Push the gas pedal down.

 

30 mpg in the city? yeah good luck with that

 

Accelerate very slowly... painfully slowly in some cases... use brakes less than you're used to; you can do this by anticipating traffic slowing ahead and decelerating or taking it out of gear.. shift earlier than 3.5k rpms... in stop and go traffic, try not to stop--just leave a larger space than you're used to in front of your car and move very slowly. Don't exceed 60 mph on the highway.

Google "hypermiling" and you'll get more tips; some Accord owners have reported 50mpg+ (non-hybrid) by using these techniques. We may not see 50 mpg but i'm sure the S2k can do pretty well... but it takes the joy out of driving this machine.

 

Cold-air intake and test-pipe if you're a big highway driver.

 

Not true about the acceleration thing - small throttle openings present a huge airflow restriction, making the engine work much harder than it would otherwise just to draw in air.

You're right about the slowing down part, though - using the brakes turns a portion of your kinetic energy into heat, and you need to combust more gas to get back up to speed. On the other hand if you can maintain a constant velocity, your only fuel expenditure is to overcome the normal frictions of everyday driving which you have to contend with anyway, rather than worry about overcoming your car's inertia. (That's why traveling at 70mph on the Interstate uses much less gas per mile than driving in the city with all its traffic lights and such.)

 

i get around 27 - 28 mpg on an average fill up, thats with mixed driving, if i hammer on it i get around 22 - 25. i still take curves fast with the mixed driving and i take the expressway for 5 miles back and forth to work 4 days out of the week and i average probably 75, speed limit is 65. but i think mine gets great milage for what it is.

 

I only drive downhill in neutral on a road with no lights and no traffic and I average 97 mpg.

 

Smooth, gentle control inputs.

Leave large gaps with traffic in front of you.

Coast to slow down rather than using brakes whenever possible.

Keep tires inflated properly.

Use downhills to accelerate.

Scrub a few mph on the uphills rather than maintaining speed.

Leave the top up with the windows closed.

Never run the A/C.

Shift at 3500 rpm with AP2.

Use 89 octane gas.

Never exceed 55 mph.

Coast downhills with the transmission in neutral and the engine at idle.

Move to Kansas.


Not sure why you'd want to do any of the above with an S2000 but.....enjoy your fuel efficiency.

 

I have had my S for a little over two years and I have no problem maintaining speed at 40 in sixth. In fact I can accelerate from 30 in sixth without lugging the motor. Of course that may be a bit excessive. If the speed limit is 35, you can easily maintain 40 in sixth without any trouble. Besides our powerband doesn't start until 6000 RPM.

In my 29 months of ownership I have been averaging 26.5 mpg. Including autocrossing, some track days, and plenty of VTEC and spirited driving, also I let the motor warm up in the winter. Large throttle openings and short shifting, leaving plenty of space, not stopping for redlights but coasting till they turn green, staying off the brakes in general, accelerating on downhills, deceleration on uphills, and maintaining speed in the corners are all things that I do in normal driving.

 

Getting good gas mileage (28+ mpg DD in my case) is pretty easy. Just drive the car like you would any small four cylinder economy car. Instead of looking at the tach for shift points, shift by the sound of the engine like you do with most any small car. Honda purposefully has designed the s2000 with the variable cam timing so that it is generally a typical small four cylinder car at "normal" operating RPM. Drive it as such and you should get good mileage. Those that can't get decent mileage have either gotten their cars out of tune and need to visit the dealer, or drive the cars some what like chimpanzees on speed.