Honda Civic Si Sedan – First Drive: One year after debuting a redesigned Civic Si and ditching the unpopular hatchback body for a traditional two-door design, Honda unleashes a sedan variant of its hot little econo-sport coupe because it has determined that young compact car buyers prefer the utility of sedans and hatchbacks over coupes. Huh. Normally it’s Ford that chases its own tail around like this. Whatever. The point is that if you’ve been craving a terrifically fun small car as a replacement for the V6- or V8-powered gas hog that currently sits in your driveway, the 2007 Honda Civic Si Sedan is here to meet your need for speed and practicality.

With this quick little four-door, Honda is aiming at the same group of young, educated men that buy the Mazda 3, Nissan Sentra SE-R, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, and Subaru WRX because “fun-to-drive” is high on their list of purchase considerations. Honda’s research says that “fun-to-drive” is not a priority with Civic EX buyers. Honda’s research also says that the top trade-in model for these four “fun-to-drive” competitors is a Civic. Slapping that high-revving four-banger into the Civic Sedan and decorating it with all the same goodies that come on the Si Coupe was a no-brainer, and the result is the 2007 Honda Civic Si Sedan, which comes standard with “fun-to-drive.”

Honda invited us to the Motor City to drive the new Civic Si Sedan. Yeah, not the first place you think of when the phrase “great driving roads” comes to mind. But one of the Civic Si’s best traits is its tight, nimble feel when dicing through traffic, so the Dearborn area’s grid layout helped to showcase this part of the car’s personality. We resisted the urge to run over to Ford’s Glass House headquarters and drive rings around the building just as fast as we could, sticking instead to the auto-cross course Honda mapped out in the parking lot of the Hyatt hotel and to the city streets, freeways, and parkways nearby, and came away favorably impressed with this hot little family hauler.

Honda plans to launch the 2007 Honda Civic Si on November 1, to coincide with the annual Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) trade show in Las Vegas. The price is not officially set, but Honda thinks it will mirror the Si Coupe, with a starting price of about $20,000. Add the voice-activated navigation system with XM satellite radio and the stickier summer tires, and the price will jump to about $22,000. Honda plans to sell about 15,000 units annually.

Nuts and Bolts Though it makes almost 200 horsepower, the Honda Civic Si Sedan is torque-impaired and the power peaks just shy of redline, which means you must thrash this car to extract maximum thrills.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the 2007 Honda Civic Si Sedan is essentially the same as the Si Coupe, but with two extra doors, 59 extra pounds and a few unique tweaks. Honda’s 2.0-liter iVTEC four-cylinder engine belts out 197 horsepower just 200 revs shy of redline at a lofty 7,800 rpm, and cranks 139 lb.-ft. of torque at 6,100 rpm. If you’re in Honda’s target market for this car, you’re doing the math right now. These figures do, indeed, indicate that you’re going to spend lots of time thrashing on the engine to generate maximum power, and extracting every last ounce of motive force is gonna require some serious attention to detail – especially when the standard five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty expires. And if you’ve got a soft spot in your heart for polar ice caps, you oughta know that this engine is the only one in the Civic lineup that isn’t rated LEV II ULEV or better.

As in the coupe, those ponies flow to the front wheels through a six-speed manual transmission and a helical limited-slip differential. An automatic transmission is not a part of the Honda Civic Si equation, so if you can’t shift for yourself, maybe you should buy a car that just pretends to be a sport sedan – like a Chevy Cobalt SS four-door. Alternatively, choose the Civic EX, which is plenty more fun to drive than most people think while getting 40 mpg on the highway.

The Civic Si Sedan’s MacPherson strut front and double-wishbone rear suspension is tuned a little differently and gets a 1mm thinner front stabilizer bar to offset the weight gain over the coupe, and while Honda says the Si Sedan is a tick slower to accelerate than the Si Coupe, it promises that handling and braking capabilities are identical. Bright silver 17-inch alloy wheels are shod with P215/45R17 all-season tires and guided by electric rack-and-pinion steering, but for $200 buyers can select summer rubber in the same size. Ventilated front and solid rear disc brakes bring the Civic Si Sedan to a rapid halt, enhanced with ABS, EBD, and a stability control system. Honda has also tuned the Si Sedan’s exhaust differently for a more powerful note in the low-rpm range.