1999 Honda Civic Si from North America - Comments

Nothing.

Although reliable, the engine leaves me with a lot to be desired, not much torque and 160 horses, it's almost nothing compared to my 93 built mr2 turbo. but it would be good for anyone looking for a beater. one other reason I sold the Civic, is because I grew tired of seeing other cars like it on every corner. definitely worth buying if you want to fit in with the rest of the crowd, if not buy a Toyota.

The DOHC B16 power plant in the Honda Civic SI is much to be desired. What other car can boast 100hp per liter from a 1.6 liter engine? None except the Honda S2000. The B16 does lack in the compression ration department (10.2:1) which makes getting torque out of the car difficult. But it makes up with its high rev limit. The downside is that you have to keep the rpm's high to see real power. This isn't a problem considering the B16 is a glutton for punishment.

I would agree that a turbo MR2 is much desired, I would also add that any factory forced induction is better than naturally aspirated. The good news is that performance after market products can be purchased to add to the potency of the Civic SI's power plant. Consider the Vortech supercharger. When mounted to the B16 power plant it produces a whopping 272hp at the wheels (with all the engine internals still stock). With some tweaking here and there it would be possible to stroke this power to 320hp at the wheels. That's a kick in the pants considering how light the Civic is. Enough to blow the handles, gas caps, and alternators off many cars on the road today.

Alas, the current domestic market is flooded with this beautiful import. This certainly speaks loud of the legacy, reliability, and modularity of this modern day economy car. The Civic SI has proven that whatever you desire can be done, from daily driven to race bred, the car gently whispers: what can I do for you today?

I would recommend this car to all that are considering purchasing a reliable vehicle with the get up and go when you need it and with a higher power output than more than half the cars on the road. So much potential in such a neat package.

Good day all and enjoy the roads!

I would like to bring to your attention that the Acura Rsx type-s provides 100hp per litre as well (200hp in total) and has much more torque than the Si (or SIR in Canada)

I have no problem with the civic si, but please people... stop thinking it s a race car it s a Honda Civic (America`s family car), you WILL get your ass whooped by a lot of cars, and I won t hesitate to embarrass you with my RSX-s it s very easy.

Well please keep in mind that the rsx-s is already in a league of its own. Obviously its gonna lose to a car that has more horse power and torque stock, its just plain truth (unless the driver of the rsx-s is incompetent or something like that) but my main point is, lets see the rsx-s deal with other cars in its own league. S2000, evo 7, eclipse gsx, nsx, supra n/a, 350z. None of those cars are pushovers, and to think about it, the rsx-s has near the lowest horse power output of all of those cars.

So in all retrospect.

1. Race in your own league, don't try to act all big and mighty by beating up on SI's because there is nothing for you to prove by doing it

2. For once, try actually racing against someone with the same skill and something with a little more horse power

3. The civic SI was made to give a balance of performance yet if "the duty called" it could preform as an everyday car.

I hope you learned something from this comment, your still a loser for flaming the other guy though, there was no need to be mean in the first place.

I agree completely with the preceding comment. It is really just pointless to compare vehicles that are in disparate leagues in terms of price, power, and creature comforts.

Of course a 200 horsepower RSX-S is going to annihilate an under-torqued Honda Civic Si. I think that the Si really isn't that fast of a car overall; however, it really stands out in terms of having the versatility to either modify into a worthy rice rocket, or to just keep stock and use as a daily driver.

I think that people tend to exaggerate how powerful the Si really is. Overall, in my opinion, the Si should be looked at as an above average daily driver that handles very well for a front wheel drive vehicle and is capable of getting very good gas mileage if driven with some degree of conservancy. But, if so desired, the Si can be modded into a vehicle that is certainly capable of holding its own on the track or on the twisty stuff. I highly recommend the Honda Civic Si to any potential purchasers.

I've been debating getting a Focus or a Civic. We already have a Focus in the family and it's proven to be very reliable, but I like Honda hatchbacks; however I'm not willing to pay considerably more for a Civic because of its reputation, because I don't believe it. Honda is not Mercedes (old Mercedes when they used to over-engineer).

And to the fella who went on and on about the B16 engine: stock four-cylinder engines do not yield 75% power increase from a supercharger, this includes the "mighty" b16. I encourage your enthusiasm, but be realistic; 30-35% is the average power increase from the addition of a supercharger.