10th Gen Honda Civic Si most refined, user friendly Si in Honda history

With much ado online as to what some auto journalist and Tuners view as a minuscule uptick in torque and horsepower, the reinvented Civic Si rolls off the assembly line, the most refined, drive-dynamic, powerful and user friendly Si variant in Honda history.

Last week Autoblog.com spread an unconfirmed engine torque specification, gleaned from a misguided e-mail across cyberspace -- no worries, we all do it! In the article they questioned Honda’s narrow power gap placement of Civic Si smack dab between the 10th generation Civic Hatch Touring and Type-R -- the legendary pocket rocket soon to arrive to the shores of North America via England. In short, they'd like to see Si power output closer to Type-R. Hey, there's no free lunch in auto engineering, class busting horsepower cost dollars.

When 190 ft-lb torque is enough

The most powerful Civic Si in brand history: According to American Honda, 2017 Honda Si when released to the buying public sometime in the late spring of 2017, will be the most powerful and drive-refined Si variant in Honda history.

The problem that some Tuners have with the reinvented Civic Si, is not that it’s not more powerful than the 9th generation 2015 Civic Si, (last year of production) but, that in the view of the Tuner community, the much improved 10th generation Civic Si doesn’t bring enough new found horsepower and torque to the Honda performance lineup, when directly compared to the 2017 Civic Hatchback Sport.

Also, Civic Si's power output trails too far behind the triple exhaust of the yet to arrive 300+ horsepower Civic Type-R. And then there’s the issue of the assumed MSRP. Not enough power, expensive, and yet not one of them has driven 2018 Civic Si.

Here’s the thing: Not only has Honda not released final horsepower and torque numbers for Civic Si, the MSRP remains a mystery, along with the estimated dealership date of arrival.

Remembering that day your Honda Civic engine produced 58 horsepower

We live in an era where the magic of Honda engineering presents a 1.5 Liter turbocharged 4-cylinder wonder that flirts with 40 mpg on the highway while producing 180 hp @ 5000 rpm, 177 lb-ft torque in the mid-rpm-range. Astounding!

Yet Honda performance fanatics demand more than 190 ft-lb torque from the next generation Civic Si, and want it for less than $25,000, lower than a fully optioned Civic hatchback, manually shifted Sport. Not going to happen! Honda engineering promises delivery on the most powerful Civic Si offered to date, no doubt, it will be. Read my original price and power predictions here.

Call me crazy, I’ve driven the entire 10th generation Civic lineup. Independent Dyno testing proves that the CVT shifted turbocharged Civic touring deliver a higher than rated horsepower, and is quicker off the light than the outgoing Civic Si.

The new turbocharged VTEC mill delivers seamless torque beginning at a bit off idle, and continuing well throughout the mid-range. It’s drive-by-wire, and seamless. There’s little to no turbo lag noted. When the reinvented, 6-speed manually shifted, limited slip-dif, turbocharged Si comes off the blocks in late Spring 2017, it will be performance impressive in engine power and drive dynamic. Smooth power output is what I’m looking for from Si, with just a bit of attitude. We'll be dropping into the driver's seat soon enough.