The modern Honda Civic Si makes 205 horsepower, just 45 more than that of today’s Nice Price or No Dice 1999 edition. That’s not off by much, but this Canadian car’s price is way off that of a new one. Let’s see if it’s “off” enough.
The C5 Corvette may not be the model’s most popular edition, but as Friday’s 2001 coupe proved, a fairly cheap ’Vette will always prove popular no matter what number is following that big C. At $10,500, Friday’s car seemed commensurate in condition and class for the vast majority of you, and the car took home a solid 75 percent Nice Price win.
There’s an old mantra the goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and in most cases, following that bit of backwoods bard-ism makes a lot of sense. When applied to the automotive world, however, that entreaty against tinkering would have engendered a world bereft of wonderful sporting models created from what were originally sensible, albeit dull, cars. That means no GTIs, no GTOs and no Sis. Each of those losses would have been tragic to enthusiast drivers in one way or another, but it’s the existence of the Honda Si (Sport Injection) that we are specifically celebrating today.
This 1999 Civic SiR (the seller is using the Japanese market designation) is a Canadian model and hence has a speedo that tells you what’s going on in kilometers. That’s backed up by smaller mph markings, so it should still be useful south of the 49th Parallel. The odometer naturally reads in kilometers too, and according to the ad, those currently total 210,000. That sounds like a lot, but is only about 130k in U.S.A. miles. Another plus here is the seller’s claim that the engine was rebuilt in some fashion by a previous owner at 155,000 kilometers. Bonus!
That refreshed engine is the DOHC 1.6-litre B16A2. That’s a VTEC (yo!) mill, and was factory rated at 160 horses and 111 lb-ft of torque. Those are modest numbers by today’s standards, but remember this car hit the streets more than 20 years ago. Back then, those were impressive numbers. The comparable VW GTI of the time made only 18 more horses and required 200 more cc of displacement and a turbo to do so.
Side-saddling the hot Honda mill is a five-speed manual for all your shifting pleasure. The engine breathes through a cold air intake which likely does little other than make noise, and exits through a Magnaflow exhaust which probably does the same.
Covering the coupe is Electron Blue Pearl paint and the car comes with its tall rear wing and more subtle front airflow pieces intact. Aftermarket Motegi wheels underpin the package, and the car comes with both summer and winter tires (oh, Canada).
Everything looks to be in excellent shape with no major issues in either paint or the underlying body structure. The headlamp units are aftermarket and may look a little too fan-boi for most. That shouldn’t be too difficult a retrofit if that’s the case for the new owner.
The interior has held up equally well. This was one of the last generations of Civic that didn’t have some sort of weird dashboard design, and aside from the somewhat plasticky buttons and knobs, it’s almost BMWesque inside. An aftermarket stereo adorns the dash, but the factory unit comes with the car in case you wanted to go old school with your tunes. The only other issue here is some wear evident on the driver’s seat. The upholstery elsewhere appears to be in decent shape.
The ad is fairly comprehensive in its description of the car and the recent maintenance and repair it has undergone. That includes new spark plugs and wires and an engine mount. The brakes (yes, the ad says breaks. So what?) were also recently done, and receipts come with the car.
The title is clear, and the seller says the car is available until the insurance runs out on October 9. Maybe after that it turns into a pumpkin?
We recently saw a Civic Si just like this go for big bucks on Bring a Trailer. Now, admittedly, that one had only 12k on the clock and looked, for all intents, like a new car. Still, that implies that these cars might be trending higher in value, at least within the weird BaT bubble. Here in the real world, this one asks $8,200 Canadian. That’s about $6,200 U.S. at current exchange rates.
What’s your take on this SiR and that $8,200 asking? Does that make this Civic a steal? Or, is that a price that has you eschewing “Oh, Canada” for “No, Canada?”
You decide!
Vancouver, Canada Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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