Now Playing: Upsized and downrevved for the enthusiast of tomorrow.
Here’s a sad fact: Godot never showed. And whether the Si is “saved” likewise remains unclear. Let us review recent history.
Our first encounter with the previous Si came late in calendar year 2005, when we pitted it against a Volkswagen GTI. The Honda lost. In 2009, we inserted an Si into a seven-car comparo, where it finished fifth, gasping and sweating. We weren’t surprised. The Si’s engine—2.0 liters, 197 horsepower, 139 pound-feet of torque—relegated it to least-powerful status in the whole segment. It certainly didn’t possess the grits to fend off, say, a 263-hp Mazdaspeed 3 Grand Touring or a 265-hp Subaru Impreza WRX. What’s more, accessing the Si’s horses has always required the spinning of the crank and cams to a fine fare-thee-well. The VTEC didn’t swap cam profiles until 6000 rpm, and it was thereafter vital to rely on every single rev right up to the colossal eight-grand cutoff.
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Now comes Honda’s solution for the ninth-gen Si, a solution both simple and a little surprising, given the rumors of a turbo. Out goes the 2.0-liter engine, in comes the naturally aspirated 2.4-liter unit that sees simultaneous duty in the Acura TSX. The result is an unnoticeable 4-hp gain, but torque is up 22 percent—peaking at 4400 rpm instead of 6100 rpm—and that’s a difference you can feel. While they were at it, the engineers paired the engine to the TSX’s delightful six-speed transaxle. But is that enough?
Well, sort of. At the track, the Si nailed 60 mph in 6.3 seconds versus the previous 6.7, and it proved a half-second quicker in our 5-to-60-mph rolling start. Turn off the traction control, and you can now shred rubber for 15 feet, followed by a Rottweiler bark as you bang into second. An improvement, for sure, but it’s still shy of the accelerative thrust of five turbocharged competitors, including the Speed 3, the WRX, and even the GTI, which has a similarly meager 200 horses but can nonetheless summon 60 mph in 6.1 seconds.On the other hand, the larger engine ushers in welcome perks. The mechanical thrash of the previous powerplant, for instance, is now largely MIA, and gear noise is likewise reduced, with all three of our sound-level tests confirming the fact. (Still, road-borne noise and tread roar remain issues that Honda must address.) Equally important, the number of shifts required for ’round-town cruising seems subjectively halved. In traffic, the Si is perfectly content relying on first, third, and fifth. And by eschewing a turbo, the Si’s mileage—now up to an observed 26 mpg—is best described as a charming achievement.
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As with the previous-gen Si, this is among the most-neutral-handling front-drivers on the planet. Around our 15-mile public-road loop in southern Ohio, we could provoke only the most minor of nibbling understeer—and that was at speeds approaching Fear Factor Nine—with the rear tires faithfully following whatever paths had been established by the fronts. No rotation, no drifts, no drama. Body motions were exquisitely controlled, with the ride revealing the stiff springs and dampers only over high-frequency imperfections, primarily expansion joints and broken pavement.
At around-town speeds, the Si’s steering tends to feel artificial, as if it were the outcome of some sort of electrical/mechanical calculus that never precisely balanced. At least it’s light. As speed rises, fortunately, it firms up nicely and also becomes livelier. There’s no bump steer, no nervousness, and interstate tracking is peerless. The brakes are fade-free, and the pedal is firm and informative.
The only obvious failure here is the unimproved interior. There are crass plastic trim bits on the steering wheel and around the HVAC controls. The Civic’s trademark minivan-sized windshield leans over a minivan-sized dash, a vast plain of cut-lines, textures, and colors. The bunk-bed layout for the IP is okay, but the garish LCD gauges are right out of a RadioShack in Akron. The mouse-fur headliner suffers from the mange, and there’s a lumpy, wrinkled collar of felt that surrounds the steering column, shouting to one and all, “Yessir, that’s right, I actually am the cheapest bit of flotsam in the universe!” Note to Honda: Check out the Ford Focus’s interior.
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This latest Si is more sophisticated than its forebear, although it has been somewhat cruelly left to play David to the turbocharged Goliaths. As of now, it offers a better ride, produces less noise, and is faster in both a straight line and through the most diabolical off-camber, double-apex turns that Ohio’s deranged civil engineers could conjure. It is surely less raw than its predecessor, a trait that many Si purists—including our own revered Tony Quiroga and Dan Pund—lament. Until they commit to a three-day, 800-mile road trip, two-thirds of which skates over frost-heaved interstates. No longer is the Si a one-trick pony. At speed it’s a serial killer, yet during commutes and city errands it’s a near-soothing mental-health counselor with practicality and a price that make it easy to justify.
Source : Carsanddriver.com
