New here, and new to worrying about gas mileage!

[nebulousdawn]

Hey guys,
I've long been a car guy, and never once cared about my gas mileage if it wasn't totally abysmal. I'll admit, I primarily consider myself a driving enthusiast. But...

Recently, to relieve my old '90 325iS from daily driving duties, I bought a 2005 Civic LX (manual transmission, of course). Let me tell you, I'm spoiled, and I am strangely into the idea of gas-sipping now. While I'm sure the mileage is completely normal to you, I've been seeing between 37-40mpg depending on conditions and it's been absolutely wonderful considering I used to see almost half that.

Anyway, I've joined the forum to see what I can do to get the most out of my new-to-me car. I'm also planning beyond this car and considering what options for future eco-cars I may have that would still be fun for me to own, given that I do enjoy cars with a little more spirit. I've thought about old CRX's, the 5th gen Civic VX, etc.

Now, I guess it's time for me to go do some reading! Currently it's in need of a tuneup, so I bought some NGK Laser Platinum plugs, a new air filter, Eneos 0w20, and a Toyo Roki oil filter. I'll do that stuff this week. The current fill of oil has a dose of Liqui Moly MOS2 in it, which may be helping my economy a bit.

[gone-ot]

• Up the tire pressures (but don't exceed sidewall maximum).
• Get a MPG meter (ScanGuageII, Ultra-Gauge, etc.) so you KNOW what MPG you're getting in realtime.
• Look into "aero" wheel covers (if available).
• Consider a front grill "air block" (after you have something to tell you what coolant temp actually is, ie: not the OEM "idiot gauge").
• Shed unnecessary weight (from vehicle/trunk).
• Learn 'how to' coast and draft.
• Lastly, learn 'how to' SLOW DOWN...speed kills MPG!

[mcrews]

Welcome!
Ditto what he said!

[Fat Charlie]

Efficiency is performance. You're just scoring your performance in a different way than you're used to. Welcome, and enjoy!

[elhigh]

Hi,

Charlie hit it: hypermiling is the flip side of high performance. Instead of making your car do everything it possibly can, you're making your fuel do everything it possibly can.

Those BMW 3-series aren't slouches at the pump, you can wring good numbers out of them. At least, you could in the 80s.

Before you spend money of fancy plugs, read around. I haven't heard anybody speak highly of high-dollar spark plugs. Factory OEM seems to hit the mark every time while the expensive Iridium and SplitFire and ThunderGuts and whatever else, cost a lot and sound cool but don't make a measureable difference either at the timing lights or gas pump.

[mcrews]

except when the factory oem IS a iridium plug and is good for 100,000 miles.

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by mcrews

except when the factory oem IS a iridium plug and is good for 100,000 miles.

Yeah, that crossed my mind after I walked away from the keyboard. I was thinking more along the lines of some of the more gimmicky designs.

In particular, I was thinking about the Pulstar plugs, which have been much and deservedly derided in these very pages.

I wonder how far Smokey Yunick got with his high-amperage, low voltage ignition system. I remember reading about it back in the day, but never anything further. I reckon those electrodes just got blasted clean away after a few minutes' running.

[wdb]

Welcome to another car enthusiast who's become enthusiastic about hypermiling. I found religion when my 160 mile roundtrip commute went from once a week to 5 times a week, and my STi's thirst started eating me out of house and home. A Honda Fit paid for itself in fuel savings alone! And it's a hoot to drive.
A few benefits that cross over:

• accelerating smartly up to target speed is good for fuel economy
• you can scorch the turns and say that you're "maintaining momentum"
• ditto declutching and getting up a good head of steam on downhills
• higher tire pressures improve both fuel economy and handling (up to a point)
• ditto aerodynamic aids such as underbody trays

[UltArc]

If you've caught the bug, and read further, 37-40 will soon be unsatisfactory mileage.

Welcome to the dark side. We have cookies.

Agree with everything written, there are many reasons I like vehicle performance in maximizing efficiency rather than maximizing top speed, or tire shredding.
-If the speed limit is 35, it is 35 regardless if I have 60 HP, 305 HP, or had a GT500 with 662 HP.
-It is much cheaper to replace RE-92s every 100k than Michelin Pilot Super Sport every 30.
-Pushing a low power lightweight car on the street is a lot more fun than a high performance car.
-When POWER is the name of the game, the winner is who has the most cash. Most money for tires, exhaust, intakes, superchargers/turbochargers/twinchargers, suspension, so on.
-When fuel economy is the name of the game, the winner uses their imagination, creativity, and resourcefulness to do the best they can.
-Winning isn't just pushing the pedal all the way down.

[elhigh]

Slow car fast = fast car fast; slow car slow > fast car slow.

It's a much greater challenge to push a modest car to greater levels of performance, whereas in a purpose-built sports car great levels of performance are available to you ready made.

Home-cooked is always better than ready made. It just is.