The car of core memories for many car enthusiasts – no DOHC, just pa (hit) VTEC!
Having spoken to many people, colleagues and friends, many who lived through the golden-era period of the car scene (1990-2023) has experienced one of these Honda Civics before.
The ESi (chassis code EH9) trim for the EG-generation Civic is one of a small amount of trims offered in Singapore unlike the domestic market. While Japanese market brochures have presented a plethora of different trims, export markets limited much of that creativity and focused purely on bread-and-butter models.
The ESi comes with a D16Z6 engine first seen in the EF-generation Civic that came before it, offered on the Si (ED7 chassis code) models.
Don’t sleep on these yet, as the Z6 variant was assembled with a VTEC head. These engines with the right setup can compete with the high horsepower B16A for sound, though aspiration changes would likely be needed to spar in power.
Power is quoted at 125 horsepower and 144Nm when new, so not the fastest, or even fast. But tuning for these engines are available. Builds for up to 200 horsepower is apparently possible as are aspiration kits.
This example here is mildly modified, with aftermarket front corner lights and taillights.
Going by older articles of Singaporean units, the original front corner lights for the Civic saloon are clear lenses, with an amber reflector inside. Taillights would then be amber-colored for the signal lenses.
This unit has full amber corner lights (a super common mod locally for some reason) and rear clear aftermarket taillights. It also has the export-spec rectangular plate holder for rectangle plates as seen in the photos. Japanese market models are narrower to fit their plates snugly, which is also a common swap amongst saloon owners.
Its enthusiast-owned at a time in its life. The fenders could have been rolled, given the stance looks wider, helped by the deep-dish wheels. The front badge are probably an off-the-shelf reproduced item as it looks too big. It is otherwise a cool relic of the past, with its vibrant blue shade and old-school wheels.
There is this Honda Jazz parked nearby. These first-generation ones are also getting rare, fitting to be featured accordingly in the SG Archives segment as more of them are phased out.
~Efini
Read more: Roadnotes: Honda Civic Ferio SiR (EG9)
