I'll see what FE out of this sweet little Accord Coupe

Looks like I'll make out like a bandit on emissions warranties ...

this car is PZEV certified in CA and 10 other states and the emissions warranty for 52 items is 15 years / 150k miles

things like PCV valve, ignition coils, spark plugs, engine control module, lots of sensors, throttle body, etc...

that's cool.

 

The placard is 32 psi all around and I've got them all at 34. Max is 44. I'll see how much I can get away with while keeping the ride quality decent and not beating up the suspension. Measured tread depths at 200 miles also, will see how that's coming along.

 

Well gosh, I'm really liking the Accord Coupe so far. It has this nice, slightly growly sound to the exhaust that I like. Quiet exhaust though.

I'm totally babying the car, except I did take it up the steepest hill in town up to Cal State Hayward. Went really slow.

I'm trying to hypermile best I can, watch the light and keep momentum. It stays in as high of gear as possible so the RPM's stay quite low on 40 MPH boulevards, like 1500 RPM.

I just hope punks don't mess with it since it's kind of a sporty looking car with black interior,silver ext.

Was getting dark the other night at Cal State Hayward parking lot and caught a 2 teenagers walking right by my car and one stopped facing right at the driver's door, and I believe he was trying to see if it was unlocked.
I was 200 feet away and yelled 'get the F away from my car!'. I need to choose better parking places with more people coming and going, well lit.

I was PO'd though. Oooh I hate people messing with my stuff. They didn't do anything though, caught them in time, they skulked away as I was approaching from a ways off, but mouthed off once from a ways away 'whuh' like punks like to do.

 

Ok, so I burned through 15.05 gallons of gas and ran 394.6 miles for ...

26.22 MPG average. It's an 18.5 gallon tank, so was a good time to gas up.

It was really a mix of highway and city driving, so this thing is spot on the combined FE of 26, the EPA rating.

running 34 PSI all around, 2 over recommended, and pretty light on the pedal.

 

Was anxious to check fuel economy again, so gassed up at 192.4 miles. Rough guess is 65% hwy / 35% city miles.

6.623 gal to refill for 29.05 MPG average

Nealy 1k miles on the car so far. It's a pretty classy act. For sure the smoothest car I've ever driven, but puts out some tire noise on highway which is always mentioned on Accords. Maybe tire brand, maybe not so much insulation around wheel wells, don't know. The quality, design and finish seem quite high and there's nothing else offensive about it. The whole package is blended really well.

It will most likely be the last conventional car I will buy though. There should be many hybrids and plug-ins when ready to buy again which should be a long time from now.

 

Finally got in an all freeway trip with some traffic this weekend. Only 72 miles, but used the same pump on fillups. Came out to 72/1.885 for 38.2 MPG. EPA avg. hwy rating is 33. Pretty good for a conventional. I think I could get under 20 MPG stuck in SF traffic all day

 

Couple interesting notes about this car -

Fuel economy - Average city and 10 ish mile trips on the highway will net about 26 MPG, so it's right on the EPA. I don't have a number for a really long trip, but I saw over 35 MPG from a 80 mile trek one day.

Obviously it doesn't have the 4 door or hatchback convenience, but I haven't been nailed on that one yet. Still have an old truck for hauling things, but at 18 MPG, I don't drive it much.

It's a pleasure to drive. I would say it lives up to all the hype about how well balanced Accords are to drive. It's no sports car, and I have no interest in flinging it around corners, but as a daily driver tooting around town and local highways, it's ace.

It holds tire pressure like I've never seen before. I've got them 3 lbs over at 35 PSI all around. I add maybe 1 psi every two weeks.

I haven't owned many automatic transmission cars but this one is a 5 speed AT. The Prius eCVT seems to be quite a bit slicker than this automatic and maybe all automatics. I don't mind the shifting most of the time, but it likes to stay in the highest gear possible and hold it. This is probably for better fuel economy. What that means is if accelerating slowly onto a freeway, it might feel like the driving train is bogging a little bit. Give more gas and it downshifts. Shifting to 3rd would help I suppose.

I have no idea if I would have been overall more satisfied with getting the 3rd gen Prius. This will most likely be the last conventional car I buy though. I hope there is much more selection of good hybrids and more whenever I go looking again (which should be quite a few years from now).