Civic SI review: Am I reading the dash right?

Kenny_McCormic wrote: I think the new Honda plan is to out GM Toyota, who out GMed GM.

Yeah, boring and awful FTW. What do you want to bet they are asking the Japanese government for bailout money in 20 years?

poopshovel wrote: Fit didn't have it. 5 doesn't have it. I hate idiot lights.

Forte has it. Rio Has it. Y'all are buying the wrong cars.

David S. Wallens wrote: The Honda Civic Si isn't the only car to lose the temp gauge. I have heard from a few people in the industry that most drivers are more receptive to a temp light vs. a gauge. Plus a lot of temp gauges were basically idiots lights, anyway: off, normal and hot. Progress, I guess.

I would agree with this - oil/water and oil pressure aren't things you need to watch. You only need to know when they are out of range - an alarm light that grabs your eye is better than something you have to use attention to poll all the time for it's value because you won't miss the event and can take action immediately as opposed to driving half a lap before noticing the oil pump isn't working.

On a slight tangent... An example of awesome instrumentation is the E46 M3 where oil temp is crucial to bearing life at high RPM. They have a backlit tach that changes the visual redline as the oil warms (and moves the rev limiter I think) so you can see when it's safe to use the whole range.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: On a slight tangent... An example of awesome instrumentation is the E46 M3 where oil temp is crucial to bearing life at high RPM. They have a backlit tach that changes the visual redline as the oil warms (and moves the rev limiter I think) so you can see when it's safe to use the whole range.

Ooooh clever. I've been thinking about setting up a temperature-dependent limiter but I know I've been in a situation once before where I had to redline a cold engine to save the whole vehicle.

GameboyRMH wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: On a slight tangent... An example of awesome instrumentation is the E46 M3 where oil temp is crucial to bearing life at high RPM. They have a backlit tach that changes the visual redline as the oil warms (and moves the rev limiter I think) so you can see when it's safe to use the whole range.

Ooooh clever. I've been thinking about setting up a temperature-dependent limiter but I know I've been in a situation once before where I had to redline a cold engine to save the whole vehicle.

I believe Megasquirt, at least the version I'm running (I don't know which that is), allows you to do this. It allows a temperature/whatever based rev limit, but allows you to bypass that limit if you exceed X% throttle.

how long before the speedometer is replaced with a green light that means that you are at or below the speed limit of the road, and a red light that indicates that you are above it?

several yrs ago I was riding with someone that had a GPS unit that did that ....

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: On a slight tangent... An example of awesome instrumentation is the E46 M3 where oil temp is crucial to bearing life at high RPM. They have a backlit tach that changes the visual redline as the oil warms (and moves the rev limiter I think) so you can see when it's safe to use the whole range.

Yep, it limits the RPM. The Honda S2000 also has this, it will not let you rev past a certain point until the engine is warm.

wbjones wrote: several yrs ago I was riding with someone that had a GPS unit that did that ....

My GPS does that, but only when there's a speed camera in the vicinity. I actually like that part.

that would be great ... do speed cameras send out a radar signal in the same manner as po-po radars ... IOW will a radar detector pick them up ?

I have nothing to add here on topic. But since we're talking Civic si, I want to say that there was a 2012 Civic si at the autocross Sunday that sounded spectacular (for a Honda). I asked what exhaust he had on it and he told me that it was stock with the resonator removed. It was the best sounding, pretty loud, Honda I've heard in a long time. Oh, and he also won PAX FTD.

that would be great ... do speed cameras send out a radar signal in the same manner as po-po radars ... IOW will a radar detector pick them up ?

Yes.

Oh, and he also won PAX FTD

In that case i have a feeling i could FTD there too. Around here (city of 2 million) every event has several drivers who've gone to nationals and won at various points, and several lightweight race cars on 300+ wide A6s.

The parents new '13 F350 has a boost, coolant temp, & trans temp gauges.......pretty nifty coming from a '99 to that.

Vigo wrote:

that would be great ... do speed cameras send out a radar signal in the same manner as po-po radars ... IOW will a radar detector pick them up ?

Yes.

Oh, and he also won PAX FTD

In that case i have a feeling i could FTD there too. Around here (city of 2 million) every event has several drivers who've gone to nationals and won at various points, and several lightweight race cars on 300+ wide A6s.

He's a pro solo national champion (there were 3 at this event), so you must be pretty good!

See "Todd Swensen" - http://www.scca-milwaukee.org/solo/1999/nationals/press4.html

I'd tell you about how I beat him for the 1996 local championship, but you probably wouldn't believe me.
In any case, his car sounded really good.

Well, it would definitely take a really good driver to make a 2900lb civic FTD'able even in a weak crowd, that was kind of my point. But i doubt i could beat him in the same car!

In reply to Vigo:

I'm no expert, but he also beat another national champ for the PAX FTD (Bob Smith), and a couple other guys that have trophied at nationals. FWIW, he runs in RTF, on Toyo R1R's, and the car is a coupe. But this guy used to clean up driving a focus ZX3, so maybe that tells you how good he is.

Our typical FTD PAX car is either Clemens BMod car, an FMod car or God's Chariot (89 civic Si). I would have been 3rd Sunday in the Forte had I not Coned away my best run (sliding sideways, clipped it with the rear tire). I still managed 8th.

In reply to Bobzilla:

That's funny, as its typically a more stock type car that gets it at our events. Probably just a difference in what class the best drivers are in, I guess.

Closest i ever got to FTD was driving someone else's XP-class turbo'd 89 CRX si on some 13x8 or 9s with Avon r-comps. It was a fun car but very difficult to drive.

beans wrote: I wonder if Hondata's flashpro system, one could turn the VTEC light into a shift light?

HOLY CRAP IT IS A SHIFT LIGHT! A sequential shift light at that, just like you see on the steering wheels on LMP cars....Honda just decided to put "i-VTEC" above it. It starts around 4k RPM with orange leds then once you start getting close to redline red leds light up. I think Honda puts one in their LMP2 cars as well ZOMG. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW0ZkIGlsCA

I'm with Peter on this. I got this for an appliance that I wouldn't be bored with. It has lost some of it's raciness from the 8th gen but I feel it handles a little bit better and the extra torque is nice. The refresh for 2013 hit on all the things the 2012 had issues with. I tore it up with PAX scores in my 8th gen and imagine this would too.

Meester Ceaser complaining about the shift knob getting hot. It's partially leather with a plasticy cap with the H pattern engraved. I got a giggle out of that. I've left the car sitting in the hot Miami sun all day and have never burnt my hand on the shift knob.

It's a civic si, a completely uninspiring car, what do you expect? If you want a civic si that isn't 100 years behind and E36 M3 get a Veloster Turbo or something, lol. jk, but no seriously a veloster is better than a pos civic.

Vigo wrote: Closest i ever got to FTD was driving someone else's XP-class turbo'd 89 CRX si on some 13x8 or 9s with Avon r-comps. It was a fun car but very difficult to drive.

I ran a turbo 91 CRX for a couple years. Turbo cars are tough in autocross because it's difficult to manage the non-linearity of the boost. At least that was the case with my car.
They didn't have XP then, so I had to run in EMod. I actually won the championship one year over multiple nationals winner Dan Wasdahl, although he had yet to win a championship at that time. I only won because I made it to more events, but I did beat him a couple times straight up when he couldn't make a clean run. At the time he had a V-8 Spridget that had previously won nationals in the hands of a guy named Bob who's last name I can't remember.
I used to win PAX FTD in my stock class '89 Civic si. A like a well driven stock class car almost always wins PAX FTD in our club. This past event we had a really well-driven Formula SAE car, and while it won FTD by a large margin, my friend still won PAX FTD in his Civic.

Vigo wrote: Closest i ever got to FTD was driving someone else's XP-class turbo'd 89 CRX si on some 13x8 or 9s with Avon r-comps. It was a fun car but very difficult to drive.

PAX FTD does not equal FTD.

Maybe that's the difference between Vigo's experience and mine.

I agree with bravenrace on the turbo issue.

I have a friend with a 1st generation RX-7 that is turbo-charged. It's demon fun in a straight line. But really tough to autocross unless it's on a wide open course.

After my turbo experiences in the RX-7, I put a supercharger on my Miata. I don't have as much absolute power as the turbo would, but it's much more constant.

And my all time favorite autocross car was my '85 CRX Si, totally stock.