Yesterday I took our long-term Civic Si to the car wash. Nothing significant about the visit except that since the Civic has served its time in our fleet, this might be my last trip to the car wash with the revvy little Honda. Earlier this week we ran the Si through its post-fleet-duty test as we do with all long-term cars. It put down numbers nearly identical to its first test. Sixty mph arrived in seven seconds flat (it ran 6.9 seconds in its first test). The quarter mile rolled by in 15.2 seconds @ 94.2 mph (first test numbers were 15.1 seconds @ 93.9). It was marginally quicker in the slalom at 68 mph vs. 67.5 in the first go-round and lateral acceleration around the skidpad was down from .86g to .81g, probably thanks to 20,000 miles of tire wear. All in all, not a bad performance.

Josh Jacquot, senior road test editor @ 21,096 miles

One year ago the Civic Si first arrived in our garage. A final visit to the test track next week makes it official, our test is over.

Nearly 20k miles between then and now stirred up a lot of talk and made the Si one of our most-blogged long-termers. If there are any more comments to share before it leaves the fleet, now is the time.

Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Assistant - 19,914 miles

Here's something I've always liked about our Civic Si (and the last two generation Civics in general): the flat rear floor. I'm not the world's most coordinated person, and not having a hump to trip over when getting in the backseat makes life easier. And it's more comfortable to sit back here because your feet don't feel confined. All front-wheel-drive cars should have this kind of packaging.

Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor

In the past, I've compared the Civic Si to a BMW M3.  The unfiltered connection between the Si and the road, the immediacy of the car's responses (be they to steering, throttle or brakes), the racy, ultra-supportive seats and the way the car feels as solid as a rock all remind me of an M3.  More like the previous, simpler generation M3 (the '95 to '99) than the current one. 

In styling, however, the Civic Si reminds me of the previous generation M coupe.  That's the breadbox shaped coupe that was spun off the Z3 roadster and was made from '99 to '02.  No, I haven't lost it -- it's not that the Civic Si and a '99 M coupe actually look similar.  It's that I didn't like the looks of that Bimmer at all (awkwardly tall greenhouse, wagon-like rear end)...until I drove it and discovered how entertaining it was.  Somehow, that changed things and now I find myself admiring some aspects of that M coupe's design, such as the view from directly behind that shows off the aggressively flared rear quarters. 

The point is, sometimes a car can be so good, so much fun to drive, that it can make you accept its somewhat unattractive styling.  Now, I still think the Civic is oddly proportioned, with its stubby hood and massive windshield giving the front end all the sporty pizzazz of a minivan.  But like that M coupe, when I'm behind the wheel winding out the VTEC while dancing through a twisty road, she's a beauty indeed.

BTW, like some other drivers, I've noticed that the reflash has lessened the rev-hanging problem somewhat, but hasn't eliminated it entirely.

I set out for a quick drive in our long-term Honda Civic Si this morning to see if I could detect a difference following the ECM reprogramming Brent had performed. I'm not really best editor for such a task, as I was never overly bothered by the hanging rpm effect. I think there's a slight improvement, but you still don't get a smooth drop. I know that's not the way it should be, but I got sidetracked by running the Si hard around a few corners. After all these months, I still get excited about the change in sound after the switchover to the high-lift cams and I still get a thrill from a perfectly excecuted downshift.

Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor

I had our Honda Civic Si serviced yesterday for the hanging throttle issue that many 2006 Si owners have reported. For those readers unfamiliar with this problem, it's basically this: When making a transmission upshift, the engine's rpm doesn't immediately drop as would typically be the case with other manual-transmission cars. Rather, the 2.0-liter engine's rpm stays at the point where the driver depressed the clutch pedal and closed the throttle, and then slowly drops.

This can be annoying as it makes it harder to closely match the vehicle's engine speed to the wheel speed via the next gear when the clutch is engaged. What to do: either slow down your shift and wait for the rpm to drop, or just hammer the lever into the next gear with a quick shift and deal with a slightly jerky response.

There's an under-warranty remedy that Honda dealers can perform; it involves a reprogramming of the car's ECU. Thankfully, I didn't have to do a whole lot of explaining to the service advisor at the Honda dealership. Apparently, the advisor had dealt with another Civic Si owner a few weeks earlier that had the same upgrade performed.

After picking our Civic Si, I was looking forward to seeing how good of a fix the reprogramming was. And my initial response was: "no so good." Frankly, I had a hard time telling whether it was any different at all. But after a few more miles of driving, I started to notice a difference. At lower rprm shifts (around 3,500 rpm) throttle response is definitely better. But at higher rpm, there's still an annoying pause right after the start of the gear shift. The revs do seem to drop more quickly, but only after the pause.

I'll be curious to hear what other staff members (or other Civic Si owners) have to say about the reprogrammed throttle, especially those who haven't driven our Honda Civic Si in a while.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor

A few of our editors have noticed in the past that the transmission shift lever in our long-term 2006 Honda Civic Si will occasionally pop out of gear or grind when making a 2-to-3 upshift. This trait does not seem to be endemic to our car as other Civic Si owners have made forum posts about this topic. (Other six-speed manual Acura vehicles might also suffer from this problem.) It typically only happens when the transmission is cold, and I've noticed it a little more now that it's winter. Various tidbits of advice float around the internet for a possible fix; personally, I just take a little bit of extra care when shifting into 3rd. (Cold weather also seems to make the car's throttle response a bit uneven or lurchy when first moving underway in 1st or 2nd gear with a cold engine. It's temporary and goes away as soon as the car warms up a bit.)

In other news, I've scheduled a service appointment to take care of the hanging throttle issue that I blogged about earlier this year. Look for an update later this week.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor, Edmunds.com, 18,954 miles

Over the weekend I had the pleasure (if one can call it that) of driving a family relative's rented Pontiac Grand Prix. After a futile attempt to get comfortable in the GP's driver seat, I believe I said, "These seats are garbage."

In contrast, I happen to be quite fond of the seats in our long-term 2006 Honda Civic Si. Despite a lack of fancy adjustments, they're supportive during cornering and comfortable on long-distance drives. True, seat comfort is highly subjective. Someone of large size might find the Civic's side bolsters to be too intrusive, for instance. For me, though, the time in the Grand Prix was just further affirmation of our Civic Si's high level of overall quality.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor, Edmunds.com, 18,846 miles

Earlier this week, Karl blogged about his automotive "thank you" list. I would think for many Honda fans, the latest Civic Si would be pretty high on the list. It embodies the best Honda qualities -- it's quick, fuel efficient, well built, sharp handling, safe and pleasurable to own. I'd have to say that this is my favorite Honda car since the second-generation Honda CRX.

Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor, Edmunds.com