Good point...
I used to have a 95 civic hatchback and cursed that car for its lack of, uh, balls. Next was an 88 mazda mx-6 turbo that got 21 MPG freeway but what a fun car. Then I picked up some beater trucks gave up and bought this car. Fixed a few things and have been driving it for 3 years now. Last summer, after putting new plugs and an additive called Engine Restore, the car got 36 mpg; like 6 mpg better than I had ever got. Not until I purchased an 01 tacoma (23 mpg best yet
) did I realize the real FE potential of my 626. Though what I like about the 2.2l SOHC engine in the 626 is the torque, it cruises easy and the engine never strains to go. It was derived from their trucks and in fact the block was converted to diesel without any structural changes. A testament to its durability.
on a side note...
Shortly before I sold the civic I obtained another one of same year but with the 1.6l DOCH 16v engine. So I swapped the 1.6l into my much nicer DX (1.5l 8v) and still was gutless. The civic could't get out its own way, even with the additional 25 horses and I would have burned it if it wasn't illegal and dirty. What I didn't swap was the transmissions. The 16v tranny was geared lower than the 8v and when the little 1.5l was mated to the 1.6l tranny it had way more go than before. I suppose the moral of the story is there is a possible wealth of modification on older vehicles by swapping different drive ratio tranny's from other trim level's/engine's
dang long post, worked last night and better go to bed before this gets out of hand.....