Team Honda Thread

[JethroBodine]

Pssst, scivicblu83... With those mods you could fit into the boat tail group... We might even give the motorcycles a run for their money

[brucepick]

Easy there, Jethro!

[JethroBodine]

[Whitey]

Hey, folks!

Thanks for the reminder to pop into this thread, brucepick.

I've got a question: How many of you who drive Honda automatics use neutral regularly? This topic has appeared in various forms in other threads, but I'm interested in what my fellow Honda drivers think.

I use neutral for coasting and for sitting while stopped (I'll switch off the ignition if I know I'm going to be stopped for more than a minute or so). Since I've started using neutral on the highway, my MPG (as measured by the tank) has increased by about 10%.

Do any of you see potential problems with using neutral the way I use it?

Thanks in advance for your responses.


-Doug "Whitey" Jackson

[PaleMelanesian]

100,000 miles on the family Odyssey ('04) and whenever I drive it (~1/3 of the miles?) I'm constantly in and out of N. I mean multiple times per mile. That's how I can get the 23 mph highway van to return 30 mpg for our recent 3,000 mile summer vacation trip. Without the constant N coasting, it might do 26 or so.

As per the manual's towing instructions, I don't engine-off coast above 35 mph. Below that I do unless there's a good reason not to. (Kid's DVD playing, family requires AC, etc)

[brucepick]

I used the auto trans in neutral technique regularly back when driving my old Volvo 240, whenever I didn't need it to push the car.

I tried doing rev match when going back into gear when rolling. Found that on that car it was better to leave engine idling and put trans in Drive. Rev match gave a hard engagement regardless of car and engine speeds in use. ymmv of course.

[scivicblu83]

Originally Posted by JethroBodine

Pssst, scivicblu83... With those mods you could fit into the boat tail group... We might even give the motorcycles a run for their money

i can't sign up for both can I ? our low end of team honda is kinda ruining my mpg influence

[Weather Spotter]

sure you can, I am in team boat tails and team Toyota. you can double count here

[MetroMPG]

Here's the outlook for the U.F.O:

I may be taking it on a trip to the east coast next month. It's about 2800 km round trip, and it'll likely drop my 90-day fuel consumption owing to higher speeds on a longer trip. (No time to make a boat tail first! )

If I don't do that trip, I probably won't fill it up again this year, which means the car's contribution to the team will only improve as each of my lower, older tanks drop off from the 90-day calculation!

I'll be getting the Firefly back on the road later this fall and parking the U.F.O., so contributing to Team Metro (traitor that I am).

[brucepick]

We'll miss you and your contribution to our team score when you go!