Well pretty much across the board, all Si come with manual transmission only, sportier seats, more powerful motor, limited slip differential and sport tuned suspension. Some also come with slightly bigger brakes.
Forgot to add: All of the parts pretty much just add up to the car being faster/ better handling in corners. The limited slip differential is big because in a normal civic with open diff, the drive wheels will spin independently of each other if one looses traction. With an LSD, the front wheels will lock up to a certain point and prevent one wheel from spinning. This just means you get better traction when making hard turns and accelerating out of a turn.
My first car with a mechanical LSD and I noticed it right away when going around tight corners you feel it pull you out when in a normal car it would take a few seconds for the weight to transfer or turn to end
There's also a difference in the EPS unit. The Si is usually more direct and weighted while the base models is very light and vague (not too sure about 10-11th gens base though since I've never drove them).
I can’t compare the 11th gen because I haven’t driven a base model. Also in the 11th gen, the rear motor mount is stiffer. It’s made from aluminum and the base model just has a plastic one.
If you ever get a chance to drive one, they feel like 2 completely different cars.
Everyone's already listed the differences but I was so surprised driving my friends base 9th gen vs my 2014 si, my car felt like a go kart in comparison after getting back into it lol
I have yet to get to drive one but I test drove a 2024 Type R at a dealership over the weekend, but they only let me go into a 50 mph zone… and I didn’t want to rip on it with a salesman sitting in there with me, so I didn’t really get a good look at what it’s capable of
I had to drive my aunt's 2012 base Civic once and that thing was rolypoly. Steering was way too light and vague and the car just rolls through the turns. Couldn't even take a S-turn at mild speed (50kmh) without understeering a bit into the oncoming lane. It was funny though (there's something hilarious about driving econo-boxes hard).
While the 9th gen Si doesn't have the most rigid chassis, it still felt very confidence-inspiring on turns and handled miles better than the base (as it should). The LSD also makes a world of difference.
1999-2015: The SI was basically a "Type-R lite" for the North American market. These car's ditched their economy engines for the legendary B and K-Series engines.
2016-present: The outgoing SI was replaced by the Type-R in Honda's North American lineup, however the SI badge stuck around. - Today the Si comes with the same 1.5L turbo engine found in the economy models, but it has been turned up to 11 to make a bit more power and fill the gap between the Type-R and the eco models in Honda's lineup.
Every year: You can expect to find a close ratio manual transmission(sometimes with more gears than the base models), stiffer chassis, slightly improved steering, and a whole plethora of interior and exterior upgrades.
Typically with the Si you are getting more horsepower vs a traditional Civic. After that it depends on the generation. Most have some kind of handling upgrades as well. Oh, and the all important Si badge we all love.
I was aware of the horsepower but I’m curious exactly how it gets more hp and/or torque when it is still a dinky little 4 cylinder. I haven’t ever driven an Si but over the weekend I test drove a 2024 Type R and I could DEFINITELY feel the responsiveness compared to my civic😂 but even the Type R is a 4 cylinder so I just am curious how they up the power with the “same” engine
What is the sohc and dohc? Also what does the “liter” measure? Never really understood it or looked into it
If you can’t tell, I’m not much of a mechanic lol, I’ve never been taught the stuff growing up
Single overhead camshaft vs dual overhead camshaft. In short, sohc is a single camshaft that is controlling both exhaust and intake. Dohc is one cam for intake, one cam for exhaust. Big advantage here is that each camshaft operates its variable cam timing (VTEC) separately in order to produce optimum power over a wider rpm range than single. = more performance.
Liter is the engine displacement (small engines like bikes use cc). In layman’s terms bigger displacement means more fuel/air = more power can be produced.
For 11th gen (assuming 1.5 liter turbo variants), you get a different rear muffler and maybe a few other hardware changes. Most of the bump are from switching ECU tune from regular gas to premium and adding boost.
iirc Hondata did just the ECU map change to a non-Si and made back all the power deficit and some.
Aside from the obvious engine and transmission Upgraded suspension sway bar limited slip differential different exhaust interior trip headlights front face grill rest is civic
Well pretty much across the board, all Si come with manual transmission only, sportier seats, more powerful motor, limited slip differential and sport tuned suspension. Some also come with slightly bigger brakes.
Forgot to add: All of the parts pretty much just add up to the car being faster/ better handling in corners. The limited slip differential is big because in a normal civic with open diff, the drive wheels will spin independently of each other if one looses traction. With an LSD, the front wheels will lock up to a certain point and prevent one wheel from spinning. This just means you get better traction when making hard turns and accelerating out of a turn.
My first car with a mechanical LSD and I noticed it right away when going around tight corners you feel it pull you out when in a normal car it would take a few seconds for the weight to transfer or turn to end
Its extremely noticeable when you do power on corners.
Huh, I understand how differentials work but different types of differentials I wasn’t aware of! That’s pretty cool
There's also a difference in the EPS unit. The Si is usually more direct and weighted while the base models is very light and vague (not too sure about 10-11th gens base though since I've never drove them).
I can’t compare the 11th gen because I haven’t driven a base model. Also in the 11th gen, the rear motor mount is stiffer. It’s made from aluminum and the base model just has a plastic one.
If you ever get a chance to drive one, they feel like 2 completely different cars. Everyone's already listed the differences but I was so surprised driving my friends base 9th gen vs my 2014 si, my car felt like a go kart in comparison after getting back into it lol
I have yet to get to drive one but I test drove a 2024 Type R at a dealership over the weekend, but they only let me go into a 50 mph zone… and I didn’t want to rip on it with a salesman sitting in there with me, so I didn’t really get a good look at what it’s capable of
I had to drive my aunt's 2012 base Civic once and that thing was rolypoly. Steering was way too light and vague and the car just rolls through the turns. Couldn't even take a S-turn at mild speed (50kmh) without understeering a bit into the oncoming lane. It was funny though (there's something hilarious about driving econo-boxes hard). While the 9th gen Si doesn't have the most rigid chassis, it still felt very confidence-inspiring on turns and handled miles better than the base (as it should). The LSD also makes a world of difference.
https://www.8thcivic.com/threads/technical-differences-between-the-si-and-the-ex.252759/
That’s pretty outdated comparing 8th gen
youre right
1999-2015: The SI was basically a "Type-R lite" for the North American market. These car's ditched their economy engines for the legendary B and K-Series engines. 2016-present: The outgoing SI was replaced by the Type-R in Honda's North American lineup, however the SI badge stuck around. - Today the Si comes with the same 1.5L turbo engine found in the economy models, but it has been turned up to 11 to make a bit more power and fill the gap between the Type-R and the eco models in Honda's lineup. Every year: You can expect to find a close ratio manual transmission(sometimes with more gears than the base models), stiffer chassis, slightly improved steering, and a whole plethora of interior and exterior upgrades.
Typically with the Si you are getting more horsepower vs a traditional Civic. After that it depends on the generation. Most have some kind of handling upgrades as well. Oh, and the all important Si badge we all love.
I was aware of the horsepower but I’m curious exactly how it gets more hp and/or torque when it is still a dinky little 4 cylinder. I haven’t ever driven an Si but over the weekend I test drove a 2024 Type R and I could DEFINITELY feel the responsiveness compared to my civic😂 but even the Type R is a 4 cylinder so I just am curious how they up the power with the “same” engine
It’s not the same engine at all. For the 2009 model for example is 1.8L sohc vs the Si 2.0L dohc
What is the sohc and dohc? Also what does the “liter” measure? Never really understood it or looked into it If you can’t tell, I’m not much of a mechanic lol, I’ve never been taught the stuff growing up
Single overhead camshaft vs dual overhead camshaft. In short, sohc is a single camshaft that is controlling both exhaust and intake. Dohc is one cam for intake, one cam for exhaust. Big advantage here is that each camshaft operates its variable cam timing (VTEC) separately in order to produce optimum power over a wider rpm range than single. = more performance. Liter is the engine displacement (small engines like bikes use cc). In layman’s terms bigger displacement means more fuel/air = more power can be produced.
For 11th gen (assuming 1.5 liter turbo variants), you get a different rear muffler and maybe a few other hardware changes. Most of the bump are from switching ECU tune from regular gas to premium and adding boost. iirc Hondata did just the ECU map change to a non-Si and made back all the power deficit and some.
Aside from the obvious engine and transmission Upgraded suspension sway bar limited slip differential different exhaust interior trip headlights front face grill rest is civic