With the GTI weighing in at 3,143 pounds and the Civic at 2,871 pounds, the Honda actually has a slight power-to-weight advantage over that Vee-Dub. But the GTI's plump portion of low-end grunt gives it an advantage at the dragstrip where Motor Trend measured it ripping to 60 mph in just 6.3 seconds and completing the quarter-mile in 14.7 seconds at 94.8 mph. The Civic is so close behind, however, that the difference is almost academic -- it gets to 60 mph in an identical 6.3 seconds and runs the quarter in 14.9 seconds at 94.7 mph. Yes, SCC could have duplicated these tests, but this magazine now shares office space with MT and its editorial director is also MT's. We'd have ended up with the same results using the same cars. So why bother? Get over it already.
It's hard to imagine two cars equipped with 2.0-liter fours that deliver their power more differently than these two. Around town the VW is absolutely wonderful; even at part throttle it pulls with easygoing authority. This is as close as a four-cylinder production engine has ever come to imitating a small V-8, so if your goal is to recreate the everyday sensations of large displacement with small displacement efficiency (albeit on a diet of premium fuel), then this is your car too.
In contrast, the Civic Si's engine runs like the economy car powerplant it is from idle to about 6,200 rpm when the VTEC kicks in, and then it opens up as if the crankshaft had rockets connected to each journal. In everyday use, the Civic powerplant is perfectly adequate, and it delivers decent fuel mileage while swilling down premium unleaded. It's also uncannily smooth and relatively quiet despite the fact that it will spin to its 8,000-rpm redline with startling rapidity and then giddily stay there all day. It's an adequate engine for commuting, but the VW powerplant is torquier.
The GTI is a more practical car than the Si in just about every other way too. The hatchback body is more flexible in accommodating cargo than the Civic coupe; the VW's rear seat is more accommodating for average-size humans; the GTI's front seats are more generously proportioned than the narrow-ass Civic thrones. VW's dash, ventilation, and other controls are more conventional and easier to deal with than the multitiered mish-mash of digital readouts and analog dials in the Civic. You sit more upright in the GTI too, with better visibility. And, if you want an automatic, there just isn't a better one around than the GTI's DSG.
But if you're buying one of these cars purely for practical reasons, why read this article? And in every other performance parameter, the Si simply walks over the GTI. Both have MacPherson strut front suspensions and multilink independent systems out back, but the suspension tuning on the GTI is much softer. The electric power steering in the Honda is more precise and offers better feedback than the VW's; the Si's six-speed offers more precise shifts than the GTI's; and on the stock 215/45R17 Michelin Pilot Exaltos, the Civic managed 0.89G on MT's skidpad, while the GTI, shod with wider 225/45R17 Continental ContiProContacts achieved 0.83G. Throw in slightly better braking performance for the Honda and, despite the power disadvantage, our expectations were that the Civic Si would prove the better autocrosser when we got it to the track.
Improvisation
Unfortunately, when the wheels and tires arrived at my house, I hadn't noticed that one set of wheels was addressed to someone else in Oregon. The tires were the right size and model Avons on those wheels, but the bolt pattern didn't fit the Civic. We discovered this just as we were preparing to swap rubber in San Diego. Big problem. In 15 years of dealing with The Tire Rack over literally dozens of tests and cars, this is the first time I've ever had a problem, and clearly the problem was with the shipping company, not The 'Rack.
Fortunately, Steve Coe, owner of C2 Motorsports (www.c2motorsport.net) in San Diego, happened to be at the event and offered to help us out by opening his tuning and race shop for us. Coe, a former member of Dan Gurney's All American Racers team when it campaigned Toyota prototypes in IMSA road-racing competition, then dug in and worked to take the Avons off the wheels with the wrong bolt pattern -- and take the stock Michelins off the stock Civic wheels -- and put the Avon slicks on the Civic's stock 17x7-inch alloy wheels. We owe Steve big time. Go spend a lot of money with him.
We finally got in some laps, and the results were that everyone was quicker in the Honda. But go ahead and read what they had to say. Not everyone came to the same conclusions about it.