[mmmodem]

Hello all!

I drive a 2006 Honda Civic LX. I've owned it since new and thought it was the ugliest thing ever. Sat inside and thought this is a pretty fugly interior as well. But I bought it anyway because it had an mp3 CD player stock (ubiquitous now but in 06, it was one of the first) and the sticker said 40 mpg. The only other car that handled better in its class was a Mazda 3 which had very depressing FE. Double win, high FE and fun to drive.

I currently drive 106 miles roundtrip to work with over 90% freeway. I used to drive in the middle lane keeping up with traffic and I averaged 40 mpg hypermiling. I got tired of the honks behind me and moved over to the slow lane and mpg surged to 43 mpg average. Last fill up was 46 mpg but I think that's because the summer blend has kicked in.

My goal is to get 50 mpg so that I only need to fill up once a week. I can already do this but it would be a nail biter on Fridays and I don't like the taste of my nails. The car is stock and I am not sure what I want to with it yet to get to my goal. I do know what I don't want to do.

I can't P&G because I am in an urban area or maybe I'm already doing it in stop and go rush hour traffic. I once made it the entire 90% length of my commute on the highway not touching the brakes in rush hour traffic. I don't want to make a grill block because I am deathly afraid of overheating the engine in hot hot CA weather. My first two cars as a teenager overheated on a daily basis.

Basically, that leaves hypermiling. I already practice DWB, DWL, coast on neutral, and engine off at the few lights I encounter. My average speed is a little under 50 mph which is the FE sweet spot for my car. Sadly, I don't choose this average speed, that's as fast as I can go in traffic-choked Bay Area, CA.

Other two options that I am hesitant on is a scangauge and pump up the tires. Scanguage is quite expensive and I am skeptical that it will help me besides telling me I am using too much gas. Well, I wouldn't be using too much gas here if I didn't want to go faster so I would've done the same thing with or without the scanguage. I can see where my thinking is flawed so please don't flame me too hard. That's why I am still mulling over purchasing one. Pumping up tires causes uneven wear and means I would have replace the tire sooner. This would negate the cost savings I get on FE. Not to mention lowering my traction and increasing my stopping distance is a safety risk.