Last year some time, my wife and I purchased a 2009 honda fit car. My wife can tell you when we bought it, she has a terrific memory. The car has been such a great surprise to me in terms of usage and mileage, that the economic savings are worth passing on to all of you who are reading this. My focus is on how I am getting great gas mileage out of the car.
The Car
The car is equipped with a setting to see the miles per gallon you are getting at any given moment, and also a tally of the current miles per gallon you are getting for the trip you are on. The trip tells you how many miles you have gone for the tank of gas you are on. You generally reset the trip to zero after filling up on gas each time. The area just above the steering wheel, where the speed you are driving at, has an indicator below it showing your trip mileage, your miles per gallon, and your oil life. I generally keep that on my miles per gallon. Currently, I am getting about 47.5 miles per gallon. The fit is known to have this setting be a few miles per gallon higher than what you are actually getting, but even 44.5 miles per gallon isn’t bad at all.
The Driving Style
Having the miles per gallon meter on all the time has helped me change my driving habits. But before that even I had begun to change my driving style. I make sure to avoid punching the accelerator as much as possible, and I don’t drive very much over the speed limit. I make sure to keep an eye out well ahead of me, so I know when I can just coast, rather than using the accelerator. This has been a boon to the breaks of the car as I do not break as often. But this article is about the economics of the car and your driving style. When I am coasting down hill (not touching the accelrator), or even on a short decline, the miles per gallon hits 80 +. 80 miles per gallon? That is huge!
Here are a few tips for people who want to get more out of their car:
* Do not accelerate hard if you can avoid it.
* Avoid punching the accelerator when you are in heavy traffic. You can get by with coasting most of the time. In heavy traffic, don’t start, stop, start, stop. This pattern of punching it, hitting the breaks, and causing whip lash just isn’t healthy.
* Stay around the speed limit. Plan ahead and don’t get in a rush.
* Avoid using air conditioning if at all possible.
* Clean your car, inside and out.
* Stay calm, relaxed, and enjoy your traveling. Give extra time for travel and never be in a rush.
These are helpful tips, and I’m sure you can think of many more. Our 2009 Honda Fit gives us the best gas mileage out of any car we’ve ever owned. As I drive each day, I see many people passing others and cruising fast down the highway and city streets. I can’t help but think that if people changed their driving habits and bought more fuel efficient cars, that this would go a long ways towards a better society. I can at least dream!
Conclusion
The main point of this article is to hopefully stir you to better driving habits and greater fuel efficiency for your car. This will save you money. For me, the 2009 Honda Fit is helping a great deal. We got it for about $17,000 I believe and our monthly payments are about $275. Not too bad. My last tank of gas I filled up having gone 402 miles, and the tank is 10.6 gallons, with the miles per gallon at 44.5. I could have probably driven another 25-30 miles at least on the tank. Proactive driving with as minimal braking and hard accelerating as possible accounts for some of this. I hope that you will take a step to better driving, and if you can afford it, a more economical car.
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