First-time Civic VX Owner

[SiVX]

Hey everyone,
First off, let me just say that I am not new to this site. I've been reading, browsing and re-reading for a few months now.
I've always loved the 5th gen Civic hatchbacks. Everything about them is amazing. Plus, I like having a place to store gear and my dog when I go camping and such. So the hatchback has always made sense. BUT THEN, Ecomodder introduced me to the VX. I've been taking Sustainability & Site Design classes, along with solar panel stuff, and some civil engineering in hopes to find a career in a green construction field. So, a small quirky hatchback that gets 40+ mpg? I got hooked.. instantly. I began searching the internet every day for one that wasn't a rust bucket, or had a ton of miles. (Hard to find because these things sell quick!) On the first of April I drove a little over 200 miles to meet a guy with what seemed like a mint condition VX.
Well, long story short, I averaged 37 mpg on the first tank. Hey, still better than the V6 I have sitting outside beside the VX. Car has a stupid after market air intake that I hope to swap for a stock with one of the Honda kids that hang out in front of my local Food Lion.

[SiVX]

Here are some pics of the car
Was repainted some time ago, looks ok, has alot of small chips that I just touched up with a close match GM paint color...
The lights are aftermarket HID, glass face, black housings. They look great! The rims are HX not VX The exhaust has a 2007 Si muffler welded onto the pipe. Has nice stock sound, not loud or ricey. Has aftermarket guages (Si?), Si floormats, and 1997 honda Prelude seats. (comfy!) As I mentioned above, u can see the ugly aftermarket intake, that I plan on getting rid of. You can also see the strut tower brace that tightens the suspension up a bit for a pretend fast ride... Also, a cheap little ebay lip that should be helping to direct air away from the tires.

[cbaber]

Nice clean car! You sure those aren't VX rims? They look small to me but could be just the picture. VX are 13" and HX are 14". The benefit to running the HX's is tire choice. You aren't really giving up much weight either so no big deal if they are HX. (if you want to get rid of them I will buy them lol)

I would keep the aftermarket intake. Some would say the warmer intake air helps your MPG on all kinds of cars. As long as the filter is clean you are good to go.

Hope you have fun in the forum and learn a lot. If you want to keep track of your MPG try hitting up the Garage and adding your car. That way you can brag about how many MPG you get lol.

[California98Civic]

Nice car, alright. Nice hunting too. Those 14" HX wheels and tires are each probably about 4-5 lbs heavier, for a total 16-20 across all four. Double that to yield a rough rotational mass of max 80lbs extra, which is significant on a 2000lb car, but not amazingly large. But the HX wheels being bigger also changes your gearing. The VX already had really tall gearing, and slightly larger wheels/tires makes it even taller. At cruise on the freeway you'll have lower RPMs and that's pretty cool. Unless the whole exhaust system has been tuned, the common wisdom around here as I have learned it is that the muffler is basically meaningless, so keep it and save cash there. The air intake filter thing pulls air from an area of the engine bay not so far different from the stock location. Warmer air is available closer to the exhaust manifold and catalytic converter. Good luck!

[cbaber]

VX = 9lbs
HX = 12lbs

So there is quite a difference but compared to aftermarket wheels and other OEM wheels, 12lbs is still really light. And some swear by the OEM honda insight 14" tires which is why I want a set of HX wheels to put back on my car.

[Ecky]

Beautiful car, I'm jealous! What'd you pay for it?

Is that 37mpg adjusted for the change in wheel size?

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by cbaber

VX = 9lbs
HX = 12lbs

Actually, the difference is even smaller than that, and smaller than I thought: wheel weights dot net has the VX at 9.7lbs and the HX at 11.75. Low Rolling Resistance tires, such as a Michelin with Green X, come in 175/70-R13s and 185/65-R14s (both at 18lbs)... and so the real weight difference might be only about 2lbs per wheel/tire.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Actually, the difference is even smaller than that, and smaller than I thought: wheel weights dot net has the VX at 9.7lbs and the HX at 11.75. Low Rolling Resistance tires, such as a Michelin with Green X, come in 175/70-R13s and 185/65-R14s (both at 18lbs)... and so the real weight difference might be only about 2lbs per wheel/tire.

The larger wheels will have that mass farther from the center though.

[Ryland]

gauges look stock to me, only they have new faces on them to make them look weird.
The VX has a smaller intake then the DX engines, so if you do get an intake make sure it's the right one! they are tiny and I saw a 1mpg jump just adding the stock baffles and chambers back in to my vx after the original one was backed in to and crushed in a parking lot, same with exhaust, the VX has a tiny exhaust pipe when compared to a DX or SI and in the two VX's I've owned that had larger then stock exhaust pipe I've seen a 2-3mpg jump in mileage.
If you do have the 14" HX wheels then save up for some low rolling resistance tires like the Michelin Energy Saver tires, said to be the lowest rolling resistance tires currently on the market, not sure if that is true, but they do make them in a 165/65R14, same height as the stock Civic VX tires, pretty much the same revs per mile too.

[cbaber]

While we are talking about HX/VX wheels, do you guys know if the VX is 5.5 width like the HX? Also, I passed up a few sets of VX wheels in my search because I heard that the 13" wheels will not clear the brake caliper of the 96-00 Civics (or maybe it was the rear drums). Anyone have any experience with this or know if 6th and 5th generation civics have the same disk brakes?