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Made two test loop runs today in the Civic. My test loop is a run thru the country just outside of town. Its a two lane paved road in good shape. Speed limit is 40 mph, with alot of turns with 25 mph warning speed signs. It has elevation changes of no more than 75' or so max. They are very gental changes. I know this road like the back of my hand. I used it for years as a high speed test road for my cars and motorcycles. Its a wickedly fun road on a fast motorcycle. The distance is 20 miles total from my drive way and back.

My goal wasnt to go out and try to do some good mpg runs, but to get intament with the throttle. 80% of the time Im driving the car I have my work boots on. So Im feeling throttle pressure and movement thru a boot sole and the bottom of my foot. So today I take the shoes and socks off and drive the Civic with my ubber tender bare CLEAN feet. And I mean tender. :) My target speed range was 25 to 30 mph in 5th gear. Conditions were perfect. 85f, no wind, blareing glareing sun and all the critters of the woodlands where out. Tires 44 psi.

First test loop was all about throttle control. A pure study of that peddle down there at low speeds. No fas'ing, ice on the whole time. Coasting in gear down grades or bleeding. Load driving up the grades. No brakes except at stop signs. All but one stop sign are here close to the house. Car had been driven a hour before so it was warm.

Halfway/turn around point 60 mpg. Second half back in the driveway 61.2 mpg. Ave. speed for the loop 27 mph, Highist 33 mph, lowest 22 mph. Shifted no higher than 2000 rpm and worked hard to keep the rpm between 1100 and 1400 rpm.

Second loop was the same except I used fas. I got about 7 miles of fas in on this run. I was working very hard to maintain my target speed range of 25 to 30 mph. Seeing the civic coast like a brick on level ground it was critical to limit fas to a small degree. When I pulled in from the first run, I made my notes. Went in and had a BLT and cookies. Watched the History channel and gave the car some time to cool down. I was hoping to have engine temps some where close to the first runs temps. Just had to go thru the motions. Air temps and all other conditions were the same. Tender feet ready fir action.

Halfway/turn around point 73.2 mpg. Second half back in the driveway 72.5 mpg. Ave, speed for the loop 26 mph, Highist speed 35 mph, lowest 17 mph. Shift points and rpm range the same as the first loop.

I was very suprised with the results. Hell I was blown away with them! I have no idea how Im going to incorprate this into my daily driving. None at all. Other than the even lighter foot at the higher speeds. I cant explain the feather touch needed.

Before the SG lost its current data I ran to the store. A 4 mile trip in town. As hard as I tried I could not keep it in the 70 mpg range. When I parked the car in the drive way I was at 68.6 mpg. :(

Waynes right! The car will do it. Its all up to the nut behind the wheel. :cool:

psy

Wow that is great.
You're right about getting it all mixed in with the daily drive- I suspect some kind of compromise but I know you'll find a way to favor your technique.

OOOO something I forgot to mention. The Civic is now running on 91 oct. fuel. The r18 is a high compression engine by most accts. with a 10.5.1. ratio. Honda has put oil jets in the engine to help control it on lower octain fuels and thought about that in the ecu Im sure. The oil stream aimed at the underside of the piston will do wonders for knock not to mention controling piston slap not to mention the beating of the small end/wrist pin area. It takes a beating in a ice. Worse than the rods or mains. And with the lighter/cracked rods. ( a tech from radial aircraft engines ) controling slap helps protect the rod and crank journel bearing. Ie the big end.

The last two weeks Ive been loading her up on 91. I could have driven a tank down. Filled it up and hard reset the ecu, but I choose to let it work in. The last two partal tanks Ive been running. With my brothers wedding and a funeral of my oldist god son... and the pending warrenty work i just drove it. and still beat EPA any way you want to look at it.

True FE freaks dont read this... WARNING!!!

I had came in from some insanity in the family and parked in the back yard. our Cajun friends from next door crossed over to vist with us. I moved the Civic from the back yard to the drive way. Well I got abit hot when doing it. I roasted the front tires. I launched it hard! A rolling hard launch. I suprised me. I lit up the front on a roll off the throttle. they grabed and relit them in 2d,, grabed and chirped 3rd. The car never has came on like that. It thought it was a Si! Then to cap it off it has a open diff. Not a LSD like a Si. all tire marks where equal in spin distance and chirp marks. Not hall marks of a open diff.

There is something to the compression and the fuel in a r18. The question is what?

Just wanted to let folks know,, the test runs where on 91 oct. not 87 or 88 oct.

psy

Just as an FYI, it's hard to come by dyno results for the non-Si version of the 2006 Civic, but in the one I did find, they indicated that it appears to have more like 150-155 horsepower based on the dyno testing. Honda may have specifically underrated it for marketing purposes so as to help sales of the Si coupe and the Si sedan coming out this fall. To some extent, it may have helped the hybrid sales so that people didn't think they were giving up as much power by choosing the hybrid instead of the standard engine. The new R18 engine really does sound quite amazing, I just wish they offered a 6th gear that was even taller so as to really maximize the FE!

The r18 is said to dyno right with the last gen. Si. (EP3)

Yeah, which the last Si was rated at 160hp.. I think Honda really did a slam-dunk with the R18 and if they wanted to dig even deeper for a little better FE on the manual transmission version they can always throw in a tall 6th gear. Then you still have all the gearing you need to accellerate very powerfully off the line and up through the gears then cruise at very low RPM for maximum fuel economy in 6th. I just wish they would have given us a 6th right from the start!