2019 Honda Civic Si CoupeClayton Seams / Driving OVERVIEW A great hot hatch marred by a not-so-great shifter PROSAmazing driving dynamics, surprisingly useable rear seat CONSRev hang is as bad as the looks VALUE FOR MONEYGreat WHAT TO CHANGE?REV HANG HOW TO SPEC IT?Just as you see it but maybe in that bright yellow colour they offer Honda should put the guy who designed the Civic shifter in charge of the entire car. Well located, perfectly notchy, and deliciously mechanical, its easily one of the top five shifters at any price in 2019. Your hand rests on a (literally) cool aluminum knob with a sharply embossed shift pattern shown to you in devilish red paint. Slot it into any gear you choose and it slides home easily as you command. Clearly, the old Honda ways are not entirely lost in 2019, but the Civic Si has one major flaw.The 2019 Civic is available in three body styles, all of which wear the unsightly anime super mutant styling. One has to wonder if the stylist was being paid per-vent when Honda drew up the Civic; the coupe is arguably less ugly than the four-door sedan, and a four-door hatchback is available. Compared to its siblings, the coupe is a neat 13.5 centimetres shorter, with most of that length coming out of the rear overhang; the wheelbase is absolutely identical across all three body styles. The basic Civic coupe starts at $21,290, and then youll pay an additional $8,200 for the Si bits. That is a steep premium for a Civic, but the Si comes with many goodies some of which you see, and others are under the skin.Exterior modifications are actually fairly subtle. You get a blacked-out front grille, handsome 18-inch wheels, an exhaust tip shaped like an HDMI port, and a somewhat questionable rear spoiler. Under the skin is where your $8,200 has really been spent up front, youll find a no-joke helical limited-slip differential and adaptive dampers. Engaging Sport mode stiffens said dampers and also adds weight (but not feel) to the electronic power steering. Neither of these changes are drastic when felt from the drivers seat, but you can feel the difference around corners. And how magical it is in the corners. Apparently, nobody has told the Si that it weighs 1,330 kilograms because it absolutely carves through corners like you would not believe. Among front-drive cars without Type R in the name, the Si might be among the best around corners. Ultimately, it will understeer but until that point, the balance is superb and the Si begs for more and more speed on twisting roads. The suspension, which feels stiff over expansion joints, feels utterly at home here. Though it uses humble struts and not the racecar-like double-wishbone suspension of its predecessors, the Civic feels lively and nimble.It really is joyous to drive around curves. But sadly, that joy is ruined every time you have to shift. And you have to shift it a lot. The Si suffers from some of the worst rev-hang in the entire industry; this means when you accelerate up to your desired shift point and change gears, the revs take an excruciatingly long time to fall low enough to meet the next gear. I actually measured the rev hang along first-to-second shift when clutching it at 3,000 rpm to be a full 3.5 seconds. Three and a half seconds coasting through an intersection waiting for the next gear! You basically only have two options to cope with this flaw when driving it: you can either rush the shift and clutch out before the revs fall, or you can read a small book in between shifts while you wait. The first option makes it look like you are learning to drive stick, and the second is agonizing.You might think that the revs fall lazily because the Civic has a large and heavy flywheel, but that doesnt seem to be the case. The rev hang seems to stem from a designed-in software function to permit cleaner burning in between shifts, since most other manual transmission cars run rich on the over-run between shifts. Its such a noticeable issue that Hondata, an aftermarket tuner, sells a US$700 software flash that claims to fix the rev hang. Mazda doesnt seem to have any problems getting its manuals to shift smoothly, so maybe Honda could ask those engineers for some help. The 1.5-litre turbocharged engine itself is hit-and-miss. Practically and empirically, its perfect. The engine makes 205 horsepower and a decent 192 lb.-ft. of torque. Fuel economy is excellent, at 8.4 L/100 kilometres city and 6.2 highway, and its a smooth runner. But unlike the shrieking, VTEC-powered Civic Si of old, this one is a torquey engine down low and the party is pretty much over at 5,500 rpm. The noise it makes is uninspired at best, and theres not very much of it in the first place. A little more exhaust volume wouldnt be remiss.Inside, the Civic scores high marks. The front seats are comfortable and perfectly bolstered. I like the fixed headrests, and the embroidered Si logos on the seats are a nice touch. All
Origin: Car Review: 2019 Honda Civic Si Coupe

2019 Honda Civic Coupe SportJil McIntosh OVERVIEW An everyday commuter that doesnt feel like one PROSGreat ride and handling, lots of features CONSTwo doors cost more than four VALUE FOR MONEYExcellent for all that you get WHAT TO CHANGE?Add a power drivers seat HOW TO SPEC IT?Sport with my tester’s screamin’ Tonic Yellow paint There can be many reasons why people flock to a certain car. It might be the brand your family always bought, or once your outgoing car’s time was up, rather than cross-shop, it was easier to just trade it in for a new one. Or maybe it’s just a really good car; the Honda Civic is Canada’s best-selling car, but it had been a while since I’d been in one. Even a short drive confirms that it earns its spot honestly. This really is a great little car to drive. There are some minor changes for the 2019 model year, including some styling tweaks — and oh happy day, there’s finally an honest-to-goodness, physical volume knob for the stereo, instead of the previous, and maddeningly finicky, slider on the touchscreen. It may not seem major in the grand scheme of things, but something you use frequently use should be quick and easy to access — and if it isn’t, it just gets all the more annoying over time. There’s also a new trim level. My Sport tester, which slots between the base LX and upper-level Touring, includes such style tweaks as unique dark wheels, fog lights, a central exhaust tip and aluminum pedals, ut despite the name, it doesn’t carry the sportier engine. Instead, it comes with a naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre four-cylinder that spins out 158 horsepower. It’s also used in the base LX, but the Touring gets a 1.5L turbo-four that makes 174 horsepower (and it’s also used in the Si, where it’s ramped up to 205). A six-speed manual is the default in the Sport, but I had the optional CVT. Coupe pricing begins at $21,290 for the LX, and at $24,690 for the Sport. Both are for the stick shift, and you add $1,300 if you want the CVT (as equipped, my tester was $25,990). The Touring comes only with the CVT, and it’s $28,490, while the stick-only Si rings in at $29,490. Oddly, though, the Sport coupe is $400 more than the Sport sedan, even though most of the features line up comparably on the two — save for a power driver’s seat on the sedan, which you don’t get when you opt for the two-door. Less is more, it seems. Even though the Sport lacks the turbo tempest of the 1.5, don’t turn up your nose at it. It’s still an impressive and peppy little performer, with smooth and linear acceleration, and with fewer moving parts and just a smidgen-higher combined fuel consumption rating than the turbo. The transmission is very well-done, too: it’s quiet and efficient, and only really reveals its belt-and-pulley nature when you put your foot down really hard — and even then, it’s not as noisy or rubbery-feeling as some. There are paddle shifters that switch between faux “gears” on it, too. The ride is bigger-car smooth, and handling is crisp and lively. Even without the more powerful engine, it’s a fun car to spin around. It’s beautifully balanced around tight curves, it’s well-planted on the highway, and it feels tight and rigid. The coupe’s racier looks do come at a price. It’s shorter than the sedan, with the difference lopped out of the rear-seat legroom. The roof is also lower, with a corresponding loss of headroom, and the trunk is also smaller. Naturally, it’s also tougher to get into the rear seats, although once you’re back there, they’re far more sculpted than most second-row seats and they’re still relatively roomy. The front chairs are quite comfortable, and offer up the same amount of legroom as the Civic sedan. I do wish the power seat had been carried over, though; the ratchet-style height adjuster has a lot of adjustment, and when I got my short little legs into the seat following a much taller driver, my arm got tired cranking it up far enough. Along with the aforementioned volume knob, most of the Civic’s controls are straightforward and simple, save for the climate control mode — the fan is a toggle, the temperature is adjusted with knobs, but to switch where the air comes out, you have to hit a button that brings up a page on the infotainment screen, and then touch the icons there. All trim levels include Honda Sensing, which bundles adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, and automatic high-beam headlights. The Sport and higher trims also add LaneWatch — hit your right-hand turn signal, and a camera broadcasts an image in the infotainment screen of what’s alongside your vehicle on the passenger side. I’m of two minds on it: along with showing you vehicles when you’re changing lanes, it displays cyclists or pedestrians coming up from behind when you’re turning. But if you sit higher up, as I do, you’re looking down at the dash, not sideways at the mirror, which I find a bit distracting.
Origin: Car Review: 2019 Honda Civic Coupe