Anyone go from a 2.0 to 1.5 engine?

jred721

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Its kinda premature but my lease ends in about a year and I was trying to figure out whether I should buy the car out or not. My Civic doesn't have many miles on it (only 11.3k since March 2018) but thats going to change starting this fall as I am going to rack up the miles on my Civic for long trips instead of my other cars which take the brunt of the mileage. So because of this, I was wondering if it's worth it to upgrade to a Civic with the turbo engine for a little extra power for highway driving or if the 2.0 is sufficient.

My tuned 2.0 is by no means slow or underpowered (its even fun sometimes), but the design of the engine is that you need to rev it out to get into the meat of the powerband as is with most Honda NA 4 cyl engines. I just took my Civic on a long trip today where I was averaging 80-90 mph ( even hit 110 mph on an open straightaway with no traffic) and it did it well, but there were times where I had to sort of wring out the engine for passing power or acceleration. Just wondering if anyone who went from a 2.0 to a 1.5 can comment on whether or not it's actually an improvement for driving situations like these. Wringing out the engine also hurt my fuel economy and gave me about 30.3 mpg on the highway at the end.
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Yikes dude. If you have no problem risking 300$ speeding tickets cruising at 90 mph on the highway, why not spend the extra money to upgrade to the 1.5T?

The 2.0 NA is a great engine, but the 1.5T is noticeably quicker and more fun when you feel the turbo spool up.

The Si pulls effortlessly at highway speeds above 60 mph and 3500 RPM. It’s great
 
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jred721

jred721

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Yikes dude. If you have no problem risking 300$ speeding tickets cruising at 90 mph on the highway, why not spend the extra money to upgrade to the 1.5T?

The 2.0 NA is a great engine, but the 1.5T is noticeably quicker and more fun when you feel the turbo spool up.

The Si pulls effortlessly at highway speeds above 60 mph and 3500 RPM. It’s great
Yeah I was on a highway I frequently take and it's pretty desolate so most cars are doing 80-90 mph due to the steep downhills and almost banked curves haha. But yeah, I originally bought the 2.0 civic as a more economical car to commute to the city in because my other two get terrible fuel economy but now it's role is slightly changing. I haven't driven a 1.5 turbo Civic since 2018 on the test drive, so does it have a decent amount of low end torque? That's the main thing im looking for if a switch to be honest.
 

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The 1.5T will certainly accelerate to pass much quicker, but the 2.0 with CVT is probably smoother at highway speeds up to 80 mph because the CVT keeps the revs below 2,500 rpm when holding one speed. I am surprised that you are allowed to "tune" a leased car. I wouldn't keep a leased car with a CVT that I have abused.
 
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jred721

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The 1.5T will certainly accelerate to pass much quicker, but the 2.0 with CVT is probably smoother at highway speeds up to 80 mph because the CVT keeps the revs below 2,500 rpm when holding one speed. I am surprised that you are allowed to "tune" a leased car. I wouldn't keep a leased car with a CVT that I have abused.
Tuning it isnt really that big of a deal especially on an Na car that is otherwise stock. Doesnt abuse the CVT at all and is in fact extremely safe since all it is is a base map. I dont really think tuning would reduce longevity by much at all.
 


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Tuning it isnt really that big of a deal especially on an Na car that is otherwise stock. Doesnt abuse the CVT at all and is in fact extremely safe since all it is is a base map. I dont really think tuning would reduce longevity by much at all.
"My tuned 2.0 is by no means slow or underpowered (its even fun sometimes), but the design of the engine is that you need to rev it out to get into the meat of the powerband as is with most Honda NA 4 cyl engines. I just took my Civic on a long trip today where I was averaging 80-90 mph ( even hit 110 mph on an open straightaway with no traffic) and it did it well, but there were times where I had to sort of wring out the engine for passing power or acceleration."

I wouldn't buy this used car. And neither would most other used car buyers if they knew that it was tuned, "wrung out for passing or acceleration", taken on a long trip at 80-90 mph, and run up to 110 mph. Especially since it has had electrical mods as well.

People want to buy stock cars that were not abused.
 
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... does it have a decent amount of low end torque? That's the main thing I'm looking for if a switch to be honest.
Yes, the 1.5 Turbo has decent low end torque.
These are the specs from 2018. Look at the bold numbers in particular.

2.0 Liter: 138 ft-lbs. @ 4200 rpm
1.5 Liter: 162 ft-lbs. @ 1700 rpm
Civic SI 1.5 Liter: 192 ft-lbs. @ 2100 rpm

2.0 Liter: 158 hp @ 6500 rpm
1.5 Liter: 174 hp @ 6000 rpm
Civic SI 1.5 Liter: 205 hp @ 5700 rpm

The Civic SI has so much torque that after tuning, the clutch can slip. It seems hard to imagine, but the engine has so much torque and the tires have so much grip that the stock SI clutch can slip.
 

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I recently posted that already in another thread, but here a comparison video of the 0 to 60 accelerations between the 2.0, 1.5T and 1.8, all with CVT:

 

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I recently posted that already in another thread, but here a comparison video of the 0 to 60 accelerations between the 2.0, 1.5T and 1.8, all with CVT:

This is a great video, would love to see the 40-100.
 
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jred721

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I recently posted that already in another thread, but here a comparison video of the 0 to 60 accelerations between the 2.0, 1.5T and 1.8, all with CVT:

Good vid but why does the 2.0 0-60 have a boost gauge in the cluster if there's no turbo? Also 7.2 seconds seems too fast for a stock 2.0, maybe that's a 1.5?
 


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jred, get the 1.5T and tune it with your KTuner. Highway passing power will be effortless/amazing. Midrange power (3-4000 rpm) is outstanding.

For example, I can be cruising along at 65 on the highway, with rpms at something like 2,000 rpm. With a medium blip of the throttle and the rpms going to only maybe 3500 or so I'm at 90 in the blink of an eye.
 
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jred721

jred721

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"My tuned 2.0 is by no means slow or underpowered (its even fun sometimes), but the design of the engine is that you need to rev it out to get into the meat of the powerband as is with most Honda NA 4 cyl engines. I just took my Civic on a long trip today where I was averaging 80-90 mph ( even hit 110 mph on an open straightaway with no traffic) and it did it well, but there were times where I had to sort of wring out the engine for passing power or acceleration."

I wouldn't buy this used car. And neither would most other used car buyers if they knew that it was tuned, "wrung out for passing or acceleration", taken on a long trip at 80-90 mph, and run up to 110 mph. Especially since it has had electrical mods as well.

People want to buy stock cars that were not abused.
To each his own I guess. Not to get off topic but imo I would not characterize what I did as "abuse". I did not do anything the car was not designed to by going between 80-90 on a relatively empty freeway. And when I reached 110 mph, I was on a pretty steep downhill so I wasn't stressing out the engine much by going that fast, I was hovering around 3.5k RPM while going 110 mph for around 5 seconds then I slowed back down. And when I say "wringing" I mean that when I had to pass others, I had to step on it in order to do so safely, the car is mostly locally driven now so doing something like this once in a while doesn't reduce the longevity of the car by any means. As far as "electrical" mods go, it replacing the bulbs with an LED set from halogen is not exactly messing with the electrical system. Took me 5 minutes to replace both headlight bulbs because it was plug and play, been running it for 1.5 years now with no issues.
 
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jred721

jred721

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jred, get the 1.5T and tune it with your KTuner. Highway passing power will be effortless/amazing. Midrange power (3-4000 rpm) is outstanding.

For example, I can be cruising along at 65 on the highway, with rpms at something like 2,000 rpm. With a medium blip of the throttle and the rpms going to only maybe 3500 or so I'm at 90 in the blink of an eye.
It's sounding like this is the best option. I love my 2.0 but for highway driving, a tuned 1.5 sounds much more ideal for that use. Looks like a turbo Civic is in my future :p.
 

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I switched from a 2016 LX 2.0 to my 2019 Sport 1.5, and it was a night and day difference. Not only do i get better gas mileage, but the torque available in the lower RPM is significant compared to the 2.0. The little turbo spools up quick
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