well guess is don't need to give me any
buttering up when they hit our garage I
used to love my 87 see our exercise but
this is it's long-distance cousin the
2012 Honda Civic Coupe si let's see if
the DNA made it all the way down the
family tree and check out this 2012
while we check the text
now the SI has three or four differences
in cabin tech I want to point out to you
since a standard Civic crossed our
garage door a few months ago first of
all you see that that I mid display they
call it there that's like a four inch
LCD it's kind of cool this information
button runs it you have one additional
screen though in an SI and that's this
dubiously useful power monitor so so
much I guess horsepower you're using and
it's got the little VTech diagram next
to it that I thought was gonna change
colors depending on my rpm but no the
shift point stuff takes place on that
screen on the left you've got yellow
lights that come on as you approach red
line and then the last two are red they
kick in from 5200 to 7,000 rpm kind of a
graduated shift light and the red light
right next to the Ivy Tech word tells
you when the Ivy Tech valvetrain has
kicked in yo other imid screens include
one where you can put up a wallpaper it
would be the black one there I don't do
that nonsense you got a clock with date
your media screen and a fuel-economy
screen now to the head unit mildly
revised same crappy map that Honda's
been hobbling their cars with for ages
but you do have some nice media choices
now including the ability to do
bluetooth streaming and when you do so
at least on my Droid I'm getting nice
meta tag information to flow through and
pretty good transport control the rest
of your choices include am/fm but no HD
radio you've got satellite radio down
here is a aux and then here in the cabin
in the console little pigtail for USB or
iPod now that navigation screen dated as
it is with satellite radio and traffic
is a $1,500 up charge I'd go for the
standard head unit and I'd go do
something aftermarket and put a few
hundred in your pockets
now of course an SI is largely about its
motor this is Honda's 2.4 litre
inline-four with their famed Ivy Tech
variable valve timing and geometry
that's one of the key things here cuz
there's no turbo no supercharger no
silly games being played it's kind of a
conventional motor little guy turns out
201 horsepower 170 foot-pounds of torque
gets this 2900 pound car up to 60 in a
few tenths below 7 seconds while
delivering 22:31 MPG the drivetrain is
also very simple front wheel drive only
this laterally mounted engine although
the SI does get a limited-slip deer box
okay your way the first thing I notice
about the si is that it really loves to
be opened up this car is a breather not
a grunter not a big torque box but it
just runs all the way to the what 7000
rpm redline quite happily a nice smooth
power delivery through it they've bumped
up the actual amount of power and torque
on this car a little bit from the last
generation but it still tends to be a
little boggy below 4 grand it's a river
it's all there is to it you don't drive
it that way it becomes kind of a drag
because of the low amount of power down
below three or four thousand and the
fact that the engine kind of makes them
unpleasant or at least uninspiring
noises down there when you open it up is
when you get that nice little snap and
snarl but regardless of how and when you
drive it I find the most annoying trait
of this motor is incredible rpm float
when you go to get the next gear you put
the clutch in you come off the
accelerator entirely or mostly the
needle just sits there like someone
stuck some masking tape on it handling
is good but I feel at the rear end is a
little bit light little tail happy and
it feels like what it is it's a
front-wheel drive
particular sophisticated drivetrain
technology that said it's a nimble
refined fun little sporting car just not
top of the class perhaps anymore look I
like the SI coupe a lot I just don't
love it the way I would have a number of
years ago it no longer defines the
category like it used to that said
here's how I do it 23 grand base for an
SI coupe it's nicely done in terms of
audio system and most of the gear and
I'd hold it right there
skip that $1500 nav system waste of your
money go aftermarket or just go
smartphone and skip the hfp tuner
package
you don't become a tuner by having the
factory do your package that's not a
tuner at all
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