Ic, ralliart it is then. OH and I finally test drove one....

It was awesome. The gas pedal is so sensitive compared to my civic lol. It was really fun to drive.

But one thing I wasn't too fond of was at how quiet it was for a turbocharged dual exhaust car. Think my civic is 10 louder then it. But that can all change with new exhaust and BOV right? Cause I would really like to hear a BOV nice and clearly.

 

They sell some loud exhausts out there and yes you can upgrade the BOV.

 

Louder /= Better

 

Being an owner of a FG2 (06 SI) for 4 years and now an owner of a 09 RA for a week so far I can talk about both of them.

PROS Civic
*Higher Mile per galon ratings (it can go higher with tuning)
*Powerful High end
*Huge aftermarket support. You have everything of any kind of brand.
*N/A reliability those K series are VERY strong engines
*Better Handling
*Capable of doing 12's N/A with a K24/k20 hybrid on a stock body or 10's on a turbocharged one also on a stock body

CONS Civic
*Lack of low end power, you will need to make a lot of noise in order to get a pretty amount of boost to pass someone quickly on the highway.
*Prior 2009 models the transmission have problems with 3rd gear
*FWD even with a low torque rating it difficult to get grip on a stop launch
*Very expensive to make it fast
*The engine is difficult to work with, very tight engine bay. Changing the oil is a pain, no matter what precautions you take you will end up with a mess when you work with the oil filter.




RA Pros
*AWD
*Turbo
*State of the art transmission than even your wife can drive
*The oil filter is in a beautiful location very accessible compared to the civic.
*Don't need to make a lot of noise pushing all the way up the engine to pass someone in the streets. (Lots of Torque)
*Many EVO parts works on the RA
*Lots of standard/optional features like Recaro seats, HID, Bluetooth (Handsfree), CD Changer in dash, etc
*Engine Bay is more workable than in the Civic


RA Cons
*Drinks a lot of gas, be careful with the pedal
*Handling is not as crisp as in the Civic (Both stock)
*Looks like a cheap Lancer (In my area I hate that there are a lot of lancers out there compared to the civic)
*Trunk Space is small
*Brakes performs a bit worse than in the civic

 

i think you need to replace the word "handling" with the words "steering feel" or "driver feedback" or something like that, because i can guarantee the ralliart outperforms the civic, stock for stock, on the skidpad

 

Lol, you must have some tiny hands. I couldn't get my hands in there to get to the filter the 1st oil change, and use the K&N filter now with the nut on top so I can get it off.

 

RA Pros

*State of the art transmission than even your wife can drive

I think this should be added to the cons lol. J/K though the transmission is excellent.

 

Maybe I misunderstand your reply but you must see the location of the oil filter of the K20Z3.

Isn't on the bottom like in the RA is on back side mounted horizontally. No matter what measure you take it will spill oil all over the right control arm. And the spaces to access it are pretty tight.


I agree with you I'm a bit confused too but every review out there say otherwise the RA is on the low to mid .8s and the SI on the high .8s
The stock tires are the responsibles but I know if you put another more sticky it will get into the .9s easily the suspension is pretty hard.




Very true but in my case if that were not available she would not allow me to buy the car. For this reason I must say that is an excellent feature.

 

RA all the way everyone owns a civic!!!!