Just bought 2 weeks ago a bone stock 1998 civic LX with D16Y7 80k on odo Auto tranny for my wife. New air filter, lightweight HX rims, alignment, change oil.

We drove around 360miles and put in $50 worth of gas average of 3.4/gal.

$50/3.4 = Total gas is 14.70 gallons - 2 fill ups of $25 each.

360miles / 14.70 galons = 24.48MPG???? What the! EPA estimates is at 32City/37Hway.

With my EG sedan I can do mid high 30MPG stock.

Is my Miles Per Gallon calculations correct? I used air conditioning 35% of that 360miles if that mattered.


Modified by apm at 8:19 PM 4/18/2008

 

Your gas tank isnt 14 gallons,
More like 11.9

 

Even still, you should divide your miles by the number of gallons it took you to fill it totally. And if its still bad, change the fuel filter, and maybe injector cleaner

 

http://www.edmunds.com/used/19....html

 

keep in mind, those are older EPA stats. Their "highway" mileage was based at like 49mph. If you do all freeway at 75, you'll probably be in the 25- 26 range

 

what is your driving stlye like as well? how fast were you going? what psi are your tires at? lots of variable to get better mileage, also did u have a ton of stuff in the
car?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ifIexplode &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your gas tank isnt 14 gallons,
More like 11.9</TD></TR></TABLE>
Right, the '96-'00 Civic has an 11.9 gallon tank.

I can manage to get about 40mpg in my '98 EX coupe* if I really try, but it's more normal to get around 32mpg or so because I lead foot it a bit. I have to drive really hard to get 25mpg.

I suggest the OP recalculate his gas mileage. Save your receipts a few times to get an accurate idea of what it's making and reset your tripometer each time you gas up. Then write down the exact mileage the tripometer shows when you gas up.

* - (manual transmission, tires to 35psi, an adult female and sometimes an adult male in the car, nothing larger than one bookbag worth of cargo on average, bad transmission, stock engine with stock exhaust and intake, only removed resonator in front bumper)

 

I have a D16y7 too and I'm getting the same crappy mileage, I'm starting to suspect the cat and a wheel bearing.

 

i am getting over 50mpg with a d16y7, its crazy how if you change your driving style

 

does your wife have a lead foot? all the female drivers i know do.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by apm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is my Miles Per Gallon calculations correct? I used air conditioning 35% of that 360miles if that mattered.</TD></TR></TABLE>

A/C only matters in slower stop and go traffic... on the highway... it doesn't make much difference... its actually better to use A/C than open your windows, because opening your windows increases drag...

MPG is dependent on driving style, if your wife wants to accelerate quickly every time... which is hard to do in a civic... then she most likely is flooring it, then letting off once she gets to speed.

Slower and less sudden accelerations will really improve your mileage...maintain your speed on the highway. it takes more energy to get the car up to speed, than to slow it down.

don't keep anything extra in your car, if she is comfortable with it, remove the spare and carry a can of fix-a-flat, and sign up for a road side assistance coverage service.

-------------------------------------

also there could be some carbon buildup in the exhaust header (to remove it, i suggest giving the car a can of seafoam treatment... there are a few threads here seafoaming your car)

When i took of my OEM header, there was a 2-3mm film of carbon buildup along the edges... reducing the opening by a total of 4-6mm!

i think i was getting around 29mpg before i switched to an ebay header...
thing is i drive 80mph on the highway... after i switched been getting 34mpg... saved me about a gallon of gas a week.

--------------------------------------

to measure mpg, fill up the tank, and reset the trip meter.
then at the next fill up, don't top off... record the mileage on the receipt
and divide the miles by the amount of gallons put in (you don't even need to run the car empty)
then reset the trip meter, and repeat.

 

We bought a CR-V and it has the millage meter thing on the gauge cluster. I know it's not 100% but you can certainly experiment with different driving styles and get a 'real time' type of feedback.

The difference between 55mph & 75mph in the CR-V is about 22% more fuel consumption. Of course the Civic will be less, but it goes to show that among dynamic variables, driving style is the #1 factor in fuel efficiency.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DaveInPhx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We bought a CR-V and it has the millage meter thing on the gauge cluster. I know it's not 100% but you can certainly experiment with different driving styles and get a 'real time' type of feedback.

The difference between 55mph & 75mph in the CR-V is about 22% more fuel consumption. Of course the Civic will be less, but it goes to show that among dynamic variables, driving style is the #1 factor in fuel efficiency.</TD></TR></TABLE>
22% less mpg or 22% more fuel consumption, because if thats the case 75 mph is 36% more mph which would essentially mean your miles per gallon has gone up o.O

 

BTW Its actually NOT better to run the A/C compared to rolling down the windows. The drag created is not significant enough to increase demands on the engine as much as A/C. They even cracked that on mythbusters son.

360/12 is actually 30mpg and there's almost no way you'll ever get close to 11.9 gallons pumped unless you have to push her there.

These cars still do fine at 70mph, not just 35-50 on the hwy. My 200k mini me is getting around 38mpg at 60/40 highway/city and i do 75-80 (its I40, you get runover if you don't).

 

I'm having the same problem you are!!

I have a 97 LX with a D16y7 and the best I have gotten now is 27mpg. I just filled up and looks like I was at 25mpg this past tank.

It's shocking to hear these guys who are getting 35+mpg.


I do not have a lead foot what so ever, I shift early as possible and not speed racer off the line and ease up to 75mph and just set the cruise control. My rpm's sit right at 3500 at that speed, and it's pretty much all flat driving....so I don't get it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 93plumvtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BTW Its actually NOT better to run the A/C compared to rolling down the windows. The drag created is not significant enough to increase demands on the engine as much as A/C. They even cracked that on mythbusters son.</TD></TR></TABLE>

mythbusters isn't really scientific, they do one test and find a conclusion...to do a proper test, you need a random sample of a certain size, and strictly controlled variables... 2 cars doing 45mph around a track, is not a good sample, also if they did the test at the same time, and one was behind another, one of them could've drafted behind the other - its a tv show...

also the test was done a 45mph, air resistance increases as velocity increases...

for real highway driving, the test should've been done at more than 65mph...

i've been searching the web for an answer, but couldn't find a solid one... because the tests were done using different cars... and each one reached a different conclusion...

imo, it depends on the car, speed, and current ambient temperature...

the best way would be to do your own testing on the matter, and find out what gives you the best mpg for your car.

 

yeah I will try to reset my calculations again.

14gals is not one fill up. actually $50 is 2 fill ups of $25 bucks each. so I just tap the old gas.

what I did now is fill the gas and reset the odo. I will recalculate again.

I don't have anything in the trunk just the tiny spare wheel.

Everything is in tip top shape the engine bay is very clean full tune up done by me. tires are good since I just had an alignment and they check the psi.

My wife and I drives like a grandma in city and occasionally 70-75 hi way.

I just can't believe I should get lower than 30MPG because my EG was way better than that at 36-40MPG before I sold it.

With the price of gas I want to do as much as I could.

 

d16y7 here, SAME PROBLEM!

I'm only getting 22 MPG! I'm calculating it correctly; I divide by the number I see at the pump. No CELs BTW

I've changed my air filter, fuel filter, sparkplugs, had my brakes checked, checked my tire pressure (35 PSI), ran some injector cleaner, NOTHING.

I definitely don't drive with a lead foot, and my MPG just suddenly dropped from a health 28 to 20 then to 22.

The car's stock and only has 50k miles on it

 

i miss the days when you could fill up on $5

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92egSnatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i miss the days when you could fill up on $5 </TD></TR></TABLE>
Where did this happen? I can remember my car costing about $17 to fill up, but you're only 19. Unless you're talking about you can remember when your parents could, but even then that'd be pretty cheap or a really small tank.

 

well not really fill up but put 5 bucks of gas could get you all over the place lol
i wasnt even alive when gas was under 50 cents a gallon but a gallon for around a dollar was nice

 

with my '99 ex coupe (5spd) I used to get ~30-32mpg in mixed city/highway driving..I never really beat on it though (shifted at 3k rpm's, etc...)