What are the best ways to hypermile a VX civic?

[Chuckwagon]

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! I am new to the ecomodder site and I was hoping for some help getting the most MPG out of my Honda civic VX. 90% of my driving is done on at speeds of 50-60 MPH in the foothills. I have a redneck version of a warm air intake and smooth wheel covers but what I am really looking for is driving techniques. So my question particularly for experienced Honda lean burn drivers is, what are the driving techniques that you have found to work best for stretching MPG in the VX?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

With a lean burn vehicle, the magic is to stay in lean burn all the time. Since the VX doesn't come with FE instrumentation like the Insight, and you can't connect to it via OBDII, my recommendation would be a MPGuino, and maybe an AFR meter. Driving-with-load (constant throttle versus accelerating uphill) will help maintain lean burn.

As with any vehicle, coasting to stops (preferably engine off), pumping up your tires, adding fuel economy instrumentation are the best for improving fuel economy.

Do you have pictures of your VX?

[Chuckwagon]

Thank you for the quick response! This is it. It is totally bone stock other than the wheel covers and WAI. The man that owned it before me siad he plan was to put an H22 in it and make it a toy. He told me before I bought it "no body wants these cars for the gas mileage." Little did he know that was the whole reason I wanted to get it. But anyway, As of right now I average about 50 MPG. I coast some when I can but I try to be mindful of traffic behind me. My goal is to get average 60 MPG.

[fusion210]

Welcome!

I don't have a VX, but like mpg numbers guy I have a manual Insight with lean burn. We're blessed with an OEM mpg gauge. Is the MPGuino even available?

MPGuino trip computer - MPGuino suspended orders a year ago.


I seem to recall something about a federal ecu vs a California one allowing more lean burn.


Again, a wideband o2 gauge would show when you're in lean burn without the fun of seeing big instant mpg numbers. Might be your best bet. I don't think you need to worry so much about how accurate it is, you just need to monitor the jump in the air/fuel ratio.

In my car it seems to need to be up to temp, outside temp isn't low, no loads like ac/defrost, throttle under 19% (shown by the torque app/obd2 wireless adapter) and under 2500rpm.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Must reads for all VX owners:

https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...avy-28815.html

https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...mpg-32221.html

[Chuckwagon]

Thank you both for the information! I will begin seeing how to put it to use. One thing I am trying for the first time is accelerating down hill to 5 MPH over the speed limit and then slowing down to the speed limit when I go up the next hill. It seems to be staying in lean burn longer doing that so far.

[Chuckwagon]

A word to the wise, do not get Kenda Kenetica tires if you want the most out of your car for MPG. I used to have Westlake RP18 on my VX and it would get 52-53 MPG regularly even when the tires were new. With the kenda's it is all I can do to maintain 50 MPG and I have had them for about 4 months now. I have even bumped the tire pressure up to 40 psi. (I ran 35 psi on the Westlake tires and still got better MPG). I can really tell a difference to how far I could coast to how far I can coast now. This last tank I got 49.75 MPG. Just goes to show, not all 175-70-13's are created equal. After these wear out I am for sure going back to the Westlake tires.

P.S. I have not disregarded the infomation from MPG numbers guy and fusion210. I am reading bits and pieces here and there as I have time from the recommended posts.

[Ecky]

You might try slightly higher pressure, if you're comfortable with it. I run 50 in the tires on my Insight - they have a 50 PSI max sidewall rating, which as I understand is not actually a max pressure rating, but the pressure needed to carry their maximum load.

Definitely recommend an MPGuino, it's nearly essential.

[Chuckwagon]

I just wanted to say thank you to all your posts and helpful advise! I looked for the MPGuino and it said they are sold out... However, I am working on installing a vacuum gauge instead. Also, for you Insight drivers, I was at pull-a-part yesterday and I found a 2000 model Insight. The wheels were gone (otherwise I would have got them) and the battery is gone. The car does not show up on their inventory list if you look it up online I just stumbled across it while I was there. Here is the address 4125 N Patterson Ave, Winston-Salem, NC 27105. It is on row 330. Everything was left untouched under the hood. I hope this information is helpful to those of you with Insights I know they can be hard to find.