Why are our cars so heavy? Options

[95chameleonGT]

They're small, fwd with a small engine, and aren't exactly 'luxury' so what is all the weight from? Similar year civics, with four doors, are lighter!

[Box]

The Civic Si was actually a bit heavier than the Celica GT, the EX was at 2,500 though one place showed it as being the same as the Si. Then one place shows the CX being 2,350. So at any rate it's really not that much lighter if any, at least for the '96-00 model range. I think the 6th gen is about where it should be given the level of quality and safety. If you want to pull some weight without touching the car's comfort then look into a carbon hood, racing battery, lightweight rims, and remove the dry rotted spare tire. Coil-overs should save some weight over the factory strut and spring, depending on how you do exhaust could be some weight there to be saved. Should be able to pull 100 pounds without having to take away anything from the car in terms of comfort. Another thing if anyone makes them would be a lightweight flywheel, that's usually good for 10-15 pounds and it's all rotational mass.

Of course you can go all out and probably get a GT into the 2,300-2,400 range, but it'd be gutted and ruined as a street car. For what it's worth the power to weight ratio would go from 19.26 pounds per horsepower to 17.04 pounds per horsepower, if you went from 2,600 to 2,300. Would you notice it, sure a little but unless it's a track car I wouldn't say it's worth it. Alternatively I rather do mild weight reduction and then a 1MZ swap, the 1MZ actually loses a little weight over the 5S and you go to 200 hp. So 2,500 pounds with 200 hp would be 12.5 pounds per horsepower, now that'd be fun and put out some really respectable performance.