The 2017 Honda Civic Si was released in coupe and sedan variants. First test drive proves the new Si has great power, smooth performance, excellent steering capacity and affordable price tag.

The new coupe runs with a turbocharged 1.5-liter four cylinder engine, which is a larger turbocharger version of the engine present in the standard Civics. It can deliver 205 hp and 192 lb-ft of torque.

The new Si can be considered the most tractable version because of its low-down torque. It also freely accelerates and is noticeably speedier than the previous Civics.

The engine performs smoothly and strongly. The new coupe makes no growling sound once the gas pedal is stepped on. It also does not give that feeling of eagerness to rev as it does with naturally aspirated engines.

Compared to its rivals Ford Focus ST and Volkswagen GTI, the new Civic Si appears to be less powerful. Surprisingly, the new coupe is 334 pounds lighter than its two rivals, yet it still does not hook the driver to the seat the way its rivals do. In addition, the new Si was not fast in shedding RPM resulting to a rough upshift.

With regard to transmission, the 2017 Honda Civic Si made a very good job. The turbocharged engine of the new model is mated to a six-speed manual transmission that creates quick throws without much effort. Moreover, the new coupe also performed well in getting power to the ground. No internal wheel spinning away power in turns was also observed during the test drive.

Another plus point of the new Si is its steering capacity. Both modes, the normal and Sport, did not require heavy steering. The new coupe has accurate steering in the Sport mode, as the front wheels react precisely even to the most challenging inputs. Whereas in the normal mode, steering seems a little precise as there was some resistance that was built up.

Furthermore, the new Si sports the new, higher-flowing exhaust that comes with an illusion of a perpendicular muffler design. Honda claims it performs 23 percent better than the usual exhaust of the Civic series, which is an outstanding feature as well.

However, the new Si seems to be weaker with its tires. The test drive was conducted at the track of Honda and the tires of the new coupe were not really built for the tracking purpose so the grip and communication were limited.

Lastly, another impressive detail of the 2017 Honda Civic Si is its value. The starting price of $24,775 already comes with heated sport seats, a touchscreen infotainment display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a sunroof, and a dual-zone automatic climate control.

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