It's green, mean and has a turbocharger for 2018 - the Honda Civic Si might only have a 1.5-liter engine, but this video aims to prove that it's not slow.
To do that, The Fast Lane Car got together a couple of segment contenders, namely the Golf GTI and the Hyundai Elantra GT. We would have liked to see a Civic Si sedan go up against the Elantra Sport, but we're just nitpicking.
The Elantra GT is a European hatchback that comes with a 1.6-liter T-GDI making 201 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque. It sounds good but looks a little bit understated compared to its rivals, especially the acid green Civic.
Despite putting down similar numbers, the new Honda Civic Si is way quicker in the first drag race. Not only does it pull away off the line, but it stretches its lead over the whole distance. With the drivers switched, it looks a lot closer, but the Civic still wins.
And in the time-honored tradition of TFL drag races, the Civic Si is also faster than the more powerful Golf GTI. Driver skill is apparently to blame here, but these are the guys who say a 2-liter BMW 2 Series is better than an Audi S3. Somehow, we imagine that one day the Civic will be faster than a Ferrari.
So what happens when you take the driver issue out of the equation? Well, apparently the GTI is still 0.12 of a second faster. But somehow, if it's not a drag race then it's really not fun.
We want to say that speed isn't everything, but in this case, it kind of is. We remember a Chevy Bolt walking all over the GTI a while back. So if you're looking to buy a fast Korean hatchback... you'd probably be better off with an American electric car.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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