Educate me on the 8th gen Civic Si Sedan

"Long Live the Longdoor" (victoryred08)
02/28/2017 at 22:07 • Filed to: None

Has anyone here had one? Is there anything I should look for when buying one used? IIRC, didn’t the 08/09 have some transmission issues? I’m getting the itch to buy a manual daily driver and I’m really considering one of these. Any insight would be greatly appreciate :)

DISCUSSION (25)

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > Long Live the Longdoor
02/28/2017 at 22:10

I think SaveTheIntegras has a 8th Gen Si coupe.

garrett > Long Live the Longdoor
02/28/2017 at 22:22

I had one for a few years ending about 4 years ago. Mine was an 07 just like the one pictured - 4 doors. I drove it during college. Had to get rid of it when I got married as my wife is anti-manual.

It’s a blast to drive. I also had about $5000 of Alpine and Rockford Fosgate sound system in it with dynamat throughout. The 4 door si was, in my opinion, a great compromise between having a pretty sporty car but still being able to go on road trips with friends.

Plus that v-tech kicks in, yo.

garrett > garrett
02/28/2017 at 22:26

Reading your question again reminded me that the third gear shift was a bit sensitive but nothing you can’t learn to deal with. The only other thing I hated stock was the -2 degrees camber on the rear tires. I installed some aftermarket camber arms and adjusted it to 0 degrees so my tires would last more than 20k miles.

Long Live the Longdoor > garrett
02/28/2017 at 22:31

Nice, thanks for the info!

TheHondaBro > The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
02/28/2017 at 22:35

You’re remembering wrong. It’s actually a Ford Probe GT.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Long Live the Longdoor
02/28/2017 at 22:41

I had one, my mom has it now actually. Her Accord was a 94 and I took that for a DD to park in shit garages in SF, she got my Civic with like 28k miles on it. I bought it new in Honolulu, can’t drive too many miles, it’s never had an issue. I ditched the 94 accord and got a CRV to DD, no issues on that either.

MonkeePuzzle > Long Live the Longdoor
02/28/2017 at 22:44

they are EXTREMELY attractive, and if it were awd I’d have one right now.

Shift24 > Long Live the Longdoor
02/28/2017 at 23:02

They are great cars that loved to get strung out and beat on. Dad owns a fiji blue 07 and buddy owned a black 06. The only transmission issues these have is the synchros for 3rd gear go bad and will grind when shifting hard. If it gets really bad the gear will pop out while driving. Plus like Garrett said the rear camber is aggressive (which makes it one of the best stock fwd handling cars) and will eat rear tires. But overall great to hear that vtec and 8200 rev limit, huge aftermarket, and great in the corners. Great cheap reliable car.

vicali > Long Live the Longdoor
02/28/2017 at 23:05

Look out for clear coat failure, dark colours especially Fiji blue.. look for peeling/ white spots along the edge of the rear window. There was a warranty repainted campaign but it’s over now.

Spasoje > Long Live the Longdoor
03/01/2017 at 01:38

The high beams are always on with these. Just thought you should know.

Long Live the Longdoor > Spasoje
03/01/2017 at 06:51

Like literally or am I missing some kind of joke?

John-Palazzo > Long Live the Longdoor
03/01/2017 at 07:23

They have an incredibly tiny trunk.

RacinBob > Long Live the Longdoor
03/01/2017 at 08:37

Mine is one of the first Si Sedan’s built. Identical to the car pictured except for the fogs and Hpd wheels. The Si is just an outstanding car, mine is rattle free after 10 years, has needed no maintenance, it just runs and I really can’t find a reason to replace it.

As for the tranmission, there are complaints that the synchro’s are not that good. You can asess the synchro’s whatever car you drive and come to your own conclusion. However, unless you get a real abused transmission, I can’t imagine that grabby synchros will result in a failure.

I have seen some complaints that the clutch life is not what it should be, however a guy complaining on the internet does not a trend make, My clutch is fine, my wife’s was fine too.

You can read this string on VTEC and draw your own conclusion.

Here’s our fleet, just before my wife sold her ‘02 Si which went 200,000 miles without a problem,

Kinja'd!!!

RacinBob > RacinBob
03/01/2017 at 08:38

Link for VTEC http://www.vtec.net/forums/one-message?message_id=1308502&page_number=1&

Long Live the Longdoor > RacinBob
03/01/2017 at 16:58

Awesome! Thanks for the info, this was exactly what I was looking for!

That’s quite the fleet! I have and Accord Coupe (Red) with the CVT, but I’m getting the itch for a manual and the Civic Si really has my interest, I’ve always liked them and I like the K20 a bit more than the K24.

djgreenlava > Long Live the Longdoor
03/01/2017 at 17:02

They are DRLs. Seven and a half years and I haven’t had to replace the bulbs.

djgreenlava > Long Live the Longdoor
03/01/2017 at 17:16

Kinja'd!!!

I’ve owned a 2010 Rallye Red sedan since it was 1 mile old. Over the past seven years and just over 100k miles I can report back the car has been enjoyable. The rev range is excellent and engaging. The shifting has stayed smooth and precise between gears. Allegedly the shifter was revised 09+ with the minor facelift. The car takes to the corners and snow well. I’ve done track events with passengers and they were shocked how much the seat holds them in. I enjoy a very upright driving position that the seats compliment well but it gets a little tiring after four-five hours of driving.

If you like a simple car that you can have a surprising amount of fun with you’ll be happy. There’s not many frills other than simplicity, good seat fabrics, sliding cup holder lid and arm rest and easy to disable traction control. If you need to ask anything more specific feel free.

Long Live the Longdoor > djgreenlava
03/01/2017 at 18:10

A couple things I can’t seem to find an answer on:

1) are the side mirrors heated?

2) is there a USB port? Does it play music?

3) does it have Bluetooth?

djgreenlava > Long Live the Longdoor
03/01/2017 at 18:35

1) The side mirrors are not heated but they are powered for adjustments.

2) My car is the standard non navigation radio. 09+ models have a USB port for music and charging under the arm rest and an auxiliary cord port in a dash cubby. It has played music fine from iPod classics, android phones and current iPhones. Music mixes well from gps and music apps at the same time. The one line display only shows one current song, artist or album title one at a time. It can take a while to scroll through a big music collection using the large dial opposite of the volume. The weird quirk is if using an iPhone you must have at least one song saved to the phone for it to be recognized by the radio and play music from other apps. Prior to 09 there was only the auxiliary port.

The stereo is pretty decent and the 8" open air subwoofer in the trunk does the job well. Even with lossless audio on the phone or iPod I’ve always thought CDs had much better bass response.

3) There is no Bluetooth for music. I believe there was an option for hands free Bluetooth cell phone use with extra steering wheel controls.

RacinBob > Long Live the Longdoor
03/01/2017 at 23:51

I race a type R in improved touring class. It’s neat driving a Si street car knowing it’s engine is the equivalent in everything including rev limit to my race car. You might as well get a Si, that’s something that probably will not occur again.

Spasoje > Long Live the Longdoor
03/02/2017 at 16:04

The latter! People that drive around with their high-beams on, day or night, overwhelmingly seem to be driving 8th-gen Civics.

Long Live the Longdoor > djgreenlava
03/02/2017 at 19:56

Thanks!

Just thought of one more question: does it have auto on/off headlights?

djgreenlava > Long Live the Longdoor
03/02/2017 at 23:20

Headlights are manual controlled.

Also I remembered if you need to have heated mirrors you can install ones from the hybrid, Acura CSX, or JDM if you don’t mind tapping into some wires.

No problem.

Long Live the Longdoor > djgreenlava
05/15/2017 at 22:05

Just thought of another question that I was curious about and can’t find the answer online: does it have a hill holder feature?

djgreenlava > Long Live the Longdoor
06/05/2017 at 13:22

You might have found the answer in the meantime but it does not.