once the hitch has been lowered and will take additional measurements at that time. But until we are fully loaded next week, we won't know for sure how much less than a 4" difference we will have. In the end, perhaps the Roadmaster set up would have been better for us, but we were not comfortable with the modifications (tossing out part of the bumper) necessary to install the baseplate on the Fit. The Blue Ox install was also daunting to do on a brand new car. Once we have everything set up, I will report our conditions so that others will have useful information if they are considering using Blue Ox with a Fit.Kathy
Re: Having a Fit Reply #10 – July 07, 2009, 10:55:11 am Yahoo Message Number: 103734What? You are worried about removing part of the frame? ) (As we did on our new Honda Element.)best, paul"Thriving not surviving" - Paul Schaye (at 2008 NYC Marathon)
Topic: Having a Fit (Read 4 times)
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Topic: Having a Fit (Read 4 times)
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