Hello there,
I've always been a huge fan of the 1989-1992 Honda CRX VTEC, 160bhp in such a small but practical body, i'd love one but they're just too old, rare and everything i've seen has been (because they take a thrashing from everyone who owns them) too shagged out to be my daily driver. So instead i'm seriously considering a Civic VTi for my next car, I usually spend between one and four grand (i'm in the UK BTW!) on my cars so i'm looking at something from 1995 to 2000. I want a fast car with a useful amount of space in the back that won't cost me too much to run, so I want a hot-hatch that doesn't drink fuel like a VR6 but that goes just as fast. Civic VTi seems like just the job, but there's two engine sizes available, the 1.8 vtec and the 1.6 vtec. The 1.8 has something like 180bhp and the 1.6 has around 160, but Parker's tells me the 1.6 is faster. Can anyone advise me what these engines are like, which one I should try to get? Or would you recommend I get a different hot hatch (i've considered Golf VR6s, Rover 200vi, don't want anything French!)
-Andrew (aka the lab rat)

 

i dont know much about the cars ur talking about but its probally pretty close to comparing a b16 vs b18 motors we have here and in japan that most people are running now days. Me personally i like the B16.

 

Denfinitely go with the Civic over the others. And for the engine, I would say 1.8, because if you want to build it later, you will get much better numbers out of it. Plus, the extra torque will keep you from having it wind it anytime you want acceleration.

 

yeah, ill agree with Kappa here. not to belittle the b16, but a bigger engine makes more power easier. i had a b16 in mine, then swapped it for the b18c1. its more useable with the 18 now. the b16 is great though, and capable of anything the 18 is, its just easier with the 18.

 

I think the 1.8 was available in the 4 door only. There was a special edition avainlable called a VTi-S it was quick and gave the 180bhp which you talk about. Not too many of those about. I think they only came in one colour too which was a very dark metallic purple. I am 90% sure that if your looking for a hatch your going to have to get the 160BHP b16 version as the b18 was in 4 door salloon only. I have a b16a EG (92-95) very happy with it. when the VTEC kicks in with my magnaflow exhaust the power is great and a great sound!! Go with the civic.

 

Hi ,

wonder if ya can hlp me???

Im in the UK and I have a Japenese imported honda civic '93.

I do not know the spec of it and was wondering if anyone could hlp me figure this out. Its got V-Tec E written on the engine and the chassis number begins with EG4 - ******* Is this a VTI model? I know its not DOHC, well at least i dont think so anyway .

Im just wonderin whether or not its worth tuning up or whether i should maybe buy a better model.

Sorry for hijakkin this thread. im new to the forums, so pls be easy

Many thx in advance,

Rudebwoy

 

vtec-e is an economy version of vtec. it should give you really great fuel economy, and still have the power to scoot you around town allright. its not terribly powerful, but its better than the fuel economy should allow.

 

hey thx sacicons,

Do you happen to know the HP of this engine and whether or not it is worth tuning up, maybe adding a turbo kit or supercharger???

BTW, the engine has done 191k klm.

Thx again, rudebwoy

 

if its the same as ours, its about 117hp, and its decent for tuning, but a normal vtec engien would be better, but you'd lose that fantastic fuel economy. i mean, youll probably get about 45-50 MPG (sorry, i dont know the conversion) and with a normal SOHC VTEC, youll go down to about 30mpg.

 

I believe the conversion is something like this: (don't metric countries like to do it as liters per kilometer or something weird?) ~66 - 74 kilometers/gallon... ~17 - 20 kilometers/liter (or "litre")... or .05 - .0588 liters/kilometer... whichever way you prefer.

But I do think that mileage is aiming a little high...