The Si shares the same steering wheel diameter as the S2000 and for the first time on a North American Civic, navigation is an available option.
Good Interiors: We're Entitled
Settling into the Si's cabin reveals very few surprises. Call us part of the entitlement culture, but Honda has nailed interior fit-and-finish for so long that we just expect it. It wisely retained the EP3's seat design and upgraded it with extended bolsters, dual-density foam and the familiar red stitching that causes delusions of car-handling skill.
But look around and you'll notice the new dual-level gauge design. A tachometer inviting you to 8000 rpm is recessed behind the top half of the steering wheel hoop while above it, closer to eye level, a digital speedo monitors your evaporating hopes of eluding the police.
Engineers wisely kept the DNA from the '02-05 Civic Si seats, one of that car's standout features, and made them better with extended bolsters and firmer foam.
Despite a disproportionate bulge concealing its airbag, the leather-wrapped steering wheel carries solid heft, is the same size as an S2K tiller and further's one's delusions of car control.
Seven speakers and an eight-inch subwoofer powered by 350 watts comprise the standard audio system and, for the first time, the Civic (Si and other models) offers optional navigation. Go for the navi option and you also get a digital card reader slot to play music you bootlegged off the 'Net, as well as XM Satellite Radio-ready service.
Sissy Strut: Honda Makes a Giant Leap
Honda engineers made improved handling a top priority with the Si, perhaps to avoid another journo/enthusiast tongue-lashing over the switch to MacPherson struts as much as to prove to the industry that Honda can do struts.
The Si gets a little classier this time around with touches normally found on Acura sedans.
Si watchers hoped for a retreat to double wishbones with the 2006, but no luck. Struts it is again. But the degree to which Honda has improved its suspension design is not unlike falling asleep, beer-goggled, next to Kelly Osborne and awakening to a pitcher of fresh-squeezed orange juice alongside a snoozing Brooke Burke.
Engineers increased damper force by 45 percent up front and 40 percent in back, and called for inversely wound springs with increased rates (17 percent in front; 3.5kgf/mm; 14 percent in back; 4.1 kgf/mm), larger caster angle up front and longer stroke damper for the multilink rear suspension.
Honda also overhauled the steering geometry, scrapping the tie-rod arms built into the EP3 shock bodies, lowering the steering gearbox for quicker response and employing Electric Power Steering for assist at low speeds.
While the speedo goes digital, the tach remains beautifully analog and features a shift light when you breach the 8000 rpm redline.
But the medal for successfully neutralizing the bean counters goes to whoever fought to install a helical limited-slip differential as standard equipment. This small, expensive hunk of metal forms an integral part of the car's character, allowing it to bite the racing line, hold onto it through late braking, then lay down a thin Michelin film on exit acceleration.
Engineers boast about final suspension tuning at Twin Ring Motegi, the Honda-owned circuit in the countryside north of Tokyo. "Tested at Twin Ring" doesn't have quite the same splash that "Nürburgring-approved" does, but only because the Germans have done a better job marketing that 16-mile chaotic twist of MotoGP wannabes and psycho-taxi traffic to the nerds at General Motors.
Informed enthusiasts know that Twin Ring-approved is shorthand for "we dialed this in at one of the baddest GT race tracks in the world, which we also happen to own. Beeyotch."