Shootout: Honda Civic LX Coupe vs. Volkswagen Golf TSI S 2-door for affordable sporty compact sup… 

you're right that its rare if not impossible to see the 2dr golf, way more 4 doors out there on lots. one thing not mentioned though, the golf tsi with the manual gearbox is actually de-tuned a bit to 184 lb-ft of torque instead of the 199 stated in the video that the auto gets. I think the clutch isn't designed to safely hold that much torque.

I can think of many brands that could be the $10 jeans in your analogy. Honda is not one of them. I have yet to see a 4 cyl manual Honda that is not incredibly durable.

On a tight parking lot course, where you might not need to take it out of first gear, civic useable rev range is extremely potent (which is why it felt stronger). Golf better turn in at lower speed is due to the 3-inch shorter wheelbase (when compared to CivicX). At higher speeds, Turbo will give golf some advantage, but it won't compensate for Civic's handling ability which is designed for high-speed cornering limits (same chassis as Type-R which is tweaked to do 170mph around the turns at Nuremberg track). Also in Canada's base 6MT Civic comes with heated seat, climate control, and touch screen applecarplay/androidauto. Also, with the 7' screen, it blends in well with the dash (any bigger and won't look as good). It's one of those dash layouts that looks better as it ages.

Tsi I think addressed video. I am biased already I would go for civic no brainer

yeah i feel u. all vws passat golfs etc look the same, they have almost the same face, typical for vw in last ~15 years. i am from Germany but vw and lots of other germany are the most boring looking cars i have ever seen. looking forward for new vw face and lineup design

Yup, nothing so new . .

+Emil Krumin Well Germany's Passat is beautiful compared to our boring "New" Passat we get in the States, which basically is a facelift of the car we've had since like 2009 & 2010.

ldawson103 And civic looks like something I would draw when I was 3...

The looks of the civic are better

***** Not true, the turbo civic is not available at that price point, not even close. As far as the aesthetics go, it is just a matter of taste. I and many others prefer the grown up look of the Golf.

Stuck in visa process so he could work in top gear #brexitjokes

+Th3Fizzle why am I laughing at this

IKR

funnyspeach No it doesn't.

Michael Zhu I mean the 2.0 is still faster than the 1.8 t in the vw so Idk what you mean

@@jbx_98 not the 5spd manual. Tsi manual is just as fast as the SI lol

@@brolyv5802 Yeah looking back at my comment I was completely wrong 🤣

In a tight parking lot course, with super low speed corners, you'd probably need to downshift into first to keep the rev's up. I used to do it a it all the time on my old Civic and put 300,00km on that transmission/clutch. I bet the VW's transmission would blow up from a hard downshift into first. Better to just put up with the turbo lag lol

Anna V And another Honda fanboy.....My sister drives a 2006 Jetta TDI, has 349,000kms on it. Original transmission, engine, suspension components...everything is original save for tires and front brakes(yes even the clutch and rear brakes are original). If you get a good Volkswagen, it'll be the most reliable things on the planet.

If you liked it so much, why did you get rid of it after a year?

Dustin G Upgraded to a Golf R

except for reliability

+Gregory Perkins that's just true I trust much more on Honda than WV

why

A superior leased car, most people dump these things as soon as the warranty vanish. The Civic offers faaaar better value.

correct

carstengerm but in 5 years the Civic will look more aged.

For 12 year old kid, maybe!

HNRichard it has a techtronic trans. You have a choice of going into the regular "D" drive mode, "S" sport mode, and also you can shift the vehicles shifter knob to the right and it becomes sort of like a manual, with paddle shifting and knob. An Up jerk shifts up on the knob, down shifts down. simple.

that's not positive! I'm sure he has a huge peen

He likes the civics rear end.

Leopena91 the auto makes much better use of the power. Especially in sport mode.

Terradyn86 these guys are amateurs. My TSI is a 6 speed. these guys are a joke

Leopena91 TSI is 6spd in automatic only. nothing wrong with the 5spd. besides, most cars in this class with a 6spd manual, has nothing to do with performance outside fuel economy

There's nothing classy about the pint size SUV

I've had a 2014 jetta. I'd rather have the civic now. I'm 30 btw

I think it's perfect

David Azpe The golf feels heavy and boring to drive the civic is much better especially the coupe

+thebluexanadu78 That's why i said "Turbo vs NA... really? Civic has a turbo and it would have been a better comparison."

+Coraga 1 what type of car guy am i? really? Ask yourself that question when you talk about Turbo vs NA, It goes both ways. Never did i say "They should put it against a civic ex-l, that has a turbo, with a manual".

+Coraga Let me rephrase what i mean, Golf TSI(Turbo) 170hp vs Civic LX(NA) 158hp and regardless if it's auto or manual, they're both an economic vehicle. Engine makes the difference on this comparison not transmission. And why did you delete your comment?

+Coraga 1 LOL! How does one become a fanboy to a manufacturer or brand if that person said "Why even compare TSI to a NA when Civic offers a Turbo in it's line up". And you said "It's because they're comparing the manuals". LOL!! I enjoy all types of cars from pony/muscle, import, euro, even hybrid. Nice come back calling me a vw fanboy! Lol!

+Coraga 1 Took you 2 days to come up with that? You're clever.

honestly im looking at the two rims and the golf rims look like something from the 90's

This is a civic LX so what more do you want? If you want a better looking civic then go get EX, EX-L, or the Touring model.

i always go with aftermarket wheels lol.

+Brian Vu Personally, I'd spend a couple thousand to move up the class of car well before spending that money on wheels and shoes. But, flashy rims on a stock base model car may draw attention from people who don't know anything about cars I guess. Just messing with ya. Yeah, you can get some performance increase out of quality tires (the performance improvement from lighter rims will be nominal). Nothing you'd notice in regular driving, though, you would absolutely notice the increase in tire wear. Plus, if a base model civic is all your budget will allow, spending more on tires may not be wise. You don't want to spend more money on a base model bore of a car like this. Make your payments, keep looking for better work. Get a better paying job and get a better car.

zero11010 I agree with you. They need to put at least 17 inch wheels. The wheel gap is huge lol.

Not to be rude: proof reading is pretty important. I like that they're trying new people.

and for a first go I think they did an okay job. Nothing that truly stood out, but no "oh god why" moments either.

roguedogx Oh, I like that they're trying new things (I really like Cooley). These two guys don't do it for me though. They don't seem like car guys. The guy with the beard looks dirty and disgusting and based only on a couple minutes of watching him talk and reading his body language and such, appears to have some social issues. They took two base model budget cars that are also hindered by all season tires to an autocross track. Who is that trying to appeal to? People who know nothing about autocross? If so, they can just drive on a canon road. People who are familiar with competition driving? Just kidding, people who really know about cars know they would need to drive the car themselves. You can tell from watching them on the course that they're pretty unused to running a car hard. I mean, even CNET guy with the speech impediment (which sounds like nails on a chalk board to me, but that's my issue not his) seems like more of a car guy. I don't need car news from two fucking nerds who don't even seem to be car nerds.

Not taking away the fact about hard work they put in it but for the level of channel this is, its a misfit. It's like me saying that I want a CFO's job from out of MBA program showing that I'll be very hard work is not gonna cut it. You have to grow to get to that level. Same thing - This is a very good auto channel and I expect a certain level from them (+Roadshow). I dont have anything against these 2 guys, its the +Roadshow who needs consider these things.

New people on different roads looking at a head to head comparison of incredibly budget focused cars .... that sounds like a fairly new direction, right?

+zero11010 yes but its boring how they do it

daryl g Maybe you should offer constructive criticism instead of just criticism. I mean, if you say "you guys should change things" and will admit yourself that they have changed things. Maybe they need to be told what isn't working specifically. Welcome to the world of communication!

+zero11010 i dont want to offer anything specially if its your suggestion so shut it. mind your own business!

daryl g It's a little hypocritical of you to offer your comments to someone then tell another to not comment on what you said, right? That's pathetic. Don't be pathetic. You're not very good with this English thing, are you?