To be really correct, it would be Civic sedan body, Civic Si engine ![Wink ;)](https://www.autos.ca/forum/Smileys/CarTalk/wink.gif)
Actually, they aren't using the Civic Si engine... They're using a 155-160HP version of the 1.8L civic motor, not the 2.0L Civic Si motor.
In Canada it is the SiR. The Si here is the EX Coupe in the US.
There were early (March05) posts at vtec in the EL forums from a guy named chris_5758. He claimed to be an employee of Honda Canada and had a lot of detailed information about the Civic that turned out to be true. At the time he also said that the EL/CSX would have two choices of engine.
All I can say about the EL is that it will be 200 HP. A person working directly on the new model El / Civic told me 180 and 200. So it looks like the El might be getting two motor options.
More info that is exact with what we've seen already from the Civic:
From what I saw of the EL, it's moving upscale. Nice entertainment system in it! It had AM FM CD DVD 5.1 (WITH SUB) NAVI, XM SAt ready and the sceen folds down to reveil a MP3 player and drives for the DVD and CD players! Not sure if it will play movie DVD's or if it's just the drive for the NAVI mapping software.
From this info/rumour, it looks like it may only get the 2.0. One detuned to 180, the other left at 200.
He also mentioned that there would be paddle shifters.
Now, I tend to put stock into what he posted and here is my reasoning:
1. According to this quote from Jeff (senior official at VTec), Honda was going nuts about the posts. Why would they care if it wasn't true?
Anyhow, apparently the people at Honda saw it even before I did and there was quite an internal disturbance - I was not aware of this until after I reached Florida (and again, it was too late).
2. He gave a lot of detailed information. Engine part numbers, interior info, etc. Things that no one would know unless they were actually there and saw it.
3. He disappeared from the groups immediately after this series of posts and has never been seen since.
4. This is a bit weaker, but he mentioned XM ready on the EL/CSX's entertainment system. At first I thought, "yeah right this guy is full of crap, there is no XM service in Canada" until I noticed a posting at Bestbuy.ca talking about XM coming to Canada this fall. Would be perfect timing wouldn't it?
5. My Acura dealerships sales manager continues to tell me that he was told that the new EL/CSX would be considerably different from the Civic Sedan (the first time he mentioned that to me was well over a year ago). If the spy photo is the EL/CSX(which I believe it is), then it is obvious that it looks
very similar to the 2006 civic. That leaves only
one area to be significantly different, and that is the engine.
Anyways, my thoughts. No facts here, just speculation based upon various things I've read.
Any opinions? Anyone see a hole in this at all?