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introducing... MPGmonger
greetings fellow mpg hounds! this is my first post as i just found this board a frew days ago. saving gas was
just something i've always done, and i was sure there were others as obsessive as i out there. I've always had
small economy cars and have loathed big gas guzzling suv's. The recent, now dying thankfully, suv craze infuriated
me, especially the hummer. Now that economy cars are making a comeback (somewhat) more people are thinking
economy, especially in this bad economy. i always say that the big fuel crisis of the seventies should have kept
going and we should have learned a lesso from it, but instead, after the "crisis" was over, cars reverted back to
pre seveties gas mileage. WHY? why did that happen? for those of you old enought to remember, that crisis is
what spawned "economy cars", mainly from japanese and european makers then of course american makers (yech!)
followed suit. then along came the suv craze. here's a grand - idea lets make cars that get even worse gas
mileage! lets see how much MORE we can wreck our planet! yeah great! If only every one were gas savers like
us, we could solve a lot of probelms. Cause let's face - cars aren't helping our planet, no matter how much gas
we save, it's a fact. and yet big oil doesn't care because they have the power to change it but don't. they want
to sell you more oil regardless of the consequences. yep big oil loved the suv craze.
So, sorry for my politically tinged rant, i just want people to know where i stand with this whole thing becuase
being efficient in my use of energy is important to me. not just in driving but in everyday living. saving and
efficiently using gas saves money, but there's also the ecological side of it and that's the best reason to save
gas IMO. of course every one wants to save money and that's just one benefit from it among others.
I stumbled upon this site in my search for a new(er) car. i was driving a 91 CRX that got 40 mpg highway and
it was great, but alas, it's getting extremely old, so i bought a 97 civic hatchback dx for $2900 w 120/k. i
wanted a cx but that was a tall order. i haven't gone throuigh a full tank yet but i've driven over 120 miles
highway and haven't even past 1/4 empty yet!! I'll let you all know what i' getting for mpg after a few refills.
so i have a few questions for anyone who can answer or perhaps direct me to the right threads. most of my
gas saving has been done through economy driving constant tire pressure at 40psi, realtively good maintenance, and
infrequent oil changes. but i want to go a step further and see if i can jack this baby into the 50's mpg, at
least on the highway, if possible. my question is - as far as minor modifications where do i start? and what
about these chip mods i've read about, do they really get you better mpg and more hp without repercussions? and
question 2 - hondas are quite popular especially civics and civic hatchbacks are far less common especially now
since haonda stopped making civic hatchbacks in econmy (cx) and base (dx) models and are now only making si
hatchbacks which arent very good on gas (BTW what happened to honda? they used to make the best economy
cars and that's what was their mainstay and claim to fame. their hybrids aren't that good in comparioson to prius
IMHO). because of this, these car's are much sought after by car thieves because they're so popular to modify
for "tuners" with all of these after market racing parts and engine swaps and such and apparently the cx (see
above) is THE most sought after model since it's lighter. So my new pride and joy is a target - in fact, i walked
out to my car last night and noticed some suspicious activity. i think someone was scoping out my car and i 've
only had it for a week. the question is - what's the most reliable security measures? i don't care much for
alarms and i already have autolock, which is like the club, but it goes around a pedal, and might i add, this has
saved my crx from getting stolen 3x! i've been looking into these tire boots. some are 3 and $400, but there are
cheaper ones, and probably less effective. I'd pay 3 or 400 if i knew they we're foolproof.
Im looking forward to hearing from other gas savers and hopefully help aswell as get help saving more gas!
MPGmonger
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