I also felt the lack of rubber on somewhat narrow
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| Winter tires aren't the best for dry grip, but are important if you want to keep your bumper from getting bent. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press) |
17-inchers (215/45R17), and they were winter tires when I drove it, so they lacked grip under ideal conditions, but the trade off is running into the back of a bus, so I'll take the winter rubber any day (at least, any winter day). The alloy wheels did, however, fit the look of a racer, as did the sleek coupe profile. I find it hard to believe how distasteful the sedan is to look at while I'm in love with the coupe, especially with Si badges, skirts and spoiler, and even a pair of nice fog lamps tucked into the valance (although mine didn't have the fog lamps) to give it "The Crouch"--the ready-to-leap look that good bodywork and a lowered suspension give a racy car. And the crowning touch on the modern but tasteful coupe was a coat of stunning, alluring and downright hot Habanero Pearl Red paint. It looked so good I wanted to lick it. But I didn't, because it would have been too spicy!
The
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| Si's cabin is distinguished by a bunch of unique features. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press) |
interior, on the other hand, differs little from the stock sedan interior. Notable changes are a three-spoke (rather than two-spoke) multi-function steering wheel, red backlighting on the central tach, stereo/info screen and LED speedometer (an abomination of Coney-Island proportions, in my opinion), the small-knobbed slick stick, aluminum pedals with rubber pegs for grip and chairs that enveloped me in near-perfect tough love, i.e. firm, with minimal cushioning, breathable fabric on back and lower cushion, aggressive bolstering lined in a supremely gripping alcantara-like cloth with killer red stitching and never a moment of back fatigue or discomfort. Yeah, the seats were good.
Normally if a car's seats are that good, I'll be a happy camper, especially
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| It all comes back to the engine. You either love its 8,000 rpm redline and high-strung nature, or you don't. (Photo: Justin Couture, American Auto Press) |
if it's a compact performance car, but I don't think I bought into the 'tuned' philosophy of the Si. The engineers have obviously done everything they could to extract as much from the 2.0L 4-cylinder aluminum-block engine, using such magical tricks as fuel injection, 4 valves per cylinder, i-VTEC massaging each of the two overhead cams right up to the screaming 8,000 rpm redline and that shrieking stainless steel exhaust manifold, but I want seemingly effortless power, a graceful demonstration of superiority from every stoplight to go along with my nearly 200 horsepower. I feel like I could get as much out of a Ford Focus (I can't, but I can still feel that way) by running the revs into the stopper between every shift, which is what the Si sounds like anywhere above 3,000 rpm.
If you like pounding your right foot to the floor and hunting for razor sharp shifts, all while keeping the revs pinned above 6,000 rpm, and you appreciate hearing every detail of the engine's output zinging away like a mechanical rendition of "Rex! rex! rex! rex tremendae majestatis" from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem mass in D minor (a popular ditty), the Si is your hammer. But if you ask me, it's like a hammer with a big handle and a small head--easy to swing but just as easy to miss the mark, and then when you do hit the nail on the head, it really doesn't do much damage, so you just have to keep pounding away. I guess if you're happy swinging a hammer for the sake of swinging, this one's for you.
