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1.no full throttle starts within x miles
2. vary your speed within that same x mile period (do not drive at a constant speed)
3. no full tilt stops to seat the brakes.
Aside from those few things you may drive fairly normally
Yes the factory fill oil can stay in until the first scheduled oil change. And no you will not see any great change in fuel economy after xxxx thousand miles.
But as it applies to Honda Civic's, the fourth item, as I have said in another post, the oem made a pretty big deal about leaving in the oem fill. I happen to know why. So the question goes out to the 2005, 2006, and 2007 owners, what does YOUR oem owners' manual's say? Or why would you care? I have paraphrased what mine says.
But ultimately the break in procedures are design for is longer term reliability, durablity. Someone who will not keep the car past 3 years/36,000 miles is probably not going to care what someone who wants to go 250,000 to 300,000 miles will probably want to do.
I assume by that you mean do these common sense rules constitute a break-in of sorts. If so, yes they do but I am old enough to remember when a new vehicle break-in rules and regulations took up more than a page in the owners book. It went something like this..
For the first 500 miles do not exceed 35 mpg
For mileage between 500-1000 miles speeds between 35-45 are permissible.
For mileage between 100-1200 brief bursts of speed up to 55 mph are permissible.....etc etc. up to maybe two or three thousand miles.
Then there were the oil change intervals during break-in.. change within the first 500 after 1200 etc etc.
Then there were all the lube points to be relubed at specific intervals during and after break-in.
Then there was resetting of the timing, checking the plug gap and on and on. There was a deliberate ritual during break-in in that time. By comparison manufacturers now have mere suggestions. Of course ignoring or severely cheating on the break-in proceedure back then usually produced negative results fairly soon...increased oil consumption and worse. Now with tighter engine tolerances, improved metalurgy, better oil..well, better everything you can pretty much drive normally (within reason) and the vehicle will not suffer any bad results. Anyhow, I may be off the path. I agree with you however that whatever "break-in" is used it does not seem to result in significantly better fuel economy..at least on the Civic. I have heard that Hyundai products will get better with miles though.
Some others are indeed specific and probably still apply today, however there has been a MAJOR dumbing down of the instructions (for obvious and not so obvious reasons).
I'm going to listen to my car and let the oil life monitor do its job as designed. Afterall, that's why I bought a Honda in the 1st place...great engineered cars.
The Sandman
40.5
40.1
37.5
38.4
39
38.4
44.7
38
34.6
36.4
35.4
37.4
34.4
35.9
36.7
37
42.5
36.9
37.2
34
36.7
basically my routes have not changed (this is a daily driver/commuter car) except for occasional highway trips (the 44.7 and 42.5 entries). the first two entries were driven over the same routes as most of the others.
best as I can figure there are a lot more intangible factors that influence mileage than the age of the engine.
The Sandman
So if it is left out by somebody making a point, I would either make the correction or apology or read the whole of what is being said and then sculpt the point.
Chevrolet Corvette Z06!! WOO HOO !! Ops, the power plant is assembled in Ontario, Canada. Plugs from Japan, Some model years' forged wheels have actually been from Italy. The upholstery is from the same vendor/s as does Honda's. Some of the sub contracted parts are from who knows really where (not that that is a BAD thing).
Most Honda's are made from recycled American IRON !!??
AKA from American JUNK YARDS !!??
Having been involved in city planning activities and actually helping to put an old mustang plant back to multi level productive use, I can tell you that monies spend locally have an 8-1 multiplier effect.
The rough calculation I did for city driving gave me such a low number that I disregarded it (and actually forgot it). I just did a calculation between two fill-ups.
Of 170 miles driven, I'm sure that at least 80% was on freeways with wide-open traffic.
the true MPG I got: 32.2
Well, considering that the average you are supposed to get in mostly traffic and city is 30 MPG, I don't see the problem...? Remember, that if you sit in traffic not moving for 12 minutes a day on your way to work, you are getting 0 MPG for an hour's worth of idling every week. City EPA MPG numbers assume an average of 20 MPH.
And yes, excessive revving (above 3k RPM) will lower your mileage. Accelerate moderately (making the AT shift under 3k), and you should get EPA numbers or better.
If you sue anyone, you better be suing the EPA, since THEY are the ones that produce the numbers on the sticker, not Honda. You are just wanting to shoot the messenger.
My father is still breaking in his new 2007 Civic EX Sedan Auto, and managed 37.4 MPG on his recent trip to the coast. No, it isn't 40 MPG, but it wasn't strictly interstate, either. He drives about 10 MPH over the limit, so figure an average of 75-80 MPH for the trip - with A/C running (A/C usually knocks fuel economy down by a good 5-10%, at least 2 MPG in a Civic). The southern heat-wave is finally over, so no more A/C use needed for awhile!
Yeah, wake up an buy a Mexican-made Ford!
Nah, I'll keep my Ohio-made Honda.
Last I checked, redline was under 7k. Revving to 7,500 RPM regularly will get you in the shop quickly.
As far as the question you posed - the answer is simple. Why let the transmission shift sooner? Because it improves your mileage. The higher you rev, the more gas you'll burn but the fast you'll accelerate. If you like to wind out the tach often, go for it - but people that drive like so shouldn't expect good mileage.
I'm not trying to be a bad guy - just trying to be kind of rational. People revving regularly to 4,000-6,800 RPM shouldn't expect to get EPA numbers. I drive an Accord I-4 (2006), and while I don't eye the tach constantly, I've noticed that my driving style puts my shifts under 3k RPM probably 90% of the time. That style gets me (gasp) 24 MPG in strictly city driving, and 30 MPG mixed. I've gotten 41 MPG on one very easy trip (alone in the car, no A/C, no downshifting of the Auto required, constant 72 MPH=2,400 RPM). From a 2.4L. Usually, my highway trips yield about 37-39 MPG. If I can do this, I have no trouble believing a Civic can exceed it.
The simple point I'm making - best mileage numbers comes from modest acceleration, with shifting as soon as possible without bogging the engine (if you are in an Automatic, it will do it for you).
I use the car mostly to get to work (5 mile drive no highway). I drove on the highway only twice for about 25 miles. I have turned the A/C on only once for about 10 minutes.
Does it have anything to do this being the fist tank?
It constantly amazes me how many people have no clue how to get EPA mpg yet expect to get it with their aggressive driving. I think because so many are pushing it all the time it makes it seem a normal way of driving these days.
Driving higher speeds cause more drag causing more fuel to be burned as well as the higher rpm factor.
Besides what thegraduate said being a bit steadier with the gas pedal helps and avoiding quick acceleration helps too.
Easy on the gas pedal and slow down. Keep your tires up to correct pressure.
EPA is what a car "CAN" get. Not what it will get.
The Sandman
What was your actual MILEAGE? You should always use the formula :
MILES DRIVEN divided by GALLONS PUMPED
Without knowing how many gallons you used, we don't know if you got 15 MPG or closer to 30 MPG. If you pumped in 10 gallons, then you used 10 gallons over 235 miles = 23.5 mpg.
Another tidbit - dealers are known for not giving you a FULL tank of gas when they give you the car.
Yet another tidbit - driving only 5 miles means your car never gets really warmed up for long, meaning your car is running a little richer (using more gas) until it gets warmed up. Also, with only city driving, and such short trips, I'll be surprised if you ever see over 25 MPG.
The short trips are going to kill your mileage.
May I ask what you drove before you got the Civic? What mileage did you get?
But anyway during a record cold snap (must be all this global warming), winterized fuel, record traffic congestion, massive use of heater and A/C to take the ice and inner fog off the windshield, and battery damand for radio, cd, cell phone recharge, rear defogger, etc. etc., took on 6.9 gal doing 269 miles for a 39 mpg. We get instant start up (20 degrees) with that Mobil One 0w20 synthetic oil. Gee it reminds me that real winter is hard on cars.
(ok 38.985507 mpg
I hope the mileage will improve with the oil swap, but unfortunately, I do 90% city driving which doesn't optimize great mpg's. Am still looking in to swapping out just the 16" steelies for other Honda rims. Found some on Ebay for just the 4 rims so we will see. $-wise, probaly a foolish thing to do, but alloys do make a car look very sweet. Since I plan to keep this car for awhile, it is very tempting!
The Sandman
2nd - 13
3rd - 26
4th - 39
5th - 52
That should keep you pretty sedate in the rev range (with some room for interpreation of course, that 1-2 shift may need to occur a little later if you are loaded or on a hill).
Actually, I have recommended shift points printed in the owner's manual for my 1996 Accord. They are something like:
15, 25, 40, 52.
Hope that helps a little. Sounds like you are doing great without the help!
are very bad and the tight suspension feels like a buckboard
so I dropped the tire pressure to 27 which feels better.
I think it is recommended to be at 32 to squeeze a little more mileage out. As I got older I hate to say it but
I think I prefer posh cars AKA Buick but my brain says think young.
Be safe, and have a good week.
Thegrad
Also, if I am very new to a vehicle or going to run it for a long time, I will study it with one eye on running it in the range and sweet spot that all vehicles have and are designed.
Have a nice MLK Day.
However, all one has to do is read the gobbidy GQQK on the new car sticker (or other data sources) to find there is a HUGE range of mpg. Keep in mind also that the Honda has historically served as a platform for the boy/girl racer set and it is easy to see the wide range of the market that indeed it does serve. Indeed I read in passing that in the UK, the average age of a Civic buyer is 55 years of age!!??
Yes, I have heard in some commentary on one of my favorite automotive TV programs (Top Gear - BBC) that Honda vehicles are more akin to be found at the Retirement Communities there - like a Buick might be here - mainly due to their practicality.
Quite funny, I must say.
So on our Civic, I run the oem owner's manual recommendation for higher speed, i.e., 35 psi (plus) As a comparison to San Diego, this Civic is actually run on THE highway that is cited by transportion experts as one of the WORST highways in the COUNTRY (not just CA)
Personally, having driven a Corolla several times, it was about as exciting to drive as setting my alarm clock. ZzZzZz...
It rode particularly nicely for its size and weight however, and got similar mileage to the Civic.
Just a thought for those of you reading out there who don't like the sporty (read: firm) ride of the Civic.
Actually for us the car/s were for COMMUTE. But for the 4/5 cars I got this down to, they would not deal much with the Corolla vs Civic. Civic also was far cheaper, while a lower priority, much more fun to drive. I actually liked the Mazda 3 series but the emphasis was on MPG potential.