Form in a country where function triumphs
Can a car be built more for form and less for function, and still deserve equal appreciation?
The car scene's "form" side is probably the most contentious side of the community.
"Purpose-built" is a term thrown around everywhere by owners and admirers alike, as if to say anything that subscribes to the contrary is, somehow, lesser?
Track-focused, function over form, and all those expressions may be appropriate, but more often than not are meant as a jab to people and projects that do not fit their ethos.
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While we do not subscribe to the respect all builds' agenda, we do prefer seeing the beauty in every form of expression. Days, hours, and even months go into perfecting a car that is built for aesthetic value.
The time and money spent is shunned because somehow, it is less as the time and money was not spent behind making the car faster in a straight line and quicker around the corners.
A prime example is the Civic FC in today's feature, owned by the Farsy brothers, that proves that a car can be built more for form and less for function, and still deserve equal appreciation.
Why form is not as popular in Bangladesh
Roads - the primary reason that swerves people from the path of stance nation is the quality of pitch and tar that adorn our streets - adorn would be an ever-so-slight overstatement.
In more cases than not, anywhere other than a few areas would require you to skew left and right to avoid potholes and take every speedbreaker at a 45-degree angle to avoid hearing the awful terrifying screech that we - car people - are far too accustomed to.
A few brave pioneers have not shied away from embracing that lifestyle and even fewer brave but smart ones have invested in air suspension.
About this Civic
Shadman Shimanto got his car brand new and had to wait two whole months just to get the colour he wanted.
It was originally blue until he tore all that away and painted it in a very unique shade of blue-green-golden-purple and everything in between; depending on what angle you look at it.
The car currently sits on Air Lift air suspension with dual compressors and a host of chassis stiffening mods that I will get into shortly. Air rides are a rare commodity in the car scene and price is a huge factor. Shadman wanted to follow this route regardless but was soon left with a hankering for more.
The body roll still made itself known and thus began the quest to stiffen up the chassis. The list, as provided by the owner, goes Blitz strut tower, Whiteline bushings, Ultra Racing trunk brace (yes, they make braces for your trunks), sway bars, mid chassis brace, and to tie it all together, a brace for the bottom side of the front of the car.
That solved the swaying from side to side but Shadman was still left suffering from brake fade after driving it hard. Project MU, Brembo, they all left him with a hunger for more stopping oomph until he settled on pads from Endless, which he swore by.
And finally, no car enthusiast is ever safe from the trope of more power, which is satiated by a catback exhaust from HKS, Mishimoto intake, and to provide the actual oomp, a PowerFC commander from HKS to provide the tune.
How it drives
Surprisingly well. Whatever preconceived notions I had about air-ride were blown away by this car. They were said to be notoriously "squishy" and old air suspension systems may have fit that bill.
It is a pleasant surprise how far that technology has come and this rides no worse than a well set up traditional coilover system. It is still in its stance and darty in its poise, the chassis stiffening mods making themselves apparent in the improvement they contribute to.
The chassis is responsive and the suspension takes all of the bumps and humps quite well. This car corners well at high speeds, a capability only achievable by a well set up suspension system.
It is fast too, the tune takes the powerband to the stock internal's upper echelons and external engine parts. Low range power comes on strong; the quick spooling turbo gets to work as soon as it is punched and whatever it lacked in stock form towards the top end of the powerband, it does not lack anymore.
This Civic's coolest feature, above all, is perhaps how the air ride is controlled. Shadman and I were talking about what has been done to the car, as is the norm with every feature as he casually pulls his phone out, opens the Air Lift app and swipes downwards.
It took me a second to realise but the car was now slammed to the ground, where it still showed an inch of wheel gap only a few seconds prior. The dual compressor setup makes the air ride compress and decompress quicker and it can all be controlled with an onboard controller or a phone connected to BlueTooth.
Final words
Did you know Civic backwards is Civic?
Backwards is the philosophy this car follows, but hear me out.
The car modification scene was almost obscene when it came to visual modifications in the nineties and throughout the earlier parts of the 2000s. It all came back down and sobered up for a good half a decade, until more eccentric parties sought out to be different from the crowd.
This car takes a step backwards to the sweet spot in time where looks were not judged by how different it was. This car does it right, focusing on form without impairing function.
It does a few things, and a few things very well.
Well coated shade of paint, a good one too, superb stance accredited to the air suspension setup, and a few functional but well-chosen mods to tie everything together.
In a world of crazy camber and sticker bombed window panes, this car does it right. And in a scene where people are far too afraid of going to these lengths, this car does it all.
