Honda Car Forum

Hello,

Before I consider any and all Hondas for my next car, I have to know about
snow traction. I live in New England and that is a fact of life. I
understand that you can get the Civic Si with the standard M&S tires instead
of the summer only. I know the car has 6spd MT and ABS/EBD/VSA and traction
control, but I am a little concerned by the fact that the car is lower and
has lower profile tires. Someone I know has a Hyundai Tiburon with the 17"
rims and they said its not good in snow, so I was wondering if this is also
true for the Si?

I had a 2002 Civic Ex with Auto, and it was okay, not great, but with snow
tires added later on it was decent. Has anyone used the 2006-2007 Civic Si
in the snow?

Thanks,
Al

alfred wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Before I consider any and all Hondas for my next car, I have to know about
> snow traction. I live in New England and that is a fact of life. I
> understand that you can get the Civic Si with the standard M&S tires instead
> of the summer only. I know the car has 6spd MT and ABS/EBD/VSA and traction
> control, but I am a little concerned by the fact that the car is lower and
> has lower profile tires. Someone I know has a Hyundai Tiburon with the 17"
> rims and they said its not good in snow, so I was wondering if this is also
> true for the Si?
>
> I had a 2002 Civic Ex with Auto, and it was okay, not great, but with snow
> tires added later on it was decent. Has anyone used the 2006-2007 Civic Si
> in the snow?
>
> Thanks,
> Al

Like with any car, just put winter tires on it and you will be fine. But
note that you cannot drive an Si as aggressively with winter tires as with
the regular tires.

The new civics do have very low ground clearance. If you plan on
driving through anything more than a couple inches I don't think it
would be advised.


--
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On Sat, 5 May 2007 06:06:34 -0700, BlackGT2000
<BlackGT2000.2q43fc@no-mx.nodomain.com> wrote:

>
>The new civics do have very low ground clearance. If you plan on
>driving through anything more than a couple inches I don't think it
>would be advised.

If you drive it in the city, I doubt there will be much problem as
long as you have good snow tires. I drive my GS-R in pretty heavy
snow and it does better than about 90% of the cars out there. Good
snow tires make a world of difference.

Thanks, I kind of thought that would help. I have been told that a manual is
better in the snow than without, but never tested it to see if that is true.

Another thing I wanted to know about is the premium gas requirement for the
Si. How set in stone is this? I am curious because its really just a 2.0 4
cyl and i cant figure out why they require premium for it and if I used
regular unleaded what would happen?

Thanks,
Al



"Gordon McGrew" <gRmEcMgOrVeEw@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:hpap33pbkhnj5b9r806uilvhjmsbul7f8i@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 5 May 2007 06:06:34 -0700, BlackGT2000
> <BlackGT2000.2q43fc@no-mx.nodomain.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>The new civics do have very low ground clearance. If you plan on
>>driving through anything more than a couple inches I don't think it
>>would be advised.
>
> If you drive it in the city, I doubt there will be much problem as
> long as you have good snow tires. I drive my GS-R in pretty heavy
> snow and it does better than about 90% of the cars out there. Good
> snow tires make a world of difference.
>

"alfred" <tomboy83@yahoo.com> wrote in news:8%4%h.422$dj2.148@trndny02:

> Thanks, I kind of thought that would help. I have been told that a
> manual is better in the snow than without, but never tested it to see
> if that is true.
>
> Another thing I wanted to know about is the premium gas requirement
> for the Si. How set in stone is this? I am curious because its really
> just a 2.0 4 cyl



....with a compression ratio of 11:1. It's the compression ratio that
primarily determines octane requirement, not the number of cylinders or the
displacement. This engine probably also has a fairly aggressive spark
timing curve.



> and i cant figure out why they require premium for it
> and if I used regular unleaded what would happen?



From that car's Owner's Manual:
"Your vehicle is designed to operate
on premium unleaded gasoline with a
pump octane number of 91 or higher.
Use of a lower octane gasoline can
cause occasional metallic knocking
noises in the engine and will result in
decreased engine performance. Use
of a gasoline with a pump octane
number less than 87 can lead to
engine damage."



--
Tegger

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

alfred wrote:
> Thanks, I kind of thought that would help. I have been told that a manual is
> better in the snow than without, but never tested it to see if that is true.
>
> Another thing I wanted to know about is the premium gas requirement for the
> Si. How set in stone is this? I am curious because its really just a 2.0 4
> cyl

just a 2.0 4 cyl??? it puts out 100hp per liter!!! a crown vic takes
4.6 liters to get the same 200 hp. now, given the math, which motor is
more likely to need the high octane gas???

> and i cant figure out why they require premium for it and if I used
> regular unleaded what would happen?

high compression requires high octane to prevent detonation.

>
> Thanks,
> Al
>
>
>
> "Gordon McGrew" <gRmEcMgOrVeEw@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:hpap33pbkhnj5b9r806uilvhjmsbul7f8i@4ax.com...
>> On Sat, 5 May 2007 06:06:34 -0700, BlackGT2000
>> <BlackGT2000.2q43fc@no-mx.nodomain.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The new civics do have very low ground clearance. If you plan on
>>> driving through anything more than a couple inches I don't think it
>>> would be advised.
>> If you drive it in the city, I doubt there will be much problem as
>> long as you have good snow tires. I drive my GS-R in pretty heavy
>> snow and it does better than about 90% of the cars out there. Good
>> snow tires make a world of difference.
>>
>
>

>
> just a 2.0 4 cyl??? it puts out 100hp per liter!!! a crown vic takes 4.6
> liters to get the same 200 hp. now, given the math, which motor is more
> likely to need the high octane gas???

Well I agree thats a lot of HP, its almost like the equivalent of a 520 HP
if it were a V8, so were talking Lamborghini category for HP output in a
sense.

>
> high compression requires high octane to prevent detonation.
>

My point is that the accord has 9.7:1 and the civic has 10.5:1 which is
pretty close and they don't require premium. Where I live Premium gas is
usually .22 cents more than regular unleaded and usually the gas ranges are
87, 89, and 93 octane.

So as long as I use at least 87 octane i wouldnt hurt the engine just the
performance? I'm just curious. I guess its not a big deal really. It amounts
to $3.00 more per tankful than getting regular. So thats $45.00 instead of
$42.00 per tank where I live at this point.

Thanks,
Al

alfred wrote:
>> just a 2.0 4 cyl??? it puts out 100hp per liter!!! a crown vic takes 4.6
>> liters to get the same 200 hp. now, given the math, which motor is more
>> likely to need the high octane gas???
>
> Well I agree thats a lot of HP, its almost like the equivalent of a 520 HP
> if it were a V8, so were talking Lamborghini category for HP output in a
> sense.
>
>> high compression requires high octane to prevent detonation.
>>
>
> My point is that the accord has 9.7:1 and the civic has 10.5:1 which is
> pretty close

in ignition terms, that's quite a jump.

> and they don't require premium. Where I live Premium gas is
> usually .22 cents more than regular unleaded and usually the gas ranges are
> 87, 89, and 93 octane.

lucky you! best we can get here in ca is 91 R+M.

>
> So as long as I use at least 87 octane i wouldnt hurt the engine just the
> performance? I'm just curious. I guess its not a big deal really. It amounts
> to $3.00 more per tankful than getting regular. So thats $45.00 instead of
> $42.00 per tank where I live at this point.
>
> Thanks,
> Al
>

the si motor ignition map is set for the slower burning premium gas, not
more detonation-prone regular. it's supposed to have an anti-knock
sensor which should prevent detonation at lower rpm's, but at higher
rpm's, mechanical engine noise tends to defeat the sensor acoustics, so
it's ignored. on that basis, i'd use premium. besides, premium has a
slightly higher calorific value, so some of your increased cost should
be offset by better mpg's.

On 2007-05-05, alfred <tomboy83@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Before I consider any and all Hondas for my next car, I have to know about
> snow traction.

It was some years ago, but there was a news announcement about how
front-wheel drive cars compared with 4WD vehicles when driving snow
covered streets. Some university had done an extensive comparison.
Basically, it said 4WD trucks and cars have no real advantage over
front-wheel drive vehicles in the snow. So, as far as capability, a
Honda Si should do just fine.

As for tires, I recommend Michelin. I had MX4's on my Si and they
were the best tires I ever rode on. But, I never experienced snow
until I recently when I went through 2 snow storms across 4 states in a
Toyota pickup with Michelin LTX M/S tires. I never lost traction for
one second with those tires. Snow, snow on ice, bare ice,
whatever.... I would have never believed it if I hadn't experienced
it myself. Even braking on bare ice would not break the traction of
those tires. Un-bee-leeeeve-able! Well, LTX is a truck tire, but
Michelin makes a sport snow tire, the Pilot XGT H4 and if they say it
has "excellent" snow traction, I believe them. Check it out for
yourself:

http://michelinman.com/overview/pilot_xgt_h4/98.html

nb