I have been reading about hypermiling and found this website/forum.
I already read through many of the posts and read about some of the extreme aeromods you guys did to your cars. Kudos to you for achieving such high mpg with simple, cost affective mods.
I daily drive a 04 Civic Si 5spd hatchback with a 2.0L K20A3 motor. I like the car because its fuel efficient yet sporty. I recently learned that Vtec in K20A3 works more like a Vtech-E than a regular Vtec. It apparently runs on 3 valves per cylinder upto 2200Rpm and then switches to 4valves per cylinder. After finding that out, I figured I will drive efficiently and see if I can make a game of getting some extra mileage out of my car. In typical pedal to the metal driving I was getting 25-26mpg.
Today I had some time so I decided to try hypermiling. I inflated the tires to 38 psi (makes the car very bumpy due to its stiff springs), filled up the tank and went for a A-B-A trip of 74.1 miles. Trip included city driving (I tried shifting below 2200), stop and go traffic on the intercity for about half a mile, and then 55-60mph driving on the interstate. I would say total of 50/50 city/hwy drive. I came back and filled up the tank until if won't take any more fuel. It took 1.823 gallons to do 74.1 miles. That comes to 40.64 miles per gallon. I found this astonishing! My assumption is that the Vtech-E is the reason for such great gas mileage without any mods at all.
My car is in need of tires and I am thinking about picking up some LRR Michelins to help with the FE. Seems like Michelin Energy MX4 is the way to go.
I will continue to hypermile and see if I can manage to maintain the same FE.
Just for kicks here is a picture of the car.
GreenWar - towards a greener tomorrow.
