The 8th gens (which I also owned for a year) had a much more discernible transition over to the vtec cams compared to the 9th, not to mention the crazy 8k redline. The 9th gen had a better tuned vtec transition so it wasn't as audible but it was still there and I sure do miss it sometimes. The mini doesn't sound as urgent as the k series engines when climbing up the revs.