Power VS. Gas Mileage Tolerance

I was thinking about this the other day. What is your gas mileage vs. power tolerance? My Civic makes decent power, but it gets great gas mileage. I've always had a soft spot for the Pontiac G8 GT. I'm considering buying one in a year or so if I get rid of my Civic. I love rwd LS V8 sedans. 355 horsepower would be nice, but I'm wrestling with the 17 mpg city / 25 mpg highway rating. My Civic is likely a mid to high 14 second quarter mile car. The G8 GT is a mid to high 13 second quarter mile car. Would you sacrifice fuel economy for more power and speed? Keep in mind I'm comparing two wildly different cars, but they are two cars I like.

Do whatever make you happy. If driving around a big V8 make your day better. do it.

For me, Whatever you get will be easily smoked by the upcoming electric/hybrid or turbo cars..I just got smoked by a 2016+ Tahoe this morning. Those upcoming electric truck will be stupid fast too.

Here in Socal, 32+ mpg honestly make me happy everytime I fuel up

One of the main reasons I just traded from a STI to my Si sedan was gas mileage. The STI was making about 340hp but getting 19mpg.

For me, I came to realize the only way I could really balance the power/gas mileage goals is to have 2 cars. Don't have the garage space or $$$ for that now, but for example, I could've kept my STI and bought a 90s Civic for $5k that gets great mileage.

If I could afford it, my ideal setup would be to keep my Civic Si as a daily commuter and also have a newer model Mustang GT with a blower running low 11's

If you want the V8, go for it. Just make sure to have lots of money for gas and insurance. For me, I'll keep my tuned civic that does the 1/4 mile in the low 14's and still get 40 mpg

Op, you might consider getting a Ktuner from TSP with their included Stage 1 tune. It will give you a lot more power. Of course it is not a V8 but it will make you forget about the V8. Of course power is fuel, but you will still get fairly good milage. I have a Si with Flex Fuel and TSP Stage 2 tune. I still get 30 mpg with mixed hwy/city driving. A guy on facebook did a 12.6 in the 1/4 with my mods with slicks and the stock clutch.

I think it depends what your purposes are for. If you intend to have one car only, and it's a daily driver, commuter, etc. I would keep the civic and it's great mpg. Unless you can afford to buy it as a secondary car, then you can pretty much get anything within budget.

That's the issue I dealt with for so long, had 2 cars. One DD, and the second as a weekend/toy car. Then decided to downsize to just 1 main vehicle, and by doing so I had to make a sacrifice. Choose either a low hp car with good mpg, or a moderate powered car with lower mpg. I had to choose the first. I ended up going through a handful of cars, but as of yesterday I purchased a 16' civic coupe 2.0NA, best choice I made!

10GenPearlSi said:

Op, you might consider getting a Ktuner from TSP with their included Stage 1 tune. It will give you a lot more power. Of course it is not a V8 but it will make you forget about the V8. Of course power is fuel, but you will still get fairly good milage. I have a Si with Flex Fuel and TSP Stage 2 tune. I still get 30 mpg with mixed hwy/city driving. A guy on facebook did a 12.6 in the 1/4 with my mods with slicks and the stock clutch.

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As you can see in my signature I have a King Motorsports Hondata tune. I'm quite happy with the combination of power and fuel economy from the tune. I just dream of big V8 sedans sometimes...especially when I hear them. The more I contemplate it the more I think my car is a great combination of performance and economy.

imho, power vs fuel economy is ruled only by wallet. I'd love a big honking V8.. till I get gas and it costs me $60+ (20gal @ $3/gal) to fill up. Suddenly, the $35 for the Si makes a lot more sense.

Checking a site like this one www.fueleconomy.gov
and in it I compare a Chevy SS from 2016 (Essentially a Pontiac G8 GT) and a 2018 Civic SI.

The Chevy would cost, for fuel alone, estimated on my driving style, $2600/yr vs the Si's $1400/yr.

We can all justify that cant we? $1200/yr more.. $100/mo more.. only $23/week more.. Give up starbucks.. get a V8

Then again, $1200/yr more x 8 years = $9,600 more, just in gas.

I kept my last car 12.5 years.. so at that rate.. the Si would save me $15,000 in fuel costs alone. Somehow, it really does ad up!