1992 Honda Civic VX--57.7 mpg!

[YeahPete]

I shift at 1500rpm and never go above 2000 rpms. I go threw entire gearbox before 40mph. My driving technique is good but i'm stuck in 40's MPG on highway.

Sometimes its actually better to sometimes skip a gear when accelerating. Accelerate quickly to your desired speed then pop into neutral, coast and repeat. On the highway maybe slow down to 65mph, then try slow to to 55 mph. Make sure engine does not go into Vtec cam.

Aerodynamics mods work best on highways.

[imawakenow]

Congrats! I just bought a VX and am also dreaming of hitting numbers in this range.

Originally Posted by honda4me

Filled up with 87 octane Shell.

Is there an advantage to using 87 octane vs. a higher number?

[trollbait]

Is there an advantage to using 87 octane vs. a higher number?

Not if your engine doesn't have the higher compression to take advantage of the higher octane. If Honda says to use 87 in the manual, 93 isn't going to return better fuel economy.

Now, some gasoline brands may put better detergents and such into their premium. Which may clean out a dirty fuel system and improve economy, but it isn't the octane that is the cause of the gain.

[notorious_eg]

The way I've gotten my best mpg average - two factors:

1) to barely touch the throttle - like you're just breathing on it.

2) it is important to keep your cruising speed around 60 or 65 mph on the freeway

I only did this for one tank as an experiment, as old ladies were passing me & flipping me off! Around here it is very dangerous to drive like this in such a small car.

[saturnfan]

Speaking of fuel, has anybody checked the mpg difference between gas with 5-10% ethanol and gas without ethanol? Everbody that Ive talked to that has a flex-fuel vehicle and uses E-85 gets worse milage whan using E-85. I assume that a fuel with 5-10% ethanol would get worse mileage than a fuel without ethanol.

[theholycow]

Mathematically, E10 contains a few percent lower energy content than E0 (if you can find any E0). E85 contains 28% less energy. Of course, there can be more to it than that...engine ignition timing, combustion effects, etc.

From Gasoline gallon equivalent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1.5 gallons of ethanol has the same energy content as 1.0 gallon of gasoline.

The energy content of 1.0 US gallon of ethanol is 76,100 BTU, compared to 114,100 BTU for gasoline. (see chart above)

A flex-fuel vehicle may experience as much as 25% lower MPG when using E85 (85% ethanol) products. This is in part because the engine's compression ratio is fixed mechanically and electronic sensors can only modify the timing of the spark and/or instruct the fuel injection system to provide more of the reduced energy-content fuel.

There are plenty of people who will swear that E10 makes their fuel economy and power drop by 20%, destroys their car, makes Led Zeppelin sound bad, and eats babies, but the effect is much less significant...not absent, but not huge.

[saturnfan]

Holy cow!, holy cow, What are you, like a rocket scientist? Anyway, thanks for the info. I can still get E0 here in Cheyenne. Its $.05-$.10 more expensive, but i think it would be worth it.