2001 Civic averaging 42 mpg without hypermiling

[civiccowboy]

I am new to this site and I am looking forward to trying some of the hypermiling techniques! I am driving a 2001 Civic 2DR EX 5SP and have been AVERAGING 42mpg and excess of 475 miles on a tank of gas! AND THIS CAR HAS 170,000+ MILES ON IT!!! I travel 110 miles round-trip to work everyday, most of which is highway(65mph). I am trying to achieve an average of 50mpg which is proving difficult because of the highway speeds I travel. I generally drive within 1 mph of the speed limit(65) on the highway to avoid getting run over. If they lowered the speed limit to 55 I am sure 50 mpg would be easier to achieve. I am inspired by the mileage that other people are getting on this site with similar vehicles.

[MT bucket]

Howdy pardner, welcome to the clean mpg forums!
You have a good start! That is about what I was getting with my mitsubishi when I found this site a couple of months ago, now I am edging closer to 50 with no plans to stop there HM works, mine is even older, 1991.
I hear ya about going under the speed limit, it made me a little nervous too, but as long as you are easy to see, they are not going to run you over. No matter how much of a rush they are in they dont want to be in a wreck.
Just stick to the far right side of the right lane and watch your mirrors, if someone looks like he is coming in way to quickly, you can always pull off onto the shoulder and let em by.

[zef95]

Originally Posted by MT bucket

Just stick to the far right side of the right lane and watch your mirrors, if someone looks like he is coming in way to quickly, you can always pull off onto the shoulder and let em by.

Be careful either way. I've had a guy pass my on the shoulder, "racing" another car. I had no intentions of yielding onto the shoulder though.

[PaleMelanesian]

With the short gear ratios on those EX's, slowing down or using P&G will help you a bunch. The engine is burning lots of fuel just to keep itself turning so fast.

[07mpshei]

Sounds like you're on your way to 50+ mpg, you'll be there in no time if you follow the techniques found here. I know that "going with the flow" to avoid being run over is tempting, but you'll be amazed at how willing people are to go around you. Be sure to ride that right side of the right-most lane (ridge riding) so that you stand out visually and cars coming up quickly can pass you sooner.

Other than that, keep up the good work, if you haven't already, be sure to read the "Beating the EPA..." article.

Good luck

[civiccowboy]

I now have the ScanGaugeII and have been driving with some of the HM techniques and am getting 44.2mpg. It would be great if Honda put a 6th gear in these cars. I was putting the car in nuetral and coasting until i got the scangauge and realized that it uses more gas than letting off the acc pedal and coasting. The fuel injectors shut off when coasting in gear, but are on when coasting in nuetral to keep the engine running. Have to see if i can improve my mpg even more now that I know this. Load driving seems to help alot also! 50mpg may be reachable!

[bomber991]

No no you don't want to leave the car in gear and let off of the gas because you won't coast as far as you would with it in neutral.

[detectorguy]

what is Load driving.

[xcel]

Hi Detectorguy:

It is maintaining the engine at an efficient LOD vs. a particular speed. Usually 72 to 85% with a Scangauge-II depending on the vehicle. Some higher and more at altitude.

You can mimic the technique somewhat by holding the accelerator pedal steady (no movement) when you climb an overpass. You will find your speed droops a little and on the back side, allow gravity to accelerate you back to the same speed you were at. This is all done without ever moving the accelerator pedal.

I hope that helps.

Wayne

[joesgot4]

detectorguy, you need to hook up with palemelanesian! hes the king of honda civics with manual tranny! email him and im sure after a week or so you'll be over 50mpgs easily!