Hi I'm David,
I'm pretty active in the Honda community online for years now. I have been autocrossing since 2003, and my current autox car is a 91 CRX Si modded for STS2 competition. It still gets mid 30mpg mileage which is fine since I really only use is a couple times a month for competitions.
The car I drive the most is a 2000 Honda Civic Hatchback. Its automatic, and basically stock motor-wise. My commute to and from work is mostly highway, totaling 74 miles a day. So you can see how I'd quickly become interested in maximizing my fuel economy.
My GOAL is to get as close to 40mpg out of the civic as possible, meaning I can go a full week between fill ups.
So far I have done the following steps to get from 30 up to 34mpg:
1.) Modified my driving habits. Though I cannot be a pokey driver on busy 70mph highways, I do not speed, and I draft whenever I can. I also never take off too quickly.
2.) Slightly taller than stock tires. The diameter of my current tires are about .5" taller than stock...effectively raising my gearing.
3.) Added a factory front spoiler from and Si model...it looks great, anyways.
4.) Removed the 50lb subwoofer box... I dont miss it at all.
5.) Well-inflated tires.
My plans to continue increasing FE are as follows, along with questions:
1.) Remove factory mud guards. The car gets quite filthy without the front ones...so I'd like to avoid losing those if there is a way to.
2.) Partial grill block off...Is it better to block off the top small grill or some of the larger bottom one?
3.) Remove power steering belt.
4.) Underbody panels. I know Honda sells an underbody panel for 92-95 models that installs towards the rear. I would like to make something like that for starters.
5.) Install low-resistance wiper blades like Valeo Ultimates
6.) Continue to improve driving habits
Changing out the trans for a manual is out of the question for me. I have a CRX I could daily drive, but there are small legs of my daily trip that would require clutching etc up to 100 times if traffic gets slow. Besides, my wife will not drive a standard, period.
As a side note, I'd love to be able to create a Engine Off button, that I can hold down to turn the engine off temporarily, then release when I want it to come back on... any DIY insights on that would be appreciated.
I hope to reach 40mpg in 2008! Thanks in advance for your input or comments.