I Admit It: The Civic is a Great 'Quick' Car

I used to really not like all of those ricers* that populated the streets of Orlando, FL. Hate is too strong of a word. These were guys, usually teenagers, putting the loudest straight pipe on an old Honda Civic and calling it a day. Then you hear "Brraaaaaaap" all day if you drive around. Saturdays, you hear it almost all night long because that's street race night. We used to call the cars rice-burners* and the drivers ricers*.

Forget all of that. I don't want to be associated with that. What this post is about is that 1 out of 10 Honda Civics - again, usually an older one - that is built correctly and hauls a**, for a lack of words.

A long time ago (no way I'm gonna be able to find it), I stumbled on a post on a forum where a guy had built a 400whp Honda Civic for just under $4,000. You can easily buy these cars for a grand - they just need work.

I truly recommend finding the time and paying a little more for the least modified or at least the best kept car. Do not buy one of these ricer cars.  You have to think that they have been floored probably hundreds of times, the guy has missed shifts, etc. These are time bombs ticking in your transmission or wherever it might be.

Once you find that decent-to-good Civic for about $2,000, which is what that's gonna cost unless you get a really old one or get lucky, get it.

Now there's a good and bad way to making these cars fast. Putting a K&N air intake and a loud exhaust - man don't even think about it until your engine NEEDS IT. What you want to do is put a bigger head on it. If you can, have it bored out a little although that IS costly. Switching out a head isn't pricy though and that will greatly increase your power.

The other thing you have to do is strip the car. You're at about 200hp but you need to get rid of at least 500 pounds. Take everything out that isn't the driver's seat, not part of the dash or gear shift, a roll cage, and maybe the passenger seat. You're getting rid of door panels and everything. If you want a fast Honda cheap, that's what you're gonna have to do. Otherwise go for a turbo.

You're literally going to ditch the AC, sound deadening... This car is going to be only for going fast and if you're freaking crazy, your daily driver (or if you're broke). But hey, you will actually beat stock Foxbody Mustangs at this early stage.

The $4,000 400whp Civic was built by rebuilding the motor, throwing an Integra head on it if I am correct (bigger head), adding a turbo and intercooler, and boosting it up to 16psi. If you know how to do that, well, I admire your skills and I wish you would teach me.

Anyway, 2-230whp (260bhp) in an N/A Civic is pretty fast. My friend owned a supercharged Civic Si that made slightly more than that and it was a beast. In an NA car, it would be even more godly. People really underestimate horsepower figures because they know the Camaro has like 500 but even though that Camaro will win, it also cost $30,000 more and it didn't win by many car lengths.

Ultimately the fact that it's easy to modify these cars and that there is a huge aftermarket makes them the most popular street racing car, at least where I live. The fact that they're reliable helps a lot, too. See, 250 horsepower or so in a nice package is going to put a lot less stress on, well, everything so it's always going to be more reliable than that 500 horsepower car that is modded to that level (whether that's an old Camaro or whatever).

And that 250-300 horsepower in a light package is quick, fun, and easy to handle. I never thought I would be praising Honda Civics but the fact is that they're good cars. The problem lies in some of their owners.

* The term ricers, although it started out as a somewhat racist word, is not intended to be racist in any way here along with 95% of the car community. It just describes a certain kind of car.