Civic Si's Less-than-stunning Power Is for Your Own Good, Says Honda

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Not everyone was blown away by the new Honda Civic Si’s 205 horsepower, especially after a year of rumors suggesting output could fall in the 220-hp range. While the hotter ( but not hottest) version of Honda’s 10th-generation Civic possesses the same horsepower rating as its predecessor, albeit with significantly less displacement, many Big H aficionados had hoped for more.

Nah, you don’t want that, Honda says. The Si’s massaged 1.5-liter turbo does offer increased torque (192 lb-ft) compared to the previous 2.4-liter model, but the automaker claims the addition of more ponies would have harmed the model.

More power was a possibility, but it would have turned the Civic Si into a moth venturing close to a flame. Honda’s reasoning is pretty straightforward.

Explaining that he was told “you can tune more power into it, but all of that takes away from the durability of the engine,” Rob Keough, the model’s senior product planner, outlined the company’s intentions to Automotive News.

“Honda likes to build their engines to last hundreds of thousands of miles, so they’re working toward that target,” he said. Meaning, if you’re looking for reduced engine life, the shady aftermarket tunes (or an old rotary Mazda) is your best bet.

Durability wasn’t the only consideration. Based on a window sticker spotted last week, it looks like Honda will keep a $10,000 buffer between the Civic Si and its beastly, 306-hp Type R sibling. Dropping a 2.0-liter into the Si — even a considerably milder one — would have ratcheted the MSRP into a less-attainable price range.

Currently, the 2017 Civic Si stickers for just under $25,000. Had the company gone with a larger engine, the price could have ended up pushing $30,000 — well above the model’s traditional range. Still, Keough wouldn’t rule out a hotter Si variant to split the difference between it and the Type R.

“There’s maybe other configurations and things that they can do with this motor,” Keough said. “The market will tell us and then we’ll see what we can do about it.”

[Image: Honda]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Jacob Jacob on Jun 05, 2017

    And yet, Ford Focus ST regularly stickers for under 25K while having a much more powerful 2.0T engine. Honda simply continues Civic's tradition of offering the least power in Si's class, counting mostly on brand aficionados and ricers to buy it.

    • Chan Chan on Jun 05, 2017

      I would buy an Si over a FoST. The Focus has a much less appealing interior, less cabin space and lower reliability rankings. These matter for cars that are ostensibly to be used as daily drivers.

  • Wsn Wsn on Jun 06, 2017

    Is he implying that the NSX's engine won't last?

  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
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