I have not heard too many good things about the 2012 Civic. I test drove an EX model when my wife and I bought our new car this year (ended up with a 2012 Mazda5), and thought it was pretty nice for an economy car. Pretty good value in my opinion.

 

The big deal about the latest SI model is the K24, which I believe is the same motor as the TSX. From what I've read on some Honda/Acura forums (which must make it true!), the previous gen TSX engine was better from a tuning standpoint.

 

What are the thoughts from the Honda guys on the new K24 SI? I like the increase in torque, but I wonder about the tuning ability of this new engine, and if it can come with the higher RPM that Honda engines traditionally love.

Posted By ErikO on 10-31-2011 08:20 PM

I have not heard too many good things about the 2012 Civic. I test drove an EX model when my wife and I bought our new car this year (ended up with a 2012 Mazda5), and thought it was pretty nice for an economy car. Pretty good value in my opinion.

 

The big deal about the latest SI model is the K24, which I believe is the same motor as the TSX. From what I've read on some Honda/Acura forums (which must make it true!), the previous gen TSX engine was better from a tuning standpoint.

 

What are the thoughts from the Honda guys on the new K24 SI? I like the increase in torque, but I wonder about the tuning ability of this new engine, and if it can come with the higher RPM that Honda engines traditionally love.

 

Check this out:

http://www.hondanews.com/channels/honda-automobiles-civic/releases/2012-honda-civic-powertrains

The new engine receives a ULEV rating vs the 2011 SI (LEV) and comes with cast-in intergrated exhaust manifold. I can't say about the block though as its still new. It does have a different engine code K24Z7 compared to the 2009+TSX's K24Z3.

The unique i-VTEC in this particular car does pique my interest.

Maybe some Honda powertrain engineer could chime in and uncover some good info not found in the press releases.

 The engine is very good for what it was designed for which is low/mid-range torque and getting good fuel economy.  From a performance perspective, it's hamstrung by the integrated exhaust manifold.  You can forget about making big NA power.

I THINK there's a way to take off the integrated manifold and convert it to a regular exhaust manifold setup, but some water ports need to be plugged.

I guess one sorta nice thing about the integrated exhaust manifold is that all you need to bolt up a turbo is a simple adapter.  Again, big power will be limited, but a turbo would make monster torque.

Khiem - I wonder how Bisimoto overcame the the manifold issue for his 1000hp K24 Si from SEMA? I forgot about the incorporated manifold until you mentioned it.

My bet is Bisi tossed the OEM manifold into the trash and built his own massive tubular header to feed the equally massive turbo.  But I imagine spdracerut is talking about "normal" projects vs. Bisimoto projects.  I did find a page w/lots of pictures of the Bisi build, check it out here.  I like their "Nutruition Info" decal.    Didn't see any exhaust mani/header shots, but w/the exhaust side towards the firewall it'd be tough to spot it anyway.

As for the OEM K24, from what I've read, I think I prefer the previous Si's engine.