CharadeSG: SG Archives: Honda Civic SiR (EK4) saloon

A true survivor among the final few Honda Civic SiR sedans in Singapore.

We went to view this car at the start of the year, around February 23 if memory serves me right.

Super, super good one. This car is a one owner (LTA listed) car that is almost fully stock safe for a Invidia muffler and one or two things. Otherwise basically box standard.

I believe this car has the Clover Green Pearl paintwork, a rare color that isn't often found on the EK Civic.

The seats and interior were largely standard, but seats and doorcards were reupholstered to leather. As far as I can tell, Civic EK4s never had a leather option for the seats and this was a super common thing to do in Singapore. If there is anything that I learned with owning my own Civic SiR, the OEM fabric is very thin and often doesn't last.

Something I found extremely interesting was the VIN tag. This is among the best example to document how Kah Motor had preumably opted to import in the Japanese market SiR cars into Singapore than their usual UKDM offerings.

I do use UKDM and EUDM (United Kingdom and European) markets interchangeably, but both markets largely are indifferent (as they can be generalized as "export market") apart from where the driver is sitting. These EUDM cars will always have an "export" style VIN tag that is located on the firewall, which has been the same for the EF and EG generations.

Photo example of a ED (EF) Civic hatchback's VIN format and location (on firewall) for
Singapore (and EU) market

Kah Motor imported in the UKDM Civics into Singapore, which has caused overlap in current media when people call B-powered Civics as SiR when it isn't necessarily one.

The VTi in UKDM and (subsequently) SGDM markets was the B16-powered model for both the hatchback and saloon for the EG - while the SiR was the proper Japanese-market performance trim with a (not-same block but pointing it out is being superbly anal) B16A.

The EF generation (export markets stamped as ED) used VTi as the semi-performance trim, equivalent to a EF3 Si to some measure. SiR was a parallel imported(?) model and also Japanese-market only to get the B16A.

So with this confusion hanging on you, Kah Motor decided to bring in a slice of the pie by just importing in what I assume is the Japanese-market models for sale here in Singapore. In Singapore, they're badged same as the Japanese market hatchback as the SiR.

Conversely for UKDM, the equivalent cars are still referred to as the VTi.

The super interesting thing about this car is that the VIN plate is sized and located at the same place as where the Japanese VINs would go, BUT, the number format is still a UKDM / export item.

For a pictorial comparison, refer to this Japanese-market VIN for another EK4 sedan.

What I find super intriguing is how the tag somewhat lazily mentions the trim without supporting information on top of the VIN tag. No grade mention, none of that.

Additionally, the trim "SiR" for the saloon is not at all a Japanese market vehicle. The SiR nameplate for the EK existed only for the hatchback, and does not exist anywhere else. B-series EK saloons do exist, but are called the "Si" and "Si-II" depending on grade.

To summarize the trim naming scheme for the EK, the SiR is the performance hatchback and Si is the performance sedan.

The Philippines had their own regional special SiR sedan and do sometimes mention that the PHDM SiR is the only market with a B-powered saloon. Its safe to say ours are overshadowed 😂

Interestingly too is the plate frames for the Civic. What you see here is roughly how the cars came out of the showroom, with a Japanese-sized two-row format for the trunk (because it has no space) and a UKDM-style single-row front plate (as Singapore tradition). It is to be noted that the pre-facelift (this car is a facelift) also bears the same front-rear plate sizing when new, as seen by other surviving examples.

Incidentally, this is one of at least three EK4 SiR saloons still around that is super unmodified. It sadly cannot be said the same for the equivalent EG and EF models as all of them have been modified to hell and back and the only clean examples left are non-desirable trims.

So why is it desirable? Apart from the Type R, this is the only trim available from factory with the Honda B-series engine.

The B-series, or to narrow down more, the B16A4 in the EK Civic, was a much higher horsepower affair as opposed to the lesser trims that uses the D-series motors, which are fine in their own right but were making econobox power.

Where the D-series would make 100-120 horsepower out of the common 1.5 or 1.6-litre capacity, the B16 series were outputting around 170 horsepower quoted. This and the fact they were plug and play with other generations, models, engines and parts, made it a tuner's dream, and them being a cheap car then and less-cheap now, has made these platforms a bit of a cult icon. So to summarize, they're cheap, fast, tunable, and also reliable which I didn't point out.

I accompanied a friend of mine to this viewing to note some possible issues (oil leak, prior minor accident damage) but did not secure it in the end.

It eventually found its way to its current owner, @jz.chinn. I was super stoked to see the car during the last few days that Lim Chu Kang road was still operational, and more so to have chatted for a while about the car and parked for an impromptu photoshoot with his car.

Whenever part two of closure of Lim Chu Kang road will be published, I will include more photos of the very last day of the road being open.

Having spoken to him a few times over the year, I'm also happy to mention that the car won't undergo substantial modifications apart from restore work or inevitable quality-of-life improvements for occupant use. In within a year's span, he's already had the following done to the car:

Full set engine mount replacement
Repaired radiator
Water pump replacement
Timing belt + Tensioner replacement
Distributor o-ring replacement
Valve cover gasket + Plug seal replacement
Spark plug & cable replacement
Intake manifold cleaning
Shift linkage bushing & Oil seal replacement
Brake lines flush + fluid replacement
Brake master cylinder replacement
Bumper repair + fix bumper panel gaps

Some QoL improvements include:

Clutch biting point adjustment
Make accelerator pedal smoother
Remove that gold thing from my engine bay

A lot within a year I must admit, but lots more done than I did with Elanmi and Feriko in my first year of owning both respectively. Given these cars are also old and previous owners did not religiously take care of them, these big laundry lists of replacement parts are nothing more than a guaranteed.

For more photos and more, please check his profile!