Subu-two is dead: Picking up a 01 Accord tomorrow

[oneinchsidehop]

All ye mourn the passing of subu-two, the least hypermile responsive car I've ever seen.

Incoming is a 2001 Honda Accord 2dr EX with the VTEC 4, 128k mi, new motor, timing belt, clutch, etc
(it seems somebody didn't do that little ol' 105 mile service the manual insisted on)

It's not the gas mileage monster I've been dreaming of, but I've been shopping like mad for the past month and it's the best I've found. And the Subie died this morning.

So, any words of wisdom from the Hondaphiles? How do you get the best out of an Accord? EPA is only 22 city and 29 hwy for it, so I'm going to want to do as much as I can from a driving / hypermileing standpoint to take the sting off the fuel consumption. (hey, it's a fun car. I sure would like to put more miles on it than the 4k I put on the Subu-two this year)

I'll be adding a scangauge as soon as I can ($169 is pretty dang steep for me) but that's the only real ideas I have for the car--

chime in! share your wisdom!

[theholycow]

22/29 is slightly better than the rating for my VW. You should be able to squeeze some decent FE out of it.

[oneinchsidehop]

Originally Posted by theholycow

22/29 is slightly better than the rating for my VW. You should be able to squeeze some decent FE out of it.

If I end up with an ~42mpg avg I'm going to be pretty darn delighted. My primary routes have several good opportunities for EOC. I just need to figure out the most elegant way of doing it (i.e., not freaking out the passengers who have little or no regard for anything automotive. but hey, she's 12.) I think I'm going to look into some kind of momentary switch to shut off the fuel injectors long enough to kill the engine so no one sees me reaching for the key to do it. Kind of like a NOS button, well a bass ackwards NOS button I guess.

And this summer I will be needing to take off the snow tires...
Then of course the normal grill block and (hopefully soon) belly pan, possible a salt lake-style rear spoiler.

It's nice to be thinking about a car that's fun again.

[theholycow]

Yes, if you're going to EOC with a child in the car (not sure if that's wise to begin with) you should definitely do it discreetly. However, beware that children can be very observant. I recommend against EOC or even extended engine-on neutral coasting with a child in the car, from a parenting point of view regarding setting an example of "normal" driving...but I don't have any parenting experience, so that's just a guess and a concern I've had when considering the parenting issue.

Also, don't get your expectations too high (but do carry high hopes). I think my VW is abnormally hypermiling-friendly because of a low EPA FE rating. I think its gear ratios give it a huge disadvantage for EPA testing, and the way I hypermile it almost completely eliminates that loss. Still, I hope you'll get 42mpg too...Hondas are known for FE!

[Dr. Jerryrigger]

What killed the Subby? I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who can't get good numbers out of a subaru... damn AWD.

[Project84]

I'm curious why an Accord?

For anywhere from $2k-$5k you can have a car maybe not so nice, but one that will achieve great numbers. I'm thinking of the Saturn S-series specifically, but any smaller 4-door 4cyl car would do... Protege, Sentra, Civic, Cavalier, Sunfire.

I do understand wanting to step up in the world and drive a nicer car also, and if that's the case, I totally understand. I want a nicer car myself.

[Dave's Civic Duty]

To me, the 2dr. Accords are sweet. I've been looking at those cars since they were new, saying to myself, I'm gonna have one of those one day. In this body style they are not that common. An even rarer find would be a 5speed.

I'll be curious to see what you do to hypermill this great platform. So how does the car drive & handle?

Wishing you more MPG's,
Dave

[oneinchsidehop]

Originally Posted by Project84

I'm curious why an Accord?

For anywhere from $2k-$5k you can have a car maybe not so nice, but one that will achieve great numbers. I'm thinking of the Saturn S-series specifically, but any smaller 4-door 4cyl car would do... Protege, Sentra, Civic, Cavalier, Sunfire.

I do understand wanting to step up in the world and drive a nicer car also, and if that's the case, I totally understand. I want a nicer car myself.

Simple: timing belts

This is the only car that I've seen in the area (so far) that had the regularly scheduled maintenance done (other than the TB which killed the engine). After they replaced the whole thing they had lost confidence in it and traded it in.

I was looking for something along the Protege/Civic/Sentra line, but when I crunched the numbers (including gas and the amount I actually drive) this ended up being the cheapest.

It was very close between this one and a civic, but the civic was going to need 2k worth of maintenance and work within 12-18 months (tires, timing belt, etc). And the other big thing was insurance, this ended up being much cheaper. (why? heck if I know)

So in the end, this ended up being cheapest, projected over the next 3 years. Already I kind of miss the Family Truckster attributes of the Subie, but I think (I'm hoping) this will be a good decision. It was tough just finding things with a stick.

[oneinchsidehop]

Originally Posted by Dave's Civic Duty

To me, the 2dr. Accords are sweet. I've been looking at those cars since they were new, saying to myself, I'm gonna have one of those one day. In this body style they are not that common. An even rarer find would be a 5speed.

I'll be curious to see what you do to hypermill this great platform. So how does the car drive & handle?

Wishing you more MPG's,
Dave

It handles really well, good feedback from the road and coasts (with snow tires!) better than anything that I've had in the past 10 years. Here's hoping on the hypermileing, it *seems* like it will be quite responsive to good driving techniques.

Oh, and the s's coming home from picking it up felt really good, very neutral and it does love to be wound up. It's a whole different car past about 4k rpm.

[oneinchsidehop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Jerryrigger

What killed the Subby? I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who can't get good numbers out of a subaru... damn AWD.

If your Subie is an automatic I can't offer any help. Nothing I tried could budge my numbers past 28mpg. AWD + an automushmatic is an unfreindly combo.

It's dying of old age, 200k miles, and salt on the roads. 3 holes rusted through, one of the computers is acting up, needs shocks, ujoints (or whatever) and another timing belt. It's just all arriving at once. I think if I could get it trough inspection I'd be tempted to keep it as a haul-big-things beater.