[gdcwatt]

I drove a slightly lowered '91 Civic Si for 300,000 kms; a typical "bad" week of mixed highway/city, with enough stop & go traffic, would see me using 7.2L/100km, and 6.5L/100 km in a "good" week: both are "excellent" numbers, considering.

Car & Driver magazine listed the tested top speed of this car at 108 mph, or almost 175 kph . With aftermarket Tokico blues, a mild drop with some Eibach street springs, Lightspeed header, 2" exhaust, free-flow cat, but no cold-air intake, this car would do an indicated 205 kph, top end, make it a BMW 325 beater at Shannonville (well, actually, the other guys had more to lose), and able to lap Mosport at respectable 1:53's, on shaved 185/60-15 street tires on skinny 6" steel rims.

The drop must have helped the car reach this speed, and approach the higher level cornering potential offered by the new suspension bits. In addition, however, I found that, with the improved suspension, I didn't need to slow down as much for corners, saving precious fuel since I didn't need to then speed up again, and could go through many corners in a higher gear, say 3rd instead of 2nd, or 4th, and just wonder why everyone else was slowing down soooooo much.

The other thing to consider is that a stiffer - or rejuvenated - suspension will help your car's tires hook-up better, for starting, stopping, and cornering; you'll have less useless wheelspin, plus your more controllable car will thus be more predictable, and safer. It is not uncommon for a car with 80,000 km (50,000 miles) to be in need of new shocks; I replaced the struts on my Acura 16 months ago, and the car is much more controllable in snow, too, that it was, say, 24 months ago, an interesting development since the same winter tires are now [at least] a year older.

I conundrum is, if the former Big Three were working sooooo hard to improve their corporate average fuel economy rates, why didn't they just lower all of their SUV's and trucks, so many of which never venture off road, unless it's an unintentional result of having heavy vehicles, with sloppy suspensions, which should lowered, and drivers who don't really understand what they are doing.

Oh, and while you're at it, my suggestion is that you should add a stiffer rear sway bar, to go with some new shocks, which you'll need with those shorter springs...and then some sticky tires, so that you don't have to slow down for corners at all! And racing school - everyone should do that, because if more people actually knew how to drive well, traffic would flow better, and we'd all be using less fuel!!!!