Pimpin' in a civic

v8440

v8440

Well-known member
Hi all,

The gas prices caused me to do something formerly unimaginable-we traded in Lisa's hemi truck on a new civic. She doesn't want to go back to driving a car, so she's now driving the '06 4x4 diesel to work, and I'm...pimpin' in the civic. A brand new '08 2 door automatic-not a bad little car at all.

I hated to see the hemi truck go, but both of us commute about 70 miles a day round trip, and something had to go. It damn sure wasn't going to be the diesel, which (despite being 2000 lbs heavier) gets about 4 mpg better mileage than the hemi AND can haul my gooseneck trailer.

So now I drive just another jellybean car.
 
Personally, if I were shopping for a car in which to commute, I'd probably end up with a used manual-trans turbo-diesel Jetta. One guy around here with a 5-speed wagon was averaging 60MPG on the highway and 48 in town. Even with diesel as high as it is, that kind of mileage more than offsets the fuel prices.

Plus, there's actually a significant speed-parts market for those V-dub stinkies. :dance:
 
I actually wanted a prius, but I looked at the differences in mileage vs the difference in price and decided that the extra mileage would not offset the extra price in a reasonable amount of time. Same with the hybrid civic. The car I bought is rated at 25/36. If that sounds low, you have to remember that starting this year, the EPA has revamped how they estimate mileage. The testing now includes speeds of up to 80 mph, as well as some a/c usage. The old system didn't use the a/c and didn't reach such high speeds. The '07 civic is identical to the '08, but it's mileage was rated under the old system. It was rated at 30/40. In real life I probably get somewhere between the two. Mine most likely isn't fully broken in yet, as it only has a little over 2000 miles on it. I can say this though-it has a 13.2 gallon tank, and I did get 430 miles on a full tank last week. That was mostly highway driving, but it was also mostly with the a/c on. I also found out that the tires were only inflated to 30 psi, which is what the doorjamb sticker calls for. I've since pumped the front ones up to 40 (max pressure is 44).
 
Jass,

A diesel volkswagen would definately have been acceptable, but we needed to unload the hemi truck. I've tried selling it used, but everyone wants to shuck and jive instead of coming with the money. It's a buyer's market when it comes to gas guzzling trucks, and a seller's market when it comes to fuel sippers.

Hell, if it weren't for needing to get rid of the truck, I might've gotten a geo metro. There was a news story recently about people not being ashamed to be seen in metros anymore because of gas prices. Those things get dumb ass mileage and will run on pond water.
 
I've been selling lots and lots of parts for old-beater fuel sippers. The amazing thing is that cars of today aren't really any better on fuel than cars of the '80s because they're so much heavier now. I used to get better mileage in a carbureted '86 Charger than Stretch gets in my old '97 MPFI Neon. If I got less than 37MPG with the Charger, I was downright upset--and that was Jass driving style, meaning an 80-per cruise speed.

I actually sold some parts to a guy the other day with an '83 Ciera with a 4.3L V6 diesel. :D
 
Oh Christ, I'd read about the 4.3 diesel but never seen one. That was the same engine family as the 350 diesel. The 4.3 diesel was a 260, same diesel conversion as the 350's got.

You're absolutely right about the mileage today vs in the past. Look at diesel rabbits in the 70's. Hell, I used to have an '87 chevy spectrum. It had a carbureted 1.5 in it, and it was capable of 45 mpg at 65 mph on the highway. Knowing what I know now about tire pressure vs mileage and a few other things, I might've gotten it to 50. I had that car in the mid 90's when gas wasn't expensive like today.
 
....i loves my alfa!!!!!! 31mpg and 29 at 100+ :shifty: and generaly 27-28 in town....just blew the godamned water pump

hmm lloyd = alfa minus 1000+ lbs
 
My carb'd 89 Corolla with a 1.6 DOHC, auto and A/C got downright ridiculous mileage. Much better than my wife's 98 Beetle with a 2.0 litre, and better than her 02 1.9 Volvo S40.
That Toyo would go almost a month on $20.:giggedy: A best of 38.2 on a highway trip to Eastern Ontario at 70 mph with the A/C on.
I shoulda kept it.
 
The Civic is a decent enough looking car..but the new Accord coupe really catches my eye. There is a white one in my neighborhood I've been admiring when walking the dog, good looking car.

Luckily me and the missus both work in town and drive less than 3 miles one way. The Ram gets 11mpg and the Durango is only slightly better.We seldom travel outside of town anymore. I ride my motorcycle to work as much as possible, with about 120 horsepower on tap and 30 mpg it's the best bang for the buck...except when it rains. :D
 
I worked on an 84 jetta with a “stink” pedal this week. The owner was talking about how he bought it new and stuck it in the back yard once he had his third son. He needed the room of a suburban. Now with gas as high as it is he needed to resurrect the jetta.
 
The '02 Jetta Art looked at buying actually performed pretty well... but that's also a common-rail direct-inject turbo engine.

By the way, to explain Stretch's "stink pedal" comment, that's something we got from Art who's a mutual friend of mine and Stretch's. According to him, older non-turbo and pre-chamber-ijnection diesels don't have an accelerator, they only have a stink pedal. Floor it and the vehicle doesn't go any faster, it just stinks more. :D
 
Update: The car has about 2200 miles on it now, and I got 475 miles on my last tank of gas. The tank is 13.2 gallons. I drove it for mileage-shutting it off at long traffic lights, coasting down hills in neutral, etc. That's still pretty good though, and it's probably not completely broken in yet. I also don't have the tires inflated to the max recommended pressure on the sidewalls. I'll do that and probably pick up a bit.

The car has had one problem: The a/c quit working on the way home from work one evening. I took it to the dealer the next day, and it turned out to be the relay that energizes the compressor clutch. They fixed it that day and I haven't had a problem since.
 
With the gas prices in Virginia which is about 3.89, I've been beginning to drive more conservative. With my Aspen in California (which is a good thing) I needed some wheels to get around here. There was a guy selling a cop Gran Fury for $2000, and I was going to jump on it quick, but I reminded myself to stick with a 4 banger. Lucky for me I found the Subie for dirt cheap and surprisingly for it being AWD it averages to 30 mpg when I drive sane. Insane, I get about 20-23 :D
 
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