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So I purchased a 2008 Civic EX automatic a few days ago to replace the 98 Chevy Lumina I had been driving for a few years. The Lumina was killing me on gas so naturally one of the main selling points of the civic for me was the reputation for being great on gas. Unfortunately I seem to be getting nowhere near what I expected. I know that you should never expect to get the manufacturer rated mpg but 16 mpg vs the reported 26 is a massive difference. I took the car in to my family mechanic and he said it drove great and that no codes came up but im not sure if he really got in there and checked everything. I don't know much about cars but i ddefinitely think there has to be something wrong. I know the top answer is gonna be that it's my driving style but i am a very careful driver and don't ever accelerate above 4k rpm. Also i should mention this is 100% city.

 
Rep Power: 187

A few things we need to know...

Firstly, are you actually tracking your mileage, by recording the exact miles between fill-ups and exactly how many gallons you are putting in it, every time?

I think if you do that you will find that you are much closer to 25 or 30 than you think, which actually would be within my expectations for all city, especially with a lot of stop and go.

My 2006 will get about 30 in the city, if I do everything I can to keep it there, if I lax or get a little pedal happy it quickly drops to 25 or so.

Remember it's a small engine, it's gonna take quite a bit longer to speed up, a lot of people drive these cars and don't understand how it works...

For the best mileage when you accelerate you should keep it around 1500-2000 RPM during acceleration.

Remember that it has a 13 gallon tank, but to actually get 13 gallons in it you would have to run the thing BONE dry, when I only have 2 sections lit and the light is on in my 2006 I still can barely get 11 gallons in it.

go to fuelly.com , try signing up for it and track your mileage before you assume a problem.

Also, using good gas can make a big difference, google Top Tier Gasoline. When I switched from wawa gas to shell gas I jumped about 3 MPG after a few weeks.

 
Rep Power: 518

Stop and go driving kills gas mileage. Period.

Any time you are not moving, that engine is burning fuel and mileage numbers are dropping.

Get that car out on a highway and drive no faster than 55 for a few hours....with no stops.
That's how I managed to get 53.7 MPG showing on my average mileage display..



My own car is rated at 28 city (I think) and the only way I can hit that is to go long stretches at 45-50 MPH (1-3 miles between stoplights). If I was ALL stoplight to stoplight a block at a time, I'd probably be where you are at now.

 
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you are right about the answers you will get (driving habits bla bla bla). I too have similar problem. I own two civics. 2002 EX and 2006 Ex. the 2006 gives me crappy mileage 18mpg while the 2002 gives me 26mpg. both cars are driven in the same manner by me! these are all short trips 5 miles on average. I have done the following to the 2006: ngk plugs, air filter, Thermostat(honda),trans fluid(honda),engine oil(proper viscosity and level per manual), alingment front and rear, proper air in tires, checked for dragging brakes, upstream air fuel ratio sensor(although no code was being given). not one of these has fixed the problem. I am considering checking the valve clearance but they are not making any noise. I hope that this gives you some hope, i will continue to try and find the problem.

 
Rep Power: 142

My 06 EX regularly gets 27 - 29 combined MPG (30% city & 70% hwy) while driving it fairly aggressively, 70MPH hwy, regularly winding it out to 3000-3500 RPMs while accelerating in town. These are measured MPGs done on each tank full. I keep the car well maintained. It has a low restriction intake and exhaust which helps power & mileage. Tire pressure is a tire mfgr max pressure. Maybe its your oxygen sensor. Use the trip meter and keep your gas receipts.

 
Rep Power: 187

Yeah, this all comes down to the fact that you can't begin to diagnose a fuel efficiency problem, until you have medium-long term data entered accurately each time you fill up.

My 2006 I tried on several tanks to get the lowest mileage I could, in the winter with a lot of letting it idle in the driveway.

I could only manage to get it down to about 28 mpg.

Check out my fuelly:

http://www.fuelly.com/driver/jordan1794

 
Rep Power: 518

My daily commute of 5.6 miles: Gas mileage dropped like a rock since the cold snap.
I was getting 28-29, now it's dropped to 24.

 
Rep Power: 187

You have the remote start though, when you have to go out to start the car it makes you less likely to let it warm up if its not too terribly cold lol.

Just hop in and get it over with.

 
Rep Power: 518

I don't normally use my remote start until the temp is down in the single digits (*F) or less. I've used it a total of one time so far this season.

And yeah, it sure can suck a lot of gas mileage out of a tank.