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Hi everyone.

I've been visiting these forums for a few days now and figured I might as well just sign up.

I bought a 2005 Honda Civic LX Coupe with manual transmission last week as my previous car (73 VW Beetle) was giving me a lot of headaches.

I've been using a lot of the techniques described on the forums here including (I forget the acronym now) shutting the engine off while coasting to a stop or to a lower speed.

Miami driving is a real hassle and will make some of these techniques difficult to use, but I've been trying. Miami drivers are notoriously nasty and we have some very bad rush hour traffic (that I have to sit through on my way to class) I heard from a friend that Miami is now at the top of the list of the worst cities to drive in (Used to be Boston, I think).

Anyway, I am working on scrapping some money together to buy a ScanGauge as I understand that it will make all the difference, but it will be some time before I can fit that into the budget. I'll have to make due without it for now.

I am planning on filling my tank tomorrow and I am a little unclear as to how to do this correctly. I searched around a bit, but I can't find a straight answer. What procedure do you all go through for this?

Go to the same pump and stop at the first click. That will give you a similal fill point. I drive in Miami, and I know that some of these techs may not work here. The key for Miami is picking the roads with less stopping. Good luck with the Honda, and the scan gauge.

Hi everyone.

I've been visiting these forums for a few days now and figured I might as well just sign up.

I bought a 2005 Honda Civic LX Coupe with manual transmission last week as my previous car (73 VW Beetle) was giving me a lot of headaches.

I've been using a lot of the techniques described on the forums here including (I forget the acronym now) shutting the engine off while coasting to a stop or to a lower speed.

Miami driving is a real hassle and will make some of these techniques difficult to use, but I've been trying. Miami drivers are notoriously nasty and we have some very bad rush hour traffic (that I have to sit through on my way to class) I heard from a friend that Miami is now at the top of the list of the worst cities to drive in (Used to be Boston, I think).

Anyway, I am working on scrapping some money together to buy a ScanGauge as I understand that it will make all the difference, but it will be some time before I can fit that into the budget. I'll have to make due without it for now.

I am planning on filling my tank tomorrow and I am a little unclear as to how to do this correctly. I searched around a bit, but I can't find a straight answer. What procedure do you all go through for this?

Hi and welcome aboard!

You chose a great car for pinching the $ at the pump, I really like mine. I had the same questions about fillups when I joined and used to top off. Now I go to the first click then one more, and use the same pump if at all possible. My mileage has been consistant except for the last tank which I knew would be worse because of the way I drove with that tank (we were late for a wedding out of town, got lost.......the sun was in my eyes......waah waah:eyebrow:). Anyways, I've had my civic since new and before this site averaged probably 37mpg overall, since this site and sg I'm now at 48. The traffic may be bad in Miami, but you wont have the winter penalty to deal with. Enjoy the car and keep us posted, good luck.

JimT

Welcome to CleanMPG!! You've made an excellent choice of vehicle and I'm sure you will be very happy with your mileage. :)

The SG is certainly helpful but you can do well without one as well while you are trying to get the funds together. Keep in mind that the improvements in fuel economy you accomplish using the feedback of the SG will pay for the unit. I was able to save enough to pay for it in something less than 3 months last summer -- that time would be even shorter now with the higher price of fuel.

Try to avoid idling and do whatever you can to preserve momentum and avoid complete stops (where legal!!). Pick routes with lights rather than stop signs so that you at least have a chance to time your approach for greens. Keep your top speed down to 55mph if you can manage it safely -- I generally don't go any faster than 50mph unless it is downhill. Accelerate smoothly at a reasonable rate -- too fast wastes fuel but so does too slow (granny accelerations of 2-3mph every 10s is too slow!). Shift around 2000 RPM -- try not to let it get any higher than that unless you need it for highway speeds in top gear.

Good luck and keep us posted! The more info you can provide us with about your typical travel conditions the more specific we can be with advice.