What made you an FE nut?
 

Following up on Darin's "Hall of Shame" thread, how did you end up interested in fuel economy?

I'm not certain what did it for me. I had been wanting my own vehicle for a while - something that wasn't necessarily the "family" vehicle that I wasn't allowed to tinker/experiment with.

I was kind of planning on a muscle car of sorts (was looking at a '69 Cougar), but I also had this semi-guilt over burning a lot of fuel. I didn't agree with single-person SUVs and such plus I wanted to save money from my $160+ a month gas bill due to the Aerostar.

So, I bought the Metro and for some reason have enjoyed every moment of logging fuel and repairs/mods. I guess I mostly needed a new hobby to combat the monotony of constantly being on the computer...and FE is a rather unexplored arena.

One day I woke up to discover that I was cheap. The next day I bought a brand new 85 CRX HF. Today I am still cheap, but no longer have the HF.

Did I mention that I am cheap?:D

People tell me that all the time. That and you're crazy for caring about fuel economy and the environment:)

It was a bit of a round about trip for me. The first step was my company was bought out and that was the end of all of my company paid gas cards. Step 2 was gas going up to some $2+ price. I was then on the search for my new "gas saver" I found a crap 88 Crx so that is my new daily driver. I also have a 2005 Toyota Tundra with the big bad V-8 that moves a few times a month when I need a truck. I started by calcualting out my MPG every fill up just to see how much money my car was saving me. Here is some math for fun:

1 week to work using Honda at 39 MPG:

500 miles / 39 m/g x 2.60 (low estimate) $/g = $33.1/3 per week to work

1 Week using Tundra

500 miles / 18 m/g x 2.60 $/g = $72.22 per week

Honda savings over Tundra = $38.89 (per week)

Estimated yearly savings: 50 x $38.89 = $1944.5

Not bad considering the car cost me about $1000 to buy and fix and tags and insurance is getting me for about $300 a year.


Now I want to just bump that up a bit and make those numbers even better. Oh ya those calculations are how I talked my wife into letting me get the honda.

Ha ha me too! Nothing wrong with that!

I first learned to drive during the gas embargo days of the early 70's. I lived in Berlin, Germany at the time and remember the "no-cars" Sundays that they had in Berlin at this time (i.e. no private cars were allowed on the roads on Sunday; only city buses, police and and emergency vehicles). It was an interesting experience riding my bike down a normally busy city thoroughfare and seeing only an occasional vehicle on the road. Needless to say, gas conservation in driving was emphasized in my driver's education and I have maintained this mindset in my driving ever since (the $4 a gallon European gas prices at the time also helped to encourage fuel conservation).

the idea of travelling around the city without spending barely anything out of your pocket just somehow excites me.

Cheap! Save on gas! Cheap! Costs little or nothing to save gas! Did I mention Cheap!

When I blew my turbocharged motor for the second time and realized I couldn't afford to rebuild it (at the time) and even if I could it would be pissing money into the wind. I'm a tinkerer...I have to fidget with my autombile(s) at least once every few weeks. I had an HF transmission laying around and have two stock EF Civics, so I figured I'd rebuild it for the hell of it (to satisfy my tinker tooth) and stick it into one of my Civics. Then I found this site and it's all downhill from here...

First of all I am very cheap and always tring to save money here and there.

Gas was going up to $2.50 (spring '05) and I realized maybee if i don't drive as fast as possible all the time I might save money. So i decied to drive somewhat slower to save on gas (and I started tracking my mpg). After huricane katrina (fall '05) I started to get a bit more serious