The beginnings of Eco modding. (What car should I get?)
 

Hello! I'm new to the sight! I just barely discovered it and I have to say I am in love with this web sight. It's great to see a bunch of guys getting together to maximize and help others also maximize their fuel efficiency. It always kinda bugs me when you get on a forum of sceptics that have never tried anything so it's super refreshing to see you guys actually trying stuff out in the field! So I currently have a Nissan Xterra which is terrible on fuel and I kinda drive the hyper mili g style but something is wrong with it and even with all the coasting and sometimes even drafting I can only ever max out at 17.28 and I usually get 14-15 mpg and I drive that thing super nice. There is something wrong with it but the goal is 20-24 mpg. I think that would be a miracle. I've already done electric fan ac cat and egr delete which has helped a lot. My mileage did actually used to be worse. But my main question is what is the best car to get to start off Ecomodding? I was looking at a 1995 civic hatch because they're light and have a small engine and the after market is incredible for weight reduction high compression Pistons and adjustable can gears. What do you guys think? If you were to start over what car would you get?

Welcome to the site.
Which forum had all the sceptical people on it?

If you are looking for a different car go Asian for sure. The European stuff costs a premium to repair.

Ah just a bunch of sites as the years have gone by. But yeah I've mostly been looking at Asian cars. They seem to be reliable, light weight and fuel effieicent. What have been some of the more successful cars to Eco mod around here?

Go to the home page here and look at the top left corner of the page.
It used to be the top 10 most fuel efficient were dominated by Hondas and metros but the demographic has changed in the last year or 2.

#1 car for MPG, in stock configuration, is going to be a 2000-2006 Honda Insight unless you got the dough for a 2016+ Prius C. Main drawback is it only has 2 seats. A big bonus is it is all-aluminum, so you can usually find one without any of the body problems you're likely to see on the older civics.

The #1 Civic in stock configuration is going to be the Civic VX from the 1990's because of its lean-burn engine and light rims, but again that kind of age usually indicates rust up in Canada. The Civic VX does have more room than the Insight.

If you went with the Prius-C you could probably mod it for more MPG, but a 2000-2006 Insight with manual transmission (all Canadian ones were sold with manuals) can probably be modded to achieve way higher MPG numbers more easily than the Prius-C because of the drivetrain. My best tank in my 2001 Insight was 78MPG without use of the hybrid battery. And there are some guys on here who regularly do 90+ MPG tanks in their Insights.

With the question framed that way, my response is an off-lease Nissan Leaf in the $8-10K range. The later model, with the cabin heat pump.

Then I'd chop off the rear fenders and boat tail it.

Welcome to the forum, Ni87!

People have done really well with older Civics. For newer non-hybrid Hondas, the Fit has essentially replaced the Civic, but the gearing is low, which hurts highway MPG. (I don't know if anyone has re-geared a Fit yet.)

What will your typical use be? (Highway / urban driving?)

The original Insight is the king of the efficiency hill. But they're getting hard to find in Canada, and the steel components in them still rust -- I've even seen one with corrosion in the aluminum body panels!

I assume if you're going with a conventional drivetrain you would stick with a manual transmission. It's usually much easier to beat a vehicle's ratings (and by a wider margin) with a stick than with an automatic.

What your normal vehicle use looks like will help determine what you'll want to buy. The Insight is a great car. An EV can easily beat it efficiency wise, but there is the range to deal with.

I couldn't be happier with my 2004 Civic, it rides well...great actually...it has sort of a bigger than it is car feel ride, yet it is still very responsive. The EX I have has (had..I just changed mine) a shorter geared transmission, the LX & DX have non-vtec engines but lower geared transmissions. Anyway, a clean lower mile manual has a surprising amount of room and the 2001-2005 is a sweet spot for a sturdy reliable car. Mileage is rated at 32/38, mine has gotten 35mpg avg for 150,000 miles. My 2¢, worth more or less!!

Welcome aboard!

14-15 mpg is actually good for one of those pigs. I was killing myself to get not much better, after years of hypermiling on the same roads under good conditions. When I finally got out of it, gas and payments on the Fit were right about where gas alone had been on the X.

My advice is to get anything small with a manual.

We've all got our needs and preferences, and here you're going to get advice for what works for people who aren't you, with goals, skills and conditions that aren't yours. But if you get something on the smaller side, it'll take less energy to make it move. If you get something with a manual, you'll be able to get more than just the performance an automatic decides to let you have (as well as being mechanically simpler and more reliable).