For over 50 years, the Honda Civic has garnered a cult following for being one of the finest Japanese-made automobiles to hit the road. With 11 great generations under its belt, the Civic ranks among the best-selling cars of all time, thanks to its stellar reliability and nimble handling.

UPDATE: 2024/03/19 18:13 EST BY BENSON AKIMS

The Honda Civic is the poster boy of project cars worldwide. We've updated this article to include more information on routes you can take to add substantial power to your Civic (past and present) and give even supercars a run for their money.

But it gets better! Although reliability and handling are attributes that determine a car's overall performance, the Honda Civic steps things up a notch with its flexibility when it comes to tuning and customization. Going to the nearest automotive store, you'll encounter aftermarket bits such as turbos, air intakes, spoilers, Mugen steering wheels, fenders, and doors designed specifically for Civics. As such, modding a Honda Civic is a manageable and feasible endeavor, especially for the uninitiated.

This article takes you through 10 sure-fire ways you can tweak a Honda Civic to extract that extra ounce of performance and speed. Stay tuned!

There are also many performance parts available to Civic owners that will help turn one of these fun Japanese cars into speedsters. We've gathered data using honda-tech.com, hondatheotherside.com, and procivic.com to find 10 of the best ways to quicken the pace of your beloved Honda Civic.

10 Upgrade Your Tires

Top Tire Upgrades For The Honda Civic

• Yokohama Avid Ascend LX
• Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 PLUS
• GT Radial Champiro Touring A/S
• Continental ContiProContact
• Kumho Solus TA71
• Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS

If you’re looking to improve the performance of your Honda Civic, it’s best to start small and work your way up. One of the easiest ways to get more out of your car is to upgrade the tires. After all, they're what connects the car with the road.

The added grip of high-quality tires can give a car like a 2022 Honda Civic a welcome improvement thanks to the extra grip when the car accelerates. You’ll also get better performance when tackling corners because driving fast isn’t always simply about straight lines. If you seek tires that offer superior performance in all weather conditions, you'd want to consider alternatives like the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 PLUS, GT Radial Champiro Touring A/S, and MICHELIN Pilot Sport A/S 3+.

9 Get Lighter Wheels

Top Lightweight Wheel Alternatives For Honda Civics

• Vorsteiner VFF 103
• BBS CH R
• Volk Racing TE37 SAGA S-Plus
• Enkei RPF1
• O.Z Racing HyperGT HLT

If you’re willing to go further than new tires and have the spare cash available, another sensible starting point would be the wheels. When it comes to performance, weight is deemed the enemy. With lightweight wheels at the fore, there's less wear on the car's suspension. And without the extra unsprung weight that comes with stock wheels and tires, the car's acceleration, brake response time, and fuel economy values are bound to improve drastically. Moving away from performance, lightweight wheels can also boost your car's overall aesthetic.

You can achieve weight reduction by opting for some of the coolest lightweight wheels, but remember they also have to be strong enough for performance driving, so don’t skimp too much on the price. There's a wide variety of styles, colors, and spoke arrangements available for almost all the Honda Civic variants. Mainstream brands like Enkei, BBS, Vorsteiner, and O.Z are popular with modified JDM enthusiasts for a reason. Prices can vary quite a bit for quality wheels, though. The 18-inch ET35 Apex FL-5 is Type R compatible and can cost approximately $475 per wheel.

8 Tune Up The ECU

Top Honda Civic ECU Tuning Alternatives

• Unichip Plug
• Play ECU Tuner
• KTuner V2
• Hondata FlashPro

Another effective and easy way to boost speed is achievable by tuning the Civic’s ECU. There are several different ECU tuning packages available for Honda Civics, so it helps to shop around for the best price. With an ECU tuner, you can easily modify your Civic’s engine parameters and improve the car's horsepower, reduce its emissions, and improve fuel economy ratings.

This Honda Civic modification method can yield an extra 30 hp to 60 hp, which will get your car hitting much better numbers on the street without getting into much mechanical work.

7 Upgrade The Exhaust System

Advantages Of An Exhaust System Upgrade

• Custom exhaust systems are typically more durable and won't require pricey repairs in the long run.
• Customized exhausts host mandrel bends that facilitate an uptick in performance.
• Aftermarket exhausts featuring stainless or aluminized steel offers an instant glow-up.
• Exhaust system upgrades usually improve the car's fuel economy ratings.
• Custom exhausts can deliver diverse sounds (ranging from moderate to aggressive), depending on your preferences.

A more extensive and cost-effective upgrade to your Honda Civic is an aftermarket exhaust system. A properly tuned exhaust helps airflow and boosts the engine’s performance by noticeable amounts. If you want to go a step further, pairing an exhaust system with performance headers and muffler can gain you even more horsepower.

Customized exhaust systems feature mandrel bends that prompt a consistent exhaust flow, thereby helping the engine generate extra horsepower. It's pertinent to note that factory-made exhaust systems come with a crushed bend that has a lesser diameter size (when compared to mandrel bends) that restricts airflow.

There are plenty of options from reputable brands for your exhaust system like HKS and MagnaFlow, but you might want to start saving up your pocket money because a top-of-the-line system can get pricey.

6 Add A Turbo To Your Honda Civic

Performance Comparison Between The Base 2024 Honda Civic LX And 2024 Honda Civic Type R

(Source: Honda)

If you’re the owner of an older Honda Civic model and want to give it an instant performance kick, then one of the most obvious add-ons is a turbo kit. A turbo kit (AKA turbocharger) is basically an air compressor that creates extra pep by introducing air into the car's engine at a much higher pressure. This is quite a specialized modification, so it’s best to get a qualified mechanic on board before you choose to go this route.

Turbos can be expensive upgrades to your car, so be sure to get all the right components before starting. That said, a high-quality turbo kit can boost a Honda Civic to epic proportions compared to base standard engines.

5 Weight Reduction

Ways To Shed Weight On The Honda Civic

• Replace the car's trunk, doors, mirrors, spoiler, and hood with carbon fiber.
• Remove creature comforts like the sound system, sunroof, air conditioner, trunk mat, and sound deadener tar.
• Replace the bulky leather-trimmed seats with light racing seats.
• Use a lighter battery
• Use lighter wheels
• Rear seat delete

This one is probably the most obvious way to quicken a Honda Civic. It’s simple: lighten your car, and you will get a better power-to-weight ratio. We’ve already mentioned lightweight wheels on the list, but there are other ways to reduce the load that your JDM is carrying.

There are several ways to do this, but you could start by stripping unnecessary parts that are solely intended for aesthetic purposes. Carbon fiber panels are also an option (albeit a tad expensive), with the most popular option being replacing the hood with a lighter option. Individuals shooting for the stars often take this to extreme levels by removing major components of the car, like the back seats, but that’s usually for those with drag racing aspirations.

4 Suspension Upgrades

Installing Coilovers On A Honda Civic (Step-By-Step Guide)

• Remove the car's wheels.
• Take out the struts and coil springs.
• Install the aftermarket coilovers you've purchased.
• Reinstall the car's wheels.
• Validate the car's alignment.

For those who don’t intend to race in straight lines, a little more thought must go into upgrading their Civic. Suspension is a very important area of the car to consider. This add-on comes to the fore for smooth handling and improved driving comfort. A full coilover kit will go a long way to keeping your car level as it powers around bends and turns.

This kit will lower the car and improve handling capabilities, allowing for a much better all-round performance. Couple this with strong wheels and high-quality tires that are already on the list, and your Honda Civic will be well on its way to being a faster car on the roads. But while a coilover kit has several performance-themed advantages, its introduction can affect the car's handling; as such, we implore you to read up more on its usage and how it can influence your vehicle's overall performance.

3 Supercharge Your Civic

Performance Comparison Between A Regular And Supercharged Honda Civic

(Source: Hoonigan YouTube Channel)

For those who want to massively increase the speed of their Honda Civic with only one upgrade, installing a supercharger is the way to go. Some superchargers can push a Civic to over 400 horses, so it’s understandable why those with the need for speed would consider one. This forced induction upgrade will force more air into the engine and will boost the car much more than any other single aftermarket bolt-on.

There are plenty of options available for multiple Civic generations, such as the KraftWerks supercharger kits that retail between $4,000 and $5,700.

2 Consider An Engine-Swap

For Civic owners who are willing to do more extensive work on their cars, an engine swap could be the way to go. It also might be advisable to get an appropriate engine before you go supercharging along the highway. Swapping the engine of a Honda Civic is generally easier than in most other cars.

A reliable option to boost the power of a more modest Civic model, such as the ones with B, D, or E-series engines, is to install an engine from a newer Honda. Popularly referred to as the K-Swap, this basically means replacing the standard engine with the tuner-favorite Honda K-series engine that will give the car extra horsepower. The K20A2 from the Honda Civic EP3 Type R and the K20A2 from the Honda Integra DC5 Type R ranks among the most common engine variants used in K-swap activities due to their flexibility (tuning-wise) and cost-effectiveness (over the past few years, the pricing values associated with these engines have crashed tremendously, making it popular in the tuning scene).

1 Go Nuts

Some of the upgrades on our list are easy and relatively cheap ways to speed up Honda Civics. By combining several of these modifications, you can transform a Civic into a legitimately fast car. That’s not fast enough for everyone, though. Some drivers, particularly those with a love of the quarter-mile, always strive for more and more power. And there are many examples of Civic owners taking their modification habits to extreme levels.

HotCars recently reported on a rusted fourth-generation Civic breaking a racing world record by packing 1,500 hp under its hood. There is even faster than that out there. A fifth-generation Honda Civic that started out with a humble 125 hp broke the world record for the fastest FWD car after being modified to churn out 2,000 hp. That just goes to show how much speed a Honda Civic can reach if you’re willing to put the time, money, and effort in.

Sources: honda-tech.com, hondatheotherside.com, procivic.com, and other vehicle and aftermarket part manufacturer sites.