Why I traded in my Civic X Si

jhokie

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This isn't intended to be a bashing post. I’m just going to throw the reasons I traded my Civic X Si in for a 2018 WRX out there for discussion. The Si is a very good car that is a fantastic value. I’m going to start off with a couple great things about the Si.

Starting off with what the Si does really well

-This car is truly a great value for a practical and sporty car at the price point it’s selling at. In addition to that, the gas mileage for the performance is quite good.

-The Si really pulls impressively at a roll with all that torque for the weight of the car

-This car feels almost like a go-cart to me around curves. Comparable to a Miata I used to own if a Miata wasn't RWD

-I got a good trade in price that I was able to make work without losing too much at all. Honda resale value holds up!

Issues with front seat ergonomics and clutch travel

-The huge travel clutch really messed up the ergonomics of the car for me. I’m a big/tall guy with comparatively short legs, so to comfortably press the clutch in I had to sit comparatively close and lean my seat back. After a few thousand miles I felt pretty squished up to the dash.

If you have shorter legs and are considering this car I would highly recommend to think about and play with this closely.

-For a big guy, I could never get 100% quite comfortable in the seats. It wasn’t as bad as a miata that I used to have so it wasn’t an enormous issue, but it was an ongoing annoyance nonetheless.


Issues with general sportiness

-After driving the car for a while the I personally felt it was just a little short of the excitement level I wanted. For the price of the car you can’t really complain. However this ties into my next issue.

-Reports of clutch not handling increased power well turned me off from the route of keeping the car and just modding it to get where I wanted. On top of that, nobody was raving about the 3rd party clutches that were currently available (FX300, FX350 etc).

-The adaptive dampers became an issue I couldn’t stop thinking about when pondering trading this car. I do not enjoy the extra power steering, so I always used sport mode. Because of that I didn’t want to get stuck with expensive repairs to replace a part I didn’t use down the road.

-The small turbocharger kinda takes some of the breath away from this car and limits its tuning potential at the top end. Again, for the price it’s kind of hard to knock it.

-I got stuck with the all season tires instead of the summer tires I wanted because my dealership had no clue about this option.


Conclusion/Summary

If you’ve read this far thanks for reading my bit of closure on owning a Civic X Si. It certainly is a heck of a value for what you pay. If the clutch had a shorter travel or maybe even if my car had come with the summer tires I would have just kept it.
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wopsi

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Congrats on your new car. I actually traded in a 16 wrx for the si and the Subaru held up its value as well. I hear the clutch and shift feel improved vastly on the 2018 models. My 16’ wrx had a very numb clutch pedal feel and the clutch grab was very aggressive. Shifter did have some positive feel to it, but did not have the smoothness of the si. I hope the 18’ addressed all of that.
 

Micah

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Conclusion/Summary

If you’ve read this far thanks for reading my bit of closure on owning a Civic X Si. It certainly is a heck of a value for what you pay. If the clutch had a shorter travel or maybe even if my car had come with the summer tires I would have just kept it.
This is one of the best posts I have seen in a long time. A long post with a summary at the end is something I need to implement into my own forum habits.

I had a 2002 WRX and sold it to my brother. Over 180k miles, 450whp on the stock EJ205. There isn't a week where I forget how much I enjoyed it. He lives around the corner from me so I still see it and occasionally drive it.

I owned that car in my 20's while single. Now in my 40's married with kids, the Civic SI makes more sense.
 

charleswrivers

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Not knocking anyone who choosing something based on preference after giving something a try. I know I got the summer tires on my Si after the dismal Contenential ProContact all seasons on my '15 Si. I've modified the basemap's to limit low/midrange torque for extra insurance on the clutch while giving much better performance through the the power range and a good bump up top. I'd also have wished for a larger capacity turbo from the factory but... we got what we got.

I think the clutch pedal allows for some adjustment to the pedal itself (I haven't done it to this one... but I have in other cars) and may have improved it but probably never gotten quite what you wanted.

I looked up the dampers cost before I bought the car and they were about what I've seen for the other two-way adjustables I've dealt with on my Z32... in the $300 range per damper. Not what I've heard GMs magnetic ride runs but definately somewhat of a cost. I didn't mind the added cost... but coming from having put Tokico illumina 5-ways in both my old Z31s and having had 2 Z32s with their OEM adjustables... and going as far to replace the OEM adjustables with new ones, I find the Civics adjustables to have a minimal difference between the two settings to seem to not have been worth the added expense. I'd of rather had that extra several hundred dollar difference go towards having firmer dampers all the time... and higher capacity turbo than the TD025...

Enjoy the new ride!
 

zroger73

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I traded a 2017 Civic Si for an Accord Sport 2.0T because:

1) The Civic Si got vandalized and repaired - I no longer wanted it after that.

2) I didn't want to trade it for a 2018 Civic Si knowing that the 2019's would probably be coming in a few months - possibly with standard Honda sensing and an updated infotainment system.

Even though the Accord is faster and more pleasurable to drive because it's smoother, quieter, and has more tech, it's not as fun to drive because it's heavier and lacks a limited slip differential. The Accord looks and feels more mature because it is. I'm enjoying the Accord very much, but for different reasons than the Si.

If I were to buy another vehicle in the Civic Si's domain, it would be another Civic Si hands-down instead of a Ford, Subaru, or Volkswagen. Fortunately, the Si's seats and driving position fit me just fine. I never had an issue with clutch travel, feel, or slip. The cost of replacing the adaptive dampers briefly crossed my mind, but I rarely keep a vehicle past the warrant period. The turbocharger was a non-issue for me since I prefer to enjoy a vehicle as it comes from the factory. If I had wanted something faster I would have bought something faster that I didn't have to modify.

The one thing I can throw back is the lack of summer tires. Tires are easy. They'll need to be replaced eventually, anyway. One shouldn't be "stuck" with anything since they aren't "forced" to buy something they don't want. If a dealer "had no clue" about something, you must educate them. Understand that Honda dealers can't order directly from the factory - they can request a swap with another dealer for unshipped orders and can sometimes trade inventory with another dealer who is in agreement. The most likely scenario is that your dealer didn't have any Si's with summer tires on allocation and couldn't find any other dealers to make a trade with, so they pled ignorance.

Enjoy your WRX - life's too short to keep a vehicle you're not happy with! :)
 


gtman

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I don't think Honda is marketing the Si to compete with the hardcore sportiest cars out there. It's not a stoplight drag racer for sure. But, if you ask me, Honda hit the sweet spot with the Si. It's an excellent combination of corner carving, gas mileage and pretty damn good acceleration at one helluva price.
 
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jhokie

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I don't think Honda is marketing the Si to compete with the hardcore sportiest cars out there. It's not a stoplight drag racer for sure. But, if you ask me, Honda hit the sweet spot with the Si. It's an excellent combination of corner carving, gas mileage and pretty damn good acceleration at one helluva price.
Agreed. From a pure price sweet spot for an overall sporty daily driver it's hard to beat.
 

10GenPearlSi

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Excellent post. I love my Si, but it is always nice to hear other views, especially when they are expressed so well. The small turbo on the Si doesn't get a lot of love, especially now that a couple of bigger turbo kits are about to hit the market. As you say, it gives out before redline, but it really kicks butt in the middle of the power band where I drive. Also, since it is so small it spools up very quickly, with a good tune, turbo lag almost goes away. Still people with flex fuel and bolt-ons can get close to 300 hp with the small turbo.
 

chestypuller

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does anyone know if the Civic EX-T comes with the limited slip differential stock?
 


davemarco

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I admit, it's really tough to get everything that we want in a single package with no compromises. I was really going back and forth between the SI and '18 WRX: I felt that the SI cornered much better with much less body roll. I also wasn't a fan of the shifter on the WRX. That said, I did feel like the WRX felt more premium on the inside, and I loved the exhaust note on it. Ultimately, if I could've gotten a WRX Limited for the same price as an SI, I would've. Unfortunately, if I wanted the same basic tech features that came standard on the SI, it would have cost me $6K-$7K more, which just wasn't worth it to me.
 

charleswrivers

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I admit, it's really tough to get everything that we want in a single package with no compromises. I was really going back and forth between the SI and '18 WRX: I felt that the SI cornered much better with much less body roll. I also wasn't a fan of the shifter on the WRX. That said, I did feel like the WRX felt more premium on the inside, and I loved the exhaust note on it. Ultimately, if I could've gotten a WRX Limited for the same price as an SI, I would've. Unfortunately, if I wanted the same basic tech features that came standard on the SI, it would have cost me $6K-$7K more, which just wasn't worth it to me.
X2. I was at ~30k for desired options when I was building up a WRX. At that price point... I was tipping over to look at lightly used luxury brands. I'd also had 2 friends with some reliability issues on their late model ones, though 1) they were last gen and 2) they were not stock. It kind of turned me off on them between the two issues.

My wife was sold on a WRX when we decided to part with our '15 Si. She loved the Si when we test drove it... but got luke warm again when the initial offer was MSRP for a '17 and a crap offer on the '15. I told her to give me a day or two. When I came back and said... I'd worked a deal on an '18 under invoice w/summer tires and managed to also get another 2500 in trade for the '15, putting at what Edmunds said it was worth and asked if she still wanted a WRX she said [unladylike words] no.
 

CrippleRipple

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I'd just like you thank you for trading in your Si and selling me your KTuner at an incredible price!

I really appreciate it!

Does make things much better but I can definitely see where you're coming from.

I'd probably do the same if I could pull a good trade like that.
I do love hearing a boxer motor roar!
 


 


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