HICAS???

[cmathews]

I just heard of the exsistance of the HICAS on this forum. Is it worth the weight? Is it reliable? Has anyone autocrossed both with it and without and have an opinion?

[Yoshi]

That all depends on your style of driving.  You mentioned autoX, so I imagine you race, or have been at least mulling over the idea.

My s13 does not have HICAS and I love it that way... But I should also mention that my preferred driving style is drift, so that's self explanatory.  If you are a gripper, and dont' mind the computer helping you out when it thinks you've made too aggressive a move too fast, it's great!  my friend's s13 DOES have hicas, and he hates it because he like driftstyle as well.

So I guess the short answer to your question is:  If you are an experienced racer (not driver, RACER). you'll want a car w/o HICAS or to disable it (they have mods to do so).  If you're just starting out, it's a very good thing, as it'll help you not hurt yourself or your car learning where the edge is.

My 2  $.02

[cmathews]

I guess my thought was that it might improve cornering speeds by letting the rear end come around quicker without drifting excessively. I don't know how the system works, but if it were progressive turning so that the quicker I tried to turn, the more the rear would come around, then it could be good by maintaining traction in the rear tires. If it is just an, oops! I overdrove my car feature, then I would surely hate it. I have been racing consistently for 4 years. My main problem right now is switching from a FWD Civic to a RWD 240. It is SOOO different.