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Breaking all the rules! Civic Si Coupe

By Staff | Nov 12, 2017
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2017 Honda Civic Si Coupe

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2017 Honda Civic Si Coupe

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2017 Honda Civic Si Coupe

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2017 Honda Civic Si Sedan Interior

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2017 Honda Civic Si Coupe Interior

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2017 Honda Civic Si Coupe Interior

From its humble origins back in 1985, the Honda CRX Civic Si would produce a meager 91 horsepower that included two doors and a hatchback appearance. It has been a long and winding road to get to what is now, the 10th generation of the Civic Si that is not only powerful but keeps heads turning as it drives down the road. (Especially if one chooses to buy it in the Energy Green color our test ride came in.)

There have been times over those 30-plus years that the Si (Sport injected) version of the Civic has not even been on the market, with Honda choosing to take a break from producing a sports enthusiasts vehicle. In fact for the past two years there has not been an Si version of the Civic available, as designers were coming up with something distinctly different both in design and handling.

Mission accomplished! This new Civic Si breaks all the rules that we would expect from a compact sport coupe: first, it rides more like a sedan; second, it has way more power than most of the competition right off the showroom floor; third, it looks fantastic; and fourth, it costs way less than we would have expected, coming in under $25,000.

Our first look and drive with this new Energy Green Civic Si came at the Rocky Mountain Driving Experience last August where Honda introduced this new green tiger to the media in the intermountain west, along with 30 vehicles from other manufactures. So our time with the Si was short, but we did have to some fun on the winding mountain roads around Estes Park, Colorado.

But it was nothing compared to the excitement we were able to have here in Utah for an entire week with the same Energy Green Civic. In fact the best part was the look on others’ faces as we got out of the Si — it was priceless, we had to only imagine that our empty nest appearance wasn’t what they expected to exit the vehicle.

This would be a testament to the Honda designers and what they have accomplished with this Sport Injected Civic, because it is all that and more. Until there are many of them on the roads, everyone is going to look and try and decide what kind of car it is, with its lower stance, wider tires and a nicely placed wing on the back it could pass as a new kind of Italian sports car. Every time we got out of the Honda and there were others present the question always came up, “what is that car”?

Also included standard are 4-wheel disc brakes, a MacPherson front strut system, a rear multi-link suspension, adaptive dampers and a limited slip differential. Yeah, this is a lot of technical stuff that has been injected into the Si to help it corner and ride better, especially at higher speeds.

The Civic in all forms comes with just a 1.5 liter engine, that in and of itself really doesn’t sound anything that would come with a car that would spend some of its weekends on the track. The engineers have injected all kinds of extra DNA into the Si including a turbocharger, which allows the Civic to top out at 205 horsepower and 192 ft.-lbs. of torque. The horsepower hits best at 5200 r.p.m. with all the torque coming between 2100 and 5000 rpm, this is a much better sweet spot than Civics of the past and makes 31 horsepower more than the normal Civic.

All of this power is connected to the front wheels via a six-speed short throw manual transmission allowing for very quick and smooth transitions between gears. All of this gives the Civic Si so much mojo, and we would have to say it is the best of the small coupes that we have driven this year, which include the Fiat Spider, Subaru BRZ and Mazda MX5 Miata.

Although the Civic Si does not come with at top down option there is a very nice sunroof that comes as a standard feature, along with some very nice 18″ wheels that are equipped with low profile Goodyear Eagle GT 235/40R18 tires.

The body of the Civic is not only great looking it is designed with the lowest co-efficient of drag possible along with reducing the co-efficient of lift keeping the coupe as grounded as possible at high speeds.

Inside, the Civic continued to impress us with all kinds of extras we would never have expected to see at the price point, in fact we have only seen some of the included gadgets on vehicle that have been priced at $70,000-plus.

The dashboard is completely digital with a really cool huge 7-inch LED screen front and center that kept track of speed and tachometer with a center that could be configured to show turbo boost, g-forces on the vehicle, a rev indicator, lap timer and throttle and brake control. This was all accented with lots of red that continued into the red stitching on the seats with a red Si woven into each front seat.

The rest of the interior was black and gray along with the seat that is designed to bolster the occupants through sharp turns including high head restraints. The Civic Si is very well thought out and made for some great Saturday afternoons at the track!

The main infotainment system is also a large 7-inch screen set high in the dashboard controlling all the radio and Bluetooth functions in the vehicle, along with climate control, and yes it even came with dual climate control standard and heated seats!

For the money the Si is a great value and we are sure there will be many aftermarket part available to make it even faster and more creative on the track. There will be those that think it is just a teenage street racer, but we could not agree wholeheartedly with that statement, after Craig was getting a soda one morning, when one of the other patrons told him her middle aged husband wanted one of the new Hondas, just to have some extra fun!

Get out and have some extra fun and see the new Honda Civic Si at Ken Garff Honda in Orem, 115 E University Pkwy, (801) 714-2200.

Base Price: $24,100

Price as Driven: $24,100

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