Honda Accord or Honda Civic?

[tradosaurus]

I am debating whether to switch cars with my son who is in college right now.

He is driving a 2001 Honda Accord (4 door) with 4 cylinder VTEC engine and manual transmission.

My 1999 Civic coupe EX is manual with a bit smaller engine.

The Accord has gotten 32 hwy mpg with no mods and fully loaded with people.

The Civic recently got 32 mpg fully loaded and tire pressure mod.

The Accord has leather seats, sunroof and the A/C works consistently. I'm wondering if I air the tires up to sidewall max how much more mpg I could squeeze out?

What say you?

[Jay2TheRescue]

I'd say give it a shot, it can't hurt.

[bowtieguy]

the civic should get 40mpg...easy. 40+ w/ some effort. the accord, i my view, is a better fit for a less experience driver(safer) however.

[tradosaurus]

Thanks. I did a 160 mile round trip with the Civic but had it loaded down. I did do 32 mpg which was probably the best I could expect.

[FrugalFloyd]

The two cars have the same EPA combined, city, and highway mpg (25/22/29 mpg). I don't think you'll see a significant difference between the two. A heads-up hypermiler can coax 140% of EPA on highway drives, and 170% of EPA in combined driving, solely by improving driving technique. You should be able to get >40 mpg on highway drives, and >42 mpg combined with either car.

[tradosaurus]

Well I certainly going to try!

[bowtieguy]

Originally Posted by SentraSE-R

The two cars have the same EPA combined, city, and highway mpg (25/22/29 mpg). I don't think you'll see a significant difference between the two.

not unless the civic comes w/ the dual cam vtec, which the OP did not specify. he did, however specify the accord has the vtec so...it stands to reason...

furthermore, if the civic does in fact NOT have either of the single or duel cam vtec motors, he WILL see a very significant difference especially if one compares the old epa estimates. these are what i look at as potential numbers...and the OP has achieved such w/ the accord.

[FrugalFloyd]

He said it's an EX. EXes produced the most HP of all Civics, except those years when Si models were offered. That indicates the EXes came with the DOHC engine.

[Philip1]

The ex was a sohc vtec

[imzjustplayin]

Originally Posted by tradosaurus

Thanks. I did a 160 mile round trip with the Civic but had it loaded down. I did do 32 mpg which was probably the best I could expect.

32mpg is terrible, you should be doing far better than that in the civic. the civic needs a tuneup and the moderator who is deleting my posts needs to stop.

Think about it, if you can get 32mpg in an accord, when it's rated at 29mpg, why would you think getting 32mpg in a civic when it's rated at 34mpg be acceptable?