S2KRAY

I got one for you. I detailed a 69 Olds 442 W30 yesterday. Sweet driver and it can move with that Ram Air engine. The owner is selling it and I am helping her find a buyer. Enough room for everyone and you can put 3 or 4 in the trunk.

Legal Bill

It will be heavier than the ragtop. But I'm guessing it will be a nice place to be with the top up. I read that they will only bring 1000 of them to the USA. It could be an instant classic!

robb

Nice I like those. Did it have a 455?

ralper

Well, its getting closer. Yesterday Adam was leaving to go back to school. Along the way he was going to drop Liz off at her sisters house in Virginia Beach. Liz wants to spend a week with her sister. Adam was going to spend the night at Liz's sister's house and then head across the state to Blacksburg. On Saturday, I went with Adam to get gas in his Si. He now has 167,000 miles on the car. Half way to the gas station he started having trouble shifting gears. We turned around and headed directly to our local Honda dealer.

I gave him the BMW. He loves the BMW and it would be much more comfortable for Liz to ride in on the way to Virginia Beach. Adam won't be back up until April so he has the BMW until then. The Honda shop called today and the Si needs a new clutch and a few other things. Not unusual for an 11 year old car with 167,000 miles but probably not worth doing. The car is probably worth about $3,000 and the repairs would probably cost about that much. When finished he'd still have an 11 year old car with a lot of miles.

Right now, the car is sitting on the driveway. Adam wants to keep it and work on it himself. He wants to make it a dedicated auto-cross car. Nonetheless, it looks like the BMW is going to become his. I hope the BMW is now stable and Adam doesn't have any trouble with it. It made it to Virginia Beach flawlessly. In spite of the fact that Liz really doesn't like the BMW even she had to admit it was a very comfortable trip.

For now I'm going to use our CR-V. As soon as the 2017 Si comes out I'll make my decision. Right now I'm thinking that it'll probably be a 2017 Si or perhaps a 2017 Civic Touring. In the next few months I'll find out exactly how much I need to have a manual transmission.

dlq04

I can see you in this one....

The 2017 Honda Civic Sport Hatchback Is All the Car You’ll Ever Need - The Drive

ralper

I've though about it. I'm not sure whether or not I like the looks of the hatchback, but I am interested in the car. I'm waiting for the Si to come out before I make a decision.

Legal Bill

Those of us watching the Patriots game tonight learned that the Honda Civic Hatch is made in the basement by sinister robots.

ralper

Today I took Adam's Si for a drive around the block just to warm it up and move it. Even though it needs a clutch, it still drives.

I gave Adam the car 4 years ago, and in that time I'd forgotten how much I love that car. Aside from my S2000, it was my all time favorite car.

I may not end up buying a new Si when it finally comes out, but I'm definitely going to wait for it before doing anything else. .

Chris Stack

Hey Rob, Civic Si dropped today...thoughts?

https://automobiles.honda.com/future-cars/civic-si

ralper

I haven't seen it in person nor have I driven it yet, but for the most part I'm liking what I'm reading and hearing, with a few reservations.

I have mixed feelings about the engine. Most of the complaints that I've read have to do with the fact that it only puts out 205 horsepower. I personally don't have a problem with that. I like lower powered cars, cars that you have to drive to enjoy. What I don't like about the engine is that it's turbocharged. I'm not a big fan of turbocharging. I prefer naturally aspirated engines. The other thing that I don't like is that it only revs to about 6,500. That's not the way a Honda engine is supposed to behave. A Honda engine is supposed to rev it's heart out to about 8,500 or 9,000. I wish they would have used the same engine I had in my 2006 Si. That was the perfect Si engine.

I wanted to buy the 2 door coupe, but I think that if I do buy the Si it'll have to be the 4 door sedan. Not that I need the extra doors, but from the pictures it looks like the wing on the coupe's trunk lid is a bit over the top. The sedan is supposed to have a more reasonable wing. I'm not big on wings.

Other than those complaints, I'm liking what I'm reading and hearing. The car comes with a short throw six speed transmission, and Honda transmissions are arguably the best on the road. The chassis has been stiffened and the anti-sway bars have been strengthened. There is a limited slip differential and variable ratio steering, adaptive dampers and other suspension tweeks. Another plus is that the car has been made lighter. Not quite as light as I'd like, but better than before.

As for the styling, well, Honda was never known for it's styling, and probably will never win a design competition. Remarkably, there are some decent colors being offered (if I buy it's going to be the dark grey). Still as far as the styling goes, within a few weeks I came to love the styling of my 2006 Si, and if you can love the styling of that car, you can love the styling of any car.

I don't yet know all of the standard equipment. I do know that there is rain sensing windshield wipers and auto headlights, a 450 watt 8 speaker sound system and heated seats (I hate heated seats). I don't know if there is a sun/moon roof or if you can get a navi. I know that the car comes with Apple and Google, but I really like having an in car navi. I always have it on. It's real easy to get lost in New Jersey. I wish the car came with "Honda Sensing" but that feature isn't available on manual transmission cars and given the choice there really is no choice. The manual transmission wins every day over Honda Sensing.

If past experience is any indicator of the future, another advantage of the Si is that because its a Honda it'll start every morning and get me home every night. When I was younger, I didn't mind the adventure, but now I don't think it's fun standing on the side of the road waiting for a flatbed.

Of course, I still have to see it in person and test drive it, but right now the needle is pointing very strongly towards the Si.