By: Lou
This past year marked
the beginning of a new generation of Honda Civics to roll of the production
line. The Civic has been treated to an extreme make-over with sleeker contour
lines as well as a new hood and trunk. It seems as though the designers at Honda
liked the way the Hyundai Elantra looked and decided to try it out for themselves.
Short of screaming, “I am a young Asian woman” the Civic seems to also tell the
world that it is growing up. Honda also seems to be saying that, “we are
appealing to the older crowd not only the young college students.”
But I’m not really
interested in the standard Civic, ex, or dx, or whatever other letter
combination Honda throws at its customers. No, I’m interested in the new 9th
generation Civic Si. Today, I was in a black Civic Si coupe with Navigation as
well as the summer tires.
Here come the
really boring specifications of the cars performance: Honda has introduced a
brand new engine in the 2012 Si, a 2.4 liter in-line four cylinder engine; the
same engine that is used in the Acura TSX. With an extra .4 liters you might
expect more than a mere 4 horsepower gain putting the grand total at 201
horsepower. A good headwind might just make those extra 4 horses nonexistent.
However, the new 2.4 liter engine gives the car an extra 29 ft-lbs torque. The maximum
torque is now achieved at 4500 rpm. So when climbing through the gears, you are
almost always getting the full potential of the engine. The car sits slightly slower and it comes
standard with 17 inch alloy wheels. The front and rear sway bars are slightly
larger making the ride through turns and corners stiffer. Honda’s limited slip
differential does a magnificent job distributing power to the proper tires it
makes the traction control nearly obsolete.
The Si I test
drove was the completely decked out, pimped up, high end, all packages
included, model. Honda has introduced new fun features on the dash board which
will entertain you just in case you become bored of looking at the road. For
instance, Honda has created an Intelligent
Multi-Information Display that can tell you the time, outside temperature,
which song is playing on your iPod, the time, the signal strength of your
phone, who is calling you, what radio station you are listening to, vehicle information,
your odometer, and trip meter, and different settings you can customize like
the wall paper you want. All of these different settings can be controlled by a
little four-way keypad that your left hand sits on. It’s almost a wonder that
you don’t drive this car with an x-box controller.
The satellite navigation
system that Honda provides is an absolute joke. You might as well have Stevie
Wonder read a map and tell you where to go. The system is slow and you might as
well just your phones gps system. Don’t waste your money getting the system,
spend it on aftermarket modifications that you will want to get.
The fun
additions to the Si don’t stop there. In case you didn’t hear the engine screaming
towards redline, there is a light that will turn on when the vtec system has “kicked
in yo.” And if you are just learning to drive there are lights just under the “vtec
indicator” that tell you when to shift. The two red lights indicate that the engine
might self-destruct and explode if you don’t shift. So naturally, challenge accepted.
I would be forcing the engine upward only shifting just before the rev-limiter
took over giving me a driving experience that seems to be disappearing fast.
Driving the Si
was a completely different story. Ignoring all the fancy interior gadgetry and
focusing on the raw power of the car, you really begin to appreciate all the Si
has to offer. Off the line the Honda is quick and the throttle is responsive.
The increase in torque can be felt instantaneously. Though I am disappointed that
the new Si won’t free rev to 8300 rpm like its older brother, it still is a
hoot to drive. Merging on the freeway or overtaking a slow car never seemed so
much fun. On the track the Si is even more superb. The increase in the sway bar
thickness makes the ride smoother around tight hairpin turns as well as through
wide corners. I would have hoped the suspension was stiffer and the steering
more responsive at higher speeds, but overall the car is a fun drive. I am sad
to see that this is the highest performing car that Honda makes, with a limited
slip differential that performs amazing and an engine that screams every time
you push your foot down, you would expect there to be more from such high
quality company. But after the death of the s2000 and the NSX, the Si is a
distant third in choice. Though Acura is releasing its 2013 NSX, but will it
live up to the high standards of its cousins?
Back to the Si. Let’s get to the
bottom line: Is this a car that I would buy?
Simply, No.
The price of the
Si that I tested was $23,905. After all the additional fees it came out to $24,600.
If I were to purchase the base model and purchase the Honda Factory Performance
(HFP) kit, the total is over 26,000 dollars. Honda has also said that they
built the car with tuners in mind. Tuning a Honda by adding a performance
intake, a performance exhaust and perhaps even a performance turbo will take
the price of the Si, to over 30 grand. At that price range there are many other
options available that in my opinion are much better cars. At $26,300 you can
get a Subaru Impreza WRX which comes standard with a 265 horsepower Boxer
(flat) engine as well as all wheel drive and a sport tune suspension. At 28
grand you can purchase the Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart, the Evo's little
brother. The Ralliart produces 237 horsepower but has all-wheel drive, sport
tune suspension as well as 18 inch alloy wheels. Or for 29,500 dollars the 2013
Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 liter R-spec which produces 348 horsepower and is
rear wheel drive and comes standard with a six speed manual transmission. Perfect
for drifting as well as track racing.
The option of
vehicles at the 20-30 thousand dollar price range is large and with all the
competition Honda needs to step up its game. Unless they can produce at least a
220 horsepower Si, I feel that Si is no longer worth its price. Honda is the
name of good value. They have made over 17 million vtec systems not one of
which has been recalled, however, I feel they are losing touch with their customer.
Honda has taken a step in the right direction, but it’s a very small step.
