The driving capabilities of the car are excellent. One of the neat features that comes with an automatic Sport edition is the paddle-shifters positioned on the driver's wheel. As an automatic, there isn't much need to shift, but there are definitely times when a quick shift down is much easier than pushing harder on the gas. For example, mountain driving.
On day two of my trip, I was passing through the mountains in western Montana and eastern Idaho; it was night time and raining. I got into a good groove driving, and at one point looked down and noticed that I was driving almost 90 miles per hour. Realizing how unsafe this situation could be, I decided to reel myself in and drive at a lower speed. However, I did want to comment that the car handled superbly.
I found the ipod connection nifty, and useful in keeping me entertained on the road. I was glad to have it. The only problem I encountered was when the ipod went on the fritz for a day or two when I was in Portland, which was alright because I probably wouldn't have used it there anyway. The ipod was in some sort of locked up state, and I guessed that connecting it to a computer might have solved the problem. Since I did not have a computer to hook it up to, I decided to let the battery drain itself dead in hopes that that would give me the hard reset I thought it needed. Two days later, the ipod started working, just in time for my return trip.
To the right is a picture of what the Honda manuals call the "Fuel Efficiency Gauge", however I have decided that I will call it the "Mpgometer". This 'o-meter' is pronounced in one of two ways: em-pee-gee-o-meter (distinctly sounding each syllable), or empagometer (with a quick run through each syllable). My personal disdain for the widespread use of the acronym "MPG" and the cultural meanings behind it, means I use the second far more commonly, but the first is fun if I am in a nerdy mood. This neat little gauge is always present on the dash board, and good at telling me that I am being fuel efficient when braking and going down hill, and fuel inefficient when I am accelerating and driving up hill. As part of this feature, the car automatically calculates fuel efficiency based on miles traveled and fuel used (I would guess). However, I got the impression that the car was not as fuel efficient as it was purporting to be. I didn't know exactly what it was at first, but I had taken one final trip with my Civic around the state of Wyoming at the end of August, and it appeared, to my memory, that I had gotten better gas mileage on that trip than I was getting on this one. After some investigation, this was probably true, but more because of the nature of the driving I was doing. That trip was on small state highways with fair conditions driven at an average slower speed, while this trip was mostly on faster Interstate highways, with occasional bad conditions.
To add to that, I tracked the mileage and fuel fairly accurately for the entire trip and compared the car's reported miles per gallon to a calculated miles per gallon. The results showed a large degree in variability in the car's reported fuel efficiency in comparison to the calculated fuel efficiency. Below are some of the details of where I got gas, the mileage, and the amount refueled at each stop.
| Location | Miles Traveled | Gallons of Fuel | Car Calculated MPG | Calculated MPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheyenne, WY | 0 | 0 | - | - |
| Sheridan, WY | 316.3 | 8.943 | 37.5 | 35.37 |
| Billings, MT | 140.4 | 5.120 | 36.0 | 27.42 |
| Butte, MT | 278.1 | 8.663 | 32.5 | 32.10 |
| Coeur d'Alend, ID | 287.7 | 9.144 | 36.1 | 31.46 |
| Yakima, WA | 261.2 | 9.037 | 31.8 | 28.90 |
| Sandy, OR | 294.7 | 8.699 | 38.5 | 33.88 |
| Pendelton, OR | 315.7 | 9.461 | 38.9 | 33.37 |
| Wendell, ID | 325.9 | 9.270 | 37.5 | 35.16 |
| Pocatello, ID | 139.6 | 5.069 | 33.7 | 27.54 |
| Jackson, WY | 136.5 | 4.390 | 39.4 | 31.09 |
| Rawlins, WY | 282.1 | 7.032 | 39.6 | 40.12 |
There may be some inaccuracy as a result of "topping off the gas tank" not accounting for all fuel used in the previous trip, but I doubt the net error from this is large enough to account for the discrepancies.
There are some interesting things I learned from this calculation. Notice that the calculated MPG is generally lower than the car's calculated MPG. This fits the impression I got early on in my trip: I wasn't getting as good of a gas mileage as the car said I was. On top of that, this mileage wasn't even as good as what I had got with my '98 Civic. But also notice the milage at Rawlins, WY. This was on the last part of my drive on slower state highways, with fair conditions; which is similar to what my prior trip had been. This is the one case where calculated MPG was higher than the car's calculated MPG, and it was even better than the Civic.
According to EPA estimates, the Honda Fit Sport automatic gets 27 miles per gallon in the city and 33 miles per gallon on the highway. While the car's automatic fuel efficiency calculation may be a little wonky, the car's actual fuel efficiency fell well within expected norms. So I can't complain too much, I just have to take the car's fuel efficiency calculation with a grain of salt.
I have two more quick impressions I'd like to give to wrap this up. The car seems to be a bug executioner, as I had bug guts completely covering the front end of my car by the end of the journey (though most got there in Montana). I noticed a number of times pulling in for gas that my car would be the only one profusely covered in striking splatter patterns.
Finally, I haven't quite figured out the most comfortable way to sit for long drives. The two places for my left arm rest are a little too high and a little too low for optimal driving. There is an arm rest for the right arm, which is nice, but it tends to favor a relaxed, one-hand driving style with the left hand at 4:30 on the wheel. The shape of the steering wheel is different than in my Civic, and I found both of my wrists were tired by the end of the journey. I was playing around with the seat position towards the end of the trip, and it helped a bit. I guess I'll just have to see how I adjust - I drove the Civic for ten years, it wouldn't be surprising if it took some time.
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