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This is Autoweeks story:

Hot Rod Honda: The new Si looks fast just sitting still
MARK VAUGHN

The new Civic Si could return Honda to the glory days of the late ’80s and early ’90s when it ruled the sport compact scene, or at least bring it back as a front-runner in what has become a fairly crowded field of sport compact superheroes.

Honda all but created the modern sport compact scene with the Civic S in 1984, the Si in 1986 and the iconic CRX Si soon after that. (We still love that CRX Si.) Those early subcompact performance Hondas, simple, stylish cars that were lightweight, agile and fast, remained fun to drive long after they depreciated into inexpensive used cars. Granted, there were sport compacts before the Civic Si (the Mini, Volkswagen GTI, etc.—we know, please don’t write letters). But the Si created the fast and furious hubbub still with us today.

Then in the mid-’90s Honda began to drift away from the spiky-haired, budget boy racer who loved it, toward the mainstream, mass-market buyer. Honda even identified this buyer (we are not making this up) as a 24-year-old named Jennifer. Other manufacturers stepped in to fill the subcompact performance void.

Honda entered an Si in the market recently, but with this new concept, the company is making a loud statement that it is back. Can this new Civic Si return Honda to glory?

Some preliminary specs of the car torn from Honda two weeks before the Chicago show suggest it can, especially since the concept is “90 percent of what the production car will be,” according to a company source. Of course, we’re months away from a production version, and the proof is in the piloting, but the numbers look good.

First, consider the 200-hp Im an idiot!c i-VTEC engine, six-speed manual transmission and limited-slip differential. The current Si offers only 160 hp, a five-speed manual and an open diff. So the concept is a better car right out of the box. The European Civic Si already has 200 hp, so if we want to get miffed about that, we have every right. But no other U.S.-market Civic—Si or otherwise—has ever offered as much manufacturer-supplied power or as many gears as this concept promises. And that limited-slip diff means power won’t be wasted spinning the inside tire in corners. Top it off with a suitable exhaust note, and Honda is halfway there.

The six-speed transmission may look impressive on the spec sheet, but it is likely in there to impress the EPA more than the target buyer. Corpor-ate Average Fuel Economy ratings are very important to carmakers, and six-speed manuals get better mileage than five-speeds. You never hear a street kid at an import drag race talking about swapping out his five-speed manual for a six.

A big unknown is curb weight—there was none listed for the concept. Horsepower means nada unless you know how much mass it has to haul. The current Si weighs 2782 pounds, which is more than the Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V at 2710 pounds, the Ford Focus at 2593 and even the Toyota Corolla at 2530 pounds. Let’s hope Honda trimmed something off the beltline to make the most of those 200 ponies.

There was no real suspension used on the concept since it’s a pusher show car. Suspension on a production Si will most likely be a better-controlled version of the current Civic, which includes struts in front and a multilink rear. Purists and poseurs alike mourned the loss of the upper and lower wishbones that used to control wheel travel in Civics; they swore you could really feel the difference, and we swore with them.

Even if you couldn’t feel the difference, the tie-in with For-mula One cars and the vague belief that the Civic suspension was taken from Honda’s racing efforts kept the faithful transfixed. The hope and assumption was that the same engineers who were in the paddock at Monaco and Motegi built this car. The loss of the wishbones made many feel the Corolla-ization of the Civic had begun. But Honda promises better control of the struts in this next Civic. We will withhold judgment until we drive one.

The concept has 18-inch cast-aluminum wheels with 225/45 R-rated “high-performance” tires. These we can assume will be offered on the production car since even the Chevy Cobalt is available with a set of 18-inch shoes. Four-wheel discs with four-piston Brembo calipers and cross-drilled rotors are on the concept—we don’t know if all four pistons will make production, but they look nice on the show stand.

Outside, the look is stunning—sharp lines and curved shapes lean eagerly forward like a mini muscle car rumbling next to the Christmas tree. If the production version looks 90 percent as good as this concept, it won’t be mistaken for a pedestrian grocery fetcher and certain*ly not anything from Toyota.

Inside—well, there was no inside on the concept car, just black felt to hide that there was nothing there. Sort of like the wavy blond hair on Jessica Simpson’s head.

So will the new Si get respect from the kids with spiky hair and baggy pants? Who knows. A vast majority of those kids don’t have any money and wait four or five model years until a cool car hits $8,000 or so and then buy it, blindly slapping in a case-blowing turbo. For these enthusiasts, the second-generation Mazda RX-7 or any Nissan 240SX is what they’re looking for, with a honkin’ wing slapped on the back acting as an air brake. That was the way the first Civic and Acura Integra became cool cars, when they entered the used-car market and still had solid blocks and tunable heads.

Regardless, if this concept shows the direction Honda is headed, then it’s a good thing. It represents an about-face from the watering down and mass-marketization of what was the leader in high-tech and fun cars.

Welcome back, Honda.