Apparently sales of the 02 Civic Si are very low in the midwest. Dealers are selling them for $16,300. Sticker price on them is nearly $20,000. There are 7 Sis on the lot.

Are sales like this everywhere? Is Honda having problems selling these?

 

Yes. Where the 99-2000 coupe wasn't as fast as it could be, the coupe body got it a lot of sales from "boy racers" who couldn't drive their way out of a paper bag.

This new SI is targeted right at us. Tuners. We wanted a hot hatch. But Honda missed the mark. We want it all. 160hp motor for this heavy tall dog won't cut it. It looks like a minivan, it has a strut suspension, and it's too heavy. I hate to say it, but the Toyota Matrix, the Pontiac Vibe GT, AND the SVT Focus ZX3 are better buys. Out of the hatchback market, but still targeted at us, the Toyota Celica is a better CAR.

If you're going to make a hatchback in the U.S. - you gotta do one or two things well. Honda didn't do any well, it did them all mediocre on this job. It's either gotta look real cool (Toyota Matrix), be real cheap (Ford Focus ZX3), or be real fast (SVT Focus ZX3). This Si is medium well on all counts. It ain't worth $20,000. $16,000 with a $4000 RSX type S motor swap (yeah right, I'm dreaming, I know) - maybe.

Shawn

 

If you are going to do the head swap from the RSX-S, save time and just buy the RSX-S. The Hatch only weighs about 40 pounds less than the RSX-S, and I'm guessing some of that weight is in the head.