Honda civic SIR vs 2.0 VTI-S

**niky** · February 12th, 2009 12:50 PM

SiRs were fast in a straight line, but most modern sport compacts are faster than an SiR through corners, stock to stock. This includes the Lynx RS, the new Lancer, the Focus TDCi... heck, even the stock 1.8 Civic... it's all down to chassis design and strength.

An SiR is still an excellent platform to build a track car from, lots of upgrades to bring the chassis and suspension up to modern specs.

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The 2.0 VTi-S never gained the cult status of the SiR due to two things. One is the automatic transmission. AT =/= sporty. And the other is the suspension. The SiR had double-wishbones all around... the EP Civic had McPherson struts and multi-link. While you can get McPherson strut cars to handle (the Focus is an excellent example of this), many purists saw it as sacrilege. The dumbo-jumbo styling didn't help much, either. It's a shame... with a manual transmission, that beefy 2.0 engine would have made the VTi-S much faster than an SiR, both in a drag race and on the racetrack.

The new FD Civic cures some of the styling ills of the EP platform, and it works great, despite the front McPherson set-up... in a few years, the extremely rare FD Civic 2.0 MT should become very collectible items for those wanting a sporty car to play with.

**ejaydpogi** · February 12th, 2009 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

I have outrun Civic SiRs in my 99 Corolla 1.6L-turbo A/T in the unofficial quarter mile races on the street. The Civic might get a jump on me on the start but I just reel him in once my turbo has spooled up. I usually beat the SiRs by a margin of 1.5 to 2 cars.

my esi with b16 a/t (milled head+b16b cams+piggy back+i/h/e set-up) has outrun 4age supercharged corollas before.

**yumyum** · November 6th, 2009 12:17 AM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

Yes. It was a benchmark of street tuner performance for a time. But unfortunately that time has passed with much newer cars offering the same or better performance right out from the dealer showroom.

Some examples of these are:
-Mitsubishi Lancer EX GT / GTA
-Subaru Impreza WRX 2.0 (non-turbo)
-Ford Focus TDCi M/T (recently phased out in favor of the new DSG model)

I think SiR will own the Subaru Impreza 2.0

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

I have outrun Civic SiRs in my 99 Corolla 1.6L-turbo A/T in the unofficial quarter mile races on the street. The Civic might get a jump on me on the start but I just reel him in once my turbo has spooled up. I usually beat the SiRs by a margin of 1.5 to 2 cars.

Definitely you'll beat SiRs because of the boost..

**THREE5** · November 7th, 2009 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Negus

I have to say the SiR sucks when it comes to stop and go traffic, everybody knows that. I used to drive through Taft avenue every day for 4 years with the family's SiR. when you go on an upwards slope from a standing start you have to go over 3000 rpm just to get the torque. Sometimes more if packed. and when you miss a gear shift it's very unforgiving, some might say "nasa driving skills yan". pero it's supposed to be easy diba.

i didn't have this kind of problem with my sir before. i can easily change gears whenever i want evenif im climbing a hill. ang when i was on tipid mode, i can change gear at 1500 rpm with passengers. maybe you were not that good way back or maybe it got used to daddy driving because it was a family car. hehe

this was my sir

**raine** · November 7th, 2009 01:06 PM

OT
bakit gamit ko sa baguio 96 vti ok naman, walang problema sa akyatan, kahit from stand still, kahit puno pa.

**isa1023** · November 7th, 2009 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by ejaydpogi

my esi with b16 a/t (milled head+b16b cams+piggy back+i/h/e set-up) has outrun 4age supercharged corollas before.

my esi with d15b m/t (stock internals, cone air filter and free-flow muff) has outrun a 4age redtop corolla before (i think it was stock?) ... once ... and was able to "keep up" with SiRs (me doing 140, him doing about 160+) before he disappears in my mirror (sa windshield ko, hindi sa rear view

).. baka pinatikim lang ako haha..

Medyo OT:
Hindi po ba yung VTI-s is the one with the d15b 3-stage engine?
So I guess what we're comparing here is the SiR (EK) and the RS - yung 2.0 i-VTEC (ES)?
Like we are comparing the b16a and the k20 engines?

**isa1023** · November 7th, 2009 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by raine

OT
bakit gamit ko sa baguio 96 vti ok naman, walang problema sa akyatan, kahit from stand still, kahit puno pa.

OT:
Baka naman naka full exhaust siya (or scav exhaust) with matching 4-1 headers pa kaya sobrang minimal ng low-end torque niya...

I know someone whose SiR has to be revved past 3000 rpm just to get the torque he needs to move from standstill... and he has to rev most of the time (lalo na pag traffic) else he suffers bad idling...

It was tuned for drag racing, I think...

The b16a is modded, port and polished, rebored with Crower racing camshafts ... plus the usual IHE set-up (full exchaust yata siya)... You see, such mishap in low-end torque aint a suprise with such kind of engine mods...

**kimat** · November 7th, 2009 10:54 PM

Originally Posted by raine

OT
bakit gamit ko sa baguio 96 vti ok naman, walang problema sa akyatan, kahit from stand still, kahit puno pa.

me also gamit ko sa baguio 98 vti walang kaproble-problema sa akyatan man or hatawan d pahuhuli mapa suv man or sedan... im using simota air filter and the rest stock na

**speed unlimited** · November 8th, 2009 12:01 AM

Honda Civic Sir engine has a lot of aftermarket racing parts and a high compression engine good for a drag car on a 1600cc class.

**roberto_minosa** · November 8th, 2009 12:40 PM

I saw a '98 Civic without a muffler last Friday. My friends and I were thinking it was a D15 VTEC with a scav exhaust. He had to high-rev so frequently just to climb a flyover (or accelerate for that matter). It sounded like ass-xhaust, when everyone else was going at the same speed. Hell, I was cruising at 2,000RPM with my "wagon".