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Lately I've been starting to think that maybe Honda doesn't like ricers... or maybe just the stereotype of it all. What led me to this conclusion? Well, notice how our engine bays are alot smaller than the previous Civics. The engine components are much more compressed. And you hear about how aftermarket companies are having trouble creating parts for our engines thus prolonging alot of the "good stuff". And also, perhaps a minute factor, the new Accords have that weird looking grill. With past Accords, you were able to replace the grill, just like the altezza/rs grill for our civics, to achieve a more aggressive look. I don't see how you'd be able to do that with the new Accords... unless you replace the whole front bumper, I guess. Alright, I'll stop my b1tchin... what do you guys think?

 
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honda is just looking out for its name, stupid people get behide the wheel of the car, that they just got done droping NOS or turbo or something big and do stupid **** and get people killed

 
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what about that honda commericial?
with all the riced out civs.

 
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I guess when you said ricer, you meant people that want to fix up their car. not idiots that makes their car look worse or performe worse.

here's the low down.

we're a minority. we're like, less than 5% of the population that buys their car.

I doubt they have an official stand on it.. its not like they hate or like "ricers"... its just... thats not their concern. we're not the targeted marketplace.

you gotta realize something here, we're driving ECONOMY COMMUTER cars. The accord is targeted especially as a FAMILY SEDAN, it was designed to be practical and easy to use, it wans't meant to be fixed up. Nor was the Civic.

some of us just likes to do that, thats all.

hence, when people fly around with their 97 Accord LX Sedan automatic, sporting a loud *** muffler, thinking their family sedan suddenly became a sports car... well.... yeah.

so back to what you were saying

why did they make the engine compartment more compact? they weren't out to make things harder for the aftermarket company, they push everything foward so that the entire chassis can be smaller, but the interior room can be bigger. thats another reason why they drop the front double wishbone to swap in the general macpherson strut setup. did you know that our Civic is in the Compact class? Its overall interior room is big enough to be upgraded to the Compact class... previous Civics were Sub-compact... I mean, you sit in the back of a 7th gen Coupe and a previous gen Coupe, you can totally tell the difference in room.

anyhow, I think you get where I'm going at...

IMO, its not too difficult to develop things for the car... its just, they dont want to invest the money into it. like I said, we're a small enough market. sure, there's nearly 6,000 of us on this site, but we're still riding in economy coupe and economy sedans.

the RSX's engine compartment is just as cramped as ours.. but do you think that's going to stop the aftermarket company to develop a bolt on turbo kit for it? especially when that car is geared for performance? and the people that buys that kind of car will probably want performance? see where I'm going with this?

 
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i dont think so cause look at rsx's they make parts for that easy.

 
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im gonna have to agree with cap yoda

 
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I agree with capyoda, but as soon as our market grows they'll start making the good stuff. And for those of us who cant find good stuff from major companys there is always custom. So no need to worry, they'll come around.

 
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True, we drive a compact, econo car. I agree with CapYoda, too. But remember. Our cars are also ULEV certified. In comparison the RSX is only LEV certified. This may seem to be a small thing, but most aftermarket companies have to follow this in any products they develop for a car. So the RSX can be "played with" a little more. And if whatever they produce, oh well if it makes a little more tailpipe garbage. But with our cars, the cat conv. is so close to the header, moreso on the LX/DX than the EX/Si, and so much of the pollutants coming out are measured by the cat, O2, EVAP sensor etc. that there isn't much that can be done. And remember the RSX doesn't have a three-way cat converter, like the civic. That alone chokes off alot of power. Damn hippie tree-huggers![IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/IMG]

 
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well who wants to be associated with hijacking semi's....
if f&f never came out... they probablly woulda made the 7thgen sick fast...

 
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you're right on the fact that our welded together downpipe/cat convertor is taking lots of power...

hence all those boys running the HP 4-1 race header with "highflow" cat (er.. no cat) gets a decent gain...

 
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I agree with CapYoda on this one as well, but there is also the thought of bigger and better business for them. Sure the cars are an economical car for some as well as a smaller family car for others. But if you look at it, people doing work to their cars, be it nice work, or just rice, someone else out there is going to like it and want to do that. So in the end they go out and purchase the cars or have their parents help them out ect ...... And to Honda that end up being $$$$ in their pockets. I am not saying that money is all that matters to companies like Honda but the better the sales the happier they are and it keeps their profits up and that keeps their investors happy as well.

This is just my take on the whole thing, I could be way off here, but who knows.

 
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This whole post is based on a fallacy.....Let me address your post by your various points that you have raised:

1. The 6th Civic responded well to I/H/E versus the 7th Gen. The reason behind is that the 6th Gen. were MORE restrictive, so replacing factory intake, exhaust, etc. produced a greater gain. The stock parts for the 7th Gen. were designed better and were less restrictive, which is why adding I/H/E doesn't produce the gains that were seen with the older generation. Aftermarket companies are having trouble creating parts because these parts are functioning and performing well in its factory form.

2. Honda's mandate and designing features of the Civic has always been placed towards every day drivers who want a fuel efficent econ-box. The majority of people who modify their Civics for performance purposes are a small demographic section compared to the people who buy the car the most. This is evident by the smaller engine bay for better Front End crash tests, ULEV for environmental reasons, and removal of the rear "bump" for comfort reasons (albeit it hinders the suspension set up of the rear of the car)

1. Although the new accords do not incorporate the idea of fitting aftermarket grills, the new Accord is based on European design. European desgining tends to be more targetted to a sleek luxurious look as opposed to agressive sporty look which is also evident with the new Si. The fact that you can not replace OEM grill with an OEM bumper doesn't mean you can't find an Aftermarket Front Bumper with an agressive styling grill.

1. Again, a more compressed engine bay helps in front end collision. It is able to absorb more impact from a crash which is why the new Civics has a much higher crash test rating compared to the previous generation.

Just remember, Honda's main market is not youths or car enthusiasts who buy the car for the purpose of modifying it. Their main target is every day drivers who want a safe, reliable, gas efficient car. Although Honda has "tried" to compensate this flaw by introducing "Factory Performance" a subsidy of Honda aimed towards Dealership aftermarket parts, it is too expensive and for the most part is related to suspension packages as opposed to Performance. Over the past few years, I have seen signficant amount of parts for the 7th Gen Civic. When I came to this site, there was probably a list of 50 parts available, and the only Body Kits available were the Razzi and Xenon. Now there are well over 300 parts for the Civic. Turbo kits and N/A set ups are also being released, as well as the K20 A swap and perhaps the CRV engine swap in the near future. Just be patient, and the parts will come.