Car blogs

Ah, sports cars. Two months ago we wrangled four of our favorite contenders in the $30,000 range and had a ball throwing them around the lush backroads of southeastern Michigan. But after conducting the test and formulating the story, we realized that $30K doesn't have to be the benchmark price for driving excitement, and that there are a lot of worthy competitors found below the $23K mark. We compiled a list of every car on sale whose MSRP is between $21K and $23K (not a penny more), weeded out our picks for the best drivers' cars in the bunch, and formulated a series of two-car tests. First up, the Honda Civic Si and Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T. Next month, the Mini Cooper takes aim at Ford's new Mustang V-6.


The funny part is, we didn't engineer this to be a test of cheap coupes, even though that's how it turned out. Honda's Civic Si sedan, Subaru's trusty and good-to-drive Forester, and Volkswagen's Jetta TDI could make this reasonably priced group, too (and perform well). But the fact is that we love coupes, so we weren't complaining very loud about our final four.


For this, part one, we focus on the Honda Civic Si and Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T. These cars may seem like a natural fit for a comparison test on paper, but we found that they are quite different when their tires hit the asphalt. Here's why.


CLICK HERE to continue reading this story.

Tags: Manufacturers, 2009, 2010, Civic, Civic coupe, comparison test, fleet, genesis coupe, Genesis Coupe, Honda, Honda, Honda, Hyundai, Hyundai, Hyundai, steven ewing, test fleet, Tested, Winding Road, Winding Road Magazine, Automakers

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Cheap Thrills, Part One: Honda Civic Si vs. Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T was originally published by NextAutos.com and Winding Road - Honda. Read the full story by clicking here.