Civic Hatchback LX the next perfect tuner?

[VTEC_Engage]

Been lurking this forum for a while, first time posting. Just wanted to get Honda-folks opinion on the base LX 10th gen Hatchback. I’ve owned an 8th gen SI & my father owned a lot of Hondas growing up & loved driving all of them. I’ve really fallen in love with the 10th gen style & although I do like the look of the sedan & coupe slightly better, the hatchback seems to be the cheapest way to get into the 1.5T with a manual transmission.


I want my second vehicle (main vehicle is a Corolla S the wife primarily drives) that I can daily drive but that’s still fun when you crank it & has lots of tuning/customizing options. I owned a 1997 Nissan 240sx with an SR20DET engine swap (not really a daily driver but I digress) up until 2 years ago &, where that car was fun to drive and had lots of engine potential, I was always jealous how many clean simple mods were available for Civics. That year 240sx seemed like it was full body kit or nothing at all, cosmetically. Whereas all gens of Civics had countless options for lip kits, fenders, body-colored spoilers, aftermarket sub-frame options, the list goes on and on.


So my question is: do we think the 10th gen hatchback will have potential to be the next “it car” for the average-guy Honda tuner? By that I mean lots of options in the near future for Lip-kits, suspension, type-R style Spoilers, fenders, etc. This 1.5T seems to be going in a lot of things so Honda has faith in its build quality. The price point seems to be a lot easier to get into than a Type-R & an Si (whenever that may come) & there already seems like a lot of tuning potential with the 1.5 with the flash tune & a few others. I’ve been creeping the cosmetic mods forum & I see lots of options popping up for Sedans/Coupes but hatches still seem to be limited, I’m hoping due to the fact they’re still quite new.


TL;DR: Do we collectively think there’ll be a lot of tuner options for the 10th gen Civic Hatchback LX both performance wise & cosmetically?

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[360glitch]

The perfect tuner? That's a big statement.

"Do we collectively think there’ll be a lot of tuner options for the 10th gen Civic Hatchback LX both performance wise & cosmetically?"

I can't speak for everyone but I'd say yes. I think you will find many that agree.

 

[jayzon831]

Tuning-wise? I'd say the sedan or coupe with their K20 engine would be the better tuner. I wish my hatchback had a turbo K20 instead of an L15 engine. The hatchback has the Type-R body, but the sedans and coupes have the heart, so pick your poison. Then again, you could always do an engine swap later on the hatchback.

 

[Dicecube]

Nah, it's nowhere near the perfect tuner car

 

[VTEC_Engage]

K20 engine would be the better tuner

I didn't realize there was potential behind the new K20's. is it assumed there'll be lots of upgrades/turbo kits/etc for this engine? this changes things....I'll be honest though, I haven't done a lot of tuning/mods in my experience. Building a garage on my property this spring so looking forward to learning lots of new things about wrenching in general.

 

[Shankmeyster]

Seeing as how Vit has already pulled crazy HP and torque numbers out of the base car with no mods, yes it will be another good tuner car. Companies always make a lot of parts for the civic so I don't know why this gen would be any different. I would suggest getting a manual car though as Hondata has already found the limit of the CVT and it is not built to handle anything more than stage 2.

 

[VTEC_Engage]

Seeing as how Vit has already pulled crazy HP and torque numbers out of the base car with no mods, yes it will be another good tuner car. Companies always make a lot of parts for the civic so I don't know why this gen would be any different. I would suggest getting a manual car though as Hondata has already found the limit of the CVT and it is not built to handle anything more than stage 2.

oh yeah, manual is an absolute must for me. wasn't even considering the CVT. To be honest, the only real contender right now is the VW Golf TSI. similarly priced, sharp looking hatchback & it's rocking the same 1.8 turbo motor that's found in the base Audi A3. that being said, this base Golf has an oddly dated 5 speed transmission & the consensus on the V-dub forums is: that transmission isn't rated for a lot more power than the stock tuned ~170hp, so if you're looking to run a flash tune on it, make sure you have the stronger Auto transmission. so that more or less killed the Golf TSI idea for me.

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