I hate to do this, review two different models of cars back to back, but it’s how the ball bounced this month. So, sorry if you hate Hondas.
From the outside, this car reminds me of the bastard child of a Prius and a WRX. It is short and low with sharp lines and a big ass wing on the back. It has a slight ground kit and a tuner-inspired front end, yet still looks somewhat gentle.
Inside, it’s a cross between the special Si cloth racing seats that are intended to hug you and hold you in position, with the advanced and modern instrument panel I discussed in my review of the 4-door Civic. It’s comfortable, yet a little cramped. It’s easy to see all of the gauges, yet impossible to check your blind spot. Well positioned for a sprint around the corners, yet a little tight for a 5-hour trek to Vancouver, BC.
Stats: ~200hp, ~8000 rpm red line, ~$20,000.
The shifter is a short through six-speed. Its aluminum handle was freezing cold this morning as I drove to work in sub-30 degree weather, but the rest of the car warmed up quickly. The shifter feels like its in an odd position, but you get used to it rather quickly. Going through the gears you hear the engine wind up to 4500 rpms and you feel like you need to shift, however, with a redline of 8000, you can just keep going. There’s a lot of acceleration in the top end, so you’ll only cheat yourself by shifting too ealry, especially since there isn’t a lot of low end torque in this car.
Probably the second time I pulled onto a street, I shifted into first and hit the gas. With the front wheels turned pretty sharply, and the front-wheel drive gripping and grabbing under the throttle, the wheel jerked right out of my hand and nearly sent me into a parked van. I settled down and got a feel for the steering after that. However, I was never really able to feel comfortable really hitting the throttle while in a very sharp turn (that is, when I had one hand on the wheel and one hand on the shifter). I felt like I didn’t have enough control over letting the wheel slowly return to straight when only using my left hand, and if I really put my foot into it, the wheel would wrestle loose and send me off in a straight line, regardless if I was done with the turn or not. While this may not be the fault of the car, and more my problem, I have to wonder how many young tuner kids are going to get this without much driving experience, and make the same mistake I did. I also wonder if just by number, many of them won’t be as lucky as I was… It’ll be interesting.
The suspension is very tight and stiff, and so makes for great fun in the corners. However, this is not a fun car on the freeway. Coupled with the very short wheelbase it was bumpy and rough.
One issue I dealt with was its sloping front end makes it impossible to see where the corners of the car are. You have to lean way forward to see the front end, and even then you can’t really tell where the bumper ends. The back is the same, except your entire vision is cut in half by the large pillars. It has terrible visibility for a Civic, and it really makes it hard to change gears, and almost impossible to navigate a tight parking garage, despite the fact that it’s a tiny car.
In the end, it was fun to drive, not a thriller, but not a sleeper either. I’m sure it’ll create a great base for people to start with, and the modifications they make will only create faster monsters, which may or may not be a good thing. In the end, it was a fun car for under 20k, and will still be as reliable as it’s more tame Honda siblings.
Here in Australia we’re not getting the Si, or any Civic coupe’s at all. However having just taken delivery of my new Civic Sport (our high end civic here in Aust) I have to totally aggree with the vision problems. Having replaced an Accord with this Civic my only major complaint is the fact that the Accord, despite it’s size, was easier to park. I’ll be taking my RX7 anywhere I go where I might be reverse parallel parking.
Other than that, however, the new Civic is a fantastic car. To put you in the picture, the Sport here in Australia has the 2lt K20 engine much like the Si, however it’s been detuned to 114kw leaving more low end torque and eliminating the torque steer issues you mentioned above. It unfortunately misses out on the 6spd manual and gets a 5spd instead. Other than that it’s a 4 door sedan with leather trim, a sunroof, 16″ alloys with 205×55mm tyres and an unusually fast electronically assisted steering rack.
With it’s engine tuned for low RPM torque it makes for a great small sports sedan that is comfortable cruising on freeways and highways, fun in the twisty bits yet composed and self assured around the city. I just wish Honda had used the 6spd gearbox found mated to the K20 in the Integra Type S (equivalent of the American Acura RSX).
I have an 02 Civic and I alos had the same feeling when I cornered and I punched it, and I almost went into a creek, but luckily I jerked it back onto the road and I almost hit a parked car doing the same thing… that bad thing I guess for the civic