After saying all the things above, the most important tests still remains the actual timed performance tests I would conduct using my GTech Pro. This then is a totally objective evaluation of the (straight-line) performance abilities of the K20A Civic. Any car's acceleration capability is intimately tied to it's power to weight relationship. In order to have a good and well-balanced acceleration ability, a car must have a low weight to power (especially power atw) ratio. It means that each ps of engine power needs to lug around less weight. This means either a very powerful engine used with a very efficient gearbox, or a very light bodyweight or ideally both. Traction (controlled by tyre grip levels), overall weight balance, and the number of gears and their ratios also influences to some degree. But the key factor still remains the car's weight to power (atw) ratio. This basic requirement for good weight to power ratio is dictated by physical law and there's simply no other way around it. These principles even governs all forms of racing and everyone has to work with them, from the millions of people doing drag racing right up to the pinnacle of motorsports like F1 and GT car racing. This is why teams and racers are always looking for more power and why race cars are always stripped to their bare chassis and usually features exotic materials for their strength and lightness.
In this respect, the K20A Civic satisfies the pre-requisites which are necessary for very good acceleration times. Its raw weight to power ratio of 8.0 is the second highest in the entire Honda Malaysia line-up, behind only the 240ps Accord 3.0l V6. Eventhough it uses the regular torque-converter auto gearbox, it still delivers a good amount of it's rated 155ps to the wheels. It's weight to power ratio beats practically all of its immediate competitors and it will very likely outperform them as well. The car will lose out in traction being FF in configuration and also because frankly the tyres are not really up to par. But nevertheless, even before I started the GTech Pro tests, I was already very confident that the K20A Civic will deliver better times than the 9.6 seconds Honda quoted for it in the 0-100kph dash.
As with the case with it's 1.7l sibling, the 5AT on this K20A Civic lends itself well to launching. There is no real need to pre-tension the gearbox. All I needed to do was to hold the car stationary with the left foot on the brake pedal, lightly squeeze the throttle and then simultaneously go WOT while quickly lifting my left foot off the brake pedal. As usual, launching is limited by the grip of the front tyres and in this aspect, It was too easy to spin the tyres on launching with the result that most launches were conducted at less than optimum engine rpms. The engine seems to bog mildly initially but picks up quickly after that.
When doing the timed runs, the dual mode character of the K20A engine is not very obvious. First gear pulls relatively well and this hides the increased pull after the 4800rpm changeover point. Again, the 2.0l Civic subjectively seems to pull less than the K24A Accord despite it's better power to weight ratio. Changing from 1st gear to 2nd drops the engine revs from the redline of around 7000rpm right down to around 4800rpm, just nicely into the high cams portion of the power band. As a result, the K20A Civic pulls very evenly and cleanly once it has gotten away after the launch. The broad power band of the K20A shows up nicely in the 0-60mph sprint results. Charted on the left, we can clearly see that the K20A Civic will do the 60mph dash in just over 8.5 seconds, 0.1 seconds faster than the K24A Accord and way faster than it's D17A sibling.
In the case of the quarter mile runs, as charted on the left again, the K20A Civic does it very consistently between 16.5 to 16.65 seconds. In this case, the very even distribution of all 10 runs suggests that we can use the averaged value of ~16.6 seconds as the K20A Civic's 'rated' quarter mile performance. Again this is over 0.1 seconds faster than the K24A Accord. The run finishes in 3rd gear and terminal speed is a very high 80mph or around 150kph. The quarter mile comes up with engine revs quite a distance away from the 7000rpm redline actually. In fact, during my 2 laps around the Sepang circuit, I was using D3 all the time and 160kph and beyond was actually achieved while still in 3rd gear. So all these correlates very well to my observations that the first 3 gears are designed for maximum performance, all out driving.
So as the results show clearly, the K20A Civic is easily the fastest local Honda model I have tested so far. It is faster than the K24A Accord and is probably the second fastest model in the entire local line-up, with only the 240ps 3.0l V6 Accord as theoretically having any chance of beating its time. It easily beats the D17A Civic which was my 'reference point' for Honda's mid-sized executive models' performance without breaking into a sweat. Consequently this K20A Civic will now become my new 'reference point' for the performance of Honda's mid-sized executive models and indeed for all Honda's 'sporty-models'.
The results of the 60-0mph braking tests are shown on the chart on the left. For this test, tyre grip is the biggest determinant to 'performance' and personally I feel the K20A Civic is severely limited by the relatively low grip of its standard tyres here. It was simply too ridiculously easy to lock up the tyres and activate the ABS. It is important to brake right at the limit of the tyre's grip, but this happens way too early, with too light braking effort. I think this can be clearly seen from the results. All runs were completed between 141 to 144 feet and they are also very consistently distributed. In fact, I found it extremely tough to dip below 140feet during the tests and the best result I ever achieved was a miserable 139feet. While 139feet might be considered 'pretty good' for the typical passenger sedan, it can at best be judged as barely acceptable for the case of this K20A Civic, given it's position as a 'sports sedan'. I personally expected much better results than this.
The brake pedal is another problem area. Just like the case with the 1.7l Civic, the pedal is really too 'soft' and 'spongy' in that it is just not firm enough to resist strong pressure from the right foot, sinking almost right to the floor when pressed hard. The brake pads also requires warming up which is very surprising. When there is a need to brake hard a short while after starting up the car, it can be quite alarming as the Civic will continue to roll forward even with the brake pedal quite far down towards the floor. However, once the brakes have warmed up, it bites pretty well and hard braking even from high speeds can be done with an acceptable level of confidence. Surprisingly, the brake pedal also firms up considerably after hard driving. It's as if the high vacumn generated when lifting off the throttle at high engine revs actually helps increase the boost from the vacumn assist. In terms of brake feel, it was possible to modulate the brake pedal to a degree but really the initial bite of the brakes is much too vague and weak and they bite too suddenly to afford any real proper control of the braking. In this sense, I felt that the braking performance of the 2.0l Civic, while sufficient for the power and speed of the car, can really do with some modifications.
It took fifteen long years but it's finally here, the Honda Civic 'SiR' has arrived on our shores. And the wait is well worth it ! Even if the basic car may have gotten 'softened' a bit in the process but fellow TOVA'ers, make no mistake, this still is a very fast vehicle ! More importantly, what we now have is the most technologically advanced Civic sedan ever sold in this region. While it's raw performance may not surpass the Civic SiRs that were sold in Singapore, Brunei and selected countries previously, it showcases state-of-the-art technologies even beyond those cars : the new K-series DOHC i-VTEC engine, a 5-speed GLC gearbox with progressive shift, Electrical Power Steering, and more. And with all the important specs that used to be options (ABS, EBD, dual-SRS). It is far and away the most advanced car in its market segment today and personally for me, only really lacks a sequential shifter for the auto, and a manual gearbox option, though personally a harder-core sportier tune would be welcomed too.
For Honda Malaysia at least, this K20A Civic sedan is their first salvo to re-establish Honda's sporty reputation and regain our respect here in Malaysia (and hopefully soon for the rest of the region) and in my eyes at least, they have succeeded. And they have big plans for this Civic, including racing it in professional races. And after that ? I can assure enthusiasts that more is being planned for the future. So enthusiasts, let's rejoice, for after so many long years, the Civic has finally returned !
Wong KN
July 2004
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