72 mpg in my Honda Civic
 

Hello everyone. I just wanted to join into this community of car loving, High MPG loving people who want and need to know that getting high MPG with their cars is not hard to do.
I had a 5 speed manual 1993 Honda Civic that I drove from Portland, Oregon down to Southern California and back on only 33 gallons of gasoline!
That's right- only 33 gallons, and I did it with no special modifications made to my car at all. I went 2100 miles on only 33 gallons, and it was not hard to do at all. In fact, the way I did it were ways I found out myself many years ago.
All I had to do was to coast going downhill, and never went full speed going up hills. I used Amsoil synthetic oil for the transmission and crankcase, along with using good sparkplugs.
The truth is, good MPG CAN be done with any car, if you drive the right way.
Even with my newer 2003 Honda Civic 4 speed Automatic, I still can get up to 48 mpg with using these ideas that I have been using for almost 15 years now.
I never use the Air Conditioning unit, never roll my windows down when I drive, and never speed on the highways. People think I drive too slow-especially on the highways, but who cares?
I am saving boatloads of cash wherever I go, and that is just fine with me.

Is this an Amsoil troll? This forum gets lots of trolls. I am never going to buy Amsoil just because of how many times the people who sell the stuff troll. Mayby this is a real person, if so , Hello!!! and damn, don't you get hot in there? the central valley of cali gets solidly over 100 for 2-3 months, you could die without air con or opening a window. I personally, and i do not mean to be pushy here, but i would personally rather be alive than get anoyther 1-3 MPG.

That is rather unbelievable. A few people are getting those numbers out of Civics from that era, but with far more effort than you describe.

Coasting? That's the big secret? So you're saying that everybody else stays on the gas when they're going downhill...

Welcome Talos4!

BTW, 2100 miles with 33 gallons is 63 mpg, not 72.

lol

I believe one of the car mags tested the first year CRX HF and got 73 MPG.

regards
gary

Can Amsoil be bought publicly or are they doing the whole Multiple Level Marketing deal? That reminds me of when I was 17 (back in 1999) and my friend's dad talked me and all my other friends into buying Amsoil from him. "Why would you want to put anything other than synthetic in your 1983 Nissan Pulsar?" That was his gig. On top of this he tried to recruit us into selling it to all our classmates who where just getting their licenses.

On top of this I can't believe he talked me into buying 3 cans of their WD-40 equivalent too. I'm not trying to say that Amsoil is crap... but I just personally hate the Multiple Level Marketing style.

A few points to clarify...
 

First, let me say "Mini e" that I am NOT an "Amsoil Troll" as has been suggested by you. I do not sell Amsoil, and never will.
That being said- yes, I do use it and highly recommend it to everyone for the simple fact that it is the best synthetic oil on the market- period. I have used it for decades, and it more than pays for itself. It saves me money, and I think everyone should use it to save themselves money. That is the goal of people here on this board, isn't it? To try to save money?
Using it in the engine and transmission has saved me probably close to a thousand dollars in the last 18 years or so. Yes, it is worth it to use it, imo.
I don't sell it, but that doesn't mean that I don't think highly of it.

Second, the MPG I saw when I went on a trip to So-Cal and back was on parts of the trip at 72 mpg. There were parts of the trip where the MPG went down due to the numerous hills that I had to climb near the Yosemite area of central California, but in large part, I got around 72 for most of the trip.
The '93 Civic VX I drove only had a 10 gallon tank, and I went almost 700 miles on less than 10 gallons.
FYI- That car did not come with AC, so I had to make do with the hot So-Cal weather without AC to cool me down. It was uncomfortable, but I survived the extreme heat just fine.

Third, coasting means just that- coasting. I took the car out of gear going downhill, which is not something that many people do. To keep it in gear going downhill just wastes a lot of gas needlessly, imo.
People also speed uphill all the time, which wastes a great deal of gas, so the opposite-coasting downhill, saves gas- a lot of it, when you take it out of gear. The great thing about Hondas, is that you can still do this safely even with a 4 speed Automatic, which I own now. I can still coast downhill with my AT in neutral, and that saves me gas and money.
Until recently, Honda had the fantastic VTEC-E engine in a few of their models- one was used in the Civic VX and HX models. Both got great gas mileage, and I owned both of them.
It is truly a shame that Honda decided rather stupidly to abandon this superb engine, and replace it with a far more expensive Hybrid model which doesn't get nearly the great MPG that their VX model got.
Spending an extra $7,000 dollars to save $10 dollars a month doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

My 94 VX has AC fortunately with temps here hitting 100 on several days in the last month.

Best tank for me is 68.5. I think todays 10% alcohol fuel (only fuel available in eastern Virginia) hurts my mileage considerably.

I think it is possible to get that kind of MPG under certain conditions.

Welcome to the boards Talos 4.

regards
gary

When you're in gear with no throttle above 900 RPM you are using NO fuel. You're calling it a waste of fuel.

"Part of the time" is meaningless. If you have a mpg gauge, you'll see that you get infinite mpg every time you let off the gas, and less than 9 mpg every time you accelerate from a stop. MPG only makes sense as an average.

I've had too many instances when I seemed to have got exceptional FE on a particular tank, only to find out that the next tank was exceptionally bad. It's a measuring error that has to do with how fuel tanks are constructed.

Well you can try my "ethanol patch" if you like, methanol with a dash of ashless TC-W3 outboard oil, 8oz Methanol and 1/2 oz TC-W3 would probably be about right in your tank. that's about 70 cents a fill up with methanol gettable at about $2 a quart and $5 for a quart of ashless TC-W3 outboard oil. Should give you another 5%+ if my results are anything to go by. That might give you more regular 65s and show you 70 more often.

LOL, that sounds like Amway... Is that an Amway product?

-Jay

I got 72 from Portland to Seattle in my VX last summer. Lower 70s are pretty average for me on that trip. 63 is impressive but lose the Amsoil and maybe you'll break 70 :p Save a few bucks too

Please don't call people "Amsoil trolls" when they aren't posting links to where you can buy directly from them.

Amsoil has plenty of solid testing evidence for increasing mileage and protecting engines. I can tell you from personal experience I've seen incredible gains that people tell me cannot happen for any reason.

36 MPG highway in a 1998 Nissan Frontier King Cab 4 cylinder, for instance, and 26 is EPA sticker. Granted, it was no A/C, tailgate down, 55 MPH, between the Canadian border and Los Angeles (almost all very flat), but still, I did the same things - neutral downhill (and that can be 5-10 minutes at a time, in excess of 70 MPH downhill) whenever possible, on a route I am totally familiar with, and easy on the uphills. It helps to have a rock-steady foot, and listening to the engine not to give it too much gas up hills, but it can indeed happen.

As for wear - try 35,000 miles between oil changes with Amsoil. That's my average, and on my current CRX I plan on installing the remote filter. A hefty investment, but the oil gets "gradually" changed - remove one of two 1-quart filters, and add a quart when you change it. I know a guy personally who has gone over a million miles on his Jeep and never had the engine rebuilt, using Amsoil.

Another one I don't see anyone talking about here is Slick 50. Maybe there's better stuff out there now, but in the early 90's I was a poor college student. The oil pump was shot on the Buick, the bearings were shot, and the oil pressure light came on when traveling under 20 mph. I poured a bottle of Slick 50 into the crankcase and drove it with the oil pressure light on for a couple of years until I could afford a new engine.

mini-e didn't declare Talos4 an "Amsoil troll", just asked if he was (immediately followed by far more words about taking him seriously). A troll doesn't need a link and isn't trying to sell anything. All a troll needs is a well-planted seed of controversy. Showing up somewhere to post difficult-to-believe results while offering little explanation apart from a small mention of something controversial would be a very effective troll.

LOL, when Slick 50 first came out I was probably ~14 years old, obsessed with NASCAR (that was the good NASCAR before it sold out) and those Slick 50 ads really had me sold. I never did end up buying any.

So, uhh... which Amsoil should I buy? Can you give a link? :D

Please look at my gas log :) (EOC vs idling in neutral does not save THAT much gas in a car with 500rpm idle)

Too short a trip to really be accurate though.... What oil do you use? Why you say lose the Amsoil?

a reliable source tells me there was a volvo(i think) recently retired in wisconsin with 3.1 million miles, also original drivetrain. had amsoil its entire life(after break-in).

the guy put the car down due to rust(frame) as he felt the car was dangerous to drive. certainly he got the most out of that one.

0W30 is a great oil. www.amsoil.com.

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