Honda Accord

[repete86]

Hey, I'm new. I'm driving a 13 year old Accord with an automatic and 115k miles. I'm averaging about 30 mpg in the city, and 38 on the highway up from the 24/30 epa rating that I was getting prior to acetone and better driving habits, but want to get more out of it. My goal is to get it near 60 mpg without spending alot of money on it as an example of how anyone can afford a green machine with a little bit of work.

[repete86]

Yep, seems that way. I'm just worried about the cost of that. I plan on doing that after I have exhausted the free and nearly free modifications. I don't have the technical know-how to convert it to a 5-speed on my own.

[Matt Timion]

I hear that GasSavers.Org stickers improve your fuel economy

Seriously though, welcome aboard. What size is your engine? How much does your car weigh? You could really benefit from some aerodynamic modifications.

[repete86]

Originally Posted by Matt Timion

I hear that GasSavers.Org stickers improve your fuel economy

Seriously though, welcome aboard. What size is your engine? How much does your car weigh? You could really benefit from some aerodynamic modifications.

It has a 2.2L four banger and weighs 2700 lbs. I definitely need to do something about the weight, and am going to be adding a grille block in the next few weeks. I'm probably killing my FE because the engine is only 125 hp.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by repete86

It has a 2.2L four banger and weighs 2700 lbs. I definitely need to do something about the weight, and am going to be adding a grille block in the next few weeks. I'm probably killing my FE because the engine is only 125 hp.

I'm not sure I follow you. 125 HP is overkill for fuel economy. All of the high gas mileage vehicles have 55-60 HP engines.

If you could somehow shave 300 lbs off of your car it would definately help, but that much weight reduction might be difficult.

I think aero mods and weight reduction are the way to go on that car. Of course you could always swap in a smaller engine (1.6L, etc.), but that would require a bit more work than you might be willing to put into it.

[Silveredwings]

...alternatively, you could swap the whole car for one with a manual transmission and/or smaller engine. You of course always have this option, but it might be worth considering before you put a lot of sweat equity into the current one. Someone may be looking for just the car you have. If you got a fair price for that one, you could put those funds towards one either for less money or in newer condition. Craigslist and local want ads can be of great service in this area. Just a thought.

Welcome, and you're in the right place whichever you decide to do.

[SVOboy]

I vote for just swap the car, parts for f series are annoying to come by, at least in my mind, and you might as well go for a stick accord or mehbe even a civic hatch and save some money and effort.

[repete86]

I can't just sell it unfortunately. It belonged to a friend of the family who died and left the car to me. It's sort of a sentimental thing. Plus, due to a destroyed interior and broken door handles, it probably won't sell for much on the used market. The thing runs great, so I'm also afraid that if I step down to a different car, it may prove to be more costly due to repairs. I also have to drive alot for my work (I work in film), so I kind of need a car that I trust. In the few months that I've had it, I've driven to and from New York twice, to and from South Carolina, and all around the state of Florida. There aren't many cars with over 100,000 miles that I would trust for long distance driving.

As long as the interior is disintegrated though, I think I may strip it to shave some weight off of it. I think that this thing does have the potential to get pretty great gas mileage with some work though. Eventually if I can afford to drop a five speed into it, I probably will.

And Matt, I was thinking that the engine size might hurt the mileage because it's a big engine for such small output, and the car weighs significantly more than the high gas mileage cars on here like the Metro or N600 meaning that I need to step on the gas pedal a little more to get up to speed. My logic is probably wrong on this though. The higher powered Accords from the same year also used 2.2L engines, so I'm thinking that this one is a less efficient version of the same motor. I don't know much about cars, though hopefully after tinkering with this one, I will.

[repete86]

I don't think so. I've already hit 40 on it once on the highway. I'm sure that with some engine mods and some aerodynamic alterations, I can get pretty decent mileage. Picking up a SuperMID will probably help tremendously as well.

[repete86]

I certainly hope that I can achieve a minimum of 50. I'm going to try everything that looks reasonable that doesn't involve major engine modifications. It runs too good for me to try doing anything that could possibly harm it.