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I bought my '07 Accord new last August. I sold my 15MPG, '96 Toyota T100 because I was not using it as a truck anymore and just commuting with it. I was after higher gas mileage, comfort and family hauling ability of the Accord. I expected to get more than the 25ish MPG that I have averaged over the past 6 months since I am a fairly conservative driver.

So I started poking around online for some ideas to increase MPG's. I ran across some comments about the Scangauge II on another forum and decided to give it a try. I received it about two weeks ago and it has blown my socks off. It has truly shown me the error of my ways in fuel efficient driving.

Here are the stats for my Accord.

2007 Honda Accord SE 4 cyl. 5AT
Current mileage: 6,100
Oil changed at 5,200 (5W-20 Mobil1)

25.7MPG (Lifetime average MPG )
70% HWY / 30% CITY driving - mostly commuting


1st tank with scangauge installed.
31.5MPG
70% HWY / 30% CITY driving - again, mostly commuting


This is without changing anything but driving style, mostly on the city portions of my drive. Same gas, same type of driving(commuting) and similar outside temperatures.

Just by making small changes in throttle usage and coasting a little more, I improved my gas mileage by 23%. I know a 1 tank sample does indicate a trend, but I am truly impressed with this gadget. My hope is that as it warms up, the gas formulation changes back to the summer blend and I get better at the FE driving, my MPG's will go up more. I would recommend one to anyone.

Welcome, JSmithy!!! You've taken an excellent first step! There is a lot more where you found that improvement if you are willing to put a bit of effort into it.

Stick around and read the articles on the site -- then ask lots of questions. We do love questions!

It is good to have another excited member. :)

Jsmithy,

Isn't SG awesome?

Imagine the impact of Congress requiring auto manufacturers to do nothing more than display the already existing MPG statistics for the driver. Imagine the subconscious impact on the driver, as he/she slowly modifies his/her driving style to "ease the visible pain" being displayed. We are talking about a national 10-15% increase in FE across the board as newer models replace older ones.

It is truly a fantastic product. I am very happy with it. It would be nice if this was included as standard equipment on vehicles. I think it would give some people pause and help them see the bigger picture about their own energy usage and easily avoidable waste.

MPG displays are beginning to show up in some cars as standard equipment. I know the '09 Corolla includes it.

The only thing I have come up with so far is more of a concern than a question. It is a little worrisome to shift the automatic transmission in and out of neutral while the car is moving. I'm not sure what the long term effects might be. I haven't researched it enough at this point though.

JSmithy, as long as you rev match on re-engagement you shouldn't have anything to worry about with the shifting frequency. :)

Welcome jsmithy! You have made an impressive improvement and there is a lot more where that came from. As Sean mentioned, properly reengaging shouldn't cause any abnormal wear on the transmission. Excel(Wayne) has a boatload of miles on his Accord and it seems to be holding up fine.

I guess I'm a little confused on what the right engine rpm would be when putting it back into gear while moving. I'm not clear if the transmission would reengage at a lower gear than it would be in normally at a given speed or if it would pick a higher, more appropriate gear relative to speed the car is moving.

So far I have only put it in neutral when I know I will be stopping or nearly stopping at the end of a long coast, before I put it back into gear to accelerate.

I don't know. I could be worrying about nothing.

Ah -- so you are just using it for coast down? I was referring to when you are coasting in neutral at speed (say down a hill or some such) and want to re-engage. The transmission will engage with a gear appropriate for engine rpm and speedometer reading when you are at speed. To learn what RPM to use, watch your tachometer while driving at different speeds. I normally will re-engage at 10mph markers so I've memorized what RPM my car runs at those markers. At 50mph (for example) my car runs at just under 2K RPM. I use that for rev matching when I re-engage at that speed.

Does that help?

That makes sense. I did notice if I take it out of gear when coasting on the highway I don't get the fuel cutoff. I do get fuel cutoff when coasting in gear though at the price of not gaining speed or decelerating at a faster rate.

It has been fun though. I have to remind myself to quit looking at it while driving so much.

Welcome jsmithy! For me, the forum is lecture and the sgii is lab. With practice, you will be amazed by the results the sgii will give you.

There is a lot of great information here. I try to read a little every day. This Scangauge has become somewhat of an obsessive behavior for me.

BTW, thanks for all of the welcomes.