YACT: Thinking of Buying a Civic SI....

[m2kewl]

i hate the looks of the current generation hatchback. i got the 00 SI and love this car (compared it with the Focus and Celica at the time), light, reliable, and vtec is fun to drive (you need to push it to 5k rpm for it to kick in).

the bad: i wished they put a 6 speed on it. the oem michellins are horrible on snow - went up to VT and it sucked, no grip on ice.

 

[KokomoGST]

Bah, both current gen ones are junk... it is true that their interiors are quite nice, but if you're a DRIVING enthusiast, you don't really care about interior amenities... just the steering feel, supportive seats, and good driving controls... not whether the radio looks nice.

Neon SRT4s will blow the doors off the Si... heck, the Si is pretty much the slowest car in that class and it isn't the best handling either. It doesn't have much going for it other than being a nicely furnished Honda hatchback. Take that comment as it is... could be good or bad.

A 2000 Si is a better deal... heck even a used Prelude or even a vaunted ITR are within reach instead of paying for this slow POS. The "huge aftermarket" for the new Si is pretty much NOTHING. The way Honda built the engine for the new Si did give it noticeably more torque lower in the RPM range than the previous Si... but the old Bseries engines have SOOOOOO much tuning and aftermarket behind them it dwarfs nearly everything else. The new Si engine also doesn't have near the potential as the sister engine in the RSX-S.

The way Honda built the engines meant the RSX engine has the potential that the Si engine doesn't. And short of replacing all the internals and completely changing the head, the Si will remain slow. It doesn't take to boost well either. And you easily throw enough nitrous at it to make it explode. Si as a performance platform is now a complete dud. Move on to something else if you want performance. Going to strut setup with more weight versus a good double wishbone setup and light weight is not good for the cornering performance either.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Angrymarshmello
Oh yea, I believe it's pretty high on the stolen cars list, so insurance might be expensive on it.

It's currently fighting with the Hyundai Tiburon in Canada for the #1 spot. Expect to pay a buttload. My insurance on an 03 Civic LX 4-door is $20 less than the rest of my family (four drivers) combined.

- M4H

 

[focusyn]

Originally posted by: KokomoGST
Bah, both current gen ones are junk... it is true that their interiors are quite nice, but if you're a DRIVING enthusiast, you don't really care about interior amenities... just the steering feel, supportive seats, and good driving controls... not whether the radio looks nice.

Neon SRT4s will blow the doors off the Si... heck, the Si is pretty much the slowest car in that class and it isn't the best handling either. It doesn't have much going for it other than being a nicely furnished Honda hatchback. Take that comment as it is... could be good or bad.

A 2000 Si is a better deal... heck even a used Prelude or even a vaunted ITR are within reach instead of paying for this slow POS. The "huge aftermarket" for the new Si is pretty much NOTHING. The way Honda built the engine for the new Si did give it noticeably more torque lower in the RPM range than the previous Si... but the old Bseries engines have SOOOOOO much tuning and aftermarket behind them it dwarfs nearly everything else. The new Si engine also doesn't have near the potential as the sister engine in the RSX-S.

The way Honda built the engines meant the RSX engine has the potential that the Si engine doesn't. And short of replacing all the internals and completely changing the head, the Si will remain slow. It doesn't take to boost well either. And you easily throw enough nitrous at it to make it explode. Si as a performance platform is now a complete dud. Move on to something else if you want performance. Going to strut setup with more weight versus a good double wishbone setup and light weight is not good for the cornering performance either.

yea, i agree.

if you want a honda that badly i would also recommend going with a rsx or a 2000Si. personally i would rather go german and get a VW GTI if i had to pick a hatchback. (esp. the 20th anniverary edition, although it's a bit more pricey)

 

[azncoffeeboi]

Ic. So what other car would be around 15k?

Would the Mazda Protoge5 be a better choice?

Used cars are out of the question, parents are insistant on that. Just a new car around 15k.


btw, thanks for the info... ill seriously consider it....

YEAH. im going to go now.

 

[NutBucket]

Mazdaspeed Protege. Get a job and make up the extra $5k

 

[azncoffeeboi]

Oh... anybody hree driving the Matrix XRS? Hows that?

 

[Thegonagle]

Sounds good. You might want to take a look at the base Acura RSX also. Similar MSRP (actually about $1000 more), similar mechanically, different body. Of course $15-16K seems like a good price for a Civic Si, and they might not come down very much over at Acura. I'd love to own either of them.

 

[BigSmooth]

Originally posted by: azncoffeeboi
Would the Mazda Protoge5 be a better choice?

I would definitely choose a Protege5 over a Civic Si, myself. Overall the Protege is a lot more practical, and it would still be a fairly fun car to drive. Plus it looks much better IMO.

 

[0roo0roo]

15k? not bad, a few years ago i remember the previous si was more. i remember the ex was 15k alone when i was car shopping.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: BigSmooth

Originally posted by: azncoffeeboi
Would the Mazda Protoge5 be a better choice?

I would definitely choose a Protege5 over a Civic Si, myself. Overall the Protege is a lot more practical, and it would still be a fairly fun car to drive. Plus it looks much better IMO.

The protege 5 is even slower than the already slow SI.

 

[BigSmooth]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: BigSmooth

Originally posted by: azncoffeeboi
Would the Mazda Protoge5 be a better choice?

I would definitely choose a Protege5 over a Civic Si, myself. Overall the Protege is a lot more practical, and it would still be a fairly fun car to drive. Plus it looks much better IMO.

The protege 5 is even slower than the already slow SI.

I didn't say it was fast. I said it would be "fairly fun" to drive (especially with a manual) - because of the handling and steering.

 

[chin311]

hmm hmm, i would say that the SI is a good bargin @ 15k, im not too fond of the styling but its a good car and will be semi-quick...

but i like what someone said earlier about the sentra spec-v, if you could get one of th0se for around 15k, id go for that!

my friend just got a spec-v, i think its really nice and plenty peppy, 6spd, 17's, LSD...its a fun car...

for me i'd go spec v > si > protege

 

[conjur]

A new SI for $15k??? That's pretty cheap.

Considering the sticker/invoice price


Those are fun little cars. Almost had one sold but the kid had bad credit and couldn't get a co-signer. We loved taking them out for test drives

 

[wyvrn]

Honda is more reliable than Mazda. There is another thread in OT that has the JD Power 3-year quality rankings. Take at look at that list before you buy a car.

edit: here it is

 

[Rent]

Originally posted by: boyRacer
Nice cars... and nice buzzy engines... but when i drove one... boy was that thing gutless... nooooo power down low.... But I don't know what other good brand new cars are out there thats around 15k.

Thats the one thing that bugged me the most about the car when I test drove one last year. It was so gutless below 4k rpm and then you only have like another 2k of breathing room. It doesn't handle that well either, the SVT Focus I testdrove absolutely killed it on handling and power.

I did like the rally style J-gate shifter. It was easy to drive and had the standard Honda blandness that plauges most of their cars. Then the dealer wanted me to pay over $20k for it and I told them to take a hike.

For $15k, its not a bad car at all. If you had to chose between the Si and say the Protoge, I'd go with the Si.

 

[Storm]

The Mazda Protege5 go for $12-13kish in NJ, but thats the base model.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Vortex22
Get a 2000 Si... not one of the new mini-mini vans.

The old ones are faster anyway.

faster....if you're not going up a hill

get the new Si if you don't really care about going fast. the seats are uber nice, the interior's great, the shifter is actually quite good, the engine is absurdly quiet (which is good or bad, depending which way you look at it), you can actually fit 2 people in the back, and it's such a smooth driving car

as a daily driver the car's great

bad...

4x4 action, mini oddysey, looks (subjective however)

so yeah, if you don't really care about going fast then it's a good car