Drive Drive Drive - Why do people think honda civics are good race cars?

Why do people think honda civics are good race cars?

I mean they are terrible. They have small 2 liter engines. Their engines burn up if you do anything with it. They're ugly. I could keep going on forever. I don't have one. lol. I wouldn't waste my time or money on a grocery getter... Oh, even better. A 1.8 liter engine. You guys are assuming wrong. I'm into european production cars. Audi, lotus, the others (not a big fan of exotics though). Also, my favorite car for a long time was the lancer evolution untill I learned that it had a little 2 liter engine on it and the only reason it was fast was because it had a huge turbo on it.

Public Comments

Amen. The only reason i can see is that they are pretty cheap cars.
because of movies like the fast and the furious. nothing more obnoxios than a four holer with a fart pipe draging the ground behind it
You obviously don't know much about cars or tuners for that fact. These little cars have great potential. I have seen them run 9 second quarter miles and if professional tuned can get a 7 sec quarter mile. you just got to know what you are doing.
LOL very good post
Don't know what you did to yours, but those civics have reputations for being unbreakable. They are small , but they can be made to make horsepower. Think of the crotch rocket sport bikes with 15000 rpm red lines.
If you like the small cars and turbo's there exactly what you want. Some people like to screw with people's heads too if you stick a nice turbo in it and make the dang thing look fairly stock and beat a camaro or mustang its fun. Personally i cant stand the noise they make and I like low end torque and power. So V8's are for me
they got great potential for a 4 banger if u know how to tune them
i cant imagine why you would build a race car out of a car that is built for ECONOMY. the cheapest parts available go on that car, but i guess thats why everyone loves em, there cheap....and sound like weed wackers. man i love making fun of those cars. besides it takes twice as much money to make a small engine go fast as oppsed to a v-8 or let say camaro stupid ricers!
i have a better question: Why do people think honda civics are good cars.
Honda builds a very good, very dependable car. But I'm with you 100% about those damn poser rice racers with the dumb wings and the dumber giant exhaust pipes and the dumb and ugly decals that adorn them (just what the hell does NOPI even mean, anyway??). I have to laugh everytime I see some hyper-tuned Civic driver trying to leave rubber at every stop light like they are some kind of bad-azzed street racer -- gimmie a break. I have less money in my whole car (a '97 Mustang GT) then they have in tires, wheels and exhaust alone and I can bury ANY of them at any time I feel like. It's like UFO's and Elvis -- I just don't get it....
My 99 civic pushes 500 HP to the front wheels. It only cost $25,000 for the car and the build. And not to mention it is only 1.8 liters and gets 25 MPG. Now comparativley speaking the Chevy Corvette Z06 has 505 HP and costs $80,000 has a v-8 and gets 14 MPG. Lamborghini has 450 HP and over $150,000. And NO civic has a 2.0 engine from the factory. Know what you are talking about before you open your mouth. And yes I do agree that there are WAY TOO MANY ricey civics. I dont agree with the 3 foot tall wings, stupid graphics, or coffee can exhaust.
If done correctly(which is VERY rarely done), they can end up pretty sporty. Unfortunately, most of the kids driving them are teenage r1c30Rz.
i've had 5 honda civics. one was for show. They are good cars. You dont keep the factory engine! A 4 cylinder that runs low 8's at the track isn't anything to laugh at buddy!
Well the civic is not my style but I love honda accords well anyway they last long and they are cheap and on a open rode they go almost as fast as a mustang. I said ALMOST
Because Hondas are awesome cars and CAN be good racers. You need the right car though : Civic Si, Prelude, Integra GSR or Type R, or RSX. How they look is a matter of opinion and considering they are some of the best selling cars in the WORLD I don't really think your opinion is a good one. You sound prett biased you know and no matter what anyone answers you probably won't change your mind. Honda has an excellent heritage of racing (F1 racing, not dumb and cumbersome NASCAR) and they incorporate that technology with fuel economy and make great everyday drivers the have some umph where you need it. If Hondas are such bad racers then why did just about everyone try to copy the VTEC engine??? Toyota, Dodge, Ford, Mitsubishi, etc. all came out with some kind of Valve Timing engine after the VTEC came out with roaring success. Honda are also easy to tune and don't cost a lot compared to other makes. It's easy to take a civic over 300hp for under $10,000 bucks. Now yopu have a car that weighs 2,800 pounds with over 300hp and that car will smoke big dumb American made sports car that cost three times as much. You need to do you homework. American sports cars are the ones lacking, not the Japs or Euro sports cars. Its more fun to dust a car with twice your engine size with a chubby middle aged guy driving and cursing out your "rice burner". I could keep going on forever. Honda is awesome and you need to do your homework.
^ ^ ^ ^ I couldnt have said it better myself, i completely agree with jesse
To answer this why do people think American muscle back in the 60's where good racing cars? The Europeans didn't think any American racing car could beat a Ferrari. Honda Civics/CRXs/Integras/S2000/NSX/TSX/TL/RL/Accord all prove them self on tracks and in the 1/4 mile. Before Imports wont consider a threat when NA CRXs where clipping high 13's and 5.0s high 12's. But now times have change 10's 1/4 passes from daily driven full weight Honda's are a reality. I remember my mustang would be towed to the track and back home and it was a 10's car and the Hondas would drive home getting 25MPG and other then Piston and rods for bottom end support. On a American car you need to modied every signal bolt and nut. When I built my car it was running mid 12's NA stock other then intake and exhaust K20 motor on boost stock these motors clip high 10's wow something a $12,000 motor and supercharger had a hard time doing. I never seen an Engine burn up unless the guy is booostting alot or spraying alot and stock end I seen countless V8s blow up
no offense bro but Im guessing you're an american muscle type of guy. Well ther sir right now honda and toyota four bangers are out selling your mustanes and comaros. If you go to europe or aisa you will rarely see one of those on the road. secondly honda civics and other honda's arent great race cars stock. They are economy cars. The reason people love them as race cars is because they are easy to tune(if done right), the are cheap to tune(if done right), and its relaticaly easy and cheap to get parts for them. I saw a 9 second crx. Ive seen a cheap ek civic hatchback beat a $80,000 viper. That ones on youtube buddy you can go check that out yourself. Honda engines have huge potentail. These little four banger engines come very weak stock yet they are so much easier and cheaper than v-8s to add horse power to. Not to mention honda vehicles are simply more reliable and lighter than all these muscle cars. So do your homework bud before you criticise. Although no offense I do agree that some of these punk kids put these ugly body kits and decals on there civics and then think they are speed racers. (please stop making the rest of the honda tuners looking back).
Well, it is mainly your own opinion about the looks. Speed wise, you can modify the civic to be ultra fast with little money. Mainly why people buy civics and supe them up is because it is a hobby. It's fun to fix up cars. Civic's are legos in the tuner world. You can buy so many parts for it. That is why people fix up civics.
Probably because they do very well in capacity-limited racing classes - Honda makes excellent engines combining high power and good reliablity. There are many generations and variations of Civics, but there are many Civic models which have stiff light weight bodies with very good suspetions. For instance, if you look at the 1600ccm class at the Nurburgring 24h race, at least half of the cars are Civics. That makes them sucessful racing cars on the toughest racetrack in the world. I'd say that makes them good racing cars!
good luck with audi's and there wiring germans cant wire cars
i own 03 rsx -s , love it. i guess that same reason with many honda drivers. civic is fairly cheap car to start with, and there are so many after market parts you can buy to fix it up. for starter, it will not cost too much to have a car run like good sporty. easily add to 300 hp. however i do agree that there are so many urgly mod civic on the road with only some urgle cosmatic fix and big loud exthaust.
Why? Because they are smart and know the meaning of EFFICIENCY and POTENTIAL. If they did burn down, then it wouldnt be able to tune out 500Hp from it. Yes there are some idiots there who dont know how to set up properly, but its not a reason to judge ALL civics ever made. The only ugly thing would be your face when your humongous TANK of a car gets beat by a properly tuned civic. The Fast and the furious movie is stupid anyway, especially the second one. And lets face it, you're biased towards euro cars, so why bother asking this question in the first place?? no answer will change your mind if you're biased towards another.