A United Auto Group dealer in my area had a red one in yesterday AM, so I thought I might should do my duty and go ahead and give her a whurl. ;-)

Dig this: Sticker shock... oops.. I mean "price" was over $26K which included (I can't remember exactly what it was) a $1200-1600 mark-up for "Limited Availability ..." B.S.

It was only equipped with the "additional" options of fog lights, the 18" HFP rims, and the aero body trim. The rear spoiler is actually "standard" on the Si according to this dealership.

It has the 2.0 i-VTEC as opposed to the 1.8 of the rest of the Civic family.

The Civics have really come a long way with fit and features. It's very nice on the inside, still not Accord-level but closer than before. The "heads up" display includes a digital temp. guage, fuel guage, and speedometer. The tach. is below and fortunately still analog. Just a very nice, comfy package on the inside with more room than you might think there would be. This is true for all the Civics this year.

I got to drive it both on some curvy, back roads as well as for a shot up a freeway. The car is surprising quiet though a bit revvy. Very revvy, seemed to me. The steering input is sharp and VERY quick with the 18" rims. The braking seems good and the throttle response, though lacking feel/feedback, is good. The visibility out of the car is good too.

I will say that 6th gear on the highway is nothing more than an OD. The car has absolutely NO pick-up in 6th. Drop it back down into 5th and it's all revvy again. 3rd gear is the best. It goes and goes and then at whatever point (I didn't pay attention), the VTEC kicks in and it wants to GOOOOOO.

It's a great all around package but I would have to get used to it because nothing else I've driven is quite like it. I am not 110% sold on it yet (especially if that's the pricing points to be expected).

This whole throttle-by-wire, if that's what I was experiencing, is the part I'm not sure of yet. The car is so smooth and so quiet (with the exception of being rev happy) that you almost can't bond with the car because you don't get a whole lot of feedback from it. Press the clutch in to shift up gears and the revs do not drop off. Heel-toe on the way down and there is no throttle response on the rev-matching. It's bizzare. It's like you would have to hold the gas pedal down for a couple of secs or hit it several times on your downshifts to even hear or feel the revs.

I would say the car drives great but there seems to be very little feel of the road, if that makes sense.

The car is, IMO, sharp. It's ultra smooth, quiet and pretty comfy. I'll be test driving another one soon.

Go try one. You'll see what I mean.

 

good to hear. i actually went down to my guy at the honda dealer on friday, and they had just sold their only one that morning. i went in the pm. i was pretty bummed out. i wanted to see what's up. he said there won't be another one here in town until march. it's going to be the habinaro red color. i love it. but i don't think i'll buy an si. i'm having too much fun with my ek atm.
great input though. thanks.

-Chris

 

I think the new civics have a minivan front with the smalllll engine space to work with. I really dont like that at all. At least the older civics had a hell of alot more room in the engine bay. These new civics are a dissapointment to me.

 

Yeah, I should provide the additional input that the dash is about 2 feet deep because they have shoved the engine back. It seems like it's going to be difficult to get to and work on some parts of it.

 

i m sorry but i dont like them in the inside outside is cool but that inside is fg(fucking gay) lol but honestly speaking i still like my ep better.they can keep their 37 hp difference i ll make up for that and lsd with a decent swap and build up the only thing i would want is their navi as for everything else they can keep it imo

 

in car and driver they tested it against a new Gti and the Gti was automatic and was better according to there tests

 

i think its ugly as fcuk

 

$1200 to $1600 mark-up for low availability is a sucker's price. Plus, you have to let a few break. A true CONSUMER would only be naive enough to pay that inflated sticker on a car that the dealer hasn't had a chance to fix yet.

 

some places are marking it up 4k i hear, and getting it.

right now would be the time to swoop in a buy a type-s the way the market is you could get one for very cheap.

as for the steering response, i'm guessing you tested one with the exaltos?

PS this belongs in the RSX + SI forum.

 

My exact sentiments when I saw a pic of the engine bay. I know 'cause I have a '95 Odyssey. But surprisingly, you can still do all the same maintenance with no hassles. I was still able to clean the IACV on the back of TB.