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I just returned from a month-long vacation trip touring the USA with my wife, going from So Cal to PA, to MI and then through SD (Mt. Rushmore) and WY (Yellowstone) then back to CA.

I put 7,145 miles on my '06 LX manual-trans sedan in 27 days, the car had just over 5K miles on it when I started out. The car had a trunk full of luggage, I'd say close to 600 pounds of weight was in the car including passengers.

Most of the time on the interstates I was traveling around 68 MPH (with the cruise control on naturally) even when the speed limits allowed 75 MPH. There were times I traveled 70 to 75, but usually 65 to 68. Also did my share of 20 MPH 2nd-gear driving while sightseeing on slow and winding roads through the forest, plus some stop-and-go in smaller towns along the country highways. About 90% of the trip was on the wide-open interstate highways between 60 and 70 MPH.

Fuel mileage average for the trip using 87 octane was 40.955 MPG. :woot:

I removed my 18" O.Z. aftermarket wheels and used the stock 16" wheels and 205/55-16 tires for my trip, pumped up to the 44 PSI sidewall max. The ride quality was plenty comfortable at that pressure, I keep my 225/40-18s pumped up to 51 PSI (again the sidewall max). Gotta keep the pressure up there for excellent fuel mileage.

No special tricks, no coasting down hills, just driving normally. I even screamed it up a few long upgrades at 6000 RPMs in 3rd to pass trucks when I needed to. The R18 pulls down the great numbers no sweat. The worst tank so far has been 30 MPG, I usually average about 31 to 33 in lightly congested city commuting. This was my first nearly pure-highway trip with the engine close to being fully broken-in, city mileage should go up a bit now that it's been broken in some more.

I got great mileage and I didn't have to go 55 the whole time to get over 40 MPG. Glad my purchase of the Civic gave me everything I was expecting.:cool:

That sounds like a great trip all over the country on 175 gallons! :)

Pictures?

yeah the r18 is one heck of an efficent engine. congrats!

I'm almost jealous but where were you in PA? A few months ago when I sold my last car I got to drive it from Pittsburgh to San Francisco which was a phenomenal trip of 2,810 miles in 3.5 days or about 800 miles/day. We would have made it in 3 days of driving but we got a flat tire in Sacramento - just 90 miles from our destination. 180,000 miles on the car and this was like the 3rd flat tire in the last 140,000 miles - Murphy's Law. We didn't sightsee because we had seen the country along I-80 before and just needed to get the car there before the weekend was over as I only had it registered/insured to the end of the weekend. We cheated and flew back but it was still a great drive.

Oh, and this was in a not-so-great FE car so the 117 gallons over 2,810 miles is 23.8 mpg (EPA Ratings are 18/23 for the 3000GT VR-4). If only I had driven another 190 miles then I could have been a Hypermiler on *that* car trip alone. =) Great job though and great results.

Hi B-Man:

___Not bad for a non-hybrid Civic! Now imagine what you would have received if you would have dropped her down to 62 mph or less ;)

___Show us some pics of what you saw as a 27 day driving vacation around the US is one I can only dream of. Marian (my better half) has had it after about 250 or so miles in the car :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Thanks x-cel but that WAS around 65 mph and definitely not 80 mph but it was the hot time of summer for me (Memorial Day week) and some runs through Denver which are a mile up and not helpful on combustion. I have photos of my trip if anyone is interested. Not too much until past Colorado as I have been through the Midwest enough times so I didn't start shooting pics until Utah and beyond. I'd be interested to see photos from b-man though as well.

We started out heading west, our first overnight stay was in Utah. Here are a few shots taken at a scenic rest stop in the southwestern part of the state.

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Mrs. b-man.
We celebrated our 25th anniversery earlier this year.:)

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Audell Audubon in Ohio, a nature preserve we visited briefly on our way to PA.

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Longwood Gardens in PA, a massive estate bought by Pierre Dupont back in the early 1900s to preserve a stand of trees in the beginning. He built a giant conservatory (my daughter is standing outside, she lives in Lansdale PA) to nurture every kind of plant imagineable. Mr. Dupont was very fond of fountains and water shows.

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These lily pads are 4 to 5 feet in diameter, with plenty of spikes around the perimeter.

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Fountains that put on a water show, on the hour.

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A couple of shots at Valley Forge, PA.

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After leaving PA were went off to Michigan to visit my parents. A few shots of my Dad and Mrs. b-man hiking through a local city park.

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We said goodbye to MI and headed to South Dakota, visiting the Black Hills. One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Mount Rushmore was on the list of things to see, but the natural beauty of the area humbled the great monument in my eyes.

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George Washington in profile.

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Inside the famous Jewel Cave, Black Hills.

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Next we headed to Yellowstone. That's me acting like your typical tourist next to the sign at the west park entrance in Montana, most of the park is in Wyoming. It rained our first day there, so we did a bit of shopping in the town of West Yellowstone where we were staying.:rolleyes:

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A herd of buffalo on a steaming plain. Yellowstone is not lacking in geothermal activity by a longshot.

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Old Faithful (but of course!) going off against a cloudy sky, right on time as usual.

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It snowed on our third and last day there, fresh fallen powder that was a joy to run around in. We turned back before the driving got too dangerous or difficult in the northern part of the park, however the Civic drove quite nicely.

Elk resting in the early morning.

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Two buffalo having a morning chat.

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Heading south on our way out of Yellowstone we traveled through Grand Tetons National Park, also in Wyoming.

Wow.:eek:

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Our faithful chariot.

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What can I say.......:)

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We headed south into Utah from Wyoming, breathtaking fall scenery the entire way down Route 89. I never knew Utah was so gorgeous.

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The Great Salt Lake seemed to go on forever. The next thing we knew we were driving right next to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Awesome.

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If you can get the chance, see the USA. On my route I saw plenty of interesting landscape, as well as hundreds upon hundreds of miles of cornfields and cattle ranches. We averaged between 350 and 400 miles per day for the most part. Enough to make some decent distance daily but not so much that I would get too fatigued, plus I really didn't want to do any driving after dark.

As much as I loved my trip I'm glad to be home in California, I've lived here my entire life. As much as I liked some of the places I visited, I know I can't live anywhere else. ;)

Hi B-Man:

___Great pics! The Utah scenery was beautiful as was the stair waterfall.

___Thank you for sharing.

___Wayne

Yes, some great photos there. You also have some great layout of the photo with the subject posing artistically instead of just standing straight forward at the camera. I haven't been to the Longwood Gardens in PA but have hit Valley Forge and Gettysburg.

On my drive across the states in summer (from Pittsburgh to San Francisco) it was all I-80 so I too drove through the mountains into Salt Lake City (site of the 2002 Winter Olympics) and past the Salt Flats. I was stunned at the scenery descending down and into Salt Lake City -- I had no idea the elevation changes were that dramatic or the views were that spectacular. We had lunch at the Perkins near the airport where you have views out the booth window of these magnificent mountain ranges (around here the only view is some landscaping or parking lots). It was a nice change.

We forgot to look for a gas station until we were at the airport exit (we didn't see ANY at the airport exit or past it either for some reason). We just thought we would fill up at the next exit heading West out of town. Well ... we knew the next big town was at the edge of the state so we just thought we would continue driving since we "just" took a break. Unfortunately, we drove about 30 miles before looking at the map to see that it was 110 miles from our lunch spot to the NEXT town and can you guess when the low fuel light appeared on the car's dash? Somewhere about exactly halfway between Salt Lake City and Nevada. Decision time. Might as well just keep heading West since we were already halfway. We did make it though it was closer than I would have preferred. We filled up at the last gas station in Utah at the turn for the Bonneville Speedway. There is the fuel gauge with the solid line for "Empty" then a small space then the letter "E." Well, you *know* you are running low when the needle is BELOW the letter "E." Egads.

I was also pleased to see the views of snow fences, some Antelope I think along the road, mountains approaching Sparks, NV and stopping for fuel and lunch again in Truckee, CA at a great little stop called Wagon Train and then on to San Fran after that. Great trip and I have some similar photos as well so I'm glad to see we took similar shots. =)

Hi B-Man:

___Whoooa, you added quite a few pics after my reply! I love the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. That mountain lake with the clouds below the peaks and your Civic in front should be in a commercial! Grand Tetons … Love them too. Hiked into and above the tree line in Bridger NF in Wyoming about 15 years ago and loved it! Great Salt Lake looks beautiful as well. What a hot vacation!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Great pic's.

I would say the new Civic is a good vaction car. I know ours has been.