2017 Honda Civic Si Coupe

From the August 2017 issue

Revolutions per minute are suffering a low birth rate. Granted, they’re still something that we generally encounter by the thousands, but their populations are slipping. The Civic Si is the latest to have its revs edged out by the auto industry’s most invasive of species, the turbocharged psi. The naturally aspirated 2.4-liter inline-four in this car’s predecessor wound to 7400 rpm, but the turbocharged 1.5-liter unit in the gen-10 model waves the white flag at 6600. For decades, the Civic Si has been defined by its engine, by the joy of the car rooted in the challenge and satisfaction of shuffling screaming rpm with a nice, tight manual transmission. Now, not long after the spot in the old Si where the high-rpm cam lobes would engage and your spine started to tingle, this new Si gives you three quick flashes of the shift lights and smacks you in the face with the fuel cutoff. So long and farewell, VTEC-shrieking Civic Si. But how’s this new reality?

Damn good. The Si has always been an adept handler, and this generation, available as a coupe or a sedan, is the best ever.

The Civic Si delivers tremendous roadholding, a shifter so good it could only have come from Honda, and, yep, the obligatory perform­ance-car rear wing.

Its minute displacement means that Honda’s turbocharged motor has one thing in common with the screamers that forged the Si’s reputation: a dearth of torque at low rpm. Give it a couple of seconds to build boost and it’ll recover, but you do not want to skip gears in the 2017 Si any more than you would in an older one. And even once the pinwheel wakes up, this generation’s trade of the old high-rpm rip for anonymous turbo-four moan isn’t one we’d have voted for. Know what else has a boosted 1.5-liter? The Chevrolet Malibu. The two don’t sound as different as you might wish.

On the other hand, the EPA must be quite pleased with Honda’s new engine. The last Civic Si managed all of 31 mpg on the highway cycle, with in-town consumption of just 22 mpg and a combined figure of 25. This new one picks up 6 mpg in the city cycle and 7 on the highway, for totals of 28 and 38, with a combined rating of 32. Maintaining 75 mph on a 200-mile highway loop, we saw 36, though, as with its predecessor, premium is recommended for the 2017 car. In 450 miles of mixed driving, we averaged 26 mpg.

But if the engine no longer feels special, the transmission picks up some of the slack. A six-speed manual is the only gearbox available in the Si, and it enjoys a revised linkage and fortified shifter mount for snappy, direct operation with just a little bit of shimmy through the gates. We’re less pleased with the clutch, which suffers from excessive travel and minimal feel, imparting an overboosted sensation that makes it seem as if it were intended for an engine with a lot more than 192 pound-feet of torque.

Aside from its high-revving powerplant, the thing that always set the Civic Si apart in its class was its availability as a coupe. A two-door, as everybody knows, is the stylish choice in a world of dowdy sedans and frumpy hatchbacks. But it’s hard to see any of the overwrought 10th-generation Civics as stylish choices unless you work in Hollywood and your job is casting vehicles for derelict wanderers of the wasteland in some dystopian future. In which case, you’d want to buff down the paint on this example, as the only thing so green in any self-respecting dystopia is the blood of the extraterrestrial race that is subjugating mankind.

Not that the color is the only garish aspect of the Si. It also brings a blacked-out grille and larger faux air intakes on the front fascia, with a more angular rear-bumper cover, a center-mounted exhaust outlet, and a big spoiler. Eighteen-inch wheels are the only choice, but buyers can opt for all-seasons or summer rubber in size 235/40R-18. (Our example, of course, was delivered with the sportier option, Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2s.) It’s a wild-looking thing, this Si, but it’s hard to see people older than their 20s taking the look seriously.

Inside, Si buyers get fantastically supportive front seats with red stitching that carries over to the door trim, shift boot, and steering wheel. Aluminum pedals with rubber traction nubs are standard, as are some additional choices for the multi-­function ­display in the instrument panel. There are, naturally, additional rev-counter lights, a boost gauge, and a lap timer, but the coolest displays are the friction circle and a screen that, like the telemetry during a racing broadcast, displays the throttle opening and brake pressure.

This being a Honda, the factory order sheet is pretty simple: You either get a Civic Si for $24,775, or you get a Civic Si with summer rubber for $24,975. The price is the same whether you opt for two doors or four. A number of dealer-installed knickknacks are available, but few people are likely to spend much more than $26,000 on an Si. That amount will get you into a Focus ST or a GTI, but that’s where they start. With the high-revving engine gone, the Si will have to rely on value to set it apart. Well, that and its chassis, which does a fine job on its own. Rpm aren’t readily replaceable with psi. But psi and lateral g? Now we’re getting somewhere.

Competitors

Specifications >

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 2-door coupe

PRICE AS TESTED: $24,975 (base price: $24,775)

ENGINE TYPE: turbocharged and intercooled inline-4, aluminum block and head

Displacement: 91 cu in, 1498 cc
Power: 205 hp @ 5700 rpm
Torque: 192 lb-ft @ 2100 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 106.3 in
Length: 177.4 in
Width: 70.8 in Height: 54.7 in
Passenger volume: F: 51 cu ft R: 38 cu ft
Trunk volume: 12 cu ft
Curb weight: 2879 lb

C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 6.3 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 15.9 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 34.4 sec
Rolling start, 5–60 mph: 7.4 sec
Top gear, 30–50 mph: 12.6 sec
Top gear, 50–70 mph: 8.3 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 14.8 sec @ 96 mph
Top speed (gov limited): 137 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 159 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.97 g

FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA combined/city/hwy: 32/28/38 mpg
C/D observed: 26 mpg
C/D observed 75-mph highway driving: 36 mpg