Is it even worth tuning the Si?

[maggs_10thgen]

I hear what you are saying but ...

Honda designs their engines to be reliable, we all agree there. They wouldn't have 19 psi of factory boost if they didn't believe it would easily withstand the test of time. I'm sure they logged the equivalent of hundred of thousands of miles before these turbos were released to the public.

So, just like in the past, tuners know how rugged and how conservatively tuned Honda engines are. Yes, the tunes up the boost but I honestly believe the available canned tunes are still relatively conservative.

The issue with the blown engines I've seen appear mostly to be abuse and in some cases, bolt ons were added without a proper custom tune and things went sideways.

Having said that, sure, if you hope to get a guaranteed 200,000+ miles out out a motor, tuning may not be the way to go. There is obviously some extra wear and tear. It's just that the massive improvements in driveability have enticed a lot of us to tune. I say driveability because these canned tunes aren't pushing insane amounts of power by any means.

I agree. A tune puts this car right where it should be driveability wise. I just got this thing. So I'm trying to read up before making any moves. I'd probably just go with stage mild tune. No need for intakes and a fart can. I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep the car. It all comes down to how nice they make the 11th gens and my finances at that particular time down the road.

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[fenix-silver]

I put 33% more boost (~20PSI) than stock through my WRX for around 70K miles w/o any issues. Any comments about whether or not running stage 1 boost on this 1.5T engine will lead to early failure is just conjecture.

 

[Doc_Mello]

I need at least 200k miles out of this car.

I cannot imagine having a car for anywhere close to that long. I typically trade-up every 3-4 years, around 30k miles.

 

[MuffinMcFluffin]

I cannot imagine having a car for anywhere close to that long. I typically trade-up every 3-4 years, around 30k miles.

I haven't even had my car for nine months, and I'm almost halfway to your desired maximum.

The hope is 200k for me, as well (or ten years). Most I'd ever do to this thing is a KTuner. Hopefully that doesn't suck the life out of it.

 

[REBELXSi]

I cannot imagine having a car for anywhere close to that long. I typically trade-up every 3-4 years, around 30k miles.

Oof... Must be nice lol. I hit 30k just after a year.

 

[Micah]

I cannot imagine having a car for anywhere close to that long. I typically trade-up every 3-4 years, around 30k miles.

Must be nice to drive so little. My commute is 95 miles 5 days a week which works out to around 25-30k a year with some weekend driving.

 

[Vegas Viking]

Oof... Must be nice lol. I hit 30k just after a year.

Same here. I drive 30k miles per year.

 

[mis3]

I would love to delete the rev-hang and would welcome the additional power.
The only thing that holds me back is the warranty.

 

[Honda_RacerX]

yes.

 

[saz468]

I think this car is good the way it is. I didn't buy it to compete with WRX's. STi's, Mustangs and Chargers. I know some of my fellow CivicX buddies are going to disagree, but if you want a high performance car, buy one that was built for high performance in the first place, that is unless that is your hobby to try and pull out all the power you can from this engine. I have no issue spending a few hundred dollars to make some improvements, but that's about it for me. I want this car to last at least 150K

That’s why I still have cold feet on tuning my EXT with a CVT I want it too last 150k or more unfortunately I don’t have breaks it’s a ktuner its a exhaust and intake and so on and so on like my 1/5 scale RC buggy after modding it and a few hundred bucks later it’s faster than some regular cars. I think my EXT performs and handles pretty well all stock a lot better than my Elantra coupe 2014 did. I will put a strut bar and better performance tires on it in the future yes I do want my car to last for a long time

 

[Micah]

I would love to delete the rev-hang and would welcome the additional power.
The only thing that holds me back is the warranty.

I felt the same but have modded many cars through the years. I don't beat on my cars and tightly monitor fuel economy, oil analysis, and oil consumption. If the car starts to get strange I will return to stock and bring in for service or trade in for something else. The Civic Si Sedan holds it's value quite well. Trading out halfway through a 6 year finance at 3% would be painless.

Don't get me wrong, I love my civic and now that I am in the second year of ownership I am in no rush to change cars. Great mpg, quiet and comfortable ride, quick enough to put a smile on my face without putting points on my license. It is a great daily for a 42 year old married father of 3 after having multiple 400+ hp catless modified cars.

 

[Design]

There is always going to be a long term risk modding cars. But these tunes have a huge range of testers - some that have put 80K+ without issues.

For me, I really enjoyed the Si out of the box. I had 0 intention of modding beyond the headlights. But as the miles accumulated, I began to notice a few other mild shortcomings. Mainly the rev hang and relative midrange torque deficit. A base tune solved that. Even at factory boost, torque engages a little earlier in the powerband. And it really made the daily grind much more rewarding.

I'm well aware of the risks. Rev hang delete can create oil instability and subsequent oil loss. Advanced VSA can eat away at the cat if used too frequently. And the extra midrange torque can place unwanted strain on the rods and clutch. I mitigate by using a high stability oil, checking oil level regularly, minimizing wheel slip in wet environments, and keeping throttle conservative under 3K rpms.

Bottom line - if you're on the fence, just continue monitoring the forums and soak up as much info as possible. The more you understand how each mod impacts the car, the more confident your purchase decisions will be. GL.

 

[gtman]

That’s why I still have cold feet on tuning my EXT with a CVT I want it too last 150k or more unfortunately I don’t have breaks it’s a ktuner its a exhaust and intake and so on and so on like my 1/5 scale RC buggy after modding it and a few hundred bucks later it’s faster than some regular cars. I think my EXT performs and handles pretty well all stock a lot better than my Elantra coupe 2014 did. I will put a strut bar and better performance tires on it in the future yes I do want my car to last for a long time

Just to throw this out there in terms of tuning an EX-T CVT turbo...

You have to understand that tuning isn't always about pushing the most torque and hp. It also can be about driveability. For example, you can buy a KTuner and run a Starter 16.5 psi tune. Peak boost isn't all that much more than stock but the KTuner has a smoother power curve. Then you can enable early spool and tweak throttle and turbo response to virtually eliminate lag.

You won't be stressing the engine or CVT much and yet you'll have a much better and more fun to drive car with nearly the same MPG as stock at part throttle.

To take that even further, you can run a dual tune and switch from tuned to a similar to factory tune at the press of a button.

 

[Micah]

I run the TSP map usually on map 3 but rarely in sport mode. While on the highway, during the bulk of my commute I often enable cruise control to remove rev hang delete. When I am stuck in the hell that is NJ shore traffic both on the highway and local roads, I sometimes change to map 1 and enable cruise control. Rev hang makes stop and go silly smooth and easy. But mostly the reason i use map 1 normal/sport is to show people the difference between maps 2 and 3.

 

[unholy79]

In my opinion? No. I've got a ktuner, used it for a month then removed it because I felt it threw off the balance of the car (along with annihilating my mpg). Bone stock, it's quick with great handling. Once one thing is upgraded more cash will need to be applied to keep it in balance. All I've done thus far since the ktuner is throw in an intake for a bit more noise and performance. I realize I'm in the minority but if I wanted the torque and MPG drop a tune provides, I'd have bought a more powerful car to begin with. Just my opinion, YMMV.

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