The Honda Civic and Chevrolet Camaro Lead Separate but Parallel Lives

From the January 2018 issue

The Honda Civic and the Chevrolet Camaro might fit into a single camera frame, but they exist in completely different worlds.

Perhaps there are guys who have both a Civic Type R and a Camaro SS on their shopping lists. But we sure haven’t met them. We have, however, met plenty of Camaro partisans who wonder aloud why anyone would buy a Civic, throw $20,000 of performance parts at it, and still end up with a car that’s not as quick as a stock V-8 Camaro. And you can imagine what sort of questions Civic guys ask about a Camaro owner’s lineage.

Sporty Civics and Camaros are magnets aligned so that the north side of each faces the other. They repel each other as a force of nature. But on the opposite sides, they are each plenty attractive to plenty of people. They are fundamentally different things: front drive versus rear drive, modest engine displacement versus immodest, tall and nerd-chic versus low and racy. But they are the yin and the yang of affordable, mostly practical performance cars.

In the decades-long development of these two models, never has either been better than it is today. And never in the history of these models have they been offered in as many compelling versions. Both Honda and Chevy now proffer an array of sporty Civics and Camaros that pretty effectively covers the sensible-to-insane performance spectrum.

It didn’t seem likely that it would go this way. In recent years, Honda lost touch with the fun side of the business, and the last-generation Civic suffered as a result. Remember, also, the Camaro took a seven-year dirt nap between 2002 and 2009.

Two years ago, the current-generation Civic sedan reignited the Honda fires with precise steering, lithe handling, and a level of apparent quality absent from the previous version. Then Honda unleashed a fusillade of performance variants. And all three can be equipped with a type of transmission that not only has gears, but also allows—nay, requires—that you choose among them. In fact, two of the three are available only with manual transmissions.

The cheapest of the triumvirate, the Civic Sport hatchback, is offered with the CVT from the sedan as an option, but that’s like Subaru offering a CVT in a WRX. (What’s that? Subaru does? Okay, strike that.) Save yourself the $800, order the car with a manual, and it’ll only cost you $22,390. That’s a screaming deal for a vehicle that delivers so much joy and precision. That it also offers a roomy cabin and an easily accessed and large cargo area means it fulfills the one-car-for-every-purpose mission. The Sport shares its turbocharged 1.5-liter four with lesser Civics but gets a slight power bump and a set of 18-inch wheels wearing 235/40 all-season tires. This car has flow. Its relatively torque-rich turbo engine is both more powerful and more fuel efficient than the engines of most other C-segment cars. But it’s the Sport’s fluidity that sets it apart from others in its class. It feels alert and playful. Its steering and handling are knife-edge sharp and backed by plenty of grip. This is the kind of Civic that will convince its new owner that he’s made a smart choice.

The Civic Type R and the Camaro ZL1 1LE are studies in aerodynamic doodadery. The Type R has 438 percent more red bits in its interior than the 1LE.

The Si, available only in the less weird-looking sedan and coupe forms, brings a performance improvement over the Sport well beyond what the $2600 increase in base price might suggest. This is the sweet spot of the lineup. At $24,990, the Si is still well below the average price of a new car but well above average in every other respect. It uses the same basic engine as the Sport, but here that little powerplant is cranked up to 205 horsepower. In our earlier testing of the Si coupe, we achieved a 6.3-second zero-to-60-mph time, a 159-foot braking distance, and a staggering 0.97 g of grip on the skidpad. That test car wore the optional summer tires ($200). Equipped with the standard all-season tires in the same 235/40R-18 size, the car can be expected to give up some outright grip, but it’s a sensible approach, consistent with the model’s aim. And the all-season-shod car gives up nothing in terms of driving pleasure. The Si feels as if it rides about a foot lower than the Sport. A revised linkage and a beefed-up shifter mount bring shift feel all the way up to sublime. Oh, and the Si delivers real-world fuel efficiency in the mid-20s.

Our man in Europe, Mike Duff, notes that the Civic Type R is as subtle as a lap dance. It is ridiculous-looking and will surely be the butt of many jokes, both from Camaro owners and virtually everyone else. But the Type R’s performance redeems it. With this quickest and most hard-core of Civics, Honda threw out the typical balance of virtues it aims for in other performance Civics and went full gonzo. This car is wired. It does not relax. It is loud. Its engine, a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 306 horsepower, feels impatient and primed. Its ride is firm but never abusive. That’s no small feat considering that it wears 30-series tires. And if you didn’t already know it, nothing in the Type R’s handling character would reveal that it’s a front-driver. Everything you operate in this car feels serious. Its brake pedal is firm and commands binders that will haul the Type R down from 70 mph in a stunning 142 feet. Its shifter is a short-throw affair that moves with gratifying certainty. It is, in short, spectacular. But it’s a very distinct and powerful flavor, and not one everyone will savor.

"The ZL1 1LE is every bit as likely to strike fear into the heart of its driver as it is satisfaction."

Our Camaro love affair begins not with those powered by the turbocharged 2.0-liter, nor those that have had their roofs removed, but with the V-6–powered coupe. Honda has kept a tighter focus on cost than Chevy, and the Camaros are starting to edge out of the affordable range for some buyers. But there’s still tremendous value here. With 335 horsepower, the V-6 Camaro is no embarrassment in the performance department. (This is particularly true when it’s equipped with the 1LE package of upgrades.) And its Alpha platform is every bit as well sorted here as it is in more expensive versions of the car. Unlike the old days, the Camaro with the V-6 is not a poseur but a genuinely satisfying performance car.

But as long as the General sees fit to offer V-8s in the Camaro, that’s what’s likely to remain the engine of choice for us. Step up to the SS model, now with a base price nudging $40K, and the hooligan nature of the Camaro reveals itself. A 455-hp 6.2-liter V-8 will do that. Bolt it to the optional eight-speed automatic ($1495) for the quickest possible acceleration numbers or save the cash and shift your own. Either arrangement is excellent. Add the $895 dual-mode exhaust to annoy your neighbors and excite your head-mounted microphones. But as great as the engine is, it’s the Camaro’s chassis that steals the show. With rapid-fire turn-in, gobs of grip, and roll kept tightly in check, the Camaro is more modern sports coupe than dunderheaded muscle car.

Speaking of muscle: How would you like way more of it than is necessary? Like, say, 650 horsepower’s worth? That’s the Camaro ZL1, a great ripping totem to overkill. Powered by the supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 from the Corvette Z06, the ZL1 should be a mess. But it’s not. Thanks to magnetorheological dampers, an electronically controlled limited-slip differential, and fat Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3 tires, the ZL1 can actually handle its over-endowment of power. And while a six-speed manual is standard, the new 10-speed automatic might actually be the transmission of choice for this sled. Despite its double-digit number of gears, the transmission never feels busy and it delivers crisp, perfectly timed downshifts.

New for 2018 is the ZL1 1LE, a remarkable vehicle, and not just because its name is a near palindrome. We're smitten despite it being almost totally inappropriate for public roads. It’s stiff beyond belief, tossing itself this way and that on undulating two-lanes. The ZL1 1LE is every bit as likely to strike fear into the heart of its driver as it is satisfaction. But if you happen to live near the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, this is your Camaro.

That these Camaros and Civics occupy places in our hearts—and, incidentally, on our 2018 10Best Cars roster—will do nothing to bridge the divide between them. But they are united, at least, in overall excellence and in offering beautifully constructed ladders of performance. Now pick your side. As if you hadn’t already.