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Note: Click here to go directly to the start of the actual modding build part. 
The rest is mostly dialogue about my car and asking questions related to ecomodding it.
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Also as a side note, the 42+ mpg obtained in my introductory post below was on "longer" (30+ minute) trips. My current modding baseline prior to modding is 38 mpg due to most trips being 10 miles or less.
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Hello all! Yes this is my first post, and yes I am new to Ecomodder.
I'm also a newer driver (newer is relative), and this '04 Honda Civic EX sedan is my first car. Yes, it is an automatic, don't hate me for it (my next car will probably be a manual though). Now if your area is anything like mine, most new drivers get lumbering SUVs or buy Civics to trash around. But being the nerd among my associates I decided to buy a Civic, keep it stock, and see what kind of MPGs I can get out of it.
Well at first it went well. When I bought it I knew the brakes needed to be changed, but drove around in it a little using basic hypermiling techniques and averaged 39 MPG - decent considering the new EPA combined estimate is 30 MPG (because no, this is not an HF or a VX, as I didn't want a coupe). Well after changing brakes my MPG went down to 25, kind of disappointing.
Looking at the problem revealed a bad brake caliper. The caliper was already bad, but somehow worked until it was remounted during the brake change.
Once that was replaced and a new air filter was installed, I drove it around with much greater success. First trip was 44 MPG, second was 52 MPG, third had some traffic and was 38 MPG, and the trend continued. And yes I was hypermiling, just for the record.
Anyway, the rest of the tank averaged 42.2 MPG (~40% above EPA and with winter blend gasoline as well!
). Final tank ended up at 34.1, which isn't bad considering the 25 MPG from the brake caliper had brought my average down from 39 to 29. However with all issues fixed, looking forward to starting a trend of 40+ MPG tanks (and maybe closer to 50 in the summer)!
No mods done to the car, however I may install a removable grille block for winter time and possibly some underpaneling. My key thing here though is for my Civic to look and be stock -- too many Civics are modded to look like ricer junkies, and that I am determined my Civic will never look like. My biggest goal is to get a 50 MPG tank just once, but we'll see if that's achievable.
Want to give a huge shoutout to all the extremely helpful hypermiling tips listed on this site! They've definitely helped me learn how to best squeeze the most miles out of my car (despite it being an automatic) as well as better pay attention to surrounding traffic to avoid being perceived as one of those completely rude drivers out there.
