Hey guys my sister just got a Honda Civic LX with the 1.7l 4 cylinder inside of it. She just refilled today and had about 225 miles on the tank and put in about 9.785 gallons of gas or something like that. I cant remember the exact numbers but it came out to about 22.8 MPG which i cannot believe. That is awful. For most of that driving the tires were low by about 8-10 PSI, im wondering if that could have that much of an effect on gas mileage? My 1996 Honda Accord even is getting better mileage, it averages about 28 but it is a manual.

 

the tire pressure will affect it a bit, but not that much.
What has been done for routine maitence? any fuel leaks? when have you changed your thermostat last?

 

she has a lead foot? does she just drive around town or mainly highway or a mixture of both?

 

Its been probably around town the most but still only 22.8 MPG no way. And we bought it from a dealer so I'm assuming they did routine work on it.

 

is there a lot of weight in the car?

 

Repeat this experiment with the tires filled to 40 psi cold before driving in the morning. Drive to less than 1/4-tank left. Report back.

This a manual or automatic transmission Civic?

Automatic should get about 30 mpg per fueleconomy.gov, tires filled to spec.

I am averaging about 41 mpg with my manual tranny, 2003 Civic LX's tires filled to 40 psi and mostly suburban driving (lots of lights but lots of 40 mph zones, too). Using the a/c does not seem to affect mpg.

 

Fill the tires like they said also make sure your air filter is clean. Have you preformed basic maintenance such as changing the filter, vale adjustment, replaced spark plugs ect. Also how many miles are on the car?

 

There is about 100k on the car and im pretty sure basic maintenance has been done because we bought this from Vern Eide and we asked them to perform service on it which most likely has been done. I really dont think its that big of a problem maybe my sister just sucks at driving. Its also an automatic.

 

i drive an 02 LX, i drive 6 miles to work, 6 miles from work, A/C on, and im having to fill up once a week. the 6 miles are highway. tires on about 36psi. 5speed tranny. no extra weight, no lead foot. so im needing a bit of help on this too

 

Its either her or something is wrong with the car, recommended tire pressure is 30 psi. I average 35 in my EX in stop and go traffic.

 

Seems like we all are having different background stories on this... Driving my 03 Civic EX(manual 5spd), I get 38mpg. And I DO have a lead foot. I just got my tires replaced and they lowered my tire pressure about 9psi. i noticed that I was getting considerably worse gas mileage, so I filled them to about 41psi, took it around to work and back, and the milage seemed to go back to mornal. I also do my routine maintenance, changing my oil every 3,000 miles, and running a fuel system cleaner(chevron with techron) through my fuel system with every oil change. tire pressure can have a really big impact on fuel economy, but if you are getting about 22mpg, you might want to look a bit deeper into the situation.

 

its the check engine light on? Could be the oxigen sensors