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Got to drive a new Civi Si yesterday

AMCRambler

AMCRambler

Diamond Member
My friend bought a new car and stopped over to let me check it out yesterday. He picked up a 2010 Honda Civic Si. I never had an opportunity to drive one of the older Civic Si so I have no basis for comparison but it's a fun little car.

We took it to the supermarket to buy shit to make for dinner and he let me drive it on the way home. Compared with my GTO everything felt so small and light. The shifter and knob are tiny, the throws are like flipping a light switch and the clutch is light too. One of the weirdest things for me was the accelerator pedal. I think it's a drive by wire accelerator pedal, so when you push it there's not very much resistance and it only travels about an inch or 2 and you're at full throttle.

Other than the odd feeling I was driving a little toy car with all the small components and light resistance the car runs and handles great. In corners it feels like it's on rails, the steering is light and sensitive and the suspension keeps the car feeling planted without too harsh a ride.

The engine is real revvy with an 8,000 rpm red line. The torque band is up around 4-5k so you gotta drive it like you're floggin' it when you want to move which is kinda fun.

Overall it's a nice little car.
 
I love the feel of a Honda Manual, I've never felt anything come close to the feel, throw distance and accuracy.

There is also something so alluring about keeping the engine above 5k to keep it in the powerband.

The only criticism I have would be the on/off toggle switch of the accelerator pedal. For such a low torque car, I guess that is necessary but I prefer linear feel.
 
The only thing I liked about the car was the smooth transmission. Other than that it had no torque and felt gutless and the steering was too light for me.
 
AMCRambler said:
What do you normally drive?
Click to expand...

He's got a Neon SRT-4, which stock is fast (fastest FF ever IIRC, except compared to Cobalt SS on twisty tracks), but his car is far from stock.

The real gem Civic Si's were the 3g and 4g Si's from '92-'00. They, like the Integra Type-R vs. the RSX-S, are a lot more 'pure' classic lightweight Honda fun. Better suspension as well.
 
amdhunter said:
But the interior quality is crap.
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It's not really anything bad, it's just not special. It's purely average for the compact segment. The Mazda3 and Golf are the only things that come to mind that have better interiors, and the upper trim Fortes. The Focus, Cobalt, Sentra, Corolla, Caliber (puke), Accent, etc all have about the same or worse interior quality. Perhaps the new Cruze will change that, ditto the upcoming global Focus.
 
Arkaign said:
It's not really anything bad, it's just not special. It's purely average for the compact segment. The Mazda3 and Golf are the only things that come to mind that have better interiors, and the upper trim Fortes. The Focus, Cobalt, Sentra, Corolla, Caliber (puke), Accent, etc all have about the same or worse interior quality. Perhaps the new Cruze will change that, ditto the upcoming global Focus.
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No, it's crap. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30TIAlD5fFE
It took 8 months to fix -- and it was a recall item.

The entire seat frame broke off from the bottom of the car, the roof rattled, the doors rattled, rear deck broke, the motor mounts broke 2x in 5 months and the transmission died at 14000 miles. That car was a piece of shit...lol
 
amdhunter said:
No, it's crap. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30TIAlD5fFE
It took 8 months to fix -- and it was a recall item.

The entire seat frame broke off from the bottom of the car, the roof rattled, the doors rattled, rear deck broke, the motor mounts broke 2x in 5 months and the transmission died at 14000 miles. That car was a piece of shit...lol
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Hah what the hell, that one must be a total lemon. I've known a handful of people with the '06+ Civics, and have never seen or heard of any problems with them.
 
The classic high-strung Honda tune doesn't seem to make sense until you flog one around a twisty open road. You quickly learn to keep the revs up high and suddenly the engines feel very responsive and they make fantastic noises doing it. They don't get strained or harsh or run out of steam at redline like most other engines, so it becomes a real joy to keep them on the boil. The harder you push them, the harder they pull and the more they seem to beg for more.
 
Arkaign said:
Hah what the hell, that one must be a total lemon. I've known a handful of people with the '06+ Civics, and have never seen or heard of any problems with them.
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lol, go to 8thCivic and search for the term "rattle." You'd get an entire forum worth of hits. Maybe they fixed it by now, but the first series of Civic's were carbage.
 
amdhunter said:
lol, go to 8thCivic and search for the term "rattle." You'd get an entire forum worth of hits. Maybe they fixed it by now, but the first series of Civic's were carbage.
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You can find heaps of problems with any car :

http://www.rx8club.com/forumdisplay.php?f=95

😛

The real surprise would be if you could google/forum search a car that didn't come up with heaps of problems.

M3 : http://www.m3forum.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000932.html

Vette : http://www.z06vette.com/forums/f5/engine-failure-68524/

Camry : http://forums.automobilemag.com/70/...ple-warning-lights-and-engine-fail/index.html

You name a car, I can find bazillions of posts about problems from it, from relatively benign to total engine failure.
 
thomsbrain said:
The classic high-strung Honda tune doesn't seem to make sense until you flog one around a twisty open road. You quickly learn to keep the revs up high and suddenly the engines feel very responsive and they make fantastic noises doing it. They don't get strained or harsh or run out of steam at redline like most other engines, so it becomes a real joy to keep them on the boil. The harder you push them, the harder they pull and the more they seem to beg for more.
Click to expand...

Instead of having power in the midrange that falls off, the K20's just dont have any midrange power, that's why it doesn't feel like it drops off lol.

i'd love to drive a K24 swapped civic though.
 
Arkaign said:
You can find heaps of problems with any car :

http://www.rx8club.com/forumdisplay.php?f=95

😛

The real surprise would be if you could google/forum search a car that didn't come up with heaps of problems.

M3 : http://www.m3forum.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000932.html

Vette : http://www.z06vette.com/forums/f5/engine-failure-68524/

Camry : http://forums.automobilemag.com/70/...ple-warning-lights-and-engine-fail/index.html

You name a car, I can find bazillions of posts about problems from it, from relatively benign to total engine failure.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but my Civic has a special place in my heart. It was a serious love/hate relationship with that damn car. lol
 
thomsbrain said:
They don't get strained or harsh or run out of steam at redline like most other engines, <snip> The harder you push them, the harder they pull and the more they seem to beg for more.
Click to expand...

Linear pull that never stops... that's pretty much the defacto characteristic of most any DOHC engine. It's a shame that you have to let off in the red to shift when it's still pulling hard.
 
Last edited:
Viperoni said:
Instead of having power in the midrange that falls off, the K20's just dont have any midrange power, that's why it doesn't feel like it drops off lol.

i'd love to drive a K24 swapped civic though.
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A simple HONDATA ecu flash will fix that. The stock ECU is way too tame in mid-range. Still, ECU flash alone can't dramatically change the characteristics of the engine. My TSX with the flash is quite a different animal from stock TSX.
 
I hated the Si when i drove it, gutless wonder and vague steering. My chipped GTI blew the doors of it both handling and performance wise.
 
exdeath said:
Linear pull that never stops... that's pretty much the defacto characteristic of most any DOHC engine. It's a shame that you have to let off in the red to shift when it's still pulling hard.
Click to expand...


My VR6-powered GTI was the first DOHC car I'd ever driven hard. I absolutely love the way the powerband feels.
 
Arkaign said:
He's got a Neon SRT-4, which stock is fast (fastest FF ever IIRC, except compared to Cobalt SS on twisty tracks), but his car is far from stock.

The real gem Civic Si's were the 3g and 4g Si's from '92-'00. They, like the Integra Type-R vs. the RSX-S, are a lot more 'pure' classic lightweight Honda fun. Better suspension as well.
Click to expand...

i think the fastest FF title would go to mazdaspeed3
srt4 is still a wicked fast little car.
 
FF title now belongs to the caliber srt i believe.
everyone has stepped up, mazda left the engine unchanged for the 2010 model and
increased weight, while i like the interior, i still prefer the exterior of my 08 😀
 
stag3 said:
FF title now belongs to the caliber srt i believe.
everyone has stepped up, mazda left the engine unchanged for the 2010 model and
increased weight, while i like the interior, i still prefer the exterior of my 08 😀
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They should have went to the new 2.5L motor with a new turbo for the speed3, but they just kept the old 2.3 🙁
 
The new civics are alright, my dad has one and its ok, it is fun to drive. But I still prefer throwing my 88 Si CRX around the corners though, its alot lighter and has a heavily modified/tight suspension.
 
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