[Grunch]

Basjoos Tells All About His "95 MPG" Aerocivic
By Chuck Squatriglia EmailJanuary 06, 2008 | 12:00:00 PMCategories: Fuel Economy

Boatrebuild15_2 We finally got ahold of basjoos, the guy behind the super fuel-efficient Honda "Aerocivic" we recently told you about, to learn more about the car and answer some questions readers raised in response to the original post.

Basjoos' real name is Mike Turner and he's a 52-year-old electronics technician from North Carolina. He doesn't have a background in automotive engineering and tells us he "mostly just eyeballed" the modifications to his 1992 Honda Civic CX. He was inspired by Phil Knox's aero-modded Toyota pickup and the streamlined German cars of the 1930s.

He bought the car new and started modifying it two years ago when gas prices rose following Hurricane Katrina. He began with the most cost-effective changes, limiting airflow through the grille and installing wheel skirts and smooth hubcaps.

Then came the big stuff.

Turner built a "cheap" version of the boattail before refining the design and materials. He also modified the nose and moved the mirrors inside the doors. Many mods were done in corrugated plastic, then replaced with aluminium once Turner was happy with the results. All told, he's spent about $400. Future plans include something he calls an active grille, which will allow fine tuning air flow to the radiator to minimize drag.

Aerocivic hasn't been in a wind tunnel, but Turner says coastdown tests (using this procedure) show its drag coefficient dropped from 0.34 to 0.17. "It's a ballpark figure," he admits, "but gives me an idea where I stand."

The stock Honda Civic got a combined city/highway fuel economy as high as 43 mpg, according to fueleconomy.org. Turner says basic hypermiling tactics - shutting off the engine at long red lights, coasting downhill in neutral, minimizing braking - raised that to the upper 50s during the summer and high 40s during the winter. Turner claims he now averages around 70 mpg (it's a little lower than that right now because he's breaking in new tires). So what about that 95 mpg figure we cited in our original post? He says:

"The 95 mpg is what I typically get while driving at a constant speed from 30 to 65 mph on a flat road in 80 degree F temperatures with well broken-in tires."

It's worth noting that hypermiling can significantly improve fuel economy even if you aren't as fanatical as Wayne Gerdes, who goes to extreme (if not dangerous) lengths to get 50-plus mpg from his 2005 Honda Accord. Aerodynamic improvements can bring further boosts, particularly at freeway speeds. General Motors says aerodynamic drag accounts for 23 percent of the energy a vehicle consumes, and Ford says simply installing a bed cover on a pickup can improve fuel economy by 7 to 11 percent. (More stats and tips here.)

Turner says Aerocivic is "a joy to drive" and "totally stable at speeds up to 100 mph," although going so fast seems to violate the hypermiler ethos. The car retains its original bumpers, air bag, seat belts and windshield, and although the rear window is Lexan, Turner says "I figure if Lexan is safe enough for NASCAR, it's safe enough for me." He claims the car's nose and tail would collapse in an accident and "simply act as additional crush space." We didn't see anything in North Carolina's motor vehicle code that prohibits the modifications he's made. Turner says he's been stopped four times by police officers "wanting to satisfy their curiosity about the car" and each time he's asked if there's anything unsafe or illegal about the car. There was one thing.His rear license plate was mounted inside the back window. He's since moved it.

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