2009 Honda Civic Si

The Honda Civic Si has always been a very important staple the automotive industry. Packing an econo-box family sedan with serious performance without sacrificing appears nearly impossible for most car makers. Sure a WRX or an Evo offers quite a bit more performance without losing practicality, but they're expensive to buy, expensive to maintain, and get the fuel economy of a v8 with nowhere near the reliability the Civic has to offer. Volkswagen offers the GTI, but it needs a laggy turbo that's anemic after 5500 rpm, and due to its massive girth hardly holds up in a straight line, bringing us to the Honda Civic. (I won't get into Ford, who practically wipes the floor in this category with the Focus and Fiesta ST. Performance, looks, efficiency, and affordability are all best in class for these two Fords. See my review of two modern hot hatches for more info)

The 8th generation Si is a lot to talk about, but lets start out with the mechanics of the thing. Though powered by a microscopic naturally aspirated 2 liter inline 4 dubbed the K20, Honda pumps out as near as makes no difference 200 horsepower. The only fault I have with this engine is that its nearly impossible to keep it out of v-Tec! It simply howls through v-Tec to its 8000 rpm redline, and if you aren't quick with the shifter expect to bounce it off the rev limiter a time or two. I'm used to driving seriously powerful cars like my Corvette, but unlike that the Si begs (if not requires) to be redlined in every gear, and once you wind it up, you never want to let the revs under 5500.

The slick six speed is a joy as well: precise to the millimeter, smooth as butter, and the gates engage crisply every time. For a car with only 139 foot pounds of torque its capable of barking gears on up-shift with ease, as if mocking any ordinary Civic on the street. I found myself rev-matching downshifts for a quick burst to redline simply because I felt so connected to the car. After a few corners I determined that a novice driver could likely go round as fast as a professional; it only under-steers if you really put your foot down hard around a hairpin. For the most part there's very little drama: no throttle-off over-steer, no torque steer, almost to the point that you start to miss it. I fell in love with the throttle-off over-steer in the Focus ST, making me wish Honda had managed it in the Si.
So now that we know that it gets along quite well, how about everything else? In the looks category its significantly more aggressive than its non-Si counterparts in both 2 or 4 door trim. Opting for the coupe option nets no performance gain at all, and sacrifices plenty of convenience, making it an illogical choice for this car. Once inside, sporty seats hug you in place, and an odd but brilliant interior layout perfectly matches the attitude of the car.

On the downside, the car really isn't that fast. Take it to the drag strip and you can expect to see tail lights with every pass. Plenty of other family cars offer similar (if not superior) straight line performance. To make matters worse expect nearly everyone to try to race you from every stoplight. This is because unlike older Si models Honda built a fair amount of "ricer" into the car from the factory. It isn't a bad thing, but the car seems a bit cocky boasting its v-Tec badges in big bold letters on both sides of the car, and the exhaust roars similarly to most aftermarket units.

 

Hop on a nice entrance ramp at full throttle and I assure you that its physically impossible to let out until the top of fourth gear, a ticket here will put you in jail. And tickets you will get; go ahead and save up for court costs and lawyer fee's now because this thing likes to be driven north of the speed limit. Lack of acceleration coupled with confident handling means on a back road you won't ever want to be below the speed limit. The car absolutely loves being abused, to the point where anything shy of v-Tec feels like the car is bogging down. On back roads only 2 things will be able to wipe the grin off your face: a police officer, or looking in your rear-view and seeing a bright orange Focus ST, superior to the Civic in every category.