Matt's Daily Driven FG3
 

Hey everyone,

Here's my new daily driver! It's a 2012 Honda Civic LX Coupe (FG3). The lease on my GE8 was coming up so I decided to trade her in early to pick up a new car so I wouldn't have to pay the penalty charges for overage on the mileage. My first and second choice was to get an Si or CR-Z, but it was just out of my budget. So I ended up with an FG3. Overall, I'm really happy with my choice. It's a well built machine from what I've experienced so far. It looks great, the chassis is extremely rigid, and it has more power than my GE8, which also a plus. Can't forget to mention that it's a 5-Speed. (Damn I missed driving stick...) I have a few plans lined up for the future. Already have a set of wheels waiting to get installed, but I won't put them on until I get some coilovers.

Engine/Drivetrain:
R18Z1
5-Speed manual transmission
Spoon Sports magnetic drain plug set
Spoon Sports radiator cap

Suspension:
Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs
SPC Performance EZ Cam XR front camber bolts
SPC Performance rear camber arms

Brakes:

Wheels/Tires:
Work Emotion 11R Matte Black (17x8 +35) - Front/Left
Work Emotion 11R Matte Black (17x8 +35) - Rear/Left
Work Emotion 11R Matte Bronze (17x8 +35) - Front/Right
Work Emotion 11R Matte Bronze (17x8 +35) - Rear/Right
General G-Max AS-03 (245/45/17) - Front
General G-Max AS-03 (225/45/17) - Rear
Muteki Super Tuner Black lug nut set


Exterior:
AVS door visors

Interior:
Spoon Sports Duracon 5-Speed shift knob

Electronics:

Here are a couple of pictures. I'll post more later.

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Last night, I stopped by iJDMToy to pick up some LED rear license plate bulbs and a pair of yellow headlight bulbs for the DRL/high beams. They sell quality bulbs and have excellent customer service.

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I got a chance to install the iJDMToy LED rear license plate bulb last night. Looks way better!

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jsut a quick question for the guys who lease. what do you do with all the parts after you trade it back in? modding a car that isn't really mine, out of my own pocket doesn't make a lick of sense to me, but i only ask cause i want to know what happened to your spoiler on your GE8? =D catch my drift? lol

All you have to do is take off all the aftermarket parts and put the car back to stock. I sold my carbon spoiler.

i understand the resale thing, but it still doesn't make any sense to me unless your reselling it at retail price. otherwise its money lost in my eyes. Don't get me wrong though! i didn't come in here to rag on you in anyway. i was really just wondering what you did with your spoiler. =P

i'm really digging the 2012 civics though, i'm seriously still on the fence about getting one too. also nice choice in color ;)

Even if I kept the GE8 and decided to sell the spoiler, I wouldn't sell it for retail price. It was used. Who sells used parts for the brand new price? Unless it's something rare like a Mugen Gen I rear wing for a DC2 or something. Parts like that you can rack up the price.

if you didn't get it, in my last post i was trying to be polite and say "it your car (or in this case not really yours, its the dealer your just renting it) you can do anything you want with it, i just dont understand why you would, but your thread isn't about me so lets just move on an focus on your new civic." but apparently you didn't catch that. so with that, i'll let you know how i really feel then.

i think people who lease and mod their cars are absolutely retarded. its like driving the neighbor kid's car for a few months and modding it, then justifying it and all the money lost by modding a car that isn't yours by saying "well at the end you can sell the parts off." well guess what? lol you still lost money, because like you stated, your parts are now used. maybe thats it. maybe its just i dont understand the idea of blowing money on parts that will be useless to me in a few years....lol this is the funny part....wait for it....because i have to give the car back, cause its not mine.

anyways nice new civic. im really digging it. *thumbs up* did i mention i was thinking about one myself? lol

Congrats on the new ride, it's not the direction that I personally would have taken, but props on staying within your means.

No man, I do get your point. I understand that I'm basically renting a car for 3 years. And I get that I'm spending money on parts that will eventually sold later. I'm not stupid. You're asking why I do it? It's quite simple really. It's because I want to. Do I expect people to understand? No. Do I care what people think? No.

And thanks BTW.

Thank you sir.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this build. Which wheels did you get for it (or you going to make us wait lol)? Please tell me you didn't return the GE8 with those CR Kais still on, drop me a PM if you still have them bro!

Matt,

I completely understand why you modify a car that you leased. If you're going to be locked in for three years, why not enjoy the 3 years? That's like saying if you don't intend on keeping a car FOREVER, don't modify it in anyway because you won't get your money back.

That Duracon is looking nice.

Work Emotion 11R in Matte Black (17x8 +35). No, I put the GE8 back to stock before returning it to Honda. The Emotion CR-Kais are pending. A friend might pick them up this weekend. If not, I'll shoot you a PM bro.

Thanks for understanding Bro Montana. Plus to be quite honest, I can drive a completely bone stock car. You know what I mean?

I know exactly what you mean. That's why I'm modding the Fit, once I get to the point where I'm satisfied....even temporarily, its done...FOREVER

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Yesterday, I took the day off work to hang out with my cousin who was visiting from San Diego. We decided to go to Newcomb's Ranch up in Angeles Crest to grab a bite. Even though it was raining, we didn't care. We love driving in the rain!

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Warming up the cars before our departure.

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We stopped at a turn-out after my cousin (FG1) ran over some black ice and understeered into a wall of rock and snow. Luckily, he didn't get hurt and the car seemed to be okay mechanically and visually. After we pulled over and got out of our cars, we started laughing hysterically. It was one of those moments like on Top Gear when one of the presenters messes up while driving and says, "Oh that's not gone well!". Lol! After doing some inspections, we proceeded up the mountain towards Newcomb's Ranch.

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As we gained altitude, the snow started coming down more and harder. Before we knew it, we were driving on a couple of inches of snow on our mediocre all-season tires. I didn't have much trouble with traction due to my tires being fairly new and VSA (Vehicle Stability Assist). Traction was a bit of an issue with my cousin's FG1 which was using Falken Ziex ZE-912 tires. If they were new, he wouldn't have any trouble, but unfortunately they had only about 50% of treadlife. Seeing the danger of having extremely limited traction, we decided to head back down and just head to Denny's.

Later on in the day, we discovered that the FG1's rear-driver side tire had a leak and had it plugged. It might have been why he lost control. It's a possible factor.

Overall, we had a blast even though we were forced to stop and turn back around. For being 100% stock and driving in wet/freezing conditions, the FG3 performed tremendously. I see a lot of potential in his 9th Generation Civic chassis. I can't wait to see how she does with a wider wheel/tire setup and some coilovers to lower the center of gravity and increase the valving/spring rates.

I tracked my FG3 this past Sunday at the Raceline USA Round 2 Open Track Event at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. My transponder didn't work, but I'd have to say that I clocked somewhere around 2:25.xxx. Not bad for a bone stock Civic with 15" steelies and 500 treadwear all-season tires.

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My wife and I picked up a 12 ex-l in black, rides nice

Sweet! Congrats man!