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2017 Honda Civic Si fills the performance gap between Sport and Type R

Yes, North America will finally get the hyper hot Civic Type R. But that doesn't mean Honda has dismissed the Si from duty. On the contrary, the Civic Si is back, and the Prototype coupe that's debuting at the Los Angeles Auto Show looks better than ever. Honda's senior VP and general manager Jeff Conrad says, "This will be, hands down, the fastest, best-handling Si we've ever offered to our customers." To do this, Honda has equipped the Si with a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder. The company didn't reveal output, but considering Conrad's statement, it's probably be safe to say it will make somewhere between 205 horsepower (the output of the previous Si) and 306 horsepower (the output of the previous Type R). That engine will send power through a six-speed manual transmission and a limited-slip differential. Also part of the Si package will be active steering and dampers, plus a high-performance tire option. View 16 Photos Honda made sure to upgrade the Civic Si's looks to match the performance, but not to the extremes of the Type R. The body appears to have the same overall width of the standard coupe, and it gets the front bumper and black grille from the hatchback along with a revised rear bumper. The front bumper gets a splitter, and the tail gets a wing. One of the most distinctive styling elements is the center-exit exhaust, which features a single hexagonal tip. Of course, both ends of the car get red Si badges, and the whole thing rides on 19-inch wheels. Surprisingly absent, though, are Honda's traditional "i-VTEC" stickers along the sides, which have appeared on Civic Sis since at least the 1999 model. The interior also gets a sporty treatment, and that apparently involves a healthy application of the color red. The floor mats, contrast stitching, instrument panel, and infotainment system are all finished in the hue. The seats are Si-exclusive, and feature the Si logo stitched into the seatbacks. Drivers will shift with an aluminum ball-shaped knob, and dance on aluminum pedals. There's a "sport" button next to the shifter, which we can guess probably sharpens up the shocks and steering. Honda says this prototype interior "closely previews" the final production version. Though Honda only showed a coupe version of the Si, the company will offer a sedan version for people who need the added practicality. There's so far been no mention of a hatchback version. Honda only provided a rough release window of next year and hasn't give any pricing.

Check out the Honda Civic hatchback's shapely rear end

The 10-generation Honda Civic is excellent in all but two areas – performance and utility. The upcoming Si and Type R will satisfy any performance qualms, while Honda will up the utility with its first US-market hatchback in over a decade. Here it is. These images, obtained by the folks at the CivicX forums, are our best look at the hatchback's shapely rear end. Honda kept true to the look of the Civic hatchback prototype shown in Geneva, ditching the twin center-exit exhaust pipes. We're hoping Honda revisits the design on a future Si hatchback, but keeps a similar rear bumper design. The large, black plastic inserts that house the rear reflectors are a more aggressive look than either the Civic coupe or sedan, but aren't flashy or overdone. Weirdly, the rear window reminds us of the Accord CrossTour's back glass, only not ugly. There's a healthy spoiler at the top of the window, along with a similarly sized unit connecting the two taillights. Again, this is mostly like the concept shown in Geneva. What's curious is the date that these images were captured. See, the Civic in the image above is boarding the vehicle carrier M/V Orion Highway. And if we Google the ship, we can see it left Southampton on July 29, stopped in Baltimore – home of an expansive vehicle processing center – on August 8. That means the new Civic Hatch is in the US already. Get excited, Civic fans. Related Video:

Watch the very first Honda N600 be brought back to life

Since Honda announced the restoration of the first N600 hatchback in America – the very first car it sold here – and its related video series, we've been eagerly awaiting the finished product. Well, it's done, and the company has released the final installment, which shows the car before and after. It's an impressive transformation. The restoration was done by Tim Mings, who specializes in restoring N600s and their sportier looking siblings, the Z600s. He performed a ground-up restoration, from the interior to the car's 600-cc, 9000-rpm, two-cylinder engine. Now that it's finished and has made its debut at the Japanese Classic Car Show in California, it will head off to the company's museum. You can see the results of Mings's hard work in the video above. If you want more details on specific parts of the restoration, you can also check out Honda's playlist on YouTube. Related Video: Image Credit: Honda / YouTube Honda Automotive History Hatchback Classics Videos honda n600