imzjustplayin

I realize this is an enthusiast forum where the main goal is to obtain the best performance, however my objective seems to be the opposite but I hope that this doesn't bother anybody.

Anyhow I'm interested in a civic, mostly because it's cheap and because they get excellent mileage, I need it to be fairly safe and get good mileage while at the same time not be so painful as to use on the roads. Two particular civics caught my eye, the Civic VX Hatch back and the Civic HX, both get really good mileage. According to wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_D_engine#D16Y5 between the VTEC engines, the difference is what its intended usage is for, one is for performance and the other is for economy as denoted by "-E" at the end of "vtec".

The "performance VTECs" seem to be more ubiquitous than the "economy VTECs" as I see more Civic EX and there are basically more configurations with the performance VTEC than non performance vtec.

(For the impatient, this is where you should start reading)
Anyways I had multiple ideas on how to tackle my problem. I want to cheaply obtain a really good fuel economy vehicle, however the '95 civics aren't as safe as the '96 Civics which is a problem. So one option (I think) is to take the D15Z1 motor from a '95 and below, swap into a '96+ civic, which ever I choose and then I'm set.

Second "option" would be to figure out how to take a performance VTEC from '96+ civics and convert it into that of a VTEC-E, swap that motor into what ever body I want.

A third "option" would be and I have to admit, I don't know if this is possible except from what is said on wikipedia, but I'd take a nonVTEC and convert it to a VTEC-E setup.

And a fourth "option", which would really be the most desirable but probably the most unlikely is to find a way to do both a Performance VTEC and VTEC-E configuration, this could be set on demand.

I'm sorry to be asking for so much and forcing you to read this but my only alternative to the civic is the corolla and with its worse mileage but better safety, it's really a 50/50 thing at this point. If I could get a safer than '95 civic but with really good fuel economy then I guess I can go with that.

I mean just looking at this:http://autos.msn.com/research/compar...=t2813&v=t5060

You can see a 10MPG difference between the Civic VX Hatchback and the Civic HX.

I'm only considering a civic or corolla or whatever in the first place because I want better mileage than what I'm currently getting with out putting myself in danger nor spending lots money.

Oh and I thought I should mention that the Geo Metro gets WORSE mileage than a Civic VX Hatchback, thought that was really funny, that a 4 cylinder gets better than a POS 3 cylinder Geo Metro. Which also brings up another question, why doesn't any other car manufacturer have a VTEC-E like option? It seems to really improve fuel economy.


That was a handful, please don't ban me.

I just read that they have a 3 stage VTEC that is suppose to combine the "performance" VTEC and VTEC-E but if they have this, then why do they still have "exclusives" all the way through 2000? When did the 3 stage VTEC come out and how come I've yet to see any civic since the VX Hatchback with its 56/47MPG rating?


Modified by imzjustplayin at 12:38 AM 3/31/2008