I have a 2003 Honda Civic Si right now and I'm absolutely not happy with it. The performance is just lagging. I have basic mods done to it like i/h/e and it is still horrible. I drove my buddy's 88 Nissan 240 and I was like Damn, for being 16 years old, this car hauls ***!" So I was looking at older/better cars and found that the Eclipse has a factory turbo in it's GST and GSX models. </P>


I've been reading about them all day and I'm not sure which one to get. I'm looking at buying a 97-99 model with manual transmission. The only problem is, a lot of people have different opinions on which one is better. GST vs. GSX. </P>


My car now weighs 3100 so I'm looking at which of the two cars is lighter. Also, does one have more problems then the other or does one have more power?</P>


Any help would be appreciated.</P>

 

Obviously, the GST will be lighter due to the less amount of parts it has.</P>


Go for manual, it'sbetter, and the manual versions come with bigger stock turbos than the automatics due anyways.</P>


The GSX and the GST are the EXACT same car. The only difference is the fact that the GSX has AWD instead of FWD. If you're looking for gear drops and street running, a GST is the way to go. If you're more concerned about handling, launching, etc. the GSX is prefered.</P>


Both weigh relatively somewhere around 27-2800 I THINK I'm not positive, I've never worried about my cars weight, plus I have a 1g AWD and a 2g N/A, so my concerned weight would be different than yours to begin with.</P>


Like I was saying, my old AWD 1g with a 3" exhaust and a GST with an intake, more or less evened out I raced him from a drop, he walked me pretty decently. It's the fact that the AWD is 40/60 in the terms of power distribution, so you lose power in the drivetrain being that you're AWD, and it spreads the power out between all 4 tires. The same 2 cars from a stop, I owned him pretty bad. I'd estimate about 4-5 cars. Each car has it's disadvantage and advantage depending on which way you prefer to drive.</P>


I prefer the GSX over the GST, just because AWD owns and can be pretty powerful once you start doing power mods to it.</P>

 

I don't neccessarilly want to win street races or get a good time at a track. I want to be able to press the gas and go instead of press the gas, think about it for a few seconds, then slowly get to go. That's what I'm experiencing now. I want to be able to press the gas and feel power pushing me faster all the way until WOT. I don't want 3/4 of my gas pedal's throw to be wasted. In my car now, only the first 1/4 of pressing the gas pedal actually does anything. After that, I'm just pressing the pedal for my own enjoyment. The car doesn't care.</P>


I know it will make a difference just having a turbo car. But I'm not sure what to do. Price is not a concern at all. If the GSX were more expensive but better for me, then I would buy it. </P>

 

Go the GSX route then, seriously.

 

See I would go with the GSX no questions asked because of the AWD except that I've heard it's heavier then the GST and the GST actually feels better at acceleration since it's lighter. So I've read anyways.

 

Sure, the GSX is heavier than the GST. It doesn't matter. Every 200 pounds is like, .1 in the 1/4. And if you're launching in the 1/4, that AWD will make up for well above .1</P>


</P>


Feels better at acceleration? Maybe stock, my AWD owns all GST's around here. In acceleration, you sink into the seat, etc. etc all that cool guy stuff. GSX.</P>

 

Colussus, Uhh....there area few things you need to read up on and learn about. First, all 2g cars came with the Garrett T25, automatics and manuals both. Secondly, a 2gGSX weighs in the neighborhood of 3000-3100lbs depending on options. A GST weighs about 2800-2900lbs&gt;options. Third, <U>200lbs = 0.1 seconds</U>???? Wha??? So a 4000lb Cadi with 210hp will run 0.6 seconds slower than a 2g GST? When you realize that an APC sticker doesn't add 20hp, you'll see that weight is one of the MAJOR considerations when trying to make a car go faster, handle better, and stop sooner. If a "serious" owner of a modded GSX could lose 200lbs, he'd cry with joy. Another thing, Gear Ratios between the 2g cars are somewhat neglible since they are so alike. Pretty much for each drivetrain, the engineers tried to make the acceleration and top speeds of each car equal. Colussus, Experience is the best teacher.....please don't give advice and false information if you don't have the experience. If you posted this stuff on a DSM Board, you'd get flamed so bad.</P>

 

Also, Vergie if you want neck-snapping acceleration in any gear get the GST. Going 40mph and dropping the hammer in third gearwill definitely put you back in your seat. </P>


Now that's whatwe like to see...a Honda owner turned Mitsu. It brings a tear to my eye<IMG src=smileys/smiley19.gif border="0"></P>

 

lol. Well I really do appreciate all of your help, advice, and critique. I know close to 0% about the Mitsu motor. All I know is that I don't want to spend a crap load of money on my crappy Civic now to make it fast when I can trash the thing and get a Mitsu and have all kinds of power at hand instantly. I've heard Mitsu's require more maintenance to keep them happy and if that's true, then it's a small price to pay for a lot of straight-line power.</P>


Can you guys give me some of your experiences with keeping your cars running? Like any problems you've had or maintenance that is required more often vs. other cars.</P>

 

Spyder, I think you need to stfu. I'm sorry you don't consider DSMTuners to be reliable because of the amount of "rice" there is there, when in fact there was NONE except for the few who hang around in the non-performance forum. You've been giving people here a ton of wrong information, or misguiding information. I'm surprised people still show interest in DSMs after you get done speaking with them.</P>


Every 200 pounds saved is .1 gained in the 1/4. So, lets get over the cool convertible GS and move on to turbo DSM applications, something most of us would know a tad bit more about than your n/a. The automatic and manuals come with different turbos, wether it's just the 1g's, just the 2g's or both. The automatics come with T25s, the manual's come with 14b's. So stfu.</P>