Civic Si from NY

[drew1d]

Hello all,

I was referred to this site from EPhatch.com in the 'Improve your Mpg' thread. My name is Drew, and I drive a 2003 Honda Civic Si.

Although not the ideal "peoples car" as it once was, I feel the civic could benefit from the expertise people on this website possess.

I look forward to seeing various peoples techniques/approaches to getting the most from a gallon of gas.

[gasstingy]

Hi Drew,
Welcome aboard! I've found this site to have a lot of information. Look at some of the tips under the headings of "65+ Efficiency Mods" and "100+ Hypermiling Tips." Not all will work for anybody, but if a few will work for you, you'll see some positive results:-)

Mark

[drew1d]

I started browsing. Good stuff in there. I'm not so sure about shutting off the engine while driving, but the aero stuff is pretty cool. I'll keep reading.


Thanks for the welcome!

[SentraSE-R]

Welcome, Drew. I've averaged 38 mpg over the past 10,000 miles in my Sentra SE-R, which is similar in performance to your Civic Si. The only ecomodding mod I've made is removing the spoiler. I got my mileage increases mostly from slowing down.

[drew1d]

Thanks Darrell.

I'm working on driving more consciously. I am mostly highway, work is about 45 miles away (90 round trip) my Fiance is about 25 miles away. So by doing quicker starts and merging quickly shouldn't eat up too much gas, but if I'm going for mileage, I am going to try and curb some of that instinct to STOMP on the gas. Good call on slowing down.

I also have aftermarket rims. They are 17", and weigh similar to stock. (The tire weighs 2lbs more though) Stock diameter of the wheel is 24.21 in (and 195) so now it's 25.07 in (and 205). I believe (and perhaps it's in my head) that I've actually gained 1 MPG because the gearing is a little longer.

This weekend I'm going to clean it out well, and try to look where I can shed weight.

I'm pretty good with maintenance and the engine and chassis is in good working order. After this tank of gas I'm going to start keeping a log book for mpg. My odometer will be off, 3.555% because of the wheel difference.

I was also thinking I could use blue tape for the seams. I'm really quite intrigued by some of the aero projects on here.

[SentraSE-R]

Drew, if you really get hooked on playing the mileage game, a Scangauge II is great for showing you how your gas pedal affects your mpg. On 800 mile trips to my mom's, my SE-R gets me 26 mpg at 72 mph, which is its EPA estimated highway mileage. If I slow down to 62 mph, my mpg figure rises to about 32 mpg. If I slow down even more to 55 mph, I can get 38-40 mpg. I can get 43 mpg with high speed pulse and glide.

I used to have to fill my tank midway down to my mom's. Now I always do the whole 400 miles on a single tank, regardless of which of my family's vehicles I drive.

A fuel consumption display (like the Scangauge) will show you that even with a 2 liter engine, you're getting well under 10 mpg when you're leadfooting it. If you accelerate briskly, you'll get about 15 mpg. If you accelerate slowly to moderately, you'll be getting about 20 mpg. What you aim for is best use of your engine's brake specific fuel consumption curve during acceleration, followed by gliding or cruising in the highest gear you can use.

[MetroMPG]

Welcome to the forum, Drew.

I second Darrell's advice to get MPG instrumentation in the car. Some people call it a game gauge for good reason.

Another option to the Scangauge is the MPGuino, if you're the DIY type.