Can You Really Have Both?

By Gavin Dowse

Michael Corcoran Photography (Facebook)

This has been a massive debate in car culture between purists and radicals. That such debate is the idea of form and function, whether you can have your oil pan scraping, 400whp //M3. This debate stands with my close and personal friend Tom Carrigan with his 2013 Honda Civic Si. Living in Upstate New York there are practicality needs, especially when you get hit with 2ft of snow in just two weeks. It’s a near perfect little daily driver that mixes a ton of form and function; four doors more whores.

Tom and I started our friendship ten some odd years ago. He skateboarded and I did the same so naturally we became friends. He later went off and started taking baseball much more seriously and is currently playing in college. Never saw a whole lot of him in school because of baseball after that. Out of the blue in high school Tom hit me up with a photo of the car he was looking at buying, a 2002 Audi A4. That silver B6 was it, the end all, be all of cool.

Tom spent his delivery boy money on what most teenage boys spend their money on, car parts. I remember his interior had some blue LED lighting, tinted tail lights, subwoofers, radar detector, wheels etc. Truth be told he had the coolest car in high school, some kids had mommies Infiniti or whatever but Toms car was so clean and all his own. 

The end of high school is kind of an end to an era in everyone's life, you move on and you get another start. I got rid of my beloved Honda Pilot and Tom got rid of his Audi. Neither car was dapper, the illest or hella flush but you have a hard time letting go of your first car, it’s like your child has gone off into the hands of someone else. This must be what its like giving your daughter away at her wedding. Tom to this day still talks so highly of his first car but he was in business of something faster and sportier. He shelled out money from selling his Audi for a down payment on what lays before you.

He had not told me what exactly what he had up his sleeve, but this Si was not what I expected. He went from all wheel drive and a dreaded slush-box automatic to front wheel peels and i-VTEC. The first time Tom let me drive it he mentioned he wasn't going to touch it, just drive it; what a crock of shit that was. The new daily has already gone through a few personal touches like the red emblems, amber fogs and tint to start.

Being a boy of American Iron and European styling, Hondas already did not sit well with me. There was only one redeeming factor of this Honda in particular and that is a 8000k rpm rev limiter. I remember driving it for the first time and getting the green light to run through those gears. The 2.4l screamed its brains out at 8000rpms making my pants fit much tighter. It was all of the metal meshing and variable valve timing that mixed into a symphony that Bach would have been jealous of.

The pure essence of this Honda is such that the gear box and motor are soul mates like PB&J. I used to make fun of i-VTEC because I always thought it was whack like Guy Fieri’s frosted tips, but this is a lot of fun. 

Toms futures plans are to keep this car such that of a OEM+ look. A static drop this summer is in order, maybe some new wheels and just to drive it. The plans are to have the fenders hug rubber but with ferocious winters in NY like this year shall determine how low he will go. He's mentioned wanting to more actively attend meets and balances his paychecks between the car, girlfriend and the Racino. He has talked about finding a beater to keep the mileage off the civic being that he has wracked up 18k miles in 6 months. Talks in the work of another Audi or Integra shell, but I can’t imagine why you wouldn't want to beat this car like it owed you money.