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 LeapHonda 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.
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.
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 "Nrburgring-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."
New Engine: Still Sexy,Even Three Horses DownDamn the SAE. The Society of Automotive Engineers has devised new standards that require horsepower testing with the power steering pump in use. Credit to Honda for agreeing to this voluntary standard, which will soon be the norm. But it's also caused the Si's new K20Z3 powerplant to come in at 197 hp, just shy of the sexy "200 hp" that the marketing and ad departments had probably hoped for.
Still, like the girl who falls three votes short of winning homecoming queen, 197 hp still promises a hell of a good time. The 11.0:1 compression ratio helps the engine make max power at 7800 rpm and its 139 lb-ft of torque arrives at 6200 rpm.
Other changes surrounding the engine include a new mount system using upper and lower torque rods, a hydraulic body mount and front beam stopper. The intake system features a resonance chamber located along the fender well that amplifies the sound of VTEC engagement. It's a questionable move, slightly ricer in approach, but not obnoxious. Combined with a pleasing, softened "brap" from the exhaust, the car's respiratory system sounds healthy and hearty, more Kanye West than DMX.