2004 Honda Civic

[Sandy]

After reading an article about hypermiling,
which led me to lookup pulse and coast,
which led me to here.

I've been a miserly driver for years.
The current ride was chosen after looking at the Civic Hybrid,
then suffering from sticker shock.
The payback was after the payments ended and I'd be spending more per month 'til then.

The mostly stock Civic has the small engine with the auto-trans.
Typically averaging 35 to 36 MPG on a yearly basis.
Always looking for more mpg.

The commute is 48 miles one way, mostly highway,
but often in traffic.
The gas prices are killing my budget.

There are 2 external antennas on the car (ham radio) and one is huge.
I'll pull that one off temporarily to see if it helps.
but am looking with interest at all the mods you're all doing.

I've been a conservative driver to maximize mileage, but some of the threads have great tips.
I'm hoping to see you around the forum often.
Thanks for this service to the motoring community.

I am also on the GasBuddy.com website at NewHampshireGasPrices.com
under the iNTRuDeR handle, trying to find the best (cheapest) gas prices around that also give good mileage.
but in these times,
All the stations are around the same price so I'm shopping for mileage now.

[SVOboy]

The first thing I can suggest is to get this:
Scangauge

How interested are you in modifying your car, ?

Welcome to the site!

[Sandy]

Thanks for the welcome SVO.

I have the ScanGauge connected already.
It shows me some flaws in my driving technique.
The MPG gauge show me that I can get over the 40 mpg level with the LOD (engine LOaD) below 50%.
I can't hold 60mph on a flat road at 50%, as it steadily slows down.
So I've just started trying the pulse and glide type technique,
but this is hard in commuter traffic.

The tires are pumped up hard, and I've done he experiments with synthetic oil,
and with the acetone in the tank. Nothing to write home about there,
altho I'll go back to the synthetic oil on the next change, but it already runs 5w20 so I don't think that's too much of an issue.

The aero mods are interesting and probably where Ill try next.

(btw, this is a 57yo male Sandy)

[SVOboy]

Good deal on having the SG already. I think your next best bet for FE is prolly a little bit of aeromodding,

[Sandy]

I had a big honkin' radio antenna on the back,
but that got taken off this AM.

Now I'm looking a moving the mirrors inside.
One is cracked and was going to be replaced,
but I think I'll try the mirrors.

The wheel cover in the rear seem like a good next place,
maybe lowering the front air-dam or covering radiator grill a bit.
In this cooler (damn-cold right now) weather it shouldn't need all that opening,
and in the summer when it will have to be removed, with the summer gas the higher mileage isn't as hard to achieve.