I live in San Diego as well and I always do spirited driving. I have not gone anywhere above 230 running high RPM and trust me.. when I drive.. I drive HARD. Raced s2k and Civic Si's. Never had a problem leaving them behind by a great distance. I always run VDC on (for safety purposes), I do NOT have aftermarket cooler and I do NOT have LSD since my car is base w/o sport.
I DO feel a tiny bit difference at WOT at 230 compared to 170-180, but ever since I got the INJEN Cold Air Intakes.. inside cabin has yet to warm up as it used to and Temp has yet to climb up as fast as yours.
I gotta tell you though.. there's a blue 08 or 09 Civic Si Sedan that must have at least a SC or possibly T/TT installed that lives around San Diego. Had a very rough race going home from LA on Interstate 5 a couple of months ago.. and boy that Civic can go. Never seen one of that type that had so much torque. Had to Red line every single gear (usually starting on 4th gear @80mph - puts me around 4k something RPM - WOT to red line and maybe some on 5th gear does the trick for me) and even after the shift to 6th after red lining the 5th.. the car was only about 4-5 cars back.
Some of the members here are right. Do NOT assume they are bone stock because of the way they sounded or looked. Mods such as lighter crank pulley, resonators on exhausts etc etc.. are mods that are in stealth or provides stealth and can easily make you think them cars are "bone stock"
