  2013 Honda Civic Si HFP. Click image to enlarge |
Review and Photos by Justin Pritchard
Ordering crappy, poorly fitting eBay parts from China to soup up your ride and installing them without proper skill, paint, fitment and hardware is called ‘Ghetto Tuning’. Ghetto Tuning is low budget, poor in taste, and likely to turn your ride into a rolling showcase of compound failures.
Ghetto Tuning is also a key reason why sticking to factory-installed upgrades is a good idea. Factory-installed upgrades are a worthy alternative to ordering parts from the internet, waiting for them to arrive with a hefty shipping and duty bill, painting them, and slaving away in the garage to install them yourself – which will likely void your warranty and result in swearing, screaming and running into issues.
Add in the little trips back and forth to the store for the miscellaneous hardware that’s “not included” with your ‘el cheapo’ parts order, and the fact that low-end parts will only last about a year before cracking, breaking or falling apart, and the argument for factory-installed upgrades becomes even more compelling – especially when the price is right.
And it is, in the case of the new Honda Factory Performance (HFP) package available for the Honda Civic Si. This is a package – not a trim grade or new all-out fire-breathing Civic variant. Really, it’s just a pretty decent deal on some parts you probably want for your new Si anyways.
The gist? You get a body kit, suspension upgrade, and wheel and tire package for $2,650 bucks.
That body kit includes front and rear bumper lip extensions and side sill extensions. These pieces come painted by a person in a factory who uses proper tools and training to paint body-kit pieces. When he’s done, another person experienced in installing body kits takes the fully painted pieces and attaches them to the car using proper fasteners and tools. You needn’t worry about zip ties, double-sided sticky tape or any of those pesky ‘HOLY FLYING CRAP-MONKEYS – I BROKE ANOTHER CLIP’ clips breaking off as any hope of you finishing the install with your sanity fades away.
  2013 Honda Civic Si HFP. Click image to enlarge |
Body add-ons aside, the HFP suspension upgrade fits a set of lowering springs and stiffer shock absorbers. These reduce the Civic Si’s centre of gravity, make it a bit keener to rip up winding roads and are a hot item for Civic owners of all walks. In the case of the HFP package, the required suspension components are installed by professional factory workers who know about putting hardware onto Honda Civics, because it’s their job. This saves you busting your knuckles on suspension parts, renting the coil-spring compressor from the local parts place, and from wincing at the thought of a failure of said spring compressor sending coiled steel across the garage at 946 miles per hour. Plus, with the HFP package, wheel alignment is properly set in the factory for the lowered ride height – meaning the suspension upgrade won’t ruin your tires.
Good thing, too. Tires fitted as part of the HFP package are of the Michelin Pilot Super Sport variety, which are serious business because they’re factory equipment on some Ferraris. They wrap an exclusive set of quality alloy wheels that look slick and are designed to Honda standards – meaning they probably won’t turn into an octagon the first time they hit a good bump.
Beyond the HFP package’s upgrade parts, and their professional installation without your lifting of a single digit, you also get full warranty coverage, unique badges (everyone loves badges, right?), and a gorgeous set of red floor mats to round out the package. Add in the new-for-2013 Civic Si interior upgrades that Honda forgot to install in 2012, and this begins to look like a pretty appealing deal.
