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That Z4 was fantastic. Someone that's not me got it for $4200 bucks. It had a salvage title, smelled like fresh paint, had hair in the paint from someone painting it with a brush, had a leaking heater core, and a pair of handcuffs and a fishing rod in the trunk. This one did not have a power top, but we had to do the heater core in it, took 6hrs.
Someone who's not me would pay the security guards during Covid shutdowns in the new industrial parks $40 dollars to patrol elsewhere for a few hrs. Someone who's not me would then set up "Covid motorsports park". We had full-blown race cars attend, drones, timers, cones, lead and follow, and everything.
That car did not have the same number of wheels attached after we were done. Fixed it, did it again.
Some lady backed into it after we slapped huge snow tires on it and went up the mountains. Got written off for like $6k. Saw it on a pick-a-part site a few months later. Only part not for sale? The hood we polished with an orbial sander.
Interested to read your take on the FK8 if you write one - there's a lot of noise on these to get a good read on long-term ownership thoughts. I get the impression from owners online that they like the car for the hype and style rather than appreciating the car for its abilities.
Been feeling a little burnt out lately, but I have a few write ups planned. One for my latest track experience (lul) and a few for this thread. It'll likely be cross-posted, as I've shared my experiences on my previous vehicles on other threads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 68style
To be honest for me, all my are at least 20 years old, even a CTR probably seems like a luxury sedan inside to me lol
I can guarantee you.. a shitbox $6500 300K KM E36 M3 has better sound deadening and interior materials than the $55K CTR
Quote:
Originally Posted by donk.
2003 and 2004 Z4 3.0
-Prices for parts are batshit expensive. (I was useto like 150$ starters, Honda level pricing you know). Amp = 1300$ used, starter 850$ new, used/reman starter 350$, roof motor, 950$ new. BMW and Mercedes are rich people cars.
If you know where to look, BMW parts can be found for cheaper than Honda parts. One of the things I hate about Hondas (new to this experience) is that every part is Genuine Honda only. It's nearly impossible to find an OE alternative, whereas for BMW it is very easy to find - punch in the PN in google.
__________________
|| 18 FK8 | R-18692 | Rallye Red | 6 MT ||
|| SOLD 97 E36 M3 Sedan | Arctic Silver | 5MT ||
|| RIP 02 E46 330ci | Schwartz Black II | 5MT | M-Tech II | Black Cube | Shadowline | Stoff Laser/Anthrazit ||
|| RIP 02 E46 M3 | Carbon Black | 6MT ||
2 very similar cars
2008 evox 5 speed and 2016 sti 6 speed
sti:
had much nicer material for the interior. it was well laid out and a overall better daily
6 speed on the sti was nice and smooth and sitting at a lower rpm on long trips is a bonus
driving position is a lot better i guess i just prefer a telescoping steering wheel
gotta give handling to the sti too. lighter car, rwd bias, lower center of gravity. quicker steering response
evo:
it does everything the sti can, but less refined... but it is a older car.
i did find the shifting in the evo is less precise and it grinds easily. very common on the the gsr.
Holy shit, the list of repairs looks like a snuff film. I honestly don’t know how yray puts up with his.
I have become one with the car, that's how I keep ahead of repairs
__________________ There's a phallic symbol infront of my car
Quote:
MG1: in fact, a new term needs to make its way into the American dictionary. Trump............ he's such a "Trump" = ultimate insult. Like, "yray, you're such a trump."
bcrdukes yray fucked bcrdukes up the nose
dapperfied yraisis
dapperfied yray so waisis
FastAnna you literally talk out your ass
FastAnna i really cant
FastAnna yray i cant stand you
wowowow Rally twins !!! im surprised how similar these two look.
yes! but imo the evo looks much nicer. i dont like how the va sti doesnt have wider fenders to differentiate itself from the wrx. the evo could easily fit 10.5s with 295 while the sti requires more work to fit 275
Man I loved my Evo X when it worked. Track day with garbage all season tires on RPF1s. I miss that car the most, too bad I had to sell it to go back to school.
Would I buy one again?
-Oh hell yes, if I did not find my current C7, I was heavily considering a Z4M convertible at the time. Maybe one day......
-Someone on here has a Z4M, they should relay their experience with it.
I found a Z4M Roadster in Interlagos Blue for $39K landed.
__________________
|| 18 FK8 | R-18692 | Rallye Red | 6 MT ||
|| SOLD 97 E36 M3 Sedan | Arctic Silver | 5MT ||
|| RIP 02 E46 330ci | Schwartz Black II | 5MT | M-Tech II | Black Cube | Shadowline | Stoff Laser/Anthrazit ||
|| RIP 02 E46 M3 | Carbon Black | 6MT ||
I also had a 2008 Evo X. Mine was a GSR with the SSS package (sight [lights], sound, spoiler) and the factory aero upgrade.
Liked:
Suspension was very good stock. Probably not good enough out of the box to be a track only car, but it was perfect for the road. Firm, but took the hits very well.
Grip was great, especially in the snow. The whole active yaw system worked very well and you could feel it pinching the brakes to pull the car around on slippery surfaces. It would be a great first high powered car.
Recaro seats in the front are still my favorite ever seats.
Sound system was great.
Didn't use much gas really
A big 4wd drift -
With a T1R exhaust it sounded bad ass, and a cone filter also made the re-circ valve loud. It was hard not to love that.
edit: Almost forgot, the initial turn in is very sharp. It really feels like you can dive into the corners.
Didn't like:
Starting from stop always felt You either dump the clutch, or you chug until you get a little bit of boost.
Couldn't fold down rear seats. So I had to put my skis/showboard in the back seat or get a rack. I hated that.
When I was really pushing it on corners I kept feeling like this thing was going to suddenly snap under-steer.
Paint was cheap
It always felt like some cheap part was going to snap or blow up.
Every passenger stepped on the side skirts getting out and I was worried they would break off.
Really needed a 6th gear.
This was my first newish car ever (in 2010) and I sold my MKIV Supra TT to buy it. That was dumb, and I never felt the same about my Evo as I did my Supra so after 4 years it had to go.
I don't remember there being one. Thinking about it, there might have been a pass through, but I couldn't fit my snowboard through it and if I wanted to take skis then I would have to take it out of the bag because the bag wouldn't fit either.
Mine was on some Tein coilovers. You basically paid 40k for the engine, AWD magic drivetrain, and recaro seats and everything else was free.
Mine had some sort of boost issue so it didn't run as well near red line. The other magazine reviewers were right a out the car. It's really a mini GTR. The way the SAWC system pulls you out of corners is amazing. Last corner in Mission, after the chicane, can be done full throttle.
No understeer for me but mine was modified.
I really want to try the GR Corolla and see if it comes close to the Evo X.
I don't think it is the wrong term.. I was once in a Porsche as a passenger and we were turning left with a slight slide and suddenly it snapped right and spun out. It wasn't the typical over correction of lock.
So with the Evo, as you were balancing it around the corner with the throttle it felt like the car was just loading up to snap into the turn. Probably just something you can fix by a geometry tweak of some sort.
I don't think it is the wrong term.. I was once in a Porsche as a passenger and we were turning left with a slight slide and suddenly it snapped right and spun out. It wasn't the typical over correction of lock.
So with the Evo, as you were balancing it around the corner with the throttle it felt like the car was just loading up to snap into the turn. Probably just something you can fix by a geometry tweak of some sort.
This is triggering flashbacks to my '86 MR2, which would snap oversteer into corners, then snap understeer out of corners. Sometimes both at the same time. Always snap something.
(Somehow this turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated... )
Back in 2010, somehow I came to the conclusion that I needed a more practical vehicle than my Miata, but I didn't really want to spend a lot of money. So I went out to look for a beater, mostly focusing on different variants and generations of Civic / Integra. Originally, I really wanted to pick up an EG or EK Civic. But nearly all EG / EK within my budget was either pretty beat up, or suffering from varying degrees of rust cancer, so I began looking into the slightly newer ES Civics as well.
As I started researching into the car, it turned out that the early model years (01 - 03) were giant pieces of turd, with Honda seriously dropping the ball on a large number of normal everyday reliability aspects. But then with the 04 - 05 facelift, they actually fixed up all the reliability issues, and that is the car I ended up with -- a 04 facelifted 4-door ES1 car. It was the SE model, which basically meant it was the base stripper DX model (complete with manual crank windows!), but with A/C and a factory CD player already installed when they are optional equipment in the DX, plus a faux ground effects / body kit that made it looks more "sporty". I actually liked the car being a stripper model because it meant it was lighter than the higher trim models -- I think it was only in the high 2300 to low 2400 lbs range. The only thing I wished it had was ABS.
Drivetrain
Spoiler!
After taking ownership of the car, I went through a cycle of refreshing it, catching up on all the deferred maintenance. With an (engine) valve adjustment and a switch to synthetic (engine) oil, the 170k+ km engine was butter smooth and purring like it was brand new all over again. I was honestly super surprised at how smooth and strong the engine was despite all that mileage. Power delivery was responsive, and the engine was willing to rev, but naturally, there wasn't a lot of oomph in the top end, even though the engine was certainly willing to go there. Wikipedia says it has 122hp / 110 lb-ft; I swear to God that it does NOT have 120hp.
Since the car was basically a DX model, it only had the non-VTEC D17A1 engine. At the time, all my car friends were warning me against picking up a 7th gen Civic, and the engine was one of their reasons. According to my friends, the D16Y engine was more receptive to modding, as was the EK platform. The D17 engine, however, practically had no aftermarket support. More over, the engine was pretty much maxed out in stock form already. But from my perspective, stock-for-stock, I found the D16 engine to be much weaker (have less low end to mid range torque) than the D17 engine was. For basic rolling around town, I thought the added torque from the D17 engine was more useful.
The engine was NOT picky about the gas it was fed -- it ran well and behaved about the same regardless of the brand or octane level of the gas that was used. (So naturally, I only fed it regular gas after a few trials.) The engine was generally not picky about the oil that was put into it either as long as it was the right grade (viscosity), although I would still say the switch to synthetic made the engine run noticeably smoother.
At 170k+ km, the engine consumed a tiny amount of oil, although I have forgotten the exact amount it needed over the course of an oil change. A little top up every now and then was all it needed -- it'd consume a little more oil if I were running the engine under high rpms (such as when I take the car to the track). The shifter felt a bit flimsy / cheap, but engagement always had a crisp and positive feel. It was certainly a shifter (and gearbox) that I enjoyed rowing.
The engine had a stupid factory air intake location where it was basically drawing hot air in from the engine bay. I rigged up a ghetto cold fresh air intake that would funnel some cold fresh air from the front grill, and it made a noticeable (and measurable) difference to the IAT, as well as a small difference to power.
Handling
Spoiler!
The car had 170k+ when I took ownership of it, and it was still running on original shocks and everything. So naturally, the shocks were all worn out and way past overdue for replacing. But since none of them were leaking yet, I was being cheap and didn't bother to replace anything. The steering was light and generally provided good feedback, but there was a small amount of vagueness, likely due to the tie rods / control arms / bushings being as well-used as they were. And this vagueness deterioated over the course of my ownership almost certainly because of the motorsports activities that I have put the car through LOL~
The car had a decent chassis that was light and surprisingly responsive. Weight balance was what you'd expect from a typical FWD, but I'd actually say it was more "tail-light" instead of "front heavy" because the whole car was pretty light. Coupled together with the worn out shocks that basically offered zero body motion control in any sort of semi-aggressive driving, it made for some *really* interesting handling characteristics. Minute amounts of trail braking would cause the rear end to step out, and it was super easy to induce and sustain a FWD drift when a sweeper turn is taken aggressively. But this is also one of the reasons that I liked the chassis -- the handling behaviour of the car was always linear, progressive, and easily predictable. At any point during my shenanigans, I'd say I generally have a very good idea of how much control I still have over the car, and can adjust accordingly. IMO, the wheelbase of the car also played a key role in this. In my current M2, the wheelbase is much shorter, and that doesn't give the driver very much warning or time to correct once the rear end starts walking sideways. But with the Civic, it was long enough to be stable and predictable, yet still short enough to be agile.
The 7th gen Civic takes a lot of flak from the (online?) car community for ditching the double wishbone suspension from the 6th gen car to the Mac strut configuration, as well as having a poor IRS design. Inherently, of course there is a degree of truth to the accusations, and the initial 01 - 03 model run was using undersized front struts that lead to premature failure. But at least in stock form of the facelifted cars, I'd say the suspension design works well enough for 95% of the usage the car will see, and that includes light motorsports use as well as everyday mundane driving.
The handling behaviour of the beater Civic actually made me a much better driver than I was before owning the car, because it forced me to practice the textbook skills in high performance driving -- brake in a straight line, coordinate your steering and throttle inputs, control the car through the throttle, and of course, "staying on gas" as with any FWD high performance driving situation lol~ It was a *LOT* of fun.
Practicality
Spoiler!
Visibility from the driver seat was superb -- the car had a low cowl and a short hood that sloped down; the A-pillars were thin, and the greenhouse had large windows. The trunk was a bit tall, so rearward visibility was not as good as the forward one, but it still wasn't poor by any means. The visibility from the driver's seat was something I miss dearly because most (all?) modern cars have stupid high cowls and shoulder lines as a result of the higher crash standards now.
The car was hands-down amazing when it comes to utility and practicality. It really wasn't a large car by any stretch of imagination, but every bit of the car was designed with utility and usability in mind. All the controls were within easy and intuitive reach of the driver. Interior appointments were spartan but comfortable and sensible. The rear flat floor made putting stuff into the back of the car a breeze. The trunk was simply ginormous. Even without folding down the seats, it could swallow 1 giant suitcase + 1 carry-on suitcase with room to spare. And with the rear seats folded down, it could swallow even more.
The spare wheel well cover / trunk liner board was a cheap and flimsy piece of particle board. It was rather surprising to see Honda cheaping out on something like that.
Access to basic maintenance items for the average non-car enthusiast owner was fantastic. All the fluids openings were easily accessible, and all the light bulb locations were super easy to get to. I don't think I have ever changed the bulbs in the head and brake lights in any of my cars as fast as I did with the beater Civic -- they were readily accessible. By contrast, the service maintenance fire hoops that VW engineers make you jump through made me want to strangle those very same VW engineers...
Reliability
Spoiler!
The original owner of the car basically did nothing more than basic oil changes, maybe one brake fluid change, and some basic replacement of consumables, and nothing broke on the car over the course of its initial 170k km run. With a good amount of refreshening, the car went on to run like a champ for me despite the abuse that I have put it through. I obviously drove it all over the place and on road trips -- including on access roads to get to hiking trail heads; took it to autox and track days; used it to haul all kinds of stuff; made good use of the backseats just for the heck of it LOL~
Honda had dropped the ball with the initial release of the car, even though there were a lot of good and thoughtful designs built into it. Fortunately, they were able to clean up their act, and the facelifted version of the 7th gen car was exemplary, showcasing Honda's well-deserved reputation as an auto manufacturer.
Final Words
The 7th gen Civic gets a bad name from the casual car enthusiast community. Part of it came from the failures of the early model year cars, but I'd say a good chuck of it also came from people just being armchair experts as opposed to having actual real life experience with the car. Speaking from first hand experience, I'd say the facelifted cars were fantastic in a very utilitarian way -- it wasn't a thoroughbred, and shouldn't be expected to perform like one just because its prececessor had elements of it. Instead, the car was an ultra reliable and willing workhorse. It was always there; it was not picky, and things always just worked. It was already punching way above its weight class, and shouldn't be criticized for being something it wasn't. I wish I had bought one since new (but not the 01-03 model).
I don’t know where to start.
1) great and comprehensive review
2) extra points for reviewing a base model civic. Extra extra points for tracking said civic.
3) you probably got more fun out of that thing then anyone else who’s ever owned a civic se
This is the epitome of a good beater car.
P.s did you guys ever have any problems with dating and your cars ?
When I drove my dads Sentra xe (same as basically a civic dx) this girl I was dating in langara commented it was the ugliest thing she’s ever seen (gold with a tan cloth interior). This honger bitch drive a base model CRV in that British racing green so im not sure if she had any rights to comment on my car.
But anyways I did end up with this insecurity that to get hot chicks you need hot cars. Of course then I got spy balloon and ended up buying a shit ton of corollas….. so I guess it only mattered for a few years in my early 20s
Have I mentioned on RS before about the time when I took a girl out on a first date in my Miata? I have just installed some super stiff metal-polyurethane engine mounts into the Miata, so she was buzzing and vibrating like a mofo whenever the car idled, and it was still really loud (and buzzing & vibrating) when the car was moving LOL~
I dunno WTF I was thinking at the time... but I still ended up dating the girl for a good 1/2 year or so. But after that first date, I always drove the girl in the beater Civic I wrote above lol~
I also went on lots of dates and trips with le wifey, both before and after she became le wifey, and she never had a problem with the Civic being a beater. But that's why she is a keeper.
I don’t know where to start.
1) great and comprehensive review
2) extra points for reviewing a base model civic. Extra extra points for tracking said civic.
3) you probably got more fun out of that thing then anyone else who’s ever owned a civic se
This is the epitome of a good beater car.
P.s did you guys ever have any problems with dating and your cars ?
When I drove my dads Sentra xe (same as basically a civic dx) this girl I was dating in langara commented it was the ugliest thing she’s ever seen (gold with a tan cloth interior). This honger bitch drive a base model CRV in that British racing green so im not sure if she had any rights to comment on my car.
But anyways I did end up with this insecurity that to get hot chicks you need hot cars. Of course then I got spy balloon and ended up buying a shit ton of corollas….. so I guess it only mattered for a few years in my early 20s
I'd say a dark green CRV has your shitty Sentra beat in terms of looks, especially if you had a gold B14 Sentra......
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
The banners on the left side and below do not show for registered users!
BMW and Mercedes are rich people cars.
)
I rigged up a ghetto cold fresh air intake that would funnel some cold fresh air from the front grill, and it made a noticeable (and measurable) difference to the IAT, as well as a small difference to power.
