Old Honda Civic Hatch Drags Nasty Pontiac Trans Am, Someone Misses the Mark, Twice

Let us take the example of the Honda Civic. A longtime rival of Toyota's best-selling Corolla, the little compact car has been around since 1972, when it was considered a subcompact model actually. That went on for quite a while as Honda only changed the classification of the Civic during the switch to the seventh iteration (2000) as it was making room for new models in the lineup, like the Jazz (Fit).

Currently in its eleventh generation, Honda's Civic has matured since the days of bubbly three and five-door hatchbacks, and now the eleventh iteration is more severe than ever. That's great for regular folks but not so cool for people who love the easy ways it can be prepared for racing, even though it's a front-wheel drive design.

In fact, there's quite the cult following among people who modify this little clunker to have everyone interpret them as easy prey at the local quarter-mile dragstrip. On the contrary, the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am has always been regarded as one of those American pony cars that easily upscale to full muscle car status without making too much fuss about it.

On this occasion, the good folks over at the racing-focused ImportRace channel on YouTube have a nice set of brawls featuring a Firebird and a tiny Civic – the crimson Trans Am looks like a fourth-gen (1993 to 2002) while the old and battered Honda feels part of the beloved fifth generation (1991-1995) timeline. They have a couple of quarrels, by the way, to make sure that everyone is happy about getting the chance of a rematch, too.

As per tradition, the races occurred at Island Dragway in Great Meadows, New Jersey, and by the sight of the massive burnout, you would easily believe the mighty Trans Am would make short work of the nasty little Civic rascal. The latter features the funny wide-at-front, skinny-at-rear tire combination, which proves to be the winning card and the better reaction time.

More precisely, while the Pontiac posted a great 11.07s pass at 131 mph, the little Civic won the first skirmish with a time of 11.10s and a trap speed of 132 mph because it also had the advantage of a better reaction time. No worries, the Trans Am got its rematch – only that, again, you can't win a close race if you have a significant gap in terms of reaction times. So, again, the pocket-sized Honda proved that it's not enough to be fast; you also need to be quick on your toes and heels…