Auto News and Reviews

The 2006 Honda Civic Si has been called the best Civic ever, and more than once. The frumpy itty bitty minivan look has been abandoned for an all new coupe body style. Power has been increased to 197 hp, generated by a 2.0 liter 16v inline 4. This is pretty much the same engine found in the RSX Type-S, for significantly less money. The all new Civic Si starts at just a hair under $20,000.

As with the RSX Type S, the new engine in the 2006 Civic Si is a screamer. 197 hp is achieved by revving the thing to 7800 rpm. iVTEC kicks in at about 6200 rpm, giving a small turbo-like boost all the way up to the redline. While this is certainly fun, if you’re trundling around town in 5th gear at 30 mph, you’ll likely find that punching the throttle does next to nothing.

Overall the 2006 Civic Si is a huge improvement over the previous model, both in style and performance.

Reviews

Automotive.com writes:

Honda put the past five years to good use, giving the latest Civic a wealth of improvements on multiple fronts that add up to a better car. It starts with the most expressive exterior to come our way since the revolutionarily rounded 1992 model, and if you think that’s something, wait till you see the inside. The Si returns with the engine it deserved from the start, the Hybrid returns with more speed and fuel economy, and all other Civics enjoy a streamlined, improved powertrain lineup along with more features in the luxury, mechanical, and safety departments all at once.

Automobile Magazine reports:

Throw the 2006 Civic Si into turn 1 of the Twin Ring Motegi road course, and it’s immediately clear that this is the best Civic ever built. It gobbles up corners, rotates willingly, and steers effortlessly on the throttle like some sort of a poor man’s Lotus Elise. With 197 hp-37 more than the outgoing Si’s engine-its 2.0-liter DOHC i-VTEC four shrieks to its 7800-rpm redline, sounding better than any Honda engine in years. Lap after lap confirms that, once again, the Si is a real car, a credible performance flagship for a new, eighth-generation Civic.

Road and Track says:

The Si now uses the top version of the K-Series engine (the K20Z3), which is a 1998-cc dohc 16-valve inline-4 with Honda’s iVTEC (intelligent valve timing/lift mechanism). Its 197 bhp gives it an impressive 99 bhp per liter, though that power comes at a much higher rpm (7800) than the old car’s 160 bhp, which peaked at 6500. Torque is affected similarly, the new Si’s 139 lb.-ft. coming at 6200 rpm (about the time iVTEC kicks in) vs. the old car’s 132 at 5000.

0512_civic_rear.jpgSo does this make the new Civic Si a high-revving screamer? You bet, and we love it.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 15th, 2005 at 10:53 am and is filed under Honda. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.