57 mpg? That's so 20 years ago

[UfoTofU]

A quick little read.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/17/auto...c_hf/index.htm

[civic94]

great article. i have owned two 1990 civic's one being a HF and one being a hatch dx. now i drive a 94 dx coupe. mpg's were off the roof with those cars, but someone hit me in the quarter panel last week and it scared the crap outta me, thats the moment when i just thought how thin life is, and a heavier, safer car would be alot better, even if its not as fuel efficient. but i guessed i snapped out of it and kept my car

[Mayhim]

I am really enjoying my 89 CRX DX. The worst I've ever gotten from it is 31mpg. Normally I get about 41mpg. The best I've ever gotten is 52mpg, but I could never drive like that daily.

I do feel pretty vulnerable in it, though. But I'm used to driving an F250SD and a 98 Z28. Both much sturdier.

I suppose it's the price you pay to not pay the price (of gas).

[VetteOwner]

yea at red lights suv tops of the tires are even with the bottom of my chevettes window. a semi tire goes almost midway up the side window. its why i installed an extremely loud airhorn on that car and really bright headlights.

[jadziasman]

I CAN'T DRIVE 55 !!!!!

That Van Halen song says it all - literally. I have seen daredevils in Geo Metro's and other teeny tiny cars driving 15 to 20 mph slower than the prevailing traffic the past couple of months and I wonder how long it will be before someone in an SUV or truck shortens the back of their car to Smart ForTwo length. Hey, it can and probably will happen.

The only vehicles that should routinely be driving 55 are the big rigs. They are easy to see and they benefit the most from the slower speed.

I would love it if the 55 mph national speed limit was brought back and strictly enforced. Then I would feel safe driving that speed. And I would get the 55 mpg that my VX is capable of. Wouldn't it be nice?

Until then, I'm going to continue keeping up with traffic to keep my *** safe (and my donkey, too).

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by jadziasman

I CAN'T DRIVE 55 !!!!!

That Van Halen song says it all - literally. I have seen daredevils in Geo Metro's and other teeny tiny cars driving 15 to 20 mph slower than the prevailing traffic the past couple of months and I wonder how long it will be before someone in an SUV or truck shortens the back of their car to Smart ForTwo length. Hey, it can and probably will happen.

The only vehicles that should routinely be driving 55 are the big rigs. They are easy to see and they benefit the most from the slower speed.

I would love it if the 55 mph national speed limit was brought back and strictly enforced. Then I would feel safe driving that speed. And I would get the 55 mpg that my VX is capable of. Wouldn't it be nice?

Until then, I'm going to continue keeping up with traffic to keep my *** safe (and my donkey, too).

it is back and has always been here, ever wonder why all 2 lane country roads are 55? used to be like 70 or 75... if you think about it, interstates do save gas. i mean can you travel thru any state or the entire length of the us without hitting a stop sign or red light without going on the interstate? id say its impossible

[GasSavers_Ryland]

I've been in 2 crashes with mid 80's civics, a friends 1985 civic sedan where we hit ice and hit the rear of a pickup truck at about 15-20mph, spent 3 days pounding dents out of the front of the civic, replaced the headlight and had to pay the pickup owner $1,000 to fix his truck, the civic is still on the road, seeing the design of the crumple zones in the civic made me want to get one of my very own, a 1984 civic dx hatch back with a 42.2mpg average, then someone in a pickup truck rearended me while stoped in trafic they were going about 40mph, pushed forword about 4-6 feet with my brakes locked, and made the car much much shorter, it was then that I realized that I wanted a smaller ligher car, so I got my 1985 crx hf, and now my civic vx, and I DO feel safe.

back in the late 1990's someone wrote an artical about vehicle safty, and they used the honda civic as an example of an extreamly safe vehicle, and a Ford explorer as the example of an unsafe vehicle, the artical sited statistics of total number of people killed in acidents that invalved the differnt vehicles, not just drivers and passengers, but ocupents of other vehicles, an pedestrains, needless to say the civic was responsible for nearly 1/5 of the number of deaths then that of the explorer.

[Mighty Mira]

Originally Posted by jadziasman

The only vehicles that should routinely be driving 55 are the big rigs. They are easy to see and they benefit the most from the slower speed.

Only if you are talking about volume of fuel per trip, and not percentage of fuel used for each.

Have you done the comparison of drag and rolling resistance for a car and semi at those speeds? Maybe four times the drag, but with that weight the rolling resistance has to be way up there. The tractor alone would be more than an SUV, and loads are over 100 tonnes.

[McPatrick]

I feel safe driving any speed in our CRX HF really.

It is undeniable that cars from those days aren't as safe as new cars, but I guess it's all a matter of how safe you want to be, just like what all you want to insure yourself for and how big the chance is that something actually happens.

I feel that if I drive really pro-active I am probably safer that way than a lot of other people doing who-knows-what while they are driving. I check my rear view mirror a lot and look far ahead to estimate what will happen. This is also good for the gas mileage

[UfoTofU]

I don't know how it is where all of you are from but here in Maine the winter months (sort of) necessitate large vehicles.

Many people use their own vehicles for plowing, hauling and general heavy duty work.

I am a cautious driver. I figure that since I drive for a living (postal delivery) the more cautious the better. I am on the road a lot of hours and the more time I spend out there the more likely I am going to encounter a collision of some sort.

Let's just put it this way. My CRX is probably the last car that I would want to be in an accident with and not only because it would then be ruined.