The civic HF is probably the car for you.

 

I didn't want to deal with the issues their batteries seem to have, but I don't know how blown out of proportion those issues are. It's hard to tell if a used HF has a battery issue because the seller can just reset the code since it doesn't appear right away. Additionally, they don't get that much better gas mileage (32 versus 33 combined).

It would be the right call if I was driving primarily around town, but I travel for 50 miles on the interstate everyday. The efficiency is entirely dependent upon the gas motor in my situation. So yeah, it sucks but I can't really use a hybrid effectively in my situation afaik.

CR-z's are sexy as hell, but I need a sedan .

 

HF isn't a hybrid, it's the higher efficiency gas engine version of the Civic. It has a little spoiler, aero wheels, maybe some other changes. I dunno how much better you can do on aero parts than Honda already has, but I'd be interested to see. The undercarriage is already pretty sealed up and aero as it is.

 

Civic lx doesn't have the under carriage.

 

The HF does have an undercarriage. I just read some reviews on the HF and the observed gas mileage was about 33 mpg mixed. I get pretty darn close to that in my Si.

 

Also, not to be a debbie-downer but if your sole purpose is to get good gas mileage then I would consider a Prius or Insight. They will put any civic to shame when it comes to mugs (and utility for that matter).

 

I have an LX and I've been getting averages of 34-37 just in town, 45 on any long highway trip, usually around 40 combined without any mods. Check out ecomodder and cleanmpg forums for tips on hypermiling.

 

Argh.

'In town' mpgs claims are just so much nonsense. It all depends on what 'town' you're in.

I can't imagine that any 'town' in New Mexico is anything like 'town' almost anywhere in NYC.

I was in Concorde, NH many years ago, staying with friends. I remember my host telling me, while driving on the main street, how congested it was at that moment - 'it's usually not this bad.'

There were twelve cars on the street! I was like, 'What is the usual day, six cars? Three?'

In town in Concorde, NH, or Wherever, NM, it's probably likely one can get 35 mpgs 'in town.' I wish I could do the same, but that is impossible here. :tongue:

Location, location, location!

 

Very true, Scotty. My "in town" driving consists of 45 mph cruising with not too many other cars on the road. That's how I can get 31mpg in my Si pretty consistently.

 

Got 38.5mpg on my 60 mile commute to work this morning. Doing 60mph in my stock 2014 Si sedan with 2 Golden State Warriors flags flying out of the windows.

 

Well, that explains your crap mpgs. Do you know what kind of wind drag flapping flags account for? hahaha

 

I would do your experiments on a very cheap car that will get better mpg than any newer Civic that has been modified. A 1994 Ford Escort 5 speed that I had got 40+ on the highway. I believe some mid 90's Civics were touching low 50's?

 

I had a 92 civic SI hatch with over 330k miles on it that was getting high 30s to low 40 mpg until it bent a piston rod somehow. Honestly, I don't even know how long the rod had been bent lol.

I bought a newer vehicle because I don't want to worry about things breaking down. Horses for courses. I think I just looked at the money I would save in gas compared to what I was driving (2006 V6 awd saturn vue) and based a payment off that. Getting a honda that's still under warranty for 10k isn't too bad though.

 

Every fuel mileage discussion makes me think that my foot must be 2x heavier than everyone else's.

 

Didn't look like the OP said if he's going for a R18 or an Si, but if you go with the Si, there are very few gains to be made in the ECU while you still have a cat. I worked over my program for months and couldn't statistically validate anything better than about 1%. The stock tune is pretty well maximized. Honda takes that whole "class-leading fuel economy" thing pretty seriously.

Back on my old car, I had a warm air intake, which was worth about +10% mpg on the highway. I haven't done it on my Si because I like making more than 20 hp max, but that's a cheap mod for easy gas mileage. Just keep an eye on intake temps and if it starts going over 160F or so, consider moving the intake or using colder spark plugs to prevent knock.

Also, I think a couple people said it, but if you're only looking for mpg on the cheap, a new car is not the way to go. New cars are heavy (higher mass) and huge (higher frontal area). I've heard some Civic HX's or VX's from the 90s make well over 60 mpg when hypermiled.

 

I don't know about that.I had both those gens.never got over 45 mpg.
As far as old and reliable and high mpg
The best mpg for the money are old Honda dpfi.my 91 hatch got well over 45 with the a/c on with the shitty 4 speed std tranny.but when I converted to the 5 speed y8 tranny I was able to squeeze 47/8 freeway constantly. 60? Maybe in a dpfi crx,maybe.
I dropped the stock d15 and put in a souped up z6 with gude head job and was doing well over 35 mpg.but I can't see 60.I commute nearly 4.5 hours daily in mainly freeway. About 90/10

So far those have been my best commuters but.it gets a little hairy after 320k miles.so I sold it bought an RSX.

 

The HX and VX had special lean-burn engines. It takes a special technique to learn to drive them to properly maximize the FE (need to know what range lean-burn turns on and adjust the driving style to stay there), but the gains were pretty significant over the D series engines. FWIW I used to average 42mpg in the D16 on my old '99 Civic EX. My '12 Si rarely sees over 37, but poked around 40 for one trip through some remote rural roads.

Unfortunately, OEMs can't make lean-burn gas engines anymore because the NOx emissions are much higher than standard engines. I spoke to a researcher at a big engine company recently who indicated that natural gas has a lot of potential to bring this technology back in the next 15 years or so (if OEMs go that way). They were doing natural gas engines running at very high lambdas with less NOx emissions than stoichiometric (because combustion temps got so low that far lean).

 

They were both d series .
But still don't see 60mpg.
Unless maybe just maybe you do 55 for like 500 miles straight with no a/c
Either way no matter what 40 mpg on an old run of the mill ,tired engine is still impressive.who else does that? How about a domestic?
Gas not diesel.

Hell my old hatch had 55 mph highlighted in red.apparently that was the good mileage marker.
What's super popular are the old sedans 88-91
Dirt cheap.good mpg.can't beat that