that year of civic HX (the model of civic that replaced the VX) is only rated by the EPA to get 30-39mpg with the 5 speed, (6-7mpg better then non-HX model) earlier models got better mileage, but that is also an almost new car, and I suspect that if you did alot of highway driving you could do a tranny swap with an older model to get better gearing, the engine should be the 1.6L vtec-e, a 1.6L version of the 1.5L vtec-e that the VX has.
If you found a 1989 civic hatch back with a blowen engine, and put stock engine in it you should get 40mpg (EPA numbers of "Drivers Like You" are in a 38-42mpg range) put a HF tranny in it, or a full HF engine and tranny swap, and your numbers should improve, and the low price of the car should offset the drop in mpg compared to a vx or hf once you get over 40mpg, unless you drive many 10,000's miles per year, and you would be building and thus increasing the number of vehicles that get better then average gas mileage.
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