Gas Mileage, EPA

[firstimeaccord]

Alright so here's the deal. I have an 88 LX that is completely stock.

With increasing gas prices my dreams of modifying my accord have pretty much gone down the drain, (though exhuast will probably be done regardless). I have a few question that hopefully some one will be able to answer. After hours of research online I basically come up witht the same junks, but i like to hear other people's suggestions.

1) What is the MPG other drivers get --- mine is on abverage 25mpg but i've never taken it on a road trip to find out what it would be.

2) speaking of road trips, does anyone know if this car will significantly drop MPG for 60mph to 75mph?

3) Will putting premium feul effect the car's performance (positively) After hours of research I get answers that go both ways!!! EPA.gov says it won't do anything and might even reduce gas mileage. Where several sources who I wouldn't deem reliable says your MPG goes up as the octane goes up

4) Will installing a K$N air filter on my LX help or do little -- considering it's carburated I can't see it would hurt anything, but i also can't see it helping either


Okay, I know I know, it's going to come down to trial an error.. I'm going to take a road trip at the end of the month and maybe I can confirm one of the questions. I only know that the EPA for an 88 LX is 30MPG highway and 20 city, well I usually get 25 city so I'm crossing my finger that i'll get 35 highway! haha

until further info comes up... peace gents

[OptimusPrimeSr]

Alright so here's the deal. I have an 88 LX that is completely stock.

With increasing gas prices my dreams of modifying my accord have pretty much gone down the drain, (though exhuast will probably be done regardless). I have a few question that hopefully some one will be able to answer. After hours of research online I basically come up witht the same junks, but i like to hear other people's suggestions.

1) What is the MPG other drivers get --- mine is on abverage 25mpg but i've never taken it on a road trip to find out what it would be.

2) speaking of road trips, does anyone know if this car will significantly drop MPG for 60mph to 75mph?

3) Will putting premium feul effect the car's performance (positively) After hours of research I get answers that go both ways!!! EPA.gov says it won't do anything and might even reduce gas mileage. Where several sources who I wouldn't deem reliable says your MPG goes up as the octane goes up

4) Will installing a K$N air filter on my LX help or do little -- considering it's carburated I can't see it would hurt anything, but i also can't see it helping either


Okay, I know I know, it's going to come down to trial an error.. I'm going to take a road trip at the end of the month and maybe I can confirm one of the questions. I only know that the EPA for an 88 LX is 30MPG highway and 20 city, well I usually get 25 city so I'm crossing my finger that i'll get 35 highway! haha

until further info comes up... peace gents

my 87lx gets about 27ish city and 33ish highway (new engine with 10k miles on it)

[Ichiban]

My understanding is that with our cars, fuel mileage will go down with a higher octane fuel, as higher octane fuels have less energy per litre than lower octane fuels. However with a modern car equipped with a knock sensor, it may push the timing ahead to take advantage of the higher octane fuel, and increase efficiency, and thus mileage. I've always said that you should run the lowest octane fuel possible without encountering detonation and pinging, for reasons of power and efficiency. It's also cheaper!

[russiankid]

I get about 35-37mpg on the highway keeping it under 75mph. City, I usually get 24mpg.

[2oodoor]

different vehicles will produce varying results using premium fuel

funny thing about these cars is you can modify them and as long as you stay out of the gas pedal enjoying those mods, you will not suffer much mpg but who is going to come up with an arguement against that since I doubt anyone here could truthfully say they don't let her rip at least twice or more during a tankfull of gas. I get a consistent 29 mpg driving a commute with mixed interstate and city driving. 35-40 mpg on the highway at 60-75 mph

[Civic Accord Honda]

i dont have a working cluster anymore but i was getting close to 40 highway once but most the time i got 20-25 and when my o2sesnors went out i got 8-12XD

[LxAcc510]

My understanding is that with our cars, fuel mileage will go down with a higher octane fuel, as higher octane fuels have less energy per litre than lower octane fuels. However with a modern car equipped with a knock sensor, it may push the timing ahead to take advantage of the higher octane fuel, and increase efficiency, and thus mileage. I've always said that you should run the lowest octane fuel possible without encountering detonation and pinging, for reasons of power and efficiency. It's also cheaper!


I was once told higher octane fuels burn slower, therefore giving higher MPG?

Am i missing something here?

[LxAcc510]

I get about 35-37mpg on the highway keeping it under 75mph. City, I usually get 24mpg.

How the hell did you get 35-37?

Most I've ever had was 34. But I'd always refill wen my tank is at like 1/4.


Are you driving stick? What octane are u using?

[tenchimuyo93]

im getting about 28ish city, and that with my lead foot all the way to 45ish. but then again im pretty well stock also.



the horsepower numbers can work for you to, long as you dont have a extremly high HP rating that can help your gas milage {if you get the low end toruqe that comes with it} cause with more power comes less time your on the gas hard to get to speed, and less you have to push the pedal to reach the same speed as a lower powered car of same weight {with certain variables dismissed}. long as the foot doesnt try to touch the radiator it wont bite ya in the end.

[MessyHonda]

I was once told higher octane fuels burn slower, therefore giving higher MPG?

Am i missing something here?



the higher the octane the harder is to ignite...this is for like performance cars that dont want to detonate. the lower the octane the easier its to burn. i put 87 in my carb and i get around 30mpg so like 340-380 per tank

[Hauntd ca3]

i dont believe that the octane rating is going to make stuff all diif to the mpg that you get.
is more to do with the way you drive and the terrain than anything.
and the state of tune of your car.

[snoopyloopy]

i've averaged about 29 over my ownership of the car. i don't know the previous history, but it has 263,xxx miles on it and still runs strong and on what i think is the original powertrain (no rebuild). i use premium in my car bc i have noticed a difference in mileage with premium vs. regular (about 4-5 mpg). if gas was $1-$2, i'd use regular. but with gas at $4.50+, i go farther on a tank of premium than on a tank of regular and on a 12 gallon fill-up, the ~$2.50 i save won't buy enough of a fraction of a gallon of regular to make up the difference on a tank between premium and regular.

[Ichiban]

i've averaged about 29 over my ownership of the car. i don't know the previous history, but it has 263,xxx miles on it and still runs strong and on what i think is the original powertrain (no rebuild). i use premium in my car bc i have noticed a difference in mileage with premium vs. regular (about 4-5 mpg). if gas was $1-$2, i'd use regular. but with gas at $4.50+, i go farther on a tank of premium than on a tank of regular and on a 12 gallon fill-up, the ~$2.50 i save won't buy enough of a fraction of a gallon of regular to make up the difference on a tank between premium and regular.

I'm wondering how you make better mileage on premium than regular? By rights, a tank of regular should drive you farther, as it has more energy, being a blend of the lower ends of the petroleums that make up gasoline (ie more oily, for lack of a better term). While it is a given fact that higher octane (or lighter ends of the petroleum/fuel spectrum, more "gassy") resist detonation well under high boost or compression, but produce far less energy per volume unit burned. I almost have memorized a car craft article where they converted a carb to run on E-85 (105 octane equivalent) and had to size the jets up by almost 30%. Look at propane with an extremely high octane rating. It requires an engine up in the 14:1 compression area to make any power. It also vaporises very easily. By comparison, Diesel fuel, which is very oily and heavy, detonates so easily that that is the very principle behind diesel engine operation. It also has several times the energy per litre as gasoline.

On the other side of the argument, I'm thinking that the high octane fuels atomize more easily, producing more power and efficiency. Could it be that in an older, out of tune engine, that high octane fuels simply produce a better mix of air and fuel, increasing efficiency?

In reality, higher octane SHOULD produce less miles per tank. Does it?

[DBMaster]

I've driven mine since it was new. Before the gasoline was "reformulated" in 1995 (to combat air pollution) I was getting 29 city and 32 highway. At one point I even got 35 out of it, but that was with a tailwind all the way and keeping it below 70. After the gas became "cleaner" I dropped to 26 city and 30-31 highway. So much for what they said in 1995, "the reformulation should only result in a 3-4% loss of fuel economy." In my case it was pretty near 10%.

[paul]

I commute into the NYC & 5-boroughs / through traffic on the LIE, getting 33 - 39mpg, probably a result of good driving habits and a factory-freak car.

Always used 97oct, keep tire inflated in their upper ranges of psi, partial throttle & shifts @ less than 2.5k rpm, use steady throttle load on hills (e.g. 70+ down the hill, 55 going up the other side), rarely use the AC or c.control, plugs gapped to owner's manual specs (not the ngk new specs)...

[84Accord]

my 84 lx gets about 26 in the city if driving hard. about 28 if driving easy.

and about 33-34 highway

with 24x,xxx miles on it

[Hans]

I drive every once in a while between cookeville and nashville doin about 85-90mph average ( I know to high!) but I still average bout 30-31mpg at that speed, no joke. I calculate it everytime I fill up after gettin back from the round trip, adjusting for in-town drivin puts me at my current figure. So if I slow down to like 65 I'll get like 37mpg or so?

[chowder]

my carbed stock 5-speed hatch is close to 28 city and definately 30+ mpg highway. and i was forced to put 91 octane fuel in my car (i was on empty and the station was out of 87-89 octane) and performance didn't change a bit. and do think the fuel economy did go down slightly. either way you shouldnt run your car on 91 if its not required (just too expensive) and youre tiny little 4-banger with live with 87.

[chowder]

OH and in addition, if you really want fuel economy with power, go for a custom e85 conversion. i would say good luck finding gas. i like the thought of it, i mean for one e85 is 105 octane. the fuel burns cooler and keeps the engine cooler which allows it to push more power per part (whatever that ratio may be). also the emissions are lower. but there some other atmospheric problems it poses. but anyways its a good concept in theory but good luck finding fuel, haha.

[Zwolfe]

36 averaged 41 highway, auto, 270k miles.

All windows closed,
A/C off,
moonroof open when driving through slow speed zones (small towns etc)
5 MPH max over speed limit (except for when I want to get around some idiot),
PP 5w30 & PureONE filters,
Hollow cat and pacesetter catback exhaust, H&R springs (decreased drag?).
Stock spec H-rated tires & OEM 14" alloys.

Have not changed the air filter in years (can still see sunlight through it) and overdue for an oil change.

I never touch the brakes unless I have to. I will downshift the auto at 45 MPH and again at 25 MPH. Makes a cool exhaust gurgling note anyway.

[johndej]

i just drove 600 miles on a tank and a 1/2 putting me right around 33 mpg (harrisonburg, va - outer banks, nc and back). don't have a workin odometer but map quest called it 300 miles one way. that was rollin 70ish with windows down the whole time, plus a little time stuck in traffic around richmond. car is completely stock.

[2ndGenGuy]

36 - 41 seems REALLY high if you ask me... Especially in an automatic, but anything's possible I guess :dunno:

[DBMaster]

I think I see a common misconception here. Higher octane gives your LOWER mpg's, not higher. If you managed to convert one of these cars to E85 you would cut your fuel economy nearly 30%. Thanks to some very effective oil company marketing over the years we all started thinking that premium fuel was better for our cars. Well, it's not. The best fuel for your car is the lowest octane level that will not cause the engine to knock and ping. Higher octane indicates resistance to detonation, meaning resistance to burning. The higher the octane you get when you don't need it the more unburned gasoline goes out your tailpipe. I am sure that there is someone here who can explain the excruciating detail more accurately than I can. My car has 9.3:1 compression. When it was new it needed mid-grade (89 octane) to avoid knocking. As they reformulated the gas and the car got older I was able to change to regular (87 octane) with no knocking. Even new cars that say they require premium fuel really don't because the knock sensor will provide input to adjust the timing to eliminate knocks. What happens in those cases is you lose a small amount of horsepower, but you do not really hurt your fuel economy. That's all I should say on this topic because it gets very emotional for people who think they are doing their car "a favor" by "giving" it high end gas. Really, all you are doing is improving the bottom line of some oil company.

BTW, my window sticker says 22/28 for the EPA fuel economy rating. I always get about 3 mpg better than that. What I think is criminal is that car manufacturers are advertising highway mileage on their commericals. Very few people will see those numbers on a regular basis and what's worse is that a lot of those cars have city numbers that are MUCH lower than the highway numbers. If you really want to know you need something like Consumer Reports' "observed MPG" from combined driving which is what most of us do. If any of you are really getting upper 30's fuel economy you must be going downhill with a tailwind. :)

[johndej]

yeah, i think they test cars at like 50 - 55 mph as their "high way" test and run the cars on something like a treadmill hooked up to shit to get those figures anyway. i also hate commercials where they've got like "we make 4 cars that get over 30 mpg on the high way", like thats a big accomplishment. they should bump it up so cars get like 40 and then brag.

on the octane note, DBM is right, it doesn't make your car get better millage. only time i've ever gotten high end gas was when i got like 1/3 a tank of the texaco w/ techron and ran some stp fuel system cleaner. it seemed like everything ran a little better, but not too much of a diff. as part of a chemistry class i took, we also tested gasoline various samples in a GC-mass spec. all the brands ended up comin out pretty much the exact same so don't worry about who makes "better" gas cause there really no diff.

[2oodoor]

yes something is not right when you can get 10-15 mpg with a sevanties era hoggin carburated breaker points ignition and high rev final drive ratio THEN you take an even smaller displacement V8 in an equal size vehicle with electronic throttles, overdrive tranny ratio, fuel injection, all this technology .. and only pick up 2-3 mpg... They must think we are stupid.

[DBMaster]

Roodoo, that would be because Americans like big, honkin' gas guzzlers. When gas was cheaper they couldn't make enough big SUV's and trucks to meet demand. Someone once told me that just because we can afford to use more than our share of the Earth's resources doesn't mean that we SHOULD. I agree. I have noticed that due to the addition of reinforcements and other safety features the curb weights of modern cars are often heavier than old ones. I had a 1972 Pontiac Catalina as my first car. It was a 4,300lb beast. Nowadays a mid size SUV weighs more than that. I believe a 4WD Ford Explorer tops the scales at over 4,500lb. So, you can make the engines more efficient and get similar horsepower with a smaller block, but you are still hauling around more weight.