The beginnings of Eco modding. (What car should I get?)

[Ni87]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Welcome aboard!

14-15 mpg is actually good for one of those pigs. I was killing myself to get not much better, after years of hypermiling on the same roads under good conditions. When I finally got out of it, gas and payments on the Fit were right about where gas alone had been on the X.

Yeah those xterras are brutal. I'm going to try drafting on my trip home I started doing that the other day and I gained 5 in hg on my vacuum gauge. So we will see how that goes. But no I agree with you guys some thing small simple and standard. Yeah that is the one thing that bugs me with the Hondas is the gearing. I think the states threatened to nuke japan again if they made too good of a car. True or not I sill believe there's some sort of conspiracy behind it. What are some of the mods that are good to start off with and do right away?

[Fat Charlie]

The low gearing is a marketing decision, it makes them peppy.

This is what I got on my wife's old Xterra with a calibrated UltraGague and years of hypermiling under my belt on a commute I've been doing for even longer. I like to think of it as the theoretical maximum one of them can get.



You're so close to my numbers that what you need to do is get out of it as soon as possible. Anything mid sized or below with a manual is going to pay for itself immediately in driver satisfaction, and pretty quickly in gas.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

The low gearing is a marketing decision, it makes them peppy.

Might also have been a decision to keep the Fit's highway MPG from getting too close to the Insight's, thus cannibalizing sales.

[Fat Charlie]

I wasn't even thinking of the Fit. But manuals tend to be geared more for 0-60 than mpg.

[Ecky]

Honda and Toyota hybrids do very well. Honda hybrids tend to have more battery problems, but may achieve higher highway fuel economy and can often be driven without the battery, whereas a Prius cannot. I've seen as high as ~70mpg in good weather with the Civic hybrid in my garage, and it's nearly 3000lbs and, by my standards, a pretty big car. My Insight delivers about 100mpg cruising at 50-60 once it's fully warmed up and in good weather. I haven't owned a Prius, but I have the perception that they do relatively better in stop and go conditions due to the difference in the way the hybrid system works. At this point, 2nd gen Prii, 1st gen Insights and Civic hybrids have all just about depreciated as far as they'll go, and can be picked up for similar prices to gasoline-only cars a decade older.

I think if I were to get any other vehicle, I'd be interested in trying either an EV, a Chevy Volt, or perhaps the 2nd generation Accord hybrid. These are all far more expensive options though.

[niky]

If you're looking for something newer... and left field... Steve Lang (used car guru who now does web content for Car And Driver) posted on FB that he found a 2014 Mirage for just $3k.

That's a 60+ MPG car with modern crash protection and a sub-ton curb weight. One that just happens to be sitting at the top of the current leaderboard.

Team Mirage could use some more members.

[MetroMPG]

$3k is unusual for a Mirage (unless it's damaged). I've seen a couple of undamaged ones between $4-5k recently, but even those are outliers with higher than average km.

(NOTE WORTH REPEATING: despite the ratings, the 5MT gets better fuel economy than the higher-rated CVT in the real world in the hands of an attentive driver. No "extreme" techniques required. But add in the techniques and silly numbers are possible.)

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Is your XTerra fitted with the 4-cyl or the V6 engine? Anyway, even though it's quite heavy, and the aerodynamics are disfavorable, you might still find ways to improve its fuel-efficiency in case you would eventually want to keep it. BTW my dad also has a XTerra, but it's a Brazilian-assembled one with a 4-cyl turbodiesel.

[niky]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

$3k is unusual for a Mirage (unless it's damaged). I've seen a couple of undamaged ones between $4-5k recently, but even those are outliers with higher than average km.

(NOTE WORTH REPEATING: despite the ratings, the 5MT gets better fuel economy than the higher-rated CVT in the real world in the hands of an attentive driver. No "extreme" techniques required. But add in the techniques and silly numbers are possible.)

$3.6k at auction prices.

4-5k sounds about right for a private sale.

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I use pulse-and-glide and EOC with ours constantly. Odd bump-starting with the super-light clutch, but you get used to it.

[fusion210]

I'd get a beater first gen Insight five speed instead of a nice one, as cheap as they are. Plus keep the truck.

Insight parts are stupid expensive vs a 95 hatch though. Headlights for example. I wanted to do an HID retrofit. They don't make cheap (any?) reproduction lights. I luckily found a supposed "new" set that were layed on the ground with small scuffs, for almost $300. You can't just go to a junkyard and grab stuff since they aren't there. It has three o2 sensors in my 2006 and they are all pricey.

Buy one with a bad battery and recondition it. If the battery can't be saved it might just be one bad stick of cells. People also disable the ima, but I'll tell you, I lost my ima and stopped on a hill at the end of an off ramp. The light turned green and I barely went forward on motor alone.