Honda Civic Si Sedan
Published Feb 24, 2006
0 Ratings
What is it?
Honda Civic Si Sedan
What's special about it?
In one breath, John Mendel, senior VP of American Honda, called the Civic Si Sedan a concept. In the next, he said, "The 2007 model year will mark the first time in the Civic Si's 20 years [in the U.S.] that it will be available with four doors."
You know what that means: This Si sedan is going to production. Mendel even volunteered that it would be on sale by late fall 2006.
If you're an Si junkie, this sedan should look very familiar: From its black-painted hood to its big-but-not-too-big rear wing, it's done up just like the Si coupe concept that came to Chicago last year, save for the center-mounted exhaust. The sedan's 18-inch wheels also have a darker graphite finish. You won't see these on the production version. Ditto for the cross-drilled Brembo brakes.
But, says Chris Naughton, Honda PR spokesman, you will see all the production Si coupe's hardware on the sedan version, including the limited-slip differential, optional 17-inch Michelin summer tires and fiery 197-horsepower, 2.0-liter engine.
"This won't be a watered-down version of the Si coupe," he assured us. "Customers should expect it to deliver all the performance of the coupe."
Honda has good reason to keep the intensity up in the Si sedan. "The Si sedan buyer is the same as the Si coupe buyer," Prexa Doshi, senior product planner, explained. "He's just a little bit older and may have a family." Hence, the need for an extra pair of doors.
There will, of course, be subtle differences in the suspension tuning given the sedan's 2-inch-longer wheelbase, but Honda officials didn't want to get into those details today. They didn't offer any acceleration estimates, either.
What's Edmunds' Take?
We really like the 2006 Civic Si coupe, and we really like the idea of an Si with four doors. Assuming it keeps the coupe's low-$20Ks price tag, the Si sedan could make VW's Jetta GLI seem overpriced and overweight. — Erin Riches
Honda Civic Si Sedan
What's special about it?
In one breath, John Mendel, senior VP of American Honda, called the Civic Si Sedan a concept. In the next, he said, "The 2007 model year will mark the first time in the Civic Si's 20 years [in the U.S.] that it will be available with four doors."
You know what that means: This Si sedan is going to production. Mendel even volunteered that it would be on sale by late fall 2006.
If you're an Si junkie, this sedan should look very familiar: From its black-painted hood to its big-but-not-too-big rear wing, it's done up just like the Si coupe concept that came to Chicago last year, save for the center-mounted exhaust. The sedan's 18-inch wheels also have a darker graphite finish. You won't see these on the production version. Ditto for the cross-drilled Brembo brakes.
But, says Chris Naughton, Honda PR spokesman, you will see all the production Si coupe's hardware on the sedan version, including the limited-slip differential, optional 17-inch Michelin summer tires and fiery 197-horsepower, 2.0-liter engine.
"This won't be a watered-down version of the Si coupe," he assured us. "Customers should expect it to deliver all the performance of the coupe."
Honda has good reason to keep the intensity up in the Si sedan. "The Si sedan buyer is the same as the Si coupe buyer," Prexa Doshi, senior product planner, explained. "He's just a little bit older and may have a family." Hence, the need for an extra pair of doors.
There will, of course, be subtle differences in the suspension tuning given the sedan's 2-inch-longer wheelbase, but Honda officials didn't want to get into those details today. They didn't offer any acceleration estimates, either.
What's Edmunds' Take?
We really like the 2006 Civic Si coupe, and we really like the idea of an Si with four doors. Assuming it keeps the coupe's low-$20Ks price tag, the Si sedan could make VW's Jetta GLI seem overpriced and overweight. — Erin Riches