Civic RX

Come to think of it, this is the most expensive car to date that I have purchased and I do enjoy the comforts that come with it. It is also the car without any turbo that I have bought over the past few years. It all started with the Wira GSR, then it was the 180SX in Brisbane and finally the Mazda BG, which had the BP8 engine inside.

I knew when I purchased this Civic it was very much an impulse buy. I was surveying various used car lots until I saw this RX for sale. I remembered that when I was studying in Brisbane and I read that Honda Malaysia had launched 50 limited Civics called the RX. It came standard with a bodykit, eye lids, leather seats and interior, a spoiler and 16" rims which were the replicas of the ones on the Civic Type-R EP3 (which had 17"). There was only one choice of transmission, which was Automatic. This is also the only car that I have purchased that has rear drum brakes and without a manual transmission.

Adapting to this car was a little wierd at first. First thing I noticed was the comfort of the leather seats. The ride is quite and no more hard suspension settings. Yes, this was stock from the factory, though I must say Honda should have tweaked the suspension setting a little bit. You see, these are the same set of suspension as of those on the VTi-S, which has 15" rims on it. Honda Malaysia at that time could not be bothered with the suspension and just decided to make the car look good with big fat rims. The result is a harsher ride as compared to those running on the factory standard 15" rims.

Next thing I noticed was that the G-forces that I'm so used to was gone. Literally... I'm so used to being pushed back to the seat when I accelerate and that being in the Civic really is dull. The D17A VTEC engine is a far cry from that of a B16A. With the B series engines, the VTEC comes in much earlier. Compare that with a D series engine, it takes forever for the variable cams to kick in and when they do, you are touching the redline of 6,750rpm. I then ask myself, what is the real reason that Honda included the VTEC that you can barely use in normal driving?

Who drives at 5,000rpm all the time? Should it be kicking in earlier so that the engine would not feel so strained? How come it feels like the revs take forever to reach the sweet spot?

Now, the ES Civic is comfortable, but it has lost the edge that made Civics a street legend.