Is the power on the 10th gen Civic SI enough?

[jabberwocker]

The SI is a great car to have fun normal roads where you can zip around on back roads. If your worried about straight line 0-60 then this may not be the car for you. The SI earns it stripes by making you work for it. The best part about it is that you can do this without having to pushing way beyond the legal limits to have fun. At the end of the day, it's really about what you want out of the car and how you plan to use it.

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[jimmyreal]

I had the same dilemma, but approached it from different perspective... after I test drove a '20 Si, I said "wow, I can get a new, reliable daily driver that's THIS much fun for only $25k??"

It’s more fun to drive than my ‘05 330i or ‘07 C230 was. In fact it drives more similar to the 330i than to the ‘18 or ‘19 Audi and Benz I’ve rented.

 

[Design]

I came from a 250 WHP Mazdaspeed3 and felt the Si's power out of the box was adequate. It's not a torque monster like the Mazda. But it's quick enough to be fun. My only real gripe is that the little 1.5T can be buzzy at higher RPMs.

We have enough of a user base now to know that adding a little extra power isn't going to wreck this motor - providing is driven responsibly. I'm at 60K, been tuned 25K, and feel this car is just about perfect. It's not the fastest car on the block. But it has just enough oomph to easily outrun the midrange sedans and SUVs that make up 80% of the cars on the road.

If power is your #1 goal, step up to a base WRX. Or save up for a CTR/Golf R. Otherwise you'll probably find the Si to be a good balance of comfort, practicality and fun. All without breaking the bank.

 

[Annexed]

Is the car fast? No not at all (if you leave it stock like me). Is it zippy? Yes when it's in boost otherwise it's just a "sportier" Civic. I wish the Civic came out of the box with 220-230 HP but that's just me.

 

[VarmintCong]

I had the same dilemma, but approached it from different perspective... after I test drove a '20 Si, I said "wow, I can get a new, reliable daily driver that's THIS much fun for only $25k??"

It’s more fun to drive than my ‘05 330i or ‘07 C230 was. In fact it drives more similar to the 330i than to the ‘18 or ‘19 Audi and Benz I’ve rented.

That's funny cause I drove a 2004 330i ZHP for 11 years before getting the Sport hatch. The Sport hatch was so good I didn't really miss the 330i. The rear drove 330i was more fun though, especially drifting in snow, and it sounded much better, but otherwise the Si is a great cheap alternative to cars like that.

 

[bugboy32337]

I find the power to spot on.
It's not meant to be a track monster.
It's fun, but not scary ... unless you WANT it to be ... and even then, you gotta work hard to make it scary.
Get's great gas mileage, unless you constantly keep the "go" pedal on the floor.
Brakes are great.
Seats are great (for most people, but possibly not for those north of 200# ... depending on how you wear that 200#).
The LSD can REALLY be felt when cornering ... makes me wanna mash the "go" pedal a bit more, in turns.
The styling is just enough to set it apart from non-Si cars, without being as gregarious as the Type R.

 

[aaaaah]

Having gone from M235i to Si, the power is okay. You have enough that you can overtake on the highway easily, merge easily etc. It's not going to be enough power where at close to red line you are feeling like you are going fast however. The 235 pulls from 1800rpm to 7000rpm, the turbo starts to lose steam a little by the end but by and large (dynos will show this too) it is making power to the limiter.

I miss my 235 every single day, especially now in summer where I would always have the windows down to listen to the exhaust. I do appreciate the extra $200/mo in my bank account right now. Sometimes financial decisions can be heartbreaking.

Summary. The Si makes enough power to make commuting easy and fun. It doesn't make enough power to make commuting thrilling.

 

[suhhh]

I'm gonna point out that op stated he does not want to mod the car.

That being said, the si is definitely underpowered compared to the other cars you mentioned. Go test drive one first but honestly I would get something with more power unless you have a good amount of fun curvy roads you can hit up regularly. The straight line performance is lacking in stock form.

Oop I missed that.. Yeah then I agree the Si is underpowered compared to those other cars. Still at stock the car has a bunch of mid range torque so although you may not be going the fastest at WOT, at least you'll have fun going at a variety of low/medium speeds compared to those other cars

 

[GreaseCrow]

From those comparisons I'm pretty sure the Si is considered slow, especially unmodded. The Sport Hatch was my fastest car to date (going from 14x whp -> 200+, I'm tuned as well) and to me it feels pretty zippy. It's not an insanely fast car and I usually can't keep up with most "car guy's" cars, but for the MPG, reliability and practicality of the car, it's a win win.

I'm in Canada as well, if you're in a major city, I'd suggest heading outward to test drive on some backroads. When I did my test drive, I was able to throw the car on some twisties and wanted the car then and there due to the handling.

 

[jimmyreal]

That's funny cause I drove a 2004 330i ZHP for 11 years before getting the Sport hatch. The Sport hatch was so good I didn't really miss the 330i. The rear drove 330i was more fun though, especially drifting in snow, and it sounded much better, but otherwise the Si is a great cheap alternative to cars like that.

I also decided the Si was fun enough to be a fine alternative, especially in light of the reliability and modern features. My 330 was an auto + no sport package but I’d test driven enough ZHP to know how much fun they were.

It’s also getting hard enough to find unmolested, properly maintained ZHP that I’d feel bad daily driving one.

It would be stupid to drop $9-12k on BAT for one just to put 15k a year on it and not have a garage for it. I already ruined a beautiful ‘87 560SEL, black/black, trying to daily it and not garaging it.

 

[VarmintCong]

I also decided the Si was fun enough to be a fine alternative, especially in light of the reliability and modern features. My 330 was an auto + no sport package but I’d test driven enough ZHP to know how much fun they were.

It’s also getting hard enough to find unmolested, properly maintained ZHP that I’d feel bad daily driving one.

It would be stupid to drop $9-12k on BAT for one just to put 15k a year on it and not have a garage for it. I already ruined a beautiful ‘87 560SEL, black/black, trying to daily it and not garaging it.

My new Si does feel more like an E46 than the Sport hatch. Never thought I could get this much car for $25k.

For a laugh go check out the BMW prices at EAG in Ohio. They go around the country to buy a used BMW for $30k and they'll put it up for sale for $75k.

When they find a ZHP it'll be $35k for sure!

 

[fenix-silver]

Funny that the OP peaced out after the initial post. Maybe he's just monitoring the feedback. IMO the Civic is decent from factory, but it's really a huge improvement w/ even a base Ktuner tune. With a tune, these cars are plenty quick for a daily driver. Sure, everyone would love more power, but without a track where can you take advantage of all that power w/o getting yourself in trouble? I would love to have a CTR and wouldn't have a problem affording one, it's just difficult to justify when I'd rarely get a chance to take advantage of it's power and handling.

I'm still convinced that Honda detuned these after realizing the stock clutch couldn't handle the torque these engines are capable of if the boost is allowed to build more naturally instead of having boost ramp limits applied. The whole point of a small turbo is low-end torque, but Honda nerfed the tune to limit it.

 

[disgraced.fk8]

This while being on the Phearable tune... Granted, it's all highway mileage but there's power on tap. Is it enough power? Well, that's completely subjective.

I used to get fantastic mpg on my '17 sport. Now I have a '19 sport touring and even when I keep my acceleration minimal and rpm's as low as I can, I get like 28-29. Something has to be up... And this was right out the gate. Even on my break in trip home from the dealer (1000 miles, long story for a non Type R lol) I think the highest average was like 33mpg. I have yet to confirm anyone else who upgraded from 17 to 19....

 

[Zodd]

what i like in this honda hatchback model is handling... with some decent coilovers rear camber kit and some nice tires this car can go through corners really well for what it is... in few years time when current coilovers will go bad i will buy kw v3 for this baby with adjustable front camber, i cant imagine how this baby will ride with negative 2 camber in front ?

 

[VarmintCong]

I used to get fantastic mpg on my '17 sport. Now I have a '19 sport touring and even when I keep my acceleration minimal and rpm's as low as I can, I get like 28-29. Something has to be up... And this was right out the gate. Even on my break in trip home from the dealer (1000 miles, long story for a non Type R lol) I think the highest average was like 33mpg. I have yet to confirm anyone else who upgraded from 17 to 19....

If you go on the highway, are you getting 40 mpg on just the highway stretch? My new Si seems to get like 38 or so if I reset it and just measure the highway part. But the average is like 28 mpg.

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