Honda Civics (what models/years have best MPG?)
 

So eventually, I would like to sell my current car and buy preferably, a honda civic. But there are so many variations that I'm unsure which is ideal.

Obviously, a manual transmission.

But which year's had peak mpg? I know that there are -e variations of engines which are better on gas. But how can one easily find that out about the civic if one was looking at one, have to ask seller I would assume or look at engine. SIL? How do you know if it has that/what is it? Which years were there hatchbacks?

So I mean, I guess I'm asking which years/features of civics are the better for fuel economy?

Or besides geo metros, would be alternatives to them for hypermiling/overall better mpg?

zach.

For mileage, your best bet in a Honda is probably a Civic VX, 1992-1995. The next closes is a 88-91 HF, then probably a 92-95 CX. At that point, you get down to around 40 mpg and their is a whole slew of Honda's.

The downside to a Honda, particularly a VX, is it's reliability and mileage carry a higher price for the used cars. The upside is their reliability and mileage.

I have an 89 Honda Wagon, which is a more space, 4 door Civic, essentially. I purchased it, with an engine problem, basically did a econo rebuild and started driving it about 2 1/2 years ago. Overall even though it's a older car, with a lot of miles, it doesn't use any oil to speak of and it gets real mileage I am very pleased with.

On a cheap to purchase, cheap on gas, you might want to consider something like a manual transmission Saturn. They don't have the reputation/price Honda's do, they seem to be able to get almost the same mileage and they seem to either run, very well, or when the choke, they choke.

For good Hondas to hypermile (in roughly this order)

92-95 VX hatchback (best engine)
88-91 CRX HF (best aero, best transmission)
92-95 CX hatchback (basically a CRX HF engine w/ VX transmission)
96-99 HX coupe (heavy, but has lean burn)
92-95 DX coupe (could be good w/aeromods)

Ditto above. However, once you look at the prices, consider what you can get in a GM, Saturn or Ford. There are advantages and disadvantages with every decision.

Don't hate on the EK (96-00)!
I can get 50+ mpg out of mine utilizing EOC and "pulse and glide" and 40-45mpg just driving like conservative "normal" driver.
Plus the EK generation is ScanGauge compliant. ;)

Yeah, I have noticed prices can still be pretty steep on these civics. Most are 150k miles up and still at least 2500-3000 dollars.

I plan on keeping my car a bit longer, but I feel like maintaining 1 dollar=10 miles to work out pretty well? I guess it's a mental thing.

Anyways, What about slightly newer civics like 96 up? Which of those are preferable? Because some of those can be found cheaper than the older.

They can be quite the rip off, but you just have to be a smart consumer.
I bought a 96 Civic CX with 205,000 on the ODO for $2300, in all honesty it's not worth it but I really needed a car at the time and had asked a co-worker to drive me 50 miles to go check it out. I felt pretty obligated to buy it because I needed a car to move the next week.

The CX is the hatchback version for that model year it is also the most basic, so you don't have power steering, power windows, power doors, air conditioning, VTEC, stereo, etc. It also weighs the least of that generation. Next step up from that is the DX which you can purchase as a hatch or a coupe, but it has air conditioning, a stereo, and I think power steering. Next would be the EX which is the sedan version but has more things standard.

If you're leery about Civics and don't care for Metros, why not try Prisms? They are just Corollas rebadged as Chevy/Geo so they will sell for less. Should still be able to return decent MPG, especially if it has a 1zz in the engine bay, I got 35+ on an automatic 9th generation Corolla.

In all honesty, all you need is a manual transmission mated with an entry level car from any manufacturer. I don't know how much you have to spend, but I bet the Toyota Echo is probably pretty affordable and if you're in Canada you can find the hatchback variant of that.

I got my Civic so cheap that I couldn't refuse it. Otherwise I probably would have kept looking, and I certainly wouldn't have picked an automatic. For the price Civics are going in my area, I could have gotten the same year Cobalt for half the price and half the miles on it.

True! Engine is not as efficient as the earlier VX, the shell is less aerodynamic, it's heavier, but... OBD-II for Scangauge. I'd be lost without it.

I'm reasonably happy with my 98 Civic LX. Sedan, has AC and power goodies, and I'm getting ~40mpg, no highway, no mods, no SG.

Use edmunds.com to do research, they have lots of specs and their prices are more realistic than KBB etc.

the civics ranked by weight and features (it correlates): CX, DX, HX, LX, EX. The HX and EX will fetch a premium price because of economy or features, and the HX is rare.

I'm not sure where you live, but as a former owner of a 89 Corolla, I would urge caution. In Wisconsin, most of those cars have the bottom two inches of the front doors rusted off, and an inch of the back ones. The way they put those doors together captures salt, soil and moisture. It's a rust trap waiting to happen. It's one of the fastest rusting cars since AMC stopped making cars.

Perhaps in warmer climates it's not a problem, but I wonder.

As a former VX owner, that is the best cheapest car you can buy for the best MPG. I miss mine dearly but had to get rid of it because the darn thing was falling apart (body wise). The engine and trans were mint at 312,000kms. I'm an idiot and didn't know it's worth and sold it for $500. In retrospect, I shouldn't have sold it and should've kept it for parts to build another VX using a better condition shell. *sighs* Oh well.

I currently own a 95 Honda Civic 4-door LX 5-speed with A/C and it's decent on gas. But nowhere near the 52mpg I was getting with my warrior VX.

Any Honda Civic will return good gas mileage regardless of what model. But it has to be the older ones from 92-00. I'm not a fan of the newer ones. Or new cars for that matter.