In the pantheon of very efficient production cars, there are perhaps three Hondas that truly stand out: the first generation Insight hybrid, the lean burn Civic VX, and the CRX HF.

Recently, a CRX HF owner further cemented that car’s status on the list by achieving a stunning 118 mpg (US) in a fuel economy rally in New York state.

The rally, organized by the Adirondack Motor Enthusiasts Club (AMEC), took place August 23 over 104 miles of scenic, lightly travelled, winding roads through the southern Adirondack mountains (with admittedly very MPG-friendly speed limits of 45 to 55 mph).

It’s fair to say the 118 mpg performance that Chang Ho Kim coaxed from his modified 1989 CRX surprised event officials.  The marshalls – who observed each of the 25 competitors’ vehicles being filled to the brim both at the start and finish for the most accurate MPG calculations – brought Chang’s CRX back to the pump several times at the end to ensure they’d squeezed as much fuel as possible into its tank.

(For comparison, the next highest scores were 106 mpg (US) from an ecomodded 1998 Geo Metro/Pontiac Firefly and 90 mpg (US) from a 2000 VW Jetta TDI – more details here.)

In stock form, the 2nd generation Honda CRX HF is a good platform for fuel economy. It’s light (1830 lbs), has a small 1.5L 62 horsepower engine, and relatively tall gearing.  It’s rated at 41 city / 50 highway / 45 combined mpg (US) by the EPA’s  revised 2008 ratings.

Modifications, mechanical & racing experience helped secure win

How did Chang Ho Kim pull a 118 mpg rabbit out of his hat?  EcoModder recently spoke to Chang to shed some light on his background, his CRX and his driving techniques.

EM: Let’s start with a bit about yourself.  What you do for work & fun?

CHK: I am a mechanic in my own shop, FunHondas, in Maynard, Massachusetts.  I mostly do general repair and maintenance of Honda/Acura cars.  I do a lot of tire work as I am a preferred installer for www.tirerack.com.  You can type in zipcode 01754 to see what is said about me and my shop on their website.

For fun I like to travel and go camping with my family. I also enjoy photography.

EM: Is it true this was your first fuel economy competition?

CHK: This was my first fuel economy run.  I had never even heard of it before I saw the post from the AMEC organizers on the New England Region SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) web site.

EM: So you’ve got racing experience then?  That would explain your skill behind the wheel.

CHK: My passion has been for autocross.  I started autocrossing in 1991.  I have placed as high as 3rd place at the SCCA Solo Nationals in a HS 89 Civic Si.  Last year I campaigned a DS 00 Integra Type R.  This year I am running my ST 89 Civic Si.  I also have a STX 89 Civic Si that I have trophied with at the Solo Nationals.

Recently I started to rallycross a M2 90 Civic GSR and have been having lots of fun playing in the dirt and snow and ice.  I am currently the season points leader in M2 for NER/SCCA.  That is mostly due to the winter events where my studded Nokian Hakka5 tires do really well.  I still have a lot to learn about driving in gravel.

I have ice raced my 01 Integra Type R, autocross style, using Nokian tires and have done very well, beating the AWD cars in the studded tire class with my FWD car on studded Hakka5 tires.

EM: OK, so you’ve obviously got experience with car control & precision.  Where did you pick up your fuel saving techniques?

I spent a lot of time on the internet before the competition starting at the AMEC site and linking to many others: Aerocivic.com gave me a lot of ideas for aerodynamic modifications.  EcoModder.com gave me many tips on driving technique.

EM: Before we talk about your driving techniques, tell us a bit about your car preparation and mods.

CHK: It’s a 89 Honda CRX HF with about 150,000 miles on the odometer that I got from a client.

General maintenance before the fuel economy rally included:

• I had the AC fixed, I hate hot and muggy.
• Redline MTL in the tranny and Mobil1 0w20 in the engine.
• new Honda airfilter, cap, rotor, wires.  They all needed replacing anyway.

Modifications before the rally included:

• Tires: low rolling resistance 155/65/14 Nokian HakkaR snow tires, brand new for the event, pumped up to 50psi mounted on Honda 14×5 alloy wheels
• Shocks: Konisport, revalved with SPSS1 valving, double adjustable, shortened body, set to soft
• Springs: Ground Control coilovers with 350 front 250 rear springs.
• Lowered car 2 inches, front camber at -3.5, toe set to zero front and rear, zero thrust angle
• Front wind deflector and rear wheel skirts made from thin polycarbonate, aluminum duct tape, self tapping screws and 3/4″ aluminum band
• masking tape to cover all panel gaps / seams, passenger door handle (forgot to do the driver side door handle)
• removed passenger side mirror
• I added lightness by removing the passenger seat, spare tire and tools, floor mats
• 6 pound race battery.

EM: tell us about the driving techniques you used.

CHK: I had a small cooler with a little ice and a small towel to cool myself off as I drove with the windows closed and the AC off.

The race type suspension meant I had better momentum coming out of the turns so less need to gas after a turn.

Where safe, I took a classic race line to maximize momentum.  If I had to gas in a turn, I took the shortest line to minimize distance.

Pulse & glide where appropriate.

EM: Did you use fuel economy instrumentation?  Navigation?

CHK: The HF has an upshift light that I find annoying.  I used a Garmin Nuvi 760 to keep track of my average speed.

EM: Any plans for future economy competitions?

CHK: I suppose I have to come back in 2010 to defend my title with AMEC, but we will see what next year brings and if I still have the CRX.  If I do come back, it will probably have a boattail and I will be more careful with the fillup at the start and not spill any at the finish fillup.

EM: Chang, thanks for the interview and congratulations again on your win!

—

For more coverage of the AMEC event see the complete forum thread.

The other day we told you about a unique opportunity to ask some questions of Gary Starr, the ZAP! Co-Founder. Well, yesterday the interview happened and the results have been posted by Cristina over at Huddler. You can see my two questions under the handle “SVOboy,” but here are some of the other good ones that are worth checking out the response to:

• With recent gas prices going through the roof, it has gotten a lot of average, non-green minded consumers thinking about alternatives to gas powered vehicles. Aside from gas price fluctuations, what do you see as an important catalyst to getting electric vehicles over the hump and more into the mainstream?
• Does ZAP have any concept vehicles in the works besides the Alias and ZAP-X, and what’s the status of these 2 cars?  Are there any plans in the works for any pedal/electric vehicles (similar to the E-Pod which ZAP! had sold an imported enclosed 3-wheel vehicle in 2004)?
• Where do you see Zap in five years?  What will happen to your 5 year plan if a major car company produces a fully electric vehicle for mass markets?

Anyway, definitely check it out, it’ll be worth your while.  Hopefully we can bring this same format to EcoModder in the near future. Got any suggested interviewees?

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Have you ever wanted to ask one of the founders of your favorite electric car manufacturing companies? Perhaps you’ve had the same desire to poke some questions at your favorite vaporware manufacturing companies? Well, if either one of these is ZAP! then you’ve got your opporunity, but you’ll have to act quickly, because the interview crowdsourcing over at Huddler is about to end.

I was told about this recently by a friend, and I thought I’d pass the same opportunity on to all of the EcoModder readers. You can see where I’ve submitted my two questions under the handle SVOboy (feel free to vote them up if you like them!) and many others have done the same. The basic premise here is that Huddler will take the best questions, as determined by the thumbs up each gets, and ask them for you to Gary Starr. Pretty neat idea, right?

I’m told Gary is a little touchy about the whole vaporware issue, and probably will dodge all those questions, so perhaps it’s best not to beat that dead horse, though I’m sure one or two of those questions will (fairly) make it in there. After the interview has happened, I’ll be sure to post a link to the results and some of my own impressions.

PS: Would you be interested to see this kind of thing on EcoModder? If so, let me know in the comments.

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The other day I had the unique pleasure of talking with Charles Territo, representative of the Auto Alliance, about their new EcoDrivingUSA initiative. We’ve talked about EcoDriving here before, as well as some of the the results that have come out from companies like Ford. However, we’ve got a bit of an inside view here, and I feel like I learned quite a few interesting things. Rather than just through it at you, however, I will filter it through the EcoModder looking glass.

The Interview

Firstly, I should state publicly that Charles is a great guy and was very straightforward. I expected a lot of talk and a little bit more hot air, but unlike many interviews, I feel like I learned something. The main point here, I feel, is that the auto industry, which has typically blamed all its problems on yielding to the whims of consumers, is finally stepping up (at least to some degree) to say that consumers need to take action rather than passing the blame back to the automakers.

Now, this might sound like the same old set of excuses, but it’s really quite new for automakers to tell consumers to suck it up and take some responsibility. EcoDrivingUSA isn’t about saying “there’s nothing we can  do, you want SUVs and we sold them to you,” it’s about saying “you want good fuel economy,  and you don’t have to wait for the next miracle car to get it.” In fact, Charles told me, slightly reluctantly considering that his job is to sell cars, that for many people the best solution isn’t throwing some money on the table to buy a Prius, but to save gas in the near term by working to improve their fuel economy 20-30%, or more.

It’s not all about the new cars

As someone who drives a 1991 Honda, I’m very well aware of the fact that there are old cars still on the road. However, all the talk about green cars still seems to revolve around new hybrids and things coming somewhere “down the road.” Charles, however, was very quick to point out that there are currently 245 million cars on the road in the US alone, of which less than 1 million are hybrids. Sure, hybrids reduce fuel use big time, but it’s going to be decades before those 245 million cars go off the road, and are we supposed to give up on them until then?

However, and this is a big however, EcoDrivingUSA isn’t passive in the same way that more fuel efficient cars are. Ecodriving requires active participation and education on the part of drivers. This is where the EcoDrivingUSA initiative comes in, as the automakers try to bridge the gap between good intentions and action.

EcoDrivingUSA

First, trip on over to the EcoDrivingUSA home page and see for yourself what the initiative is all about. From the site you can do things like play a practice ecodriving game, get some tips, and urge your states to take part in the campaign. So far only California and Colorado have signed up, but according to Charles the site has been getting a lot of attention so hopefully that will be more sooner rather than later.

However, participation in the EcoDrivingUSA initiative is sort of an ambiguous thing. While I echo the idea that leaving commitments open-ended is a good thing, I think there is the peril that, at least on a State level, will become a commitment in name only. Of course, it’s new, so we can’t say much about it right now, but there is a lot of promise that I hope is explored. Charles talked about individual states doing things ranging from educating police officers and bus drivers on ecodriving to offering clinics for citizens or corporate fleets.

Of course, if we really want anything to happen, it’s up to us to show that the interest is there. While representatives from the EcoDrivingUSA initiative are working hard to reach out to governors, in the end this initiative is for our benefit and the interest needs to come from us or nothing will happen. So, rather than sitting on our hands, I suggest we all at least consider sending some form mail to our governors.

Where did this initiative come from

Most of us probably though that EcoDrivingUSA has popped out at us from left field as a whiplash reponse to high gas prices (myself included), but I was surprised to learn this wasn’t the case. Many of the same manufacturers that are popular in the US have been doing the same or similar things in Europe and Japan for years. Gasoline has always been more expensive in those markets, and while the Auto Alliance has considered bringing ecodriving to the US for years, it’s not until not that consumer interest has been high enough to do so.

According to Charles, this is something that has come from the industry as a whole. It is no one person’s pet project or brainchild, but is a reflection of the current trend in the auto industry. This in itself it really encouraging. Even if this campaign completely fails, the idea behind it is not going away.

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