Adamm

Alright guys, I'm kind of curious wich 5th gen civic would handle better given they have the same suspension mods, tires, tire thread, wheels, and are otherwise stock.

92 DX hatch: H&R race, KYB AGX, ingalls camber kit, ST swaybars, front + rear ebay strutbars, 15" slipstreams with Khumo's.

vs.

95 EX coupe: H&R race, KYB AGX, ingalls camber kit, ST swaybars, front + rear ebay strutbars, 15" slipstreams with Khumo's.

I'm guessing the hatch would handle a bit better because its lighter, but if thats true.....how much better? I'm interested in what everyone has to say.





[Modified by Adamm, 6:58 PM 2/21/2003]

NiiS

The coupe is ***-heavy(not by much, but it's still balance), so that needs to be compensated for. But it's all in the ability of the driver. I can go over you in a coupe w/ the same mods, just like if I were in my hatch I could also go over you...It's about the driver.

Adamm

Given the same driver as well. Couldn't you compensate for the heavy rear by adjusting the shocks?

NiiS

I suppose having some weight in the rear could be beneficial, rumor had it that a jetta could out-handle a golf...although I never experienced that even having owned both vehicles.

Evs-One

every Jetta I've ever raced with gets up on 3 wheels around every turn...

I'd say hatch

vivid02

The del sol always wins.

NiiS

True for both golf/jetta because of the solid rear axle, it's a charactoristic of old VW's, not really bad, just very strange looking

Adamm

Wow, getting up on 3 wheels in every turn is pretty crazy. I bet it looks pretty cool.

NiiS

It's not really every turn, just sharp, hard turns. I used to get up on three wheels coming up driveways at an angle...

Adamm

Well yah, I knew what he meant.

B18C5-EH2

Why?

Anyways I'll be argumantative here.

One could argue that on a road course with the same driver the hatch will win because of it's lighter weight. This means shorter stopping distances, better handling overall, etc.

BUT!

Some may argue that the extra weight in the rear of the coupe could be seen as an advantage as a more "balanced" car and therefore easier to handle, but really it depends on driver preference.

I hate these topics. All this does is pit hatch guys vs. coupe guys and it gets annoying.

I don't see this topic staying open much longer unless real hard numbers are inserted sometime. All of this guessing is bullshit.

JV

It's almost certain that a DX hatch would better the EX with the same driver/ setup.

The EX is immediately at a disadvantage considering the extra weight and where some of that weight is placed (Think sunroof).

Using the 93 model year as a reference (The "lightest" year for the 93-95 EX).

93 Civic EX comes to a portly 2390lbs
as compared to
93 Civic DX coming in at 2178lbs

That's a 212lb difference.

If you are gonna post stuff like this, atleast try to compare apples to apples...

sshaikh01

Its a stupid debate.
But let me add my .02 cents.

I have reasons to believe that couple will handle better, because its a bit longer, and a bit more weight in the back, will give the car better turns, hence yeilding the car to handle better.

sammysnakes

it does depend on the driver, but my hatch tends to push through the turns more than both of my old integras. i think there's something to be said for the weight in the *** end of a coupe. i think it helps bring the *** around a little easier and keeps the car from pushing as much, but that's just my opinion.

JV

Great, now i see this. So now we are pitting a D16 against a D15. This may be alittle more even of a comparison then i thought.

on me for "selective" reading...

qcoffey

I guess you can always find flaws with every answer. Last time I checked Honda also made a coupe that was not an EX model so the theory about a dx hatch handling better than an EX coupe is not comparing apples to apples.

If you compared the weight of a 5g Si to an EX coupe there might not be as large a discrepancy, or if you compared a DX coupe to a DX hatch there might be a better comparison.

Also, what about the fact that coupe body styles tend to be stiffer than hatchbacks? Also, are coupes better balanced vehicles? The hatchbacks truncated rear end can lead to a tail happy vehicle. Anyways, whatever, who cares, buy what you like, yada yada.

dphi

The coupe may be longer, but I'm pretty sure the wheelbase is the same.

owen_the_soyboy

racing is all about being faster, there are NO gains from being heavier, given your above criteria.

Hatch will always win.

Why?
Lower Weight yet all other givens are equal, with the wheelbase difference being negligible.

Its like you asking if a 2200 pound coupe will be faster vs a 2400 pound coupe.
Silly question.
Easy answer.

hatchy hatches =

dphi

I think he said which would handle better, not which would be faster on the track. I believe skidpad figures would be the best numbers to use in this situation. I looked around on the net a little and couldn't find any figures, but I did find that the coupe wheelbase is about 2" longer than the hatch.

sshaikh01

maybe he don't want to rece.
maybe he wants to know this for auto x

Who knows.

degooser

Kinda funny how the fastest all-motor honda is a coupe....

sshaikh01

sweet.

is that a 5th gen ??

JV

I believe it's a 95 coupe...

SuperTwinz

Going straight that is...

B18C5-EH2

Big deal.

Could have very easily been a hatch as well.

We're not talking about all-out $50,000.00 all-drag cars here, we're talking about STREET cars that you and I can build.

Compare the number of street-legal 9 and 10 second Civics in terms of hatches vs. coupes - why are there way more hatches?

Why is it that all of the Japanese companies have always chosen hatches only to run the road racing series over seas? I mean they could have very easily ran coupes. Why hatches?