So the new civic has been on sale in the US for more than 6 months now and would like to discuss what sort if potential the car has in terms of performance. I don't want to discuss this topic in the 2 sticky threads because this is a specific topic of discussion that deserves its own thread.
Firstly, the new civic 1.5t was not launched with a manual version in the States and up till now is still not available although they are planning on launching it in the near future. Prototypes have been made with the MT and some auto journalists have been given brief drives with them but they are tight lipped on the subject. The reason I think the MT was only available for 2.0 and not the 1.5T was because of the higher torque output of the turbo motor is putting a lot of stress on the components of the gearbox, such as the clutch, and honda didn't have a cost effective solution.
With the CVT the Civic T is doing some good numbers even beaten the previous gen si on the drag strip. Now even though the CVT is very efficient, I think the MT will be slightly quicker, especially in the lower gears. other advantages of the MT is that it will be a little cheaper to buy (50,000-90,000 cheaper) and will be more sturdy than the CVT if you were to tune the car. question is, how much faster is it then the CVT?
Another big point of discussion is, of course the turbo motor itself. it is a blessing that the first turbo car to enter our market is a real gem. all the auto journalist are saying its a little rocket and even established companies like Hondata are giddy with the new engine. For reference, here is a comparison with a Mazda RX-8.
Car & Driver TEST RESULTS:
Civic Turbo (2016):
Zero to 60 mph: 6.6 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 16.9 sec
Standing ?-mile: 15.1 sec @ 95 mph
Mazda Rx-8 R3 (2009)
Zero to 60 mph: 6.7 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 17.7 sec
Standing ?-mile: 15.1 sec @ 93 mph
This is even more impressive when you see that the RX-8 was rated at 232 BHP and the New civic Turbo is rated at 'only' 174 BHP! Even more good news is that Injen in reporting that the new civic T has seen the most performance increase from their intake then any other car they have installed it to (>20hp). Clearly there is a lot of potential here but now it be interesting to see what BHP yields can we expect with a light tune like exhaust, intake and tune; is 240 possible?