Street Fighters; Ford SVT Focus vs. Honda Civic Si.(Brief Article)

They're like combatants in the seminal arcade game Street Fighter II. (Huh? Sorry, but if you don't get the analogy, you're out of the demographic.) Each one is unbeatable if you've got the skills to master its particular talents. But each one also has inherent flaws. You decide which character to play, which one suits your style; neither can be a clear-cut favorite.

This is not a cop-out; the Ford SVT Focus and Honda Civic Si are an amazing pair. Driving them back to back, it's hard not to love-or at least respect-both. And the comparison is inevitable, as any prospective buyer should at least consider the other, no matter how dyed-in-the-wool Blue Oval you might be, no matter how many Civics you've already slammed. Ultimately, the cars' different personalities are a good thing: more choice in a hot hatch segment that hasn't had much.

At first glance, the cars seem statistically similar. The 165.6-inch-long Honda rides on a 101.2-inch wheelbase; the 168.2-inch Ford's is 103 inches. The Civic's track measures 57.9 inches; the Focus' is 58.8 inches in the front and 58.5 in the rear. The Civic is 56.5 inches tall; the Focus, 56.3. Both front-drive, three-door hatchbacks are powered by 2.0-liter inline fours. The Honda makes 160 hp at 6500 rpm and 132 lb-ft of torque at 5000 rpm, the Ford, 170 hp at 7000 rpm and 145 lb-ft at 5500. The Civic weighs 2744 pounds, the Focus, 2750. These numbers-and the ones we'll get in AutoFile track tests later-can't tell the entire story; in both cars the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Under the hood of the Si, Honda has built what may be the smoothest engine ever. The word ``slick'' comes to mind. It revs as quickly as the S2000 or the Acura RSX Type-S, but unfortunately, the Civic's redline is only 6800 rpm. Prepare to find yourself banging the rev-limiter, but be glad that compared to the old Si motor, it's actually got some torque. The Ford mill isn't bad, but it's rough like the standard Zetec on which it's based. It has more torque than the Honda and it revs to 7200 rpm, but it's not quite as enjoyable to wind out. The Ford motor doesn't idle as smoothly either.

What it does have going for it is the transaxle to which it's bolted. The Ford box is actually a Getrag six-speed that shifts, well, like a Getrag. The Honda five-speed is good, as Honda manuals are, but the extra gear makes the Ford even more versatile in traffic. Sad that the Honda doesn't have a sixth, as it could use it even more than the Ford, due to the Honda's smaller torque output. Both transmissions shift smoothly with short throws. The Honda's rally-inspired, dash-mounted shifter looks weirder than it feels. After a few shifts, you forget that it's not in the ``normal'' location. Worth noting: Neither transaxle contains a limited-slip differential, something you can get in this class, in a Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V.

Both the Civic and Focus chassis soak up bumps and handle off-camber jounces well, keeping the tires on the pavement and transmitting what's going on through the seat. Neither car has much body roll, nor is there any sense that either manufacturer compromised a stiff ride to appeal to the mainstream; these are true sporting vehicles. Both cars can sometimes betray their econobox roots with a lack of rebound damping, ...