The Smoking Tire drives the Civic Hatchback Sport 6MT

[SonicHB]

Not a bad review, I thought he'd like the engine more.

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[exyia]

Pretty fair review. I used to think the guy was a tool years ago, but he seems to have matured over the years

As much as people love Honda's manual transmissions, I thought I was weird for not liking it as much as I was expecting from a Honda - guess I'm not alone.

the novelty of having a turbo and the sensation of boost fades pretty quickly - this drivetrain really is tuned to feel like an NA. I'm debating on picking up Hondata to get a bit more of a peppy feeling out of it low/mid range - but this is all relative to what other cars you have/are coming from

 

[GeoUSA]

Not a bad review, I thought he'd like the engine more.

Thanks for sharing the video. Most reviewers seem hesitant to praise the engine to save room for the Si and Type R. After spending a few months with the 1.5T and CVT, I love this powertrain. The reviewer states, "It doesn't really have a lot of power." and "As for the turbo engine itself, it's... Functional."

Wut? In conclusion he does say it is a "fuel economy turbo"...

 

[tsupersonic]

I think it's spot on. The Civic hatch is still an economy car, not some sports car that others are imagining it to be. The car is tuned to be decent on power and return nice fuel economy figures. For the record, I like the powertrain myself. It's good enough power for a daily driver.

If you want a sportier version, there will be the Si/Type R, and of course there are plenty of sportier cars w/ power and dynamic handling.

 

[SonicHB]

Sounds like the engine could be more suited to the CVT, I certainly have no complaints. My HB never feels under powered.

 

[Billy4202]

Pretty fair review. I used to think the guy was a tool years ago, but he seems to have matured over the years

As much as people love Honda's manual transmissions, I thought I was weird for not liking it as much as I was expecting from a Honda - guess I'm not alone.

the novelty of having a turbo and the sensation of boost fades pretty quickly - this drivetrain really is tuned to feel like an NA. I'm debating on picking up Hondata to get a bit more of a peppy feeling out of it low/mid range - but this is all relative to what other cars you have/are coming from

I used to watch a few of his vids a few years ago and I got the same vibe, he used to be all teenage angsty.

The review's probably spot-on, we're still talking the non-performance Civic anyway. 98% of people will enjoy the power/handling, especially with the Sport.

I can still get pushed back in my seat from the turbo accelerating from red lights, so I'm content

 

[Tuishimi]

Not a bad review... wow he must really hammer that thing to only get 22 mpg.

 

[SonicHB]

He didn't even complain about understeer.

 

[Zer0]

I honestly agree with him, and find myself almost always agreeing with Matt's opinions HOWEVER

Matt often focuses on sporting intentions of these cars on one-takes. I get it, especially with the routes he takes, but he has proven he is fully capable of liking normal every day cars (See: the chevy volt he leased and raved about)

He's reviewing the civic sport hatch as a sports car and it isn't, just a (very) practical and fun enough daily. I think the only car in the segment he'd be happy with is the Mazda 3, but then he'd ignore the downsides of said Mazda 3 as far as being a daily driver as he seems to focus entirely on driving experience in these reviews.

The only real flaw I'd say is a big annoyance is the flywheel / rev hang he talks about, but that also sort of comes with the territory. I can't think of a non SI / sports car honda recently that hasn't rev hanged.

 

[sf09er2002]

I honestly agree with him, and find myself almost always agreeing with Matt's opinions HOWEVER

Matt often focuses on sporting intentions of these cars on one-takes. I get it, especially with the routes he takes, but he has proven he is fully capable of liking normal every day cars (See: the chevy volt he leased and raved about)

He's reviewing the civic sport hatch as a sports car and it isn't, just a (very) practical and fun enough daily. I think the only car in the segment he'd be happy with is the Mazda 3, but then he'd ignore the downsides of said Mazda 3 as far as being a daily driver as he seems to focus entirely on driving experience in these reviews.

The only real flaw I'd say is a big annoyance is the flywheel / rev hang he talks about, but that also sort of comes with the territory. I can't think of a non SI / sports car honda recently that hasn't rev hanged.

Hey man, just a suggestion for dealing with "rev hang." I too thought this was an issue with my car for a while, but since learned it isn't. I just wasn't shifting right. Copied from another post I made:

I just wanted to share my experience with solving “rev hang” on my 09 accord manual trans. The issue is largely that you are trying to be too perfect and you’re taking your foot off the gas too soon. I know this seems contradictory and you would expect that to cause “rev hang”, but it doesn’t. Trust me:

When shifting (especially from 1st to 2nd, when the hang was the largest issue), if you keep your foot on the accelerator (continue to accelerate) until the clutch pedal is about halfway depressed. This results in a smoother shift / you can release it into second much smoother and faster than if you removed your foot completely off the accelerator before beginning to push the clutch down. I think trying to be too perfect with shifting (pulling totally off the accelerator, before beginning to push in the clutch) is more jerky, while being kind of quick and dirty about is smoother (within reason and if you get the timing right). It also helps you keep momentum / is faster, since you are accelerating into shifting / accelerating into depressing the clutch. Generally speaking, you do want to be starting to come off the accelerator as you are depressing the clutch pedal (don’t slam down the accelerator as you push down the clutch). Just don’t come off the accelerator too soon. You obviously want to be completely off the accelerator before the clutch pedal hits the floor (or you’ll slip it and have some serious reving happening). If you get the timing perfect, you’ll actually feel a very powerful grab into second gear as you let off the clutch (don’t be a nancy, do pop it up the clutch relatively quickly). I have 150,000 miles on the original clutch and no wear issues. My clutch fluid level is still near full fill from the factory, which to me, reads that the clutch wear is still near new. I’m guessing it’s similar to brakes in that as the pad wears, the fluid level drops. Therefore, I don’t think I’m wearing it out excessively by driving it like this. In fact, I think I’m getting less wear, since I’m maintaining the clutch and flywheel forward momentum into my shifts.


Another fix I found for this issue was actually, believe it or not, doing a valve adjustment. I now curse myself for waiting until 150,000 miles to do one. I found both the intake and exhaust valves to be really tight. For whatever reason, opening them up allowed for much smother, faster shifting, despite any rev hang and it seemed to lessen the duration of the rev hang and/or just make it a non-issue. It think it also increased power and response, but only slightly. I set mine to the larger side of the adjustment range. I suspect honda sets the valve clearance to the absolute minimum at the factory to minimize noise (possibly even slightly below the spec range). Opening up the valves to a larger clearance does add a bit of noise / click / chattering sound, which would possibly throw some buyers.


Before attempting to diy a valve adjustment, I definitely recommend buying the helm manual and watching some you tube videos (ie eric is the car guy). You definitely also want bent feeler gauges to assist with getting them perfectly flat against the top of the valves, especially if your intake side has fuel injectors in the way (like my k-series). Make sure you replace the valve cover gasket (buy an OEM honda gasket), use hondabond where indicated in the manual, let dry 24 hours before driving. Oil will leak out the back of the engine while you have the valve cover off, so place rags to catch it or expect an oil smell until it burns off. If oil smell persists, re-check valve cover bolt torque / check for valve cover gasket for leaks. Be careful not to set the valve gap /lash too large or they will be really noisy, possibly damaging. Too tight and you’ll burn a valve, so maybe leave it up to a professional if you aren’t moderately mechanically experienced. It’s not that difficult a job and doesn’t require expensive tools, like an impact gun. Just make sure you have the feeler gauges flat on the top of the valves when checking (press it down while you are sliding the gauge, especially on the intake side, where the injectors really hinder access). Make sure you set it with the drag on the gauge snug / a medium / fair amount of resistance. You shouldn’t be able to easily slide in and out the feeler gauge. Obviously, if you can’t slide them in at all, you’re too tight. Don’t drop anything into the engine, cover it if you are doing other things around it while the cover is off. When doing the adjustment, or anytime ever (ie if you are changing your serpentine belt), never turn the crankshaft pulley the wrong direction (see manual for proper rotational direction).


I also had my vehicle dyno tuned a xenocron tuning solutions with k-tuner software. BTW that was by far the best money spent on any performance mod. I’d say if you have an aftermarket air intake or more, a dyno tune is a must. They remap your air sensors, which is must if you changed your air intake / air flow from what the PCM is expecting. Those guys at xenocron do an excellent job there. However, I’m not sure that the tune affected the rev hang much, if at all, but it certainly made the car much more responsive, faster, and even improved my fuel economy. Probably since I didn’t ask them to adjust that setting. I just did the dealer flash and don’t have an end user dongle. The rev hang isn’t much of an issue anymore anyway (post my valve adjustment).

Good luck

 

[fightermav]

Yeah I mean I am considering trading in my '16 EX-T Coupe CVT only because I want the manual but If I am going to trade its going to have to be the Si.....

But i want WHITE ORCHID PEARL DAMMIT.

 

[silverrascal]

Consider his point of view, his daily is a Focus RS (I believe that's what he said in the vid) and so everything short of a Porsche, Corvette, WRX, etc. will feel underpowered. But I think he's trying to be impartial when he talks about the handling (which I agree) which isn't bad but could be better. He mentioned the NVH not being as good as VW or Fords: I can't agree on that. I think the Civic has come a long way and it's as good as those manufacturers. I did recall him driving a sedan and gave it high marks so it's interesting that he's a little meh on the hatch with the manual stick.


here was his review of the Civic Sedan Touring:

 

[fightermav]

Consider his point of view, his daily is a Focus RS (I believe that's what he said in the vid) and so everything short of a Porsche, Corvette, WRX, etc. will feel underpowered. But I think he's trying to be impartial when he talks about the handling (which I agree) which isn't bad but could be better. He mentioned the NVH not being as good as VW or Fords: I can't agree on that. I think the Civic has come a long way and it's as good as those manufacturers. I did recall him driving a sedan and gave it high marks so it's interesting that he's a little meh on the hatch with the manual stick.


here was his review of the Civic Sedan Touring:

Jesus night and day. He loves that sedan.

 

[exyia]

presentation and details make a huge difference

An EX or higher trim Civic is impressive in a "wow you get all this in a Civic? what was once just the cheap and fun civic?"

Take an LX or Sport and it's still the same "this is what makes a civic great, cheap and fun"

Honda has really segmented their trim levels for years now, and the 10th gen Civic is better in higher trims imo. Take away all the tech features - HondaSensing, Android Auto, LED Headlights, power driver AND passenger seat, heated front AND rear seats, probably forgetting a few more - and the Civic is just another lightweight compact car with nothing that truly shakes up the market (I know you all love the new 1.5T, but it's not a market shattering feature).

 

[maaaaackle]

presentation and details make a huge difference

An EX or higher trim Civic is impressive in a "wow you get all this in a Civic? what was once just the cheap and fun civic?"

Take an LX or Sport and it's still the same "this is what makes a civic great, cheap and fun"

Honda has really segmented their trim levels for years now, and the 10th gen Civic is better in higher trims imo. Take away all the tech features - HondaSensing, Android Auto, LED Headlights, power driver AND passenger seat, heated front AND rear seats, probably forgetting a few more - and the Civic is just another lightweight compact car with nothing that truly shakes up the market (I know you all love the new 1.5T, but it's not a market shattering feature).

I still wish they gave us SOMETHING in the sport trim. its like a dark barren cave in my sport hatch

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