Have you ever checked your car's fuel efficiency? Up until recently, I hadn't checked mine, but the EPA rates my 1999 Honda Civic as getting 29 City/35 Highway. (You can check your car's efficiency on www.edmunds.com.)
I suspected it might get quite a bit less than the EPA estimates because when I bought my kayak a few years back, I had a kayak rack mounted on the roof of the car, causing considerable wind drag. And are my car tires properly inflated? I don't really know; it's not something I check regularly.
My Honda isn't an EX, DX or LX. It's an HX. What makes it unique is the CVT, or "Continuously Variable Transmission." As explained in the sales literature, this transmission works a little differently and is supposed to eke out a little more fuel efficiency. That's the extent of my knowledge on CVTs!
The car has an automatic transmission.
So I made note of the odometer reading when I filled up 13 days prior, and then again this weekend. I drove a total of 390 miles during this interval. Most of that is my RT 47.5 mile commute. I divided 390 by the number of gallons on the second refill.
I was astonished to see that I'm getting 39.4 miles to the gallon! To what do I attribute beating the EPA estimate by 4 miles to the gallon?
I am a master of fuel-efficient driving techniques. I've driven this way for years. Here's what I do:
First, my entire commute is on back roads. The county I live in is largely residential and there just aren't any major north/south highways; the only alternative to the back roads, if you're traveling north/south, is a single two-lane highway that is heavily commercial and greatly congested. Most commuters I know avoid this highway like the plague because it's a notoriously stressful and slow route to take, and in fact mile-wise, it adds eight miles to my drive. In any case, the back roads are very scenic and you pass by some lovely reservoirs.
On these back roads, the fastest you can drive is 50 or 55 mph.
I'm guessing my average commute speed is 45 mph, which is close to the "sweet spot" of maximum fuel economy.
I try to drive at a consistent speed and, importantly, leave enough room between me and the car ahead of me so that if the other driver brakes for any reason, it may be possible for me to simply take my foot off the gas; if I do brake, it's gentle and gradual. So no tailgating and no hard braking!
When starting off from a stop sign or traffic light, I accelerate gradually.
Basically, I treat my car as if it were a slow-moving senior who needs extra time to get where they're going, and I don't push it to do spectacular feats. (Actually, its 4 cylinders never really made it a speed demon, so that's just as well.)
39.4 Miles Per Gallon
July 13th, 2008 at 11:34 am
July 13th, 2008 at 02:18 pm 1215958739
But yeah, I've been hearing about fuel efficiency from them stretching back all the way to the 80's, possibly more but I'm not a mechanic or car afficiando. It's too bad that Americans, in our infinite wisdom, never quite pay attention to these things until oil gets scarce.
I hope that fuel-efficiency-- or better yet, alternative fuel-- is here to stay for good. It SEEMS to be the current trend but who knows....
July 13th, 2008 at 03:09 pm 1215961761
I'm sure your fuel efficiency is better than our though!
July 13th, 2008 at 05:14 pm 1215969242
My Honda really is a perfect fit for me for the following reasons :
Stylish, very practical, fun, cheap to run, very frugal, rare ( In Ireland anyway - I was never one to follow the crowd).
This just blends in with my frugal lifestyle. I am enjoying all the perks of a Lexus type driving experience for 1/5 of the cost !!! I LUV it !! I know I won't turn the heads of any girls... I'll leave that to the guy with the 06 Ferrari in town... but as Van Morrison says "this may be the perfect fit".
I am happy with it and at the end of the day, that is all that matters.
Best of Luck with your health issues !! :-)
July 13th, 2008 at 07:16 pm 1215976599
I hope you have a great visit with your dad this week!
July 14th, 2008 at 04:45 am 1216010705
July 14th, 2008 at 09:24 pm 1216070640
July 17th, 2008 at 04:27 pm 1216312020
I don't understand what people are doing buying hybrids, when their mileage is not any better than a small civic. I'd love to have an environmentally friendly car, but it better be doubling the miles per gallon I'm getting now.