rwk226
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- Ryan
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Long time forum member here. Sold my 2018 Civic Hatchback EX-L a while back and bought into a 2018 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD, and wanted to offer a comparison.
I loved my Civic, but the Stinger definitely scratches a lot more of the itch for performance I have. Two totally different cars for different people, but worth comparing IMO. They are both rather similar, and very different at the same time, and I have a few categories to compare them by.
Practicality
So, both cars are 4 door "hatchbacks" that have tons of rear hatch space for cargo and whatnot. Google claims the Civic EX-L has 25.7 cubic feet worth of usable trunk space, whereas the Stinger only has 23.3 cubic feet worth of space, but I can't say that's correct. Both are very spacious and can hold dressers, wheels and tires, lots of junk, everything you need, and then some. Both allow you to fold the 2nd row seats down, gaining you another 20 cubic feet of space for the Civic, and another 17.6 cubic feet according to Google, but again I do not think that's right. The Stinger has a LOT more room with it's rear seats folded down than my Civic did, and it rivals that of a SUV imo. Not that the Civic didn't have a lot of space, of course.
Also, the Civic did have plenty of 2nd row space for passengers if you were short-medium height in the front, but the Stinger has much more rear leg room than the Civic does, and it's rather noticeable. Back seat space is more comfortable as well.
Performance:
Both an easy, and hard comparison to make here. Stinger has the 3.3L twin turbo v6 making 365hp and 370tq at the crank (models dyno 320-330awhp and 370-380tq), whereas my Civic had the worse-off 1.5L turbo i4, the inferior to the L15B7, making 174hp and 169tq stock (my Ktuner-Phearable 1.5R tune making 230whp and nearly 280tq). My Stinger weighs almost 4,000lb exactly, whereas the Civic, after modifications, weighed closer to 2,800lb, which is a huge difference in weight despite the same difference in power. With that said, the Stinger is definitely the faster, more responsive car, stock vs modded Civic. Tuned Stinger is even scarier, with e30 putting me about 400awhp and over 500tq, and 93 not that far behind. However, HP and weight aren't all there is to performance. The Civic handles significantly better in the corners than the Stinger does, not that the Stinger handles bad but the AWD system can only do so much for the 4,000lb car. The Civic definitely has weight on its side and it shows, in how nimble and quick the car is. Straight-line power is where the Stinger shines, as it's AWD system propels me off the line to 60mph in 4 seconds, versus the near 7 seconds the Civic took. I can do 60-130mph in 8 seconds, which takes an additional 5-6 seconds in the Civic, and that's if you can hit 130mph. The Stinger definitely was made to be abused and to take it all day everyday, whereas the CVT Civics are great commuter cars that can pack a punch when necessary. Sidenote: Top speed I ever hit (on a closed course OR out in Mexico, if not both
) was 135mph on the Civic, and that was downhill over the span of 2 miles. I've already cracked 160mph on the Stinger, on much less road, not going down hill. Stinger is electronically limited to 167mph, but if one were to remove the restriction I dare say the car would go 180+ easily. Civic was at it's limits at 120+.
Aftermarket: Both cars have surprisingly good aftermarket, though there are some learning curves going from the Civic to the Stinger. Parts are cheap, build-paths are pretty similar, but here on the Civic forums Piggyback units like RaceChip (or more specially JB4) are discouraged, but for the Stinger it's either $600 for JB4 or $2500 for ECU tune AFTER you've gone FBO with the car, with no chances of reflashing unless you pay again. JB4 gives you 7 maps to choose from, the team there is super cool and always looking to add and improve their tunes, and to an extent you can do some custom tuning. Just not as versatile as what Ktuner provides for Civic's. Also, where WMI may be strongly discouraged on these forums unless you're a Type R or opened and built L15B7 Si, WMI is $5-600 and provides TONs of HP and benefit to the Stingers. JB4+ WMI+Intakes = nearly maxing the turbos on this car, at 500awhp and nearly 600tq. These 3.3TTs also react very well to ethanol, with even e30 providing a MASSIVE difference in power over quality 93.
Maintenance: Rather short segment, but of course the Stinger will require more maintenance than the Civic might, given it's comparing a Sports car vs a fun, sporty fuel economy car. I bought my Stinger at 39,900 miles and I've already changed the oil (7.3 qts of 5w30), oil filter (cartridge style which required me to buy a special tool), and spark plugs. I did a lot less to my Civic.
Fuel Economy: Another short segment but worth mentioning. The day I bought the Stinger, a 150 mile trip I averaged 30mpg in the Stinger, hypermilling at 75mph (sounds counter intuitive, I know- but I used hypermilling techniques is what I mean), whereas my Civic might've hit 37-40mpg, and the family's 2018 Accord 1.5T averaged 37mpg both ways on the trip. I average 24-27mpgin the Stinger with my driving, whereas I consistently was 32-38 in the Civic, and near the end of my time I averaged 40+ a tank going 55mph. The Stinger can go 85+mph on the interstate and see 25-28mpg easily, but the Civic would also see about 28mpg going 85 on the interstate, which is rather crazy to me.
Insurance Costs: Despite the Stinger being a much more powerful and fast car, insurance was only a few more $ a month than my Civic. I paid $104 for full coverage a month on my Civic, and it's a bit more than that now for the Stinger. Of course, this will vary on year model, trim, age, driving record, state, etc. so it will vary for everyone.
Interior: There is absolutely ZERO contest. The Civic did not have a bad interior for the money or kind of car it was, but it's the difference between a Chevy W/T and a Cadillac Escalade fully loaded. Heated AND Cooled seats, heated steering wheel, infotainment is a lot cleaner and responsive, 15 speaker sound system vs the 8 speakers in the Civic, HD-res backup camera in the Stinger, HUD in the Stinger, adjustable bolstering seats, mostly touch button climate control, leather-like soft touch dash, minimal use of piano black plastics, etc. With that said, there are a few things the Civic has that the Stinger doesn't. Stinger does not have remote-start for the 2018 year model, no lane-watch camera, and no cap-less fuel tank. Not deal breakers for me by any means considering how much of a step up it is to the Stinger, but a few things to keep in mind. Civic definitely has some more convenience and is driver-focused, but the Stinger does have the nicer interior, better for road trips.
Bottom Line: Civic was $20k, Stinger was $38,000. Which car is better? Objectively, my opinion falls on the Stinger. With that said, Honda really has a compelling car in the Civics, even for 10th generation. Both are great, but are two different classes of car and is not fair to compare fully. I still see Type R's on the road from time to time and my heart jumps a little, the Type R in particular is a car I'd love to own on the side with the Stinger as my daily driver. Who knows, maybe one day I will get lucky!
P.S. if anybody has questions, would like me to expand on anything said here, or have a category I ought to explore, please feel free to comment and let me know.
I loved my Civic, but the Stinger definitely scratches a lot more of the itch for performance I have. Two totally different cars for different people, but worth comparing IMO. They are both rather similar, and very different at the same time, and I have a few categories to compare them by.
Practicality
So, both cars are 4 door "hatchbacks" that have tons of rear hatch space for cargo and whatnot. Google claims the Civic EX-L has 25.7 cubic feet worth of usable trunk space, whereas the Stinger only has 23.3 cubic feet worth of space, but I can't say that's correct. Both are very spacious and can hold dressers, wheels and tires, lots of junk, everything you need, and then some. Both allow you to fold the 2nd row seats down, gaining you another 20 cubic feet of space for the Civic, and another 17.6 cubic feet according to Google, but again I do not think that's right. The Stinger has a LOT more room with it's rear seats folded down than my Civic did, and it rivals that of a SUV imo. Not that the Civic didn't have a lot of space, of course.
Also, the Civic did have plenty of 2nd row space for passengers if you were short-medium height in the front, but the Stinger has much more rear leg room than the Civic does, and it's rather noticeable. Back seat space is more comfortable as well.
Performance:
Both an easy, and hard comparison to make here. Stinger has the 3.3L twin turbo v6 making 365hp and 370tq at the crank (models dyno 320-330awhp and 370-380tq), whereas my Civic had the worse-off 1.5L turbo i4, the inferior to the L15B7, making 174hp and 169tq stock (my Ktuner-Phearable 1.5R tune making 230whp and nearly 280tq). My Stinger weighs almost 4,000lb exactly, whereas the Civic, after modifications, weighed closer to 2,800lb, which is a huge difference in weight despite the same difference in power. With that said, the Stinger is definitely the faster, more responsive car, stock vs modded Civic. Tuned Stinger is even scarier, with e30 putting me about 400awhp and over 500tq, and 93 not that far behind. However, HP and weight aren't all there is to performance. The Civic handles significantly better in the corners than the Stinger does, not that the Stinger handles bad but the AWD system can only do so much for the 4,000lb car. The Civic definitely has weight on its side and it shows, in how nimble and quick the car is. Straight-line power is where the Stinger shines, as it's AWD system propels me off the line to 60mph in 4 seconds, versus the near 7 seconds the Civic took. I can do 60-130mph in 8 seconds, which takes an additional 5-6 seconds in the Civic, and that's if you can hit 130mph. The Stinger definitely was made to be abused and to take it all day everyday, whereas the CVT Civics are great commuter cars that can pack a punch when necessary. Sidenote: Top speed I ever hit (on a closed course OR out in Mexico, if not both
) was 135mph on the Civic, and that was downhill over the span of 2 miles. I've already cracked 160mph on the Stinger, on much less road, not going down hill. Stinger is electronically limited to 167mph, but if one were to remove the restriction I dare say the car would go 180+ easily. Civic was at it's limits at 120+.Aftermarket: Both cars have surprisingly good aftermarket, though there are some learning curves going from the Civic to the Stinger. Parts are cheap, build-paths are pretty similar, but here on the Civic forums Piggyback units like RaceChip (or more specially JB4) are discouraged, but for the Stinger it's either $600 for JB4 or $2500 for ECU tune AFTER you've gone FBO with the car, with no chances of reflashing unless you pay again. JB4 gives you 7 maps to choose from, the team there is super cool and always looking to add and improve their tunes, and to an extent you can do some custom tuning. Just not as versatile as what Ktuner provides for Civic's. Also, where WMI may be strongly discouraged on these forums unless you're a Type R or opened and built L15B7 Si, WMI is $5-600 and provides TONs of HP and benefit to the Stingers. JB4+ WMI+Intakes = nearly maxing the turbos on this car, at 500awhp and nearly 600tq. These 3.3TTs also react very well to ethanol, with even e30 providing a MASSIVE difference in power over quality 93.
Maintenance: Rather short segment, but of course the Stinger will require more maintenance than the Civic might, given it's comparing a Sports car vs a fun, sporty fuel economy car. I bought my Stinger at 39,900 miles and I've already changed the oil (7.3 qts of 5w30), oil filter (cartridge style which required me to buy a special tool), and spark plugs. I did a lot less to my Civic.
Fuel Economy: Another short segment but worth mentioning. The day I bought the Stinger, a 150 mile trip I averaged 30mpg in the Stinger, hypermilling at 75mph (sounds counter intuitive, I know- but I used hypermilling techniques is what I mean), whereas my Civic might've hit 37-40mpg, and the family's 2018 Accord 1.5T averaged 37mpg both ways on the trip. I average 24-27mpgin the Stinger with my driving, whereas I consistently was 32-38 in the Civic, and near the end of my time I averaged 40+ a tank going 55mph. The Stinger can go 85+mph on the interstate and see 25-28mpg easily, but the Civic would also see about 28mpg going 85 on the interstate, which is rather crazy to me.
Insurance Costs: Despite the Stinger being a much more powerful and fast car, insurance was only a few more $ a month than my Civic. I paid $104 for full coverage a month on my Civic, and it's a bit more than that now for the Stinger. Of course, this will vary on year model, trim, age, driving record, state, etc. so it will vary for everyone.
Interior: There is absolutely ZERO contest. The Civic did not have a bad interior for the money or kind of car it was, but it's the difference between a Chevy W/T and a Cadillac Escalade fully loaded. Heated AND Cooled seats, heated steering wheel, infotainment is a lot cleaner and responsive, 15 speaker sound system vs the 8 speakers in the Civic, HD-res backup camera in the Stinger, HUD in the Stinger, adjustable bolstering seats, mostly touch button climate control, leather-like soft touch dash, minimal use of piano black plastics, etc. With that said, there are a few things the Civic has that the Stinger doesn't. Stinger does not have remote-start for the 2018 year model, no lane-watch camera, and no cap-less fuel tank. Not deal breakers for me by any means considering how much of a step up it is to the Stinger, but a few things to keep in mind. Civic definitely has some more convenience and is driver-focused, but the Stinger does have the nicer interior, better for road trips.
Bottom Line: Civic was $20k, Stinger was $38,000. Which car is better? Objectively, my opinion falls on the Stinger. With that said, Honda really has a compelling car in the Civics, even for 10th generation. Both are great, but are two different classes of car and is not fair to compare fully. I still see Type R's on the road from time to time and my heart jumps a little, the Type R in particular is a car I'd love to own on the side with the Stinger as my daily driver. Who knows, maybe one day I will get lucky!
P.S. if anybody has questions, would like me to expand on anything said here, or have a category I ought to explore, please feel free to comment and let me know.
), do catback + midpipes, intakes, and either Flex fuel kit or WMI. All of that will be good for nearly 500awhp, which is the limits of the stock turbos on this car. Since I bought the AWD model, it may be the limit of the transfer case as well, so if I decide to go further I would have to look into that... not that I need to, even 400awhp is enough to punch me in the gut. Can't imagine how 500awhp will feel!
