The Tuned CivicX Experience & Reliability Thread (for all models)

[Honda Hopeful]

Vehicle: 2018 Civic Si sedan

Total tuned time: 29 months

Tuned miles driven: 16,000

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner v1.2

Tunes used: KTuner basemaps, TSP 1, TSP 1+

Fuel used: 93 octane

Additional related mods: No other power mods

Problems/issues: None

Driving style: Mature and responsible, with occasional bursts at freeway on-ramps, stop lights and when when passing.

Tuning experience notes: My previous car was a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3, and I knew going into the Si purchase that I would be tuning to obtain the desired power level. I'm a first time tuner, and KTuner made it ridiculously easy with the Civic. The basemaps really woke the car up, particularly on the low end. I purchased TSP 1 when it first came out, and really enjoyed that tune - big improvement over the basemaps. Nonetheless, it didn't quite provide the power I was wanting - and I was contemplating some other mod in the future. That said, TSP 1 was very stable, reliable and fun. When TSP 1+ was released, I jumped on it and am glad I did. For my driving style, it is significantly better than TSP 1. Thus far (~50 miles; I don't drive much these days), fuel trims have been pegged at 0 to -1, and knock control at .49.

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[gtman]

When TSP 1+ was released, I jumped on it and am glad I did. For my driving style, it is significantly better than TSP 1. Thus far (~50 miles; I don't drive much these days), fuel trims have been pegged at 0 to -1, and knock control at .49.

Thanks for adding your car. Glad to see those solid fuel trims on the TSP 1+. I wasn't seeing excellent trims like that on the non-Si version of the original TSP 1. The Phearable 1.5 though is close to 0 for me.

 

[Honda Hopeful]

Thanks for adding your car. Glad to see those solid fuel trims on the TSP 1+. I wasn't seeing excellent trims like that on the non-Si version of the original TSP 1. The Phearable 1.5 though is close to 0 for me.

Yeah - on TSP 1, my fuel trims wandered a bit, up to -5. Knock control varied as well, typically .49 but it easily went up. I haven't really pushed TSP 1+ yet, but knock control is stable thus far. Overall, this tune seems more dialed in, for me.

 

[gtman]

Yeah - on TSP 1, my fuel trims wandered a bit, up to -5. Knock control varied as well, typically .49 but it easily went up. I haven't really pushed TSP 1+ yet, but knock control is stable thus far. Overall, this tune seems more dialed in, for me.

Great to see Derek seem to have improved the original in every way. Also impressive that you're seeing .49 because 93 is the bare minimum that tune calls for.

 

[Oogalee]

Vehicle: 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback LX CVT

Total Tuned Time: 37 months

Total Tuned Mileage: 65,000 km

Tuning Device(s) Used: KTuner V1.2

Tunes Used: KTuner Stage 2 with Aggressive Spool

Fuel Used: Petro Canada 91 Octane

Driving Style: Very passive during the week days. Spirited driving on the weekends.

Problems/Issues: None

 

[CIVICUK]

Vehicle: 2018 civic sport

Total tuned time: 18months

Tuned miles driven: 30,000

Tuning device(s) used: ktuner v1.2 , currently using hondata flash pro

Tunes used: ktuner base maps, ktuner custom tune by Drob, ktuner TSP stage 1, currently self tuning hondata custom tune

Fuel used: Shell v power 99RON

Additional related mods: PREVIOUS MODS = prl short ram street, PRL cobra race, PRL catless downpipe, PRL catted DP+FP, Greddy exhaust, ktuner v1.2

CURRENT MODS= 27won street intake, 27won inlet pipe, Wagner comp IC+piping, ARK performance exhaust, 27won RMM (love the solid drive feel and extra engine noise)

Problems/issues: all ktuner base map tunes and canned tunes all needed professional tuning for AFR re-scaling, after attempting to use TSP stage 1 and getting bad AFR, i decided to learn this process for my own sake.

hondata's only tune available for my ecu was base calibration, and even with the 27won intake AFM modification the car ran terrible and couldnt idle correctly so a full AFM re-scale was needed.

27won RMM required adjustments for idle and reduced power on low rpm to help with vibrations within the cabin. this mod is never going to feel like stock so if rattles anoy you then stay away lol

Driving style: over the last 30k, i had 40min commute with mix of stop/start and highway driving with perfect WOT pulls.

but my short work commutes now with very little chance of WOT and alot of stop/start traffic. very hard for street tuning

Tuning experience notes:

i have played with my own ktuner basemaps and enjoyed using the drivability features but this was never enough so i decided to start adding engine mods and went down the custom tune path,however,when coming to emissions testing or dealership issues the car had to go back to stock ecu but with having catless or catted downpipe and race maf, these mods cause CEL codes so i decided to revert back to stock downpipe and stick to street intake. the move from ktuner to hondata was for more of learning curve so i could go back to basics. i have learnt a lot about reflash tuning and so much about these cars thanks
to the forum and its members

once i have completed my hondata tuning i shall keep using this car as my daily and may look at future mods. i cant see myself upgrading in the future so i would rather just continue my build

 

[KTunedtoStock]

Vehicle: 2018 Civic Si sedan 54000 miles

Total tuned time: 1 week

Tuned miles driven: 500+

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner V2

Tunes used: KTuner Starter maps

Fuel used: 93 Octane Racetrack, circle K, murphys.

Additional related mods: MAPerformance Street catback

Problems/issues: None

Driving style: Conservative throughout 80% of miles. I even idle my car to operating coolant temps before driving. And won't spirited drive unless I feel its been long enough for all fluid temps to be at a decent temp.

Tuning experience notes: I daily drove with KTuner base maps for a bit and was able to keep my MPG the same with conservative driving. Its also really fun in the low end.. like others say power drops in those higher RPMs. Im switching to the phaerable1.5 with no god mode. Will update what I think of it for daily driving/spirited driving. I put a lot of miles on my car daily.

Update
Vehicle: 2018 Civic Si Sedan 55,100 miles

Total tuned time: 2 weeks

Tuned miles driven: 1,000+

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner V2

Tunes used: KTuner base maps with various PSI, currently using the Phearable Stage 1.5

Fuel used: 93 Octance Racetrac, Murphys, Circle K

Additional related mods: MAP street catback

Problems/issues: None

Driving style: Conservative throughout 80% of miles. Typically WOT when my driving speed/acceleration isn't being tracked and I'm not in traffic.

Tuning experience notes: I've kept the same miles per gallon with conservative driving. Typically see 36/27 highway/city. However, spirited driving MPG went down from 20-22 to around 17. A tune can be a gas guzzler if you're not careful. On KTuner base maps, the power tends to drop off in higher RPMs. Im still in my early Phaerable tune stage 1.5 so I just drove it around normally for 30 minutes as instructed but the shifting seems a lot smoother than KTuners. Maybe it has something to do with soft throttle padding, but I've used this feature on KTuner and it seems a lot more jerky and I felt unsure where the engagement point was, but I'm also 2 months new to manual so it was almost like learning again. With soft throttle padding on the phaerable 1.5 tune, I still felt the engagement point well enough to get those smoother shifts. It could be me or the tune. Will update with daily driving MPG and Spirited as I go my next few hundred miles.

 

[gtman]

KTuned...

The Phearable 1.5 is a totally different animal than the base KTuner tunes. It's much smoother with a more linear throttle. Wait til you really push that throttle down!

The base tunes tend to feel potent down low but not super smooth. And as you noted, the power really fizzles out up top.

 

[BigRedtheGinger]

Vehicle: 2020 Civic Sport sedan, 6MT

Total tuned time: 8 months(June 2020)

Tuned miles driven: 15,000+

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner V2

Tunes used: Base KTuner tune

Fuel used: 91 Octane, usually Shell or Chevron, sometimes Arco or Flying J

Additional related mods: None

Problems/issues: None

Driving style: Usually 10 over the limit, flooring it on most freeway on ramps, occasional top speed run

Tuning experience notes: This is my first time doing any kind of tunes. Will be considering a custom tune if I go for the RV6 downpipe on it.

 

[OilChange123]

Posting for second time as an update

Vehicle: 2017 Sedan LX (2.0L) Edit: It is a CVT, not 6spd

Total tuned time: 14ish months

Total tuned mileage: 23,000 miles

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner v1.2

Tunes used: Only one tune available for this car; Stage 1, lowers VTEC to 5300 RPM. Was initially lowered to 5600, but they put out a new update to give us 300rpm more of VTEC

Fuel used: 91 octane only from major gas stations (Chevron, Esso, Shell etc.)

Additional engine mods: Nothing

Problems/issues: No issues at all. Fuel economy actually increased

Driving style: Chill driving for the most part with some red light pulls and highway pulls maybe once a week.

Update #3: Flashed back to stock due to possible transmission issues

Vehicle: 2017 Sedan LX (2.0L)CVT

Total tuned time: 19 months

Total tuned mileage: 30,000 miles

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner v1.2

Tunes used: Only one tune available for this car; Stage 1, lowers VTEC to 5300 RPM. Was initially lowered to 5600, but they put out a new update to give us 300rpm more of VTEC

Fuel used: 91 octane only from major gas stations (Chevron, Esso, Shell etc.)

Additional engine mods: Nothing

Problems/issues: I started to notice a very strong "jerking/jolting" motion from the transmission, especially at low speeds. This wasn't present before or at least wasn't noticeable and had gotten worse. When I would slow down to around 30km/h then get on the gas it jolt and shake. In stop and go traffic it was really annoying feeling that jolt all the time. I had changed the CVT fluid a few months prior which did help, but the issue was still there. Flashed back to stock and after a few hundred km of driving, the issue is basically gone. Every once in a while I might feel a very slight jolt, but with the tune it was everyday. I did have the highest throttle responsiveness setting if that matters at all.

Driving style: Before the issue: Mostly chill driving and some spirted driving here and there. Afterwards, I pretty much only drove like grandma.

 

[gtman]

Current thread stats and info (as of 2/21/21):

Total tuned cars submitted: 528

Total tuned miles driven: 7,431,550 (reported)
Car with most tuned miles: choo (101,000+)

Cars with major failures: 14 (2.7%)
Failures by model: Si: 3; non-Si: 11; CTR: 0; 2.0 NA: 0
Percentage of cars running reliably: 97.3%

Transmission type: CVT (162); Manual (366)

Hondata used for tuning: 111; Race (96) Carb (15)
KTuner used for tuning: 440; V1.2 (251) V2 (189)

JB4 used as tuning device: 3
RaceChip used as tuning device: 3
Motec used as tuning device: 3

Pro custom tuned cars: 106
Base tuned only cars: 153

Most popular OTS tune: TSP Stage 1 (240)
Other popular OTS tune: Phearable Stage 1.5 (75)

New OTS tune: TSP Stage 1+ (Si only) (7)
New OTS tune: Phearable Stage 1.5R (Si only) (4)

Top rated pro tuners: Derek Robinson, John Vega

Submissions by model: Si (245); 1.5T Non-Si (225); Type R (41); 2.0 NA (17)

Most popular fuel: 93 octane (277)
Flex fuel users: 56

Cars with no added bolt ons: 167
Cars with at least one bolt on: 252
Cars running full bolt on setups: 109

Upgraded turbos installed: 40

 

[brendonsiX]

Tuning update*

Vehicle: 2017 Honda Civic SI sedan (Canadian model bought used at 7400 miles, untuned.

Mileage: 19 800

Total tuned time: 6 months

Total tuned mileage: 12050

Tuned mileage since last update: ~7500

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner v2

Tunes used: Current: phearable 1.5R tune with race maf tune (50miles) previous tunes: Pheareable 1.5 with race MAF (9000miles) phearable 1.5 Without race MAF (2500 miles) & tsp stage 1 (500miles)

Fuel used: Petro Canada 94 octane

Additional engine mods: PRL COBRA with Race MAF and Canadian washer reservoir relocation (installed myself)

Driving style: Daily driven in mixed Toronto traffic, occasional 3rd-4th gear pulls but rarely sees a "shift gear light" or redline, no racing or tracking.

 

[Venomid]

Updating my post from the past

I now have 11k miles driven on my car 2020 civic sport, about 8500 miles tuned on Ktuner custom 21 psi street map. Drives amazing, I drive slow usually on the streets or the speed limit at least, but I’m always down for spirited driving.

Since my last post, I’ve installed a PRL intercooler with the PRL pipes, and PRL front pipe and down pipe. Intake and the spool of the turbo sound along with the deep tone of the downpipe but stock exhaust is very nice not all in your face farting like a lot of Honda’s tend to sound like unfortunately. Here are some pics notice a change in tail lights and spoiler as well

 

[swanarg]

Vehicle: 2018 Civic Hatchback Sport, 6MT

Total tuned time: Summer 2019 approx 18 months

Tuned miles driven: ~20k miles

Tuning device(s) used: KTuner V2

Tunes used: K-tuner base maps, TSP Stage 1, current tune D-Rob custom tune

Fuel used: 91 Octane

Additional related mods: Megan Racing Catless DP/FP, PRL Cobra CAI Race MAF, Depo Racing intercooler and piping kit.

Problems/issues: None

Driving style: Conservative yet spirited, WOT a few times per week

Tuning experience notes: K-tuner base maps were fine but they left room for improvement, the car felt like a completely different car from stock but it didnt build boost as smoothly as I had hoped. TSP Stage 1 was a big improvemnt. The car ran smoother and pushed notably harder to redline. It was at times unsmooth to drive in stop and go traffic or under low rpm. With the base maps and the TSP tune I was getting quite high K-con values under WOT. Sometimes as high as .9 or even 1.0 on 2nd-4th gear pulls. D-rob custom tune, even bigger improvement and night and day difference with how the car builds power. Very smooth all the way to redline and lots more power/torque. The D-Rob tune definitely feels as though it is exactly tailored to the mods that I have where as the base tunes obviously were not.

 

[gtman]

Thanks for adding your car, looks great.