civic owners

[PaleMelanesian]

Click on Garage at the top of this page. At the top of that page is a link to Add New Vehicle.

[brucepick]

I don't know how you guys keep getting 60-70 mpg. I've been working hard to keep it in the upper 40's.

My commute is about 55 mi. each way, mostly highway, mostly no significant traffic. I drive mostly between about 60-65 mph. 55-60 on highway upgrades and sometimes 70ish on a downgrade.

What kind of driving are you guys doing? Are you driving at my kind of speed and distances?

[PaleMelanesian]

Looks like you're doing well for that commute. Our cars don't do so well on the highway, even your best-of-breed HX. I think you're on the right path with your aeromods.

My route is shorter so I can afford to go slower. The speed limits are lower. One segment has 55 mph limit, the rest is 50, 45 and 35 limit. I usually do a 25-40 p&g cycle. At strategic times I take it slower or faster, usually based on hills or intersections.

[phunky.buddha]

To the OP, when you disconnect your power steering, make sure to loop the hoses through a vented catch can. If you just close off the fluid loop, you'll be fighting against the pressure inside the rack and the lines. You want to keep fluid in the rack for lubrication, but you want to make sure it can freely flow from side to side (of the rack) so the steering will be much easier. Just leaving the pump plumbed in with the pulley disconnected will make things a LOT harder when you're driving.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by brucepick

I don't know how you guys keep getting 60-70 mpg. I've been working hard to keep it in the upper 40's.

My commute is about 55 mi. each way, mostly highway, mostly no significant traffic. I drive mostly between about 60-65 mph. 55-60 on highway upgrades and sometimes 70ish on a downgrade.

What kind of driving are you guys doing? Are you driving at my kind of speed and distances?

I'm slower than you, and I'm not on the freeway as much. I stick to local roads, where I can rack-up big FE numbers through P&G with the engine off. On the freeway, straight out without hypermiling and at about 50-60 MPH (holding a consistent 16.5 or 16.9 throttle) I get only about 49-52mpg. On the surface roads is where the big gains are. Lately I use a technique on the freeway I call "GLEN" meaning "Glide, Load, engine-on, Neutral." I accelerate at 70-80% load from 50 or 55 to 60 or 65mph (always a 10mph arc) then coast back down to the starting speed in neutral. I get modestly higher freeway MPG this way, maybe as high as near-60 but I don't think so, and I have not reliably quantified it.

Bottom line: I avoid freeways and take my 11 mile commute a little more slowly through EOC. I don't however drive all that slowly on average... just a little slower than traffic.

[brucepick]

Thanks to both PaleMelanesian and California98civic.

Now I feel better! I too can do better on the slower roads. 57 mpg at the Green Grand Prix this past April, with an average speed very close to 45 mph.

Of course with a 55 mile commute I've been busy trying to find how to optimize mpg at higher speeds. Aero mods have been helping.

One method I've been using recently is to use smaller roads when the wind is working against me. I find that between the slower road speed and the trees etc. blocking some of the wind, it's worth the additional road time. I get in lots more engine off coasting on those roads too.

[justjohn]

Bruce, do you have the speed nailed down that you loose lean burn at? For my 96 HX it's about 54MPH on the speedometer. If you hover just above that point and keep it in lean burn you should see good numbers.

I've been getting just over 50 on my commute with no mods, fairly passive hypermiling, and ethanol free fuel. (My commute is 30 miles, 55mph most of the way with plenty of hills and a decent number of stop signs and sharp corners. So not much P&G opportunity, and not even THAT much lean burn opportunity.)

[PaleMelanesian]

I disagree about hills and P&G. I think they're the perfect opportunity. Pulse up, glide down, all the while maintaining fairly steady speed.

Obviously, whatever you're doing is working. Keep it up!

I'm loving that we have a decent community of 6th gen civics here now! It certainly beats trying to discuss anything at honda-tech.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

I'm loving that we have a decent community of 6th gen civics here now!

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

It certainly beats trying to discuss anything at honda-tech.

Yup.

[jedi_sol]

Not to jack the thread, but since this is a "Civic Only" thread, i'm still having a hard time trying to figure out the whole "accelerate with 80% load" thing. How can I determine 80% with only an mpguino?

Oh btw, not to toot my own horn, but i took off my power steering belt and got my best tank ever of 48mpg! but now my girlfriend is back in town so I chauffeur her around every day so my daily commute is about 80% city.

Plus on top of that, my girlfriend got tired of all of the "strange looks/pointing and laughing" from random ppl on the streets so she forced me to take off my aero mods. Plus on top of that, California highway patrol finally pulled me over for driving too slow on the freeway (was doing 45 up a hill...so obviously i was dwl, if he gave me more time, i wouldve eventually sped up when i reached the other side of the hill. It was 2am anyways. I explained to him it was for better mpg. He was cool with it, but said its for my own safety in case drunk drivers crash into me from behind). Plus on top of that he says state law requires at least the driver side mirror, so i had to put that back on.

So now my new challenge is to get better mpg with pretty much city driving and none of my good aero mods. =(