When most people think of a custom Honda Civic, clear lenses on the tail lamps, a lowered suspension and a big 'ole coffee-can exhaust pipe probably come to mind. When Mike Turner set out to design his own custom Civic, though, the only thing that his vision shared with most others is an esthetically-challenged body kit. In the case of the Aerocivic, the homemade body kit in question extends the nose and tail of the vehicle in an airfoil shape of sorts and adds hinged wheel skirts around the previously exposed tires. As we mentioned the last time we showed you this car, the Aerocivic's owner claims pretty radical fuel economy figures due to his modifications. The video at this link explains that Turner is able to achieve seventy miles per gallon while cruising at highway speeds and using hypermiling techniques. If Turner's estimates are accurate, four-hundred dollars, some elbow grease and a few gawkers questioning your sanity are all that stand between you and a super-economical Aero-car of your very own.

[Source: WCNC, h/t to Darin at Metro MPG]

Hear ye, hear ye! All hail basjoos and his highly-modified "Aerocivic" for proving that it is totally possible to make a 1992 Honda Civic CX get 95 (or more) miles per gallon. How much did our trusty eco-knight toil and spend to achieve this miracle? How 'bout around 250 hours and $400. No one will mistake this for a professional job - or a normal Civic - but did you hear what I said about 95 mpg?

95 mpg is what basjoos gets at speeds between 30 and 65 mph; his efficiency drops when he goes any faster (85 mpg at 70 mph, 65 mpg at 80 mph, 50 mpg at 90 mph, according to his report over at the Ecomodder forums. So, why did basjoos create this, um, highly noticeable vehicle? He's his reasoning:

I started this project after the Katrina-insired gas price runup since I have a long commute. I first learned to drive during the 1970's oil embargo and have been perfecting my hypermiling tenchniques ever since. [...] The end result is a car with such low drag that the results of coastdown testing is linear out to 90mph (it coasts almost as well at 80mph as it does at 50mph). I have to get it over 90mph before I start to feel the wind load from high-speed driving. OEM max speed was 95mph. I have had it up to 100mph with plenty of power remaining at that speed (estimated top speed of about 140mph).

No corner was spared in this aero-upgrade. As you can see in the pictures posted to Ecomodder, everything from the wheel wells to the wiper blades has been spruced up, and more changes are planned. Right now, basjoos estimates, his drag coefficient has dropped from the original 0.34 to 0.17 (besting the super slippery EV1's 0.19, as our tipster Darin pointed out). As another Ecomodder forum user tells basjoos, " I have to give credit to you. Areo moding a civic to the max is not an easy undertaking." No kidding. The results aren't going to win any beauty competitions, but a Civic that approaches 100 mpg is nothing to sneeze at.

[Source: Ecomodder forum, h/t to Darin]