Car of the Day

The Civic Si Sedan is my current COTD.  Is the car I want most in the world right now?  Not necessarily.  However, with gas prices continuing to inch towards $4.00 a gallon I find myself looking for a more economical ride. 

Yes, I’m aware that there are cars that get better MPG than the Civic Si, but there is a prerequisite amount of fun or sportiness that a car must possess.    The Civic Si Sedan has that “fun” in spades.  It has even been called the “poor man’s M3” or even the “economical guy’s M3”. 

There is a certain school of thought that says “it is more fun to drive a slow car fast, than to drive a fast car slow”. 

Imagine how frustrating it would be to be in a 550hp supercar stuck driving in traffic behind that mini van driver on the cell phone.  And then for a quick moment the traffic pattern breaks and you find yourself with a stretch of open road.  Well if you can cover a ¼ mile in less than 12 seconds, your temporary window of no traffic will have closed, because you caught up with the next bunch of slow drivers.

The other hazard is blowing past the next municipal revenue gathering spot and the police haul you off to jail and impound your supercar with the “arrest me” red paint job.  With that much hp you can end up in serious trouble in just a few seconds. 

Again with the 550hp car there is frustration knowing that you aren’t really getting to utilize the full potential of the vehicle due to the local laws.  However, if you happen to have a car with a sweet chassis, manual gearbox that is a pleasure to row and a jewel of an engine that loves to sing, but only has 200ish hp, you could really enjoy the potential of what that car has to offer. 

There are several cars that fall into my sporty/economic car scenario.  However, the COTD for me is the Honda Civic Si Sedan.  The Si Sedan has several things going for it.  It is a special car.  They only come one way, with the most powerful engine ever in a U. S. Civic at 197hp and a great 6-speed transmission.  It has upgraded wheels and suspension built on the great Civic platform. 

With the Si Sedan you can drive it like an economy car and get nearly 30 mpg or you can drive like you stole it and add a serious dose of fun to your daily commute. 

The last time I made a visit to the Honda dealership to admire the Si Sedan, the salesman blasphemed the essence of the Civic Si when he said this “Yeah, it’s a great car, we would sell a ton of these if they came in automatic.”  Well, if they came in automatic they wouldn’t be a Civic Si! 

I’ve got a lot more to say about this car, but that will be visited in other blogs with the Civic Si ends up as the COTD or in my garage as my actual car.