Audi, BMW, and Mercedes has some models with rear bumpers designed with the exhaust tips blended in with it too. It's not just a pontiac thing.

 

exhaust cut outs are add ons? :dunno: :ugh:

 

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=104395

 

(Before I say anything more, hello to everyone here! I own a 1998 Honda Civic HX CVT coupe that usually gets 35 mpg overall. )

But getting back on topic, I would be EXTREMELY surprised that Honda would officially unveil the 2006 Civic so unusually early, and in the USA of all things! That is unless Honda has decided to radically change the design of the Civic compared to the current car and they need to unveil it early to get Honda customers "used" to the radical design; this was the same tactic that Ford used to unveil the original Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable way back in the middle 1980's because the design of the Taurus/Sable back then was such an extreme change from anything Ford had done before.

By the way, here's what I think will be the engine choices. Honda will use a highly-modified K-series I-4 engine block with i-VTEC, direct fuel injection and possibly stratified combustion in these versions:

1.6-liter version rated at 120 bhp (SAE), combined with 40 bhp electric motor in a second-generation Integrated Motor Assist hybrid drivetrain for the Civic Hybrid (four door sedan only, though we might see it on a five-door hatchback). The non-hybrid version of this engine will be the main engine for the second-generation Honda Fit to be sold in the USA starting Spring 2006.

1.8-liter version rated at 145-150 bhp (SAE), tuned primarily for better fuel economy. This will be the main engine used on most of the 2006 Civic models sold in the USA.

2.0-liter version rated at 195-200 bhp (SAE), tuned primarily for performance. This will be the engine used on the three-door hatchback (and possibly two-door coupé) Civic Si sports model for the USA, along with being the "base" engine for the 2006 model year production Acura RSX.

2.4-liter version rated at 235-240 bhp (SAE), tuned primarily for performance. This will be the engine used on the next-generation Civic Type-R sold in Europe and the 2006 model year production Acura RSX Type-S model. A slightly detuned version rated at 220 bhp (SAE) but with a wider torque curve will be used on the 2006 model year production Acura TSX's.

As for transmission choice, there will be six-speed manual (close ratio versions for the Civic Si and Acura RSX), five-speed automatic (maybe six-speed?), and a beefed-up CVT for the Civic Hybrid and the economy HX versions (if Honda decides to produce them, and only for the two-door coupé like it is now).

 

Good guesses MtView, and welcome to the board. I wish I got 35MPG...a couple of weeks ago I was pondering picking up a 6th gen HX on the side because I commute 120 miles a day but decided not to.

I am also very surprised that they're debuting it at an American auto show in February...why not New York in April? Why even debut it at all and not just bring it out like they have in the past? Why a relatively minor (by NY/NAIAS/Geneva/Tokyo standards) autoshow? It's so weird.

 

Detroit/NAIAS is their truck debut. They don't want to wait until New York. Cleveland, I heard, is a fifth-rate show. :chuckles: Los Angeles and Washington DC are past. That leaves Chicago.

Honda is Honda. They could debut something at Philadelphia or Washington DC if they wanted. They don't have to make a huge splash like GM in Detroit. But Chicago isn't a bad choice. Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago are the largest shows in the US by far.

 

Having gone to the DC show on several occasions I can tell you they don't debut much of anything at all there.

Oh I think whenever the Chevy Equinox came out it debuted in DC, but that's like minor as hell.

 

DC auto show is nothing special (the civic hybrid made its debut) but the only big thing on show that was worth anything was mrfatbooty in a neon sr-t

 

You may want to see the images from THIS web page, taken from a web camera inside the Chicago Auto Show that will start in a few days.

This looks like the two-door coupé version of the new 2006 Honda Civic, most likely the Civic Si version. If that styling holds up in the final production version, we may be in for the most radical change in a Honda car in many years. (After all, a number of spokespersons for Honda has said they wanted more "excitement" for Honda cars, and the new Civic will definitely generate excitement with what appears to be a quite radical design.)

 

2 more days until the public show so we'll see
found this on carspyshots

headlights kinda look like the ones on the current car.