First off, a little background...

I am a self proclaimed "car guy". I generally prefer what seems to be known around here as "anti-hybrid".

I recently traded in my 2001 Lincoln LS V8 (complete with loud exhaust, and ghost flames) for a 2006 Civic Hybrid. While I had the Lincoln, I added an open element air filter and realized a gain of 3 to 4 MPG. Considering that I was getting 22 and it came to 25.5, that is a 15% increase in fuel economy.

So here is the question, if I was able to realize a decent MPG gain with a simple air filter (K&N) swap, what potential effects might the same swap have on the Civic Hybrid?

And now the real technical question... Has anyone been able to find replacement air filters for the HCH II yet? I am about to go out and pull the air box apart on mine and get the proper dimensions for it to see if K&N makes a filter based on the dimensions alone. As it stands, after several hours of searching the web, I cannot even find a factory replacement air filter.

I am NOT trying to make it a hot rod by any stretch of the imaginations, but if we could all get 5% to 15% better MPG by spending $35 on our next air filter instead of $5 would you do it?

Any assistance would be great, otherwise, I will keep searching and let everyone know my findings.

Don't bash me for loving my "anti-hybrids", I want to use what I know about getting HP and apply the same train of thought to pulling the potential out of these little gas savers.