Acey
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2017
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 332
- Reaction score
- 400
- Location
- Calgary
- Vehicle(s)
- '18 Coupe Si HFP
- Thread starter
- #1
After thrashing a new Si coupe around northwest Calgary this afternoon my opinion is that you have to occasionally track this car for it to be worth the $32k CAD price tag, given that a EX-T 6MT can be had for $25k. I'll try to explain.
Firstly, there are positives. Seats are fantastic, probably the best seats I've ever sat in for this segment, right up there with the Cobalt SS Turbo seats which I loved. Great bolstering but not too tight, comfortable, and they look great. The rest of the interior is not drastically different from an EX-T but the changes are enough to set it apart. The red stitching is just enough to convey "sporty" but isn't overdone, and the red gauges instead of blue are a nice touch. Shift lights are cool. The shifter is unreal... very short throws and a great feel. It almost feels like you're "outshifting" the rest of the powertrain during WOT shifts. Nav is good and the LED headlights are good. Sorry you don't get either of those, Americans.
As horrific as the coupe spoiler looks in pictures, it is far worse in person. The changes to the rest of the coupe rear look good and there is still plenty of differentiation from the base, so it is my hope that a lot of people do wing deletes. It is rancid, but the sedan wing is far more tasteful. The excessively large fake vents on both of them is... whatever. We've beat that to death.
Pulled out of the dealership and immediately went wide open in first, wasn't immediately impressed. Hit the WOT shift into second and the additional power over the EX-T finally became noticeable. There's lots of power in the mid-range just like in your EX-T, car pulls well between 3,000 and 5,000 rpm and sort of falls off nearer the top. Clearly this car would benefit from a more aggressive tune as would the base 1.5. If someone who never intended to tune the car was cross-shopping between the two and power is the only metric, the Si is not worth it under any circumstance. Obviously, that's not what Honda is targeting with the Si and not what the car is about.
I didn't drive the car out of sport mode so I can't speak to the differences between it and the regular mode. The handling and turn-in is great. I was pushing the car as hard as I possibly could without getting arrested and it did everything I asked with ease. Tried ripping around a loop ramp, sudden stops, quick turns, etc, and it is clearly a far more competent drivetrain in every regard than the EX-T. The issue is that if you drive like I did today with any kind of regularity, you run a somewhat serious risk of either wrecking the car or ending up in jail. The limit of the manner in which I am willing to drive on the street is FAR below the Si's capabilities, but here's the rub: for ME, that limit is also below what my EX-T is capable of. Therefore, to realize the performance of this car over the base 1.5, it has to be driven on the track, IMO. This statement might not apply to somebody willing to drive on the street like they're at Laguna Seca, but that isn't me.
So if money is no object, get an Si, it's obviously a better car. If you don't have unlimited money, but aren't interested in tracking the car, consider having a go in an EX-T 6MT because it might just be enough car to suit your needs. Personally, I will tune my EX-T to ~200 hp at some point in the future and be even happier with it than I already am.
Firstly, there are positives. Seats are fantastic, probably the best seats I've ever sat in for this segment, right up there with the Cobalt SS Turbo seats which I loved. Great bolstering but not too tight, comfortable, and they look great. The rest of the interior is not drastically different from an EX-T but the changes are enough to set it apart. The red stitching is just enough to convey "sporty" but isn't overdone, and the red gauges instead of blue are a nice touch. Shift lights are cool. The shifter is unreal... very short throws and a great feel. It almost feels like you're "outshifting" the rest of the powertrain during WOT shifts. Nav is good and the LED headlights are good. Sorry you don't get either of those, Americans.
As horrific as the coupe spoiler looks in pictures, it is far worse in person. The changes to the rest of the coupe rear look good and there is still plenty of differentiation from the base, so it is my hope that a lot of people do wing deletes. It is rancid, but the sedan wing is far more tasteful. The excessively large fake vents on both of them is... whatever. We've beat that to death.
Pulled out of the dealership and immediately went wide open in first, wasn't immediately impressed. Hit the WOT shift into second and the additional power over the EX-T finally became noticeable. There's lots of power in the mid-range just like in your EX-T, car pulls well between 3,000 and 5,000 rpm and sort of falls off nearer the top. Clearly this car would benefit from a more aggressive tune as would the base 1.5. If someone who never intended to tune the car was cross-shopping between the two and power is the only metric, the Si is not worth it under any circumstance. Obviously, that's not what Honda is targeting with the Si and not what the car is about.
I didn't drive the car out of sport mode so I can't speak to the differences between it and the regular mode. The handling and turn-in is great. I was pushing the car as hard as I possibly could without getting arrested and it did everything I asked with ease. Tried ripping around a loop ramp, sudden stops, quick turns, etc, and it is clearly a far more competent drivetrain in every regard than the EX-T. The issue is that if you drive like I did today with any kind of regularity, you run a somewhat serious risk of either wrecking the car or ending up in jail. The limit of the manner in which I am willing to drive on the street is FAR below the Si's capabilities, but here's the rub: for ME, that limit is also below what my EX-T is capable of. Therefore, to realize the performance of this car over the base 1.5, it has to be driven on the track, IMO. This statement might not apply to somebody willing to drive on the street like they're at Laguna Seca, but that isn't me.
So if money is no object, get an Si, it's obviously a better car. If you don't have unlimited money, but aren't interested in tracking the car, consider having a go in an EX-T 6MT because it might just be enough car to suit your needs. Personally, I will tune my EX-T to ~200 hp at some point in the future and be even happier with it than I already am.
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