Honda Civic Si gets a bigger engine for 2012

Honda is dropping a larger, 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine into the Si versions of the redesigned Civic coupe and sedan, which go on sale this spring. The Civic Si powertrain also gets a new six-speed manual transmission.

Honda on Thursday said it anticipates that the 2.4-liter engine will be rated at 200 hp. That's up slightly from the 197-hp rating of the 2.0-liter engine used in the 2011 Civic Si. But the new engine delivers a big jump in torque--to 170 lb-ft, compared with 139 lb-ft in the 2010 model.

Even with the power boost, Honda says it expects the highway fuel-economy rating of the Civic Si to rise 2 mpg, to 31 mpg.

The instrument panel of the 2012 Honda Civic.

Honda released several details and photos of the 2012 Civic lineup on Thursday, after previewing the restyling with concept cars at the Detroit auto show in January.

Some details:

-- Coupe and sedan body styles and hybrid and natural-gas versions of the Civic continue.

-- An HF trim joins the lineup for 2012. Honda aims for the Civic HF to get 41 mpg on the highway with a 140-hp, 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine and a five-speed automatic transmission.

-- All Civics except the Si get Honda's ECO Assist technology, which varies the color in the speedometer from green to blue, depending on how aggressively the driver is using the powertrain.

-- The Civic hybrid uses a 110-hp, 1.5-liter gasoline engine and a continuously variable transmission, similar to the setup in the CR-Z hybrid. The Civic hybrid uses a lithium-ion battery pack.

By Dale Jewett