Saving money through hypermiling

[varg]

I think you have me read wrong omgwtfbyobbq, I absolutley hate automatics, I was born and raised racing everything from go-karts to sprint cars and drag cars and have the need for control. I long for the control my old truck gave me over it's performance being RWD and MT. I also worked as a mechanic for a while, I'm totally capable of fixing just about anything on the car, just won't have time in school.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Ah, welp, there are prolly plenty of M/Ts available too. I still don't understand something though, how can you not have time to fix something, but have time time to let a dealership fix something? Heck, for the price of that Honda, ~$10-12k, you could have a couple econoboxen, and a ton of cash.

[varg]

Well, from my experience with cars, my perfectly maintained 03 is alot less likely to break down in the next few years than a car 10 years old with unknown maintenence, miles and age working against it. Plus, I like my Civic for the most part, it's a pretty nice car. It's not missing any parts and has no interior or exterior damage, the paint is in excellent shape, the headlights aren't crazed at all, the engine has never been beat on, it has no poorly done "mods" performed and reversed, etc. Great FE is a must, but if I can do it in a nice car, that would be a huge plus.

[Raccoonjoe]

Yea, I'll grant you the joys of having a new car. Personally, I could never afford the payments, so I just try and keep the repairs down to under $350-400 per month (and I'm still ahead, if you factor in insurance and all). I do all my own work, so it usually takes quite a bit to rack up that kind of monthly expense.

However, I completely agree with you on knowing the car's history. I'm finding new problems with the Jeep everyday, things that are caused by a lack of preventive maintenance (not greasing suspension/seals, for instance) To each his own, I guess!

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Well, it seems you want your nice car more than saving money. You'll probably end up saving the same amount (~$1500/year) by photocopying your books compared to driving efficiently and averaging ~50mpg instead of ~35mpg. The extra, probably near $10k, difference, just isn't worth it for someone interested in saving money imo. An older car will break down more often, but not that ($6-10k) much more often. You could buy two older cars that get better mileage than you Civic and still have ~$6-10k left in pocket. If you were a mechanic you'll know what to look out for such as rust, low compression, gasket problems, oil leaks, etc... and already have the tools to fix stuff. Wanting a nice car is fine, but it seems like you want it more than you want to save money, which is fine too, but you're still going to end up paying ~$3500-5000 per year for gas. I'm not saying this to insult you, but imo what you should have done before hand was planned ahead and nabbed a diesel engine from one of the importers, dropped it in a car, and found yourself a source of WVO.

[varg]

I'm not into selling it and buying an older vehicle. I simply don't need the headache. Plus I want a vehicle that I know is taken care of and will not need repairs as often, regardless of whether it's cheaper to repair an older car. I am fine on money right now, I just want to save more. I do not need an old car that's going to break down on me because the previous owner is not taking care of it. I am going to need a vehicle all the time and I do not want a car that is going to break down and put me through the trouble of finding, buying, installing and removing, parts. I chose to keep my well-maintained, newer car instead of getting an old one that I don't know anything about a long time ago.

Instead of insisting that I get rid of my car, which I like and is practical for me, I would appreciate it if you would do what I asked earlier and that is help me get better mileage with what I have. I am not considering getting a different car at the moment, end of story.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

I'm not insisting you get rid of your car. I'm simply stating that it's the best way to save money imo. You won't save more than $1500/year even if you can get your car up to 50mpg so that's just about the limit given what you seem willing to do. That should be possible simply by limiting your city travel and going a steady 55mph, or lower when traffic is far behind you, on your highway commute. Since the car is new and under warranty, that makes it slightly harder to work on since suitable M/T gearing may be expensive and will void your warranty. You can use nothing but engine on P&G, where you accelerate at ~3/4 throttle up to some speed, say 70mph, and coast in N down to 55mph, wash rinse and repeat, if traffic allows you to, in order to see maybe ~70mpg(?), but that puts way more wear on the clutch packs.

[Bill in Houston]

Knock it off, or I'm going to pull this car over and spank you both.

[JanGeo]

Pick up a motorcycle for the trips - Fla has some great weather and if the math works out you could save a lot of gas money that way and save the car some mileage.

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by Blue03Civic

I'd like it if some more experienced members could share with me some possible (very cheap) modifications and tips to bring my FE up. A scangauge is out of the question since that cost $170, or appx. 5 tanks of gas and it will take forever for it to pay for itself as far as saving gas goes (if it ever does). Remember; my budget is essentially zero.

Thanks in advance!

I started in may of this year, my "normal" mileage was 25mpg, or LESS! AFter adding some air to the tires 39 vs ~35 or so, and changing my driving my last 3 full tanks have been right about 38mpg, thats real world driving to/from work in a large city from the burbs. Just throwing together some quick rough numbers, I am saving about $60 per month. Thats 18,000 miles per year, and 25 as my old average, and 38 as my new average. Gas costs figured at 2.90 per gallon. For me, thats incentive enough to keep it up. thats a cell phone bill per month!