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The 2008 Honda Civic Si is already a pretty cool little sedan, and lots of fun to drive. So when Honda teamed up with Mugen to produce 1000 special 2008 Honda Civic Si Mugen sedans, the internet was abuzzin'. I got a chance to spend a week with a Mugen tuner car, and I lived to tell the tale. The 2008 Honda Civic Si Mugen comes priced at $30,135 (base and as tested) with a 3 year/36,000 mile basic warranty, a 5 year/60,000 mile powertrain warranty and EPA fuel economy estimates of 21 mpg city/29 mpg highway. Let's drive.
First Glance: Honda tests the tuner waters
Larger exterior photos: Front - rear
"Tuner cars" are Japanese cars that have been altered from their stock form for increased performance and better appearance. If you've seen The Fast and the Furious, you've seen a mess of tuner cars. In Japan, the tuner culture is massive, and it's growing among US youth. Tuner culture encompasses everything from cars to clothing to hairstyles and lifestyle. Auto manufacturers have recognized tuner cache and influence, and are trying to get a piece of the pie with their own tuner versions. The Mugen is Honda's toe in the water, a very mild tuner to test the US market.
In Japanese, "Mugen" means "without limit," and it's the name of the tuner company co-founded by Sochiro Honda's son Hirotoshi in 1973. Mugen specializes in souping up Honda cars for the track and street, and they've been very successful in their home market. Mugen parts are available in the US, but this is the first time that a co-branded Mugen vehicle has been brought out by Honda.
The Mugen's rear wing (link goes to photo) stands as the biggest advertisement for the car's tuner cred. It's a modest wing by tuner standards, shaped to take advantage of airflow at speed to enhance downforce and stability. The Mugen also wears a chin spoiler and side spoilers, which aid in giving the impression that the car has been significantly lowered from stock. In fact, it sits just 15 mm (about half an inch) lower than a stock Si.
The Mugen wears a glossy coat of dark blue paint, and it looks cool and fast even when parked at a curb.
In the Driver's Seat: Why change what works?
The Mugen Si shares most of its mechanical underpinnings with the standard Si. The Mugen elements focus on suspension, exhaust, body modifications and some cosmetics. Inside, there's not much to distinguish the Mugen from a stock Si. There are a few badges, a Mugen shift knob and drilled aluminum pedals to elevate the atmosphere, and of course there's that bisected rear view, with the big wing out back.
The Si interior is a very good one, luckily, and it didn't need much tweaking to work as a tuner car anyway. First off, the seats are firm and supportive, with excellent side bolstering to keep you in place when cornering. The dash is very high-tech looking, with a digital speedometer tucked at the top of the instrument panel and a big rotary analog tachometer taking center stage. Keep that tachometer in mind -- it becomes very important when we start to talk about actually driving the Mugen.
My one quibble with the Si dash is the way that the audio head unit is integrated into the dash, there's little chance of upgrading or replacing it without major alteration, so you're basically stuck with the stock unit. It's a decent stereo, but a standard-sized cutout would have afforded more options for personalization.
The rest of the sedan's cabin is standard Honda -- very comfortable and tastefully executed, with a good use of space. The Mugen's second row is roomy enough for two full-sized adults. I'm not really sure why the Mugen is based on the sedan Civic Si rather than the coupe Civic Si, but I'm not going to complain.
On the Road: Good things come to those who shift late
The Mugen is powered by the same 2.0 liter inline four-cylinder engine that propels the stock Si. The 16-valve double-overhead cam unit produces 197 hp and 139 lb-ft of torque -- not all that impressive until you look further into the figures. Horsepower doesn't peak until 7800 rpm; torque until 6100 rpm. That means that in order to get the most out of the Mugen, you have to really rev it up and use that big tach to make sure that you're running in the powerband. The engine isn't shy about letting you know when it's happy. There's a spike in power as you approach the peak. It almost feels like a turbocharger kicks in, the spike is so strong. If you shift the six-speed manual gearbox later than you would on most cars, you get great rushes of acceleration from the Mugen. A freer flowing exhaust system rewards you with incredible music from the engine, and a happy feeling follows.
Getting the power to the ground is accomplished with front-wheel drive. There's just a hint of torque steer (the tendency of front-wheel drive cars to pull to one side under heavy acceleration), but nothing scary. The Mugen suspension is stiffer and tighter than a stock Si's, which makes for a slightly less comfortable ride on a day-to-day basis. The tradeoff is definitely worth it -- the Mugen handles like a razor, responding beautifully to every steering input with great feedback and road feel.
Intellectually, I know that the Mugen is the same car as the Civic Si, but when you add up the whole package -- the look, the feel, the sound -- the Mugen feels a whole lot faster and cooler.
Journey's End: Cool rules
I drove the Mugen every chance I got, and I even begged (and got) an extension from Honda so that I could drive it some more. This car is fun, fun, fun, without the "oh-my-god-I'm-going-to-die" factor of many tuner cars. But the $30,000 price tag may put it out of the reach of its intended admirers. The great thing about customizing a car is that you can do it in stages, adding bits as time and budget allow. You might arrive at a finished product that's very close to the Mugen in look and feel, and you might have to pay even more for it in total by the time you got there. But starting with a $21,310 base price Civic Si sedan, or even better a $21,110 base price Civic Si coupe, you've got a lot of room to play and customize before you hit thirty grand.
There's plenty of competition in the factory tuner market at the $30,000 level. Subaru's Impreza WRX has just come out, and it's a rocket ship, plus it has the additional advantage of all-wheel-drive. And then there's the Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V, which is a lot cheaper, and the Volkswagen Jetta GLI, which feels more luxurious.
I got stopped by more teens who recognized the Mugen than in any other car I've driven, including expensive exotics. The kids know what this one is, and they want it. I think I would be more inclined to go with the personalized route, rather than an off-the-shelf tuner car like the Mugen. I'd spend more under the hood and less on the aerodynamics kits. Still, the Mugen is a very cool, very fun car -- and that's the name of that tune.
Next page: Likes/dislikes, who should buy it, details and specs
