Hello, I will first start by introducing myself, my name is John and I drive a 06' Si. I have been lurking around here off and on, and have noticed that you guys really seem to hate honda.
Now the story; I live in Va and a buddy of mine has a 05' tC. My Si went through the brake-in phase and currently have 3,200 miles on it. (bought in december) I drove a lot to get it broken in for when mods start rolling out for the z3 i can be ready. ;-) Any rate, we decided now that I have my car broken in to have some fun with each other, especially being ScionLife had all this comparison going on as well as other Honda forums.
His mods:
05' tc
TRD SC
TRD Springs
HKS hi-power exhaust
My mods:
Custom veilside exhaust
We decided to do three straight line races, then go through some of the mountain areas of Va and check out some handling differences. The result was this, and I'll break it down per race to make it easier on the eyes to read.

From a stop to about 70mph, he beat me off the line by a good car length. I caught up to him around 45mph and stayed neck and neck to 70mph. I would say we were exactly dead even. I was pretty impressed with the tc after this run. From a stop again to roughly 80mph, again he pulled off the line faster due to more low end. I had caught up to him again, this time however he pulled slightly ahead towards the end and ended up around half a car length ahead. From 25mph to 80mph, this time i pulled way ahead of him. He almost caught up to me at one point but the end was roughly two car lengths ahead. Now for the mountain runs was a different story. We really didn't go all out racing up and down some of the mountains, however we did have fun. Overall his and I's thoughts were pretty neutral. With the TRD springs compared to the Si's stock suspension, body roll on both cars were fairly similar. Although, the tc did have a little more body roll compared to mine. As to being able to handle throughout the corners, I say even though the tc handled extremely impressive, i was able to shoot ahead everytime when I was ahead of him. When we switched positions and I was behind him i found myself using the brakes a little more often than i was when i was ahead.

With all of this said, I am impressed with the tc's ability to keep up with the Si. The supercharger is a great buy for someone wanting a little more thrill daily driving, however it's still underpowered with the displacement the 2az has. I did not come here to ____ anyone off by any means, however I felt like this was a good story for those interested in debating these two cars. Him and I are both experienced drivers on the track, and are equal drivers. We are both friends as well, have been for a few years and i hope the tc owners reading this and that may apply, realize that I'm not bashing the tc or trying to start anything. After all, I am impressed with what the tc had to offer. But as for performance, the Si has something the tc doesn't regardless of torque numbers some of you so often put it that I've noticed.

-John

 

Good review However drivers ability comes to play 100% in a test like this.

Also most of us do not hate honda, they are just a car in the same price range and I personally find the si pretty impressive. I see your in Va, to bad your not close to Az, I would love to take a mountain pass run up and downhill against your si with my tc. See if he was a good driver or not so good. Other side is I do have many more mods than him! Know any Si owners in Az..? I could do a really fun video comparo!

 

the honda haters are usually the people you find on all message boards who hear one thing and blow it out of proportion without reason. they are the commonplace ignorance that plagues common conversation. HONDA SUCKS YO. no, honda is good. there is no reason to hate a proven company.

anyway. nice writeup! honest and non-biased. and you are right, the si does have something for performance. a k-series an actual sport engine. they rock.

 

I do admire you guys have an lsd stock! I will be forking over some big cash for mine!

What hunter says is true, while we do have allot of displacement, the 2az was made to be a workhorse engine. It is about as non performance oriented as any engine I have seen, hell the internals on my engine made me laugh when it was apart and I was embarrassed to show the pics of my rods hahaha.

Both cars are pretty awsome, I just happen to be more of a toyota fan, that is all!

 

Thank you guys for all the positive feedback. I hope this thread remains clean, so far it has done just that. As for the tc driver, Mark, he is 32 of age has been driving manuals pretty much since he started driving except his auto Corolla for the gas milage.

I must say the tc is a great car, but it does lack in the performance department. While it does lack, it's also a very impressive car. I've seen some of you guys are pushing 300whp, which is quite amazing for what you are doing that on. I wish the 2.4l packed more power than it does, i hate to brag but honda does have the whp per liter downpacked. As for knowing Si's in the Az area, I would check with some honda forums. Just be nice to them asking if anyone in your area would like to meet up to shoot a video together. You might have better luck with an older Si if you have more mods, it will keep it more evenly matched. I plan to keep this n/a, f/i can be done with honda motors as well all know but n/a is the better route.

 

hondas are great cars, i was going to buy another honda until i found the tC had more for less (at the time). i just don't like honda's current generation styling but maybe it will grow on me? ;P

 

Welcome to scionlife john! I hope your thread doesn't get locked because i think some of these tC owners could learn a thing or two on this thread. We have way too many Si vs tC threads but this one is of an actual race coming from a Si owner.

I used to own a gsr, honda's are much like toyota's, main difference is honda usually puts more thought into performance per class compared to toyota. Which is a shame, but its the truth.

Parts for the k20z3 should be rolling off pretty soon, there are already tons of companies designing and in pre-production phases. Give it time, probably about a year or so and there will be a good amount of goodies.

Again, welcome to scionlife and dont forget you are welcome.

 

nice write up!

 

Great POST! I love the 2.4L motor and the tc's styling...but other than that...I'd MUCH rather have a honda!

wanna trade???

 

Nice write up. Where you at in Virginia?
I am in Virginia as well running the Supercharger with HKS, trd springs and struts. I would love to meet up sometime and see how it does.
More importantly I would love to meet at a track sometime.
You know anywhere nearby to run 1/4 mile?
I am down in Hampton not to far from VA Beach. Hope this thread stays clean, it is alot better written than the rest of the VS threads.

 

Exactly. Very glad to have you on here. Allot of tc vs. si posts get way out of hand because of some guys ego's, that just results in ____ing matches. I thought the two cars "tc being supercharged" would be pretty evenly matched. Also yes, the tc def needs some suspension upgrades to be able to keep up with or possibly out corner an si. Those are just the facts. I took my tc brand new down through sedona / oak creek canyon before my susp mods and it was downright scary it rolled so bad. It now handles awsome with tein h-techs, hotchkis bars and greddy strut braces, like a totally different animal. Without an LSD our modified tc's with nice susp work would be hard pressed to keep up with an si that has been modified as well.

Have any pics of your cars..?

Also if you do not mind me asking, what did the si end up costing you out the door approx...?? I was wondering if dealers were jumping the prices all crazy yet...

 

Nick, I live near Roanoke Va which is in the mountains. Maybe one day we can meet up which would be fun. You could also run against Mark too!

I currently do not have any pictures of my car to date, but I will try taking some soon and I can post them if you'd like me too. I ended up paying $20,800 for the Si. Most dealerships I have seen are staying within the $19,990-$20,100 range for base Si's. They originally wanted $20,500 but i talked them back down to base price.

Killer, yes parts should be coming out shortly. Only thing I have right now is a custom cat back. I used a universal Veilside muffler and then had a shop make custom piping from there. Sounds great, looks good but I'm waiting for a nice set of coilovers to appear on the market. You drove a gsr huh? I used to own a usdm Integra Type-r prior the Si. Great cars.

-John

 

Good question. I am sick of hearing people think they know what they cost. It would be nice to get an owners word.

 

Good things my friends. Now, not because I dont believe all that you say, but a picture or a video is worth a thousand words.

Peace.

 

that is a pretty good performance / doller ratio. What kinds of options can you get on the si..? My tc was about $16700 somthing with the side curtain airbags. I added some other stuff which was expensive but I like oem. I did the nice looking ground effects to the tune of about $900, a 100K mile no deduct warranty, some floor mats, spoiler etc... After all was said and done without the supercharger / susp mods I was at $20500, same as what you paid. I had to toss in another $3K for the sc and another $1500+ in other mods to get her to were she is today. Si is a really good buy but again I am a toyota fan and like how my car looks, and interior is. Not bad. I guess if someone went for all performance they could just buy a base tc "which is heavily loaded compared to most cars" and buy the sc. That would come out to about $19500 if they install it themselves... That could compete power wise with the si, but not in the corners. No matter how ya look at it, the si is a great car and a really good buy. It deserves the press it gets. Although there is just somthing awsome about the tc, especially when modded that keeps me as an owner. Mabey it is the low end grunt, or the awsome glass roof, or the dead quiet interior... who knows.

 

Forgot to mention, soon there will be hords of teenage tc owners on this post yelling and screeming for pics, videos etc.. and they will use words like "somthings fishy" "My tc will outrun anything" etc... hahaha If they show on this post, remember, they do not represent most all of the tc community.

 

Thank you for giving me a fair warning about this. As for options you can get on the Si, you can get navigation to upgraded wheels. If you go to http://www.honda.com you will find all listed options there with prices I believe.

Jake, Mark and I did this for fun not for credit upon others. I simply mentioned this on here for the sake of true words. Meaning, to correct those on here who assume one or the other about the Si or tc with supercharger. I do not have pictures or a video, however next time we do this I could make a video for you.

desert, no disrespect to you or your purchase but $20,500 seems awfully high for a tc. I hope you are satisfied with what you bought, that is the main thing. The tc is a lovly car but I don't believe i would spend near that much for one. Especially from a performance stand point, then again a performance compact is what I am in the market for. Again, not trying to tell you that you chose not so well but just giving some opinion. What did you get with your purchase for it to be $20,500?

 

Very nice writup and a polite thread, but please don't 'race' on public roads.

Thank you.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=103004

 

Type-r's are nice, i have a few friends with them from gsr days. Did you have any mods done to it or did you leave it fairly stock?

$20,800 isn't bad at all. Some people on here think that every dealership is doing the % mark up, but the few Si owners here have all bought them for right at $19,990 give or take a hundred or two. Theres two others i know of on here with Si's, one drives a tC and Si.

desertheat is right though, you might want to prepare yourself for some people on here to call "bs" or something ridiculous like that. No matter how many races or videos are made with the two, they always find excuses as to why the Si is either faster, or the same of a s/c tC.. Which it appears to be virtually the same, except corners which i figured the Si would out corner the tC even with trd springs. When i test drove a Si earlier this month it reminded me a lot of a integra cross with rsx-s. Handles great, and pick up is good even when shifting around 3-4k...I thought so at least.

 

Tomas, thank you for pointing this out to kids and unexperienced drivers on this thread. Mark and I are considered professionals for that we both have years of track experience in our backgrounds. During these events above, the straight line racing took place in a empty parking lot, flat surface. This parking lot was also a controlled environment due to the store that this area was apart of was closed, no cars or anything to avoid. While I do not recommend doing even this, it was not done where cars could come out of us, we only risked having too much fun on this one. Or getting a ticket from a cop which didn't happen.

Mountain driving we did do on the streets, however we only pushed our cars hardest with no traffic in front of us. While still risky, it's safer than doing this any other place except a track of course.

killerxromances, the type-r had few modifications. Mostly coilovers, rims, i/h/e, and some other light work. I was pleased with the performance the type-r came with so I didn't feel the need to do too much more. With the Si, while pleased with factory set up, I do plan to go further and step it up a notch. How about your gsr?