I think the Hondas are todays answer to the model A’s that hotrodders of my generation went for.
Not thought of much by the newcar buyers of the 30’s,but plenty of Ford options to upgrade them in the 50’s
Yeah, that is what he was doing. People of all ethnicities laugh at them equally.
BTW, the answer is no, they think they iz da shizzit.
I pay $387/mo. for my civic :eek: so they’re not exactly cheap. And my insurance is sky high even though I’m not a teenager and I have a crystal clear driving record. When I asked my agent why my rate was so much higher than the rate on my previous car (a sports car, no less), the answer I got: “People like to steal Hondas”
Oh, and the reason I bought a Civic? They’re supposed to be reliable. I’ve had mine for 16 months now with no problems so it’s beating the hell out of all my other cars track records.
I live in NC and I pay $100 a month for insurance that covers both a Civic and an Odyssey. We have clean driving records too. (my wife and I) That includes collision and comprehensive insurance as well as liability.
If you are paying more than about $60 a month in NC you need to shop around and get a better deal.
Speed isn’t the only thing. Speed plus handling is what makes a good “racer”. (Unless you’re in NASCAR, where you only have to turn left. :p) My Porsche was not all that fast (normally aspirated 3.0L), but it handled well with its Bilstein sport shocks. There were faster cars, but in the twisties…
Anyway, how fast is “fast”? I knew a grrl with a '92 Honda Civic hatchback. We drove it from New Orleans to Winston-Salem about five years ago at 100 miles per hour, and it never complained about the high revs. It handled as if it were on rails. For an 18- to 20-something-year old, I think a Honda makes a good platform for a street racer.
I saw the lamer who owned the souped-up Civic I talked about. (In fact, I stuck around for a few to see if I could catch a glimpse at such a winner type).
If he’s Asian, he came from the part of Asia where they hide the crackers. 
Seriously? I don’t think the '93 hatchback my family owns could even reach 100 miles per hour! Well, maybe downhill, it could.
With a good tailwind.
Grelby: Yup. We averaged 73 mph, including fuel stops and going inside of restaurants to sit down and eat. I don’t know how much faster it could have gone, but it did very well at 100.
Now that I think about it, it might have been a '93; but it could also have been a '92. It’s the one with the little tailgate under the hatch.
Check out the Icy Hot Stuntaz for a great parody of the rice-boy culture.
For your information ElwoodCuse, the “bling-bling, gang rag theme” is not “rice-boy culture” as you so eloquently put it. Get a clue.
I saw a “Mopar Power” sticker on a Neon once. I almost piled up from laughing so hard.
I always laugh when I see a Civic with a big “Powered by Honda” sticker. It’s like when CNN showed some footage from Afghanistan several months ago, and there was someone driving a Toyota pickup with large (factory) graphics on the side that said “Pickup”.
I keep wanting to say in utter awe to these Civic drivers, “Is that really powered by Honda? I mean, it actually has a Honda engine? Wow!” Now if the sticker said “Powered by Pratt & Whitney” and there was a PT-6 under the bonnet, then I’d be impressed!
(Oh, don’t get the impression I don’t like Hondas – I do like them.)
One thing that always cracks me up for some reason – and it’s pretty lame – is this guy I see on the freeway in an older Honda Prelude. His old-style license plate (yellow on blue) says “PLAYRUD”. I thought he was Vietnamese and was making a triple-entendre (a simple spoonerism of the car’s designation, an attitude, and a stereotypical Asian pronunciation), but I caught a glimps of him a few weeks ago and I’m not sure now.
cheap insurance?
Not in Ireland. If I was to get insured on a honda Civic, I’d have to hand over the best part of €5000 fully comp.
“ricer” has nothing to do with a person’s ethnicity. It has little to do with the location his car was made. It has everything to do with the pounds of stickers on his car. But thanks for being offended by something.
dead0man
Is there anything at all resembling a General Question still on the table here?
‘Rice’ origonally applied to asian cars but now has changed to any car with ‘go fast’ looks but not ‘go fast’ performance. A Neon with a huge wing and racing stickers could be considered ‘rice’.
Before this thread is locked this is somewhat relevant on the Maxima board http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115446
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who noticed the al-Quida pick-up truck with “Pickup” written on the side.
It just seemed so ludicrous and surreal – Osama bin Laden, with his death-to-the-infidels jihad, standing in front of a pickup truck with “Pickup” graphics on its side.
I laughed my ass off when I saw it. When my wife came home I tried to explain to her how funny it was. I even tried to draw in–the top half of the letters were white-on black, and the bottom half black-on-white (or maybe reversed). She didn’t think it was very funny. I guess you had to be there.
My impression of them is that the parts are pretty interchangeable. This probably accounts
why they are on the top of most ‘hot’ lists.
Honda has won the championship in every form of racing they have competed in:
Formula 1 - 2 titles
CART - 4 titles
Motorcycles - numerous titles in both road and dirt bikes
I think it would be interesting if they chose to race in NASCAR to see if they could win there too but I doubt they have any plans in that area.
(Right now they are doing badly in Formula 1, the titles they won were about 10 years ago. )
WARNING – NO CITES – only often-repeated stuff from the car nut in my house!
WinkieHubby, who drives me insane with car facts, trivia, and anecdotes on any car ride (and during many movie and TV car scenes) has told me on numerous occasions that Honda Civics are popular with the modification crowd for a couple of reasons:
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They are (comparatively) cheap and light – as said before, and
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As handy said, the way they are built lends them to easy modification. Apparently it’s a pretty easy model to turn into a street rod – engines can be switched out, suspension can be upgraded, etc. with less hassle than many other cars. Honda’s recent change in suspension in the Civic makes this more difficult for some reason – guess I’ll have to pay attention on the drive to Fort Wayne tonight
Of course, that doesn’t mean that every idiot you see with stickers and a huge wing has made any performance mods to his car, but that’s where it started.
Again, sorry about the lack of cites, but that’s my understanding.