New to this Forum, but several decades of serious gearhead experience under my belt.
So having said that, I had the wisdom to see the "potential" of the 8th Gen Civic and picked up a really cherry (that's an expression from a long time ago for all you youngsters) 2008 Sedan Si in TW from Mr. DB2, and have a few questions that lack exact, definitive answers to. But I'm sure there's the experience and expertise out there to keep me on track.
My goal is to achieve handling on par with the recent BMW M3 sedans (and please don't get me going about FWD vs RWD). I guess the best way to frame my question is this: on a scale of 1 to 10, if you place the basic 8th Gen Civic Sedan at a 1, and place a serious autoX, amateur road race set-up at a 10, where would you place the handling of the Sedan Si, and where would you place the 2008 Mugen Sedan Si on that scale (and I realize in asking that question very few of you have actually driven all 4 of these setups).
Having posed that question, then my next question would be what set of comprehensively integrated suspension components would bring the Sedan Si up about 10-15% "tighter" than the Mugen?
I'm too old to risk the fillings coming out of my teeth, but betwen shocks, springs, sway bars, bushings, end links, etc. (did I leave anything out), oh yes, and chassis bracing where's it's appropriate and beneficial, what's going to result in a taught setup that responds to the road? I'm currently running a Toyota MR2 Spyder with some serious money put into chassis bracing, wheels, tires, bushings, endlinks and - quite importantly - a TRD designed sway bar, shock and spring combo setup that actually works as a comprehensive package. I've been around long enough to know that when you shoot darts at picking those components separately, you seldom get lucky enough to end up with a well-integrated solution. And few of us are experienced and knowledgable enough in such a situation to know exactly which of those specific components is/are too little or too much to achieve a good balance. And that sort of a hit-or-miss propostition gets frustrating and expensive in a hurry (if you know what I mean).
So, fire away, guys, and I'm glad to be aboard and look forward to your input.
Curt
a Proud Veteran of the American Armed Forces
PS: I'm a little reluctant at this point in my Honda experience to pose this question to any of the vendors, as they have -shall we just call it - certain profit-mofivation biases!